It'll be the Newcastle singer-songwriter's first solo gig when she supports reigning winner of The Voice Chris Sebastian at Lizotte's.

"I'm pretty excited and keen to do some shows and stretch out in that direction," Robertson said. "I'm keen to get the ball rolling."

The ball has already begun to roll in regards to her recorded music. In July Miller Roberts' debut EP Square One was released and it's received attention from triple j and music website AU Review, the latter featuring her single Heart On Your Sleeve as its track of the day in September.

The 25-year-old, who manages well-known Newcastle East cafe Estabar, recorded Square One back in January with producer Jackson Barclay (Vera Blue, Winterbourne, Maddy Jane).

The tracks were written between three and five years ago, but continued to resonate with Robertson.

"I'd been sitting on them for quite a well," she said. "I never really planned to do anything with them, but I started recording the demos to have that cathartic experience and have something finished that I could listen back to and think, 'cool, I did that'. Once I heard the demos I thought there's something here."

The atmospheric and delicate folk-pop songs are influenced by the likes of Laura Marling, Lucy Rose, Gretta Ray and Bon Iver.

Miller Roberts is hardly the beginning of Robertson's journey in music.

Robertson's father and travelling preacher, Bruce Robertson, encouraged a love of music and performance among his five children.

Her elder sister is established Newcastle folk artist Beth Gleeson. The pair along with their other sisters Shelley and Laura, previously performed in family folk band The Soorleys, who released several EPs and even toured the US in 2016.

"My dad is a zany creative dude so he would also get us to be doing these hilarious musical production numbers," she said. "We always had to be ready to perform at the drop of a hat.

"We celebrated his 60^th last week and his whole thing for the party was he wanted it to be an open mic night. Every family member was jumping up doing random cover numbers."

Having finally branched out on her own Robertson is already planning to record 10 new songs she's written, again with Barclay, for what would be Miller Roberts' debut album.

THE likes of Mo'ju, Kira Puru, Raave Tapes, dave the band and The Hauntingly Beautiful Mousemoon cut their teeth on the grungy stage of the Lass O'Gowrie Hotel.

The Wickham venue has long been a haven for creatives, fostering a musical culture outside the mainstream. However due to a reduction in trading hours, publican Andrew Dunne fears for the pub's viability.

For more than 15 years the Lass traded until 3am, but following the pub's sale in 2019 it was discovered that the previous 24-hour liquor license was incorrectly issued. That's forced the Lass to close at midnight.

Dunne is in the process of applying for an extension of trading hours in the liquor license, which requires proof of wider community support. An online petition to extend the Lass' trading hours has reached 1760 of the required 2500 signatures. Visit the Lass O'Gowrie's Facebook page to offer your support.

MARK down October 17 in your calendar. That's the date the gig guide for the Great Southern Nights concert series is expected to be announced and Newcastle can expect an overdue gluttony of musical entertainment.

Great Southern Nights is a NSW Government initiative which will see 1000 gigs performed across the state in November. It's all aimed at reactivating the music industry following the COVID-19 lockdown, which has crippled the livelihoods of musicians, agents, managers and technicians.

Multiple Newcastle venues are scheduled to take part with several big names performing. However venues will still be faced with limited capacity and bans on dancing and standing unless COVID-safe restrictions are eased by November.

NEWCASTLE-bred proto-punk band Flight To Dubai are generating plenty of hype for their second EP Strife, out on October 16. Last week they dropped a new single Sparse Space and their two launch shows at Sydney's Lansdowne Hotel on October 14 have sold out.

COVID-19 has meant international surfing holidays have been beached, but there's still a way to experience the world's biggest surf. The 14^th Australian Surf Movie Festival is hitting the road and will visit Lizotte's on November 12. Five short films will be shown on the night featuring monster surf from Nazare (Portugal), freezing left-handers from Mullaghmore (Ireland), The Right (Western Australia), Teahupoo (Tahiti), and Cloudbreak (Fiji).