Kylie Minogue, Missy Higgins, Nick Cave, Paul Kelly, Anthony Callea, Holly Valance, Jet, Olivia Newtown-John, The Avalanches, Vanessa Amarosi, The Cat Empire, The Living End, Clare Bowditch, Something for Kate, Hunters and Collectors, The SkyHooks.
Not to mention the fact two of Australia’s most famous bands were also formed here: AC/DC and Crowded House.
And where exactly is ‘here’? Melbourne!
Melbourne has played an important role throughout Australia’s musical history. Check this out: post punk started in Melbourne in the 70’s, the first successfully repeated festival was at Sunbury in Melbourne in 1972, Melbourne clubs like Q Club were fundamental to developing rock ‘n’ roll in the 80s, electro pop started in Melbourne in the 90’s, and rock-electro sprang out of Melbourne in the 2000s.
So what is it about Melbourne that makes it such a hub for upcoming musos?
The City
Melbourne brands itself as Australia’s artistic centre. Associate Professor Deb Verhoeven from RMIT says Melbourne is a city to be discovered, with nooks and crannies and talent waiting to be found.
“The stereotype now is that Melbourne is interior, intellectual, dark, with brooding artists. It’s the galleries, the gigs, the festivals, the laneways and the graffiti culture that give birth to the creativity.”
And it’s exactly this underground creativity that allows music to thrive. The laneways are now home to small hidden cafes and pubs boasting upcoming local gigs. Tourists might see the hot spots as hard to find, but the local community knows exactly where to go, and so do the musicians.
And why wouldn’t you?
The Bands
Hundreds of bands exist and have existed because of Melbourne’s live and dominant underground music culture.
Verhoeven says Melbourne provides more opportunities for upcoming artists in all fields. “There are start-up grants, subsidised rentals, there are spaces in the city made available to upcoming artists – small bars, galleries, roof tops. And a centralised city adds sense of a community and support for underground artists.”
Andrew Moroney is a vocalist and guitarist for Melbourne band July Days. The band started out of Williamstown four years ago and has risen up the Melbourne ranks, playing at gigs across the city. They’re now touring the UK, so you might say they’re a bit of a success story.
But they began just as any other beginner band did.
“We started out just making some rough recording. We took the CDs in person down to bars and gave them to the bar staff, music managers, booking agents. We had to get something down that people could listen to.”
Although it might be tough leg work to begin with, it pays off pretty quickly. Venues in Melbourne are more welcoming than what you might find in cities like say, Sydney, because it’s exactly music that draws people to them. The bands are making the venue more exciting, varied, different so the bands have the control.
“They call you up and say ‘Hey this night’s free. You’re headlining, you decide who else you want to play with, how much the door charge will be’,” says Moroney. They’re really flexible because they know you’ll do it well. It’s your band and your night so you want it to go well.”
It’s pretty trusting but who’s going to stuff up their moment in the limelight, their time to attract more fans and their connections to other musicians and places to play? It’s a pretty neat, and now well polished system.
The Venues
There are literally hundreds of venues around Melbourne where you can go see a live gig every night of the week.
Moroney says one thing that makes Melbourne so great for music is that its music is set geographically. People can go to specific areas for specific types of music and know they’re going to get what they want.
“If you’re into Bohemian or Indie you head to East Brunswick and you’re guaranteed a Bohemian or Indie scene, whereas at the other end of Brunswick if you’re into Samba, you’ve got your Samba, Funk night”.
But Melbourne also has areas available for all types of music to attract all types of people.
Music Co-ordinator at the East Brunswick Club Ashlea O’Loughlin says their club holds a gig every night of the week to attract different audiences.
“East Brunswick Club is really a blank canvas for artists. We don’t discriminate against any music and have all genres,” says O’Loughlin. “Right now on the calendar coming up we’ve got electro pop, Australian hip hop, folk, metal. And because it’s really a blank space, artists can do any show they want.”
Now The East Brunswick Club is a pretty premier location, but Melbourne venues don’t seem to care how premier or not they are and who they have play. Iconic venues like The Espy have had upcoming teenage bands take to their stage, like July Days when they started out, but have also boasted gigs from bands as well known as The Living End.
And let’s not forget the tiny alley way bars, lounges and cafes throughout the city and suburbs that jump at having live music at their venues and cash in on the diversity the music offers.
“We definitely started at smaller venues,” says Moroney. It depends what kind of band you are but generally you start off, and you want to start off, in the smaller venues. There’s not as much pressure, and not as many people which also looks better if you haven’t got many people coming to see you when you first start out.”
The Audiences
Live underground music wouldn’t exist if people didn’t come to see it and there wasn’t a demand for it.
Melbourne is accommodating to live music because the people are used to seeing it and want to continue to see it.
The SLAM rally – Save Live Australian Music – held in February this year had thousands march through the streets of Melbourne to protest against new licencing that would limit the number and length of gigs across the city.
“In being a reaction to a threat against live music in Melbourne, it showed the strength of it,” says Moroney.
“It’s really cyclic – the more councils push back on it, the more live music thrives.”
Verhoeven says the gigs form a community within Melbourne. “People who might go to an underground gig one week will see the same types of people and an underground gig the next week and they know they have something in common. You begin to have the same reference points and can start having a conversation from the same base.’”
And importantly going to see upcoming gigs isn’t expensive.
“Prices are not exorbitant,” says O’Loughlin. “People don’t have to pay a lot of money to go and see their favourite band or artist. It’s a time to socialise, and witness art in all its glory.”
And it’s really easy. There are websites dedicated to listing upcoming underground gigs across the city, there are festivals with hundreds of bands you can see, or better yet – just stroll the city streets on a Friday or Saturday night and you’re likely to hear gigs from almost every corner.
Now I know the word ‘gig’ seems to go hand in hand with ‘pub’, and I get it, you might like music and might not be allowed in because you’re not 18. I knew the feeling well. But as I said, Melbourne doesn’t seem to discriminate and that goes for age too.
Melbourne has a festival culture. And what’s the best thing about a lot of festivals? There are tonnes of bands and no age restriction. Melbourne seems to have a festival for every day of the year and they’re pretty varied too – you’ve got your big mainstream ones like Big Day Out but there are also smaller community based festivals like St. Kilda and Williamstown.
There are also under 18 gigs held around the city in places like Hi-Fi bar on Swanston St. Moroney says: “One of the most mental gigs we’ve ever played was an under 18s gig at Hi-Fi bar, we’ve never played a crazier gig. We were supporting a heavier band so we were quite worried that we weren’t like that and the audience would get bored but the under 18s were just going nuts – really having a great time just going out, enjoying the music and getting a concert experience.”
And that’s really what live underground music is about. It’s having fun. Listening, chilling, dancing, moshing, whatever the music might be.
And the underground part? It’s finding the latest artist you discovered in the streets of Melbourne, who you saw rise through fame to hear them on the radio, who you thought were cool way before anyone else did. It’s the satisfaction of being there, seeing it first.
As Moroney says:
“You don’t have to know the band, you don’t have to know the music, it’s just about going and getting the experience. It’s for people who appreciate good music, and a fun time.”
Clare Gavin - Hi, I'm a radio journalist, but thought every so often I'd use the opportunity to do some writing with more expanded styles, and on a ...
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