WHOOPEE BLUES
Documentary film about brothers
Mic & Jim Conway

Brothers Mic & Jim Conway have been playing music since school days, when they started the Jellybean Jug Band together, which subsequently morphed into the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. In the early 1970s Captain Matchbox were a tearaway success with My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes and Fats Waller classics as well as comical tunes of their own such as Wangaratta Wahine.

Mic’s passion for vaudeville and creating instruments from anything at hand has driven his work across numerous bands over the last 40 years, blending performance, circus, and humour. His last band, the National Junk Band, toured for 20 years until COVID finally laid it to rest.

Jim, a blues purist, found his instrument early on in Captain Matchbox as a harmonica player, later becoming one of Australia’s foremost blues harp players, playing with Brownie McGhee as well as long-term bands The Backsliders and Jim Conway’s Big Wheel.

Featuring rare performance clips, candid interviews, and reflections from fellow musicians, the film captures the birth of the alternative music and arts scene in Melbourne in the 1970s alongside the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. Whoopee Blues is a joyful and emotional celebration of brotherhood, creativity, and the enduring legacy of two artists and their timeless contribution to Australian music history.

Director/Producer – Fiona Cochrane
Editor – Sioux Currie
Cinematographer – Mark Street
Sound – David Muir
An f-reel production