OutsideIn Artists Pick Their Favourite Sydney Spots: Outside and In

If you like your tunes a little off-centre, extra crisp and wholly unconventional, OutsideIn is your jam. Locked in to be held over three levels at Manning Bar in the University of Sydney, the boutique music festival cooked up by Sydney touring and management agency Astral People and record label Yes Please returns for its third instalment on Saturday, November 29.

Before we get all up in three levels of OutsideIn goodness this Saturday, we checked in with the Sydney crew on the lineup for a few cruisy hangouts. These homegrown legends know their hidden parks, underground jazz dens and gaming hubs like the back of their talented hands, so we nabbed some hot tips.

Which underground adventure cave does Seekae blow off steam in? Where will you find Black Vanilla defying gravity of a weekend? Which underrated park do Fishing sink a few post-work tinnies in? Here's your guide to Sydney's best hidden spots, from some of Sydney's best tune-makers around.

SEEKAE

by George Nicholas.

Outside: Clovelly Bowling Club

"Ain't nothing better than knocking a jack around the green with a couple of m8s. This is where dreams are made."

In: City Hunter Internet Cafe II, Haymarket

"Conveniently located just a brisk five minute walk from our Sydney studio, City Hunter II offers gaming for the refined gentleman. Combining the rustic beauty of wooden floorboards with high-tech halogen light technology, the cafe's VIP room is great spot to kick back and pwn some n00bs. It should be noted that this place is probably the reason the Seekae album took three years make."

FISHING

by Doug Wright.

Outside: Giba Park, Pyrmont (By Night)

"It's a sleepy spot perched on a cliff in deep Pyrmont. You get prime views over the water towards Balmain and the Anzac and Harbour bridges, and it's a perfect place to sink a few post-work tinnies and dream of living in the lush apartments behind you."

In: MGM Spices, Cleveland Street

"This Indian grocery shop is a veritable treasure chest of flavours. Our lives have become one million times more fragrant and delicious since we started coming here."

BLACK VANILLA

by Marcus Whale.

OUTSIDE: MARRICKVILLE TENNIS CLUB, HENSON PARK

"A Greek bartender will greet you curtly but with accommodation and for the price of 12 dollars an hour, you can practice your awful serve and serviceable groundstrokes on these slow, low, synthetic grass courts."

IN: SKYZONE TRAMPOLINE PARK, ALEXANDRIA

"Yes, it's everything you've ever dreamed of: vast fields of trampolines, guaranteed to work your core muscles and make you feel superhuman. You'll hate the regular experience of gravity for days afterwards."

RETIREE

by Ryan Powderly.

Outdoor: Angophora Reserve, Avalon

"Peacocks used to roam free all around Angophora, waking up locals with their call first thing in the morning. If you were lucky, you might witness a mating display, or even find a big pretty feather on the bush track. One morning about 15 years ago, they were all gone. Nobody knows what happened. But the reserve is still home to hundreds of sulphur-crested cockatoos, koalas and a giant dead specimen of Sydney Red Gum Angophora Costata, believed to be the largest of its species. Our friend Max lives close by and reckons he once saw a rare Corroboree Frog there. Somewhere a bit off the track we shot our EP teaser video in a cave."

In: Tokyo Jazz Cafe, Bondi Junction

"The Junction, like Tokyo, has a few very secret, magical surprises. Some don't have signs, some are down weird dark arcades, and some only exist if you walk through a wall, like Platform 9¾. While out looking for free Wi-Fi, I stumbled across the stairwell to Tokyo Jazz Cafe. Yes, they have free Wi-Fi, but that's not why I go back again and again. Yoriko and Peter (the owners) have created something exquisitely rare. You'll just have to go and find it to see why it's our favourite place. Live Jazz on Saturdays."

OutsideIn is happening at Manning Bar, University of Sydney on November 29. General admission is $80 +bf. More for info and the full lineup, head over here.

Image credits: catbagan via photopin cc; Clovelly Bowling Club via Alice Main; Jordon via photopin cc; GavinBell via photopin cc; Giba Park via Jim;; Angophora Reserve by AJG Pics.

Published on November 25, 2014 by Shannon Connellan