The Squid Doctors, formed while the four friends were in high school, were first in the lineup on Saturday.

Lead vocalist Wil Johnson said the alternative rock group had found their feet at the Yackandandah Folk Festival and the FReeZA Push Start Battle of the Bands.

“My older brother was in a band and I thought it was so cool – he did the Indigo Shire gigs and as soon as we got into electives for class we all picked music,” he said.

“The shire have a skate park series and our mums and the sound guys would be there, and that would be about it, but we loved it.

“Now we get about 10 people in front of us.”

Johnson said the group had ambitions to go full-time with their music.

“We put in a while ago in a Triple J Unearthed competition and it went alright; we got a few reviews that were pretty positive but it didn’t get played,” he said.

“Then someone called us up and said ‘I’ve just heard you on the radio’.

“We’ll keep working hard on getting better.”

Director Lex Fletcher received positive comments about the group’s performance.

“They were the first cab on the rank and there was a real buzz about how good they were,” he said.

“A favourite for me was The Sand Pebbles, a psychedelic rock band, they were really good with the audience and got everyone up to the stage and geared up for Remi. 

“We had a huge influx at the gate between 5 and 6 o’clock with people attracted to Remi.

“It was really good party music, but he had a lot of pertinent things to say about Australia Day and people with mental health issues; he’d stop between songs and say something and you could hear a pin drop.”

Rudy Kraus of Beechworth helped set up on Friday, building the Madman’s Gully bar, and enjoyed the music on Saturday.

“We’ve been here every year, except for the first, when it rained,” he said.

“We came for Black Magic and Marisa Quigley.”

Alistair Hunter of Melbourne was also keen to see Quigley and said he was happy with the addition of new shade structures.

“The quality of bands gets better every year,” he said.

“It’s always a good vibe.”