SOMETIMES inspiration strikes in the most unlikely of places. For Alison Wonderland, the muses came to her one night at a Gold Coast strip club.

“There was a DJ playing and I went up to him and asked, ‘Can I have a spin?’ He was like, ‘Are you good?’ He actually let me play and I ended up DJing for an hour at this strip club.”

Later that night, basking in the glow of her surprise set, Alison thought how great it was to play somewhere other than a typical nightclub. Her agent suggested they book a tour in non-traditional venues.

From there followed the birth of her summer festival tour, the WonderlandScarehouseProject, a multi-series event that makes its return this weekend after a year off (it takes place in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and Auckland, with condensed versions in Adelaide, Hobart and Perth). While the party has grown, it hasn’t changed from its core ethos: to showcase music Alison herself personally feels passionate about in a setting outside and beyond the expected.