All in the family

Almost two decades after he died, Trafalgar musician Dookie Brock still has many local fans, none more dedicated than his grandson Brice Sedgwick.

Sedgwick, now an established actor and musician himself, recalls watching Dookie and the Brock Brothers perform at a Trafalgar dance when he was just a kid.

“He was the entertainment. That’s always stayed with me.

“Years later, when I picked up a guitar, I thought maybe it would run in the blood.”

Sedgwick grew up in Hazelwood but spent plenty of weekends in Trafalgar with his maternal grandparents, Dookie and Hatti.

He studied classical music at the Victorian College of the Arts but left because he wanted to play his own style.

He recently returned to the family home after six years performing and writing music in London and Los Angeles.

Earlier this year he performed on the West End in a production of the musical cabaret/song cycle I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change.

He also appeared in a music video featuring Sharon Stone and Christina Ricci and a film, Silent Lake, in Poland.

But music remains his abiding interest. He has been writing for himself and others, a mix of pop, and alternative rhythm and blues.

“Think Ed Sheerhan meets Frank Ocean meets The Weekend,” is how he describes it.

This year he took his songs to Los Angeles to work on his own EP and to pitch his songs to other performers.

He’ll be performing at a couple of Melbourne venues over the next few weeks and hopes to do a Gippsland show.

Now as a musician himself, he is even more impressed by the story of how his grandfather, a carpenter when he wasn’t a musician, had to change his technique after losing his ring finger in a work accident.

“He had to relearn all the chords using different fingers!”