People involved in Australian music in any way, shape or form must support our beloved live venues before its too late. But none more so than the artists themselves.
I spent some early years of my musical career being cynical of the industry. It was something I felt very passionate about at the time, yet remains the single biggest regret I’ve had thus far. The head honchos in the industry weren’t doing enough as far as the naive, teenage version of me was concerned. In retrospect – we didn’t have the material, we probably didn’t have the work ethic and we certainly didn’t have the attitude. I spent so much time and energy complaining about the state of the scene and writing songs about it, that I rarely had the opportunity to enjoy music at all. But our industry has a perfectly healthy amount of support on offer for all of us, and the easiest way to give a little back happens to be the most enjoyable – watching live music.
We are all guilty of expecting a great deal from Australian music, yet offering little in return. In February 2010, between ten and twenty thousand people attended the SLAM (Save Live Australian Music) in Melbourne’s CBD. Whilst saving The Tote was a fantastic result for music lovers all over Australia, I couldn’t help wondering how much we’d all actually gone out and enjoyed it lately. I for one hadn’t stepped foot in the place to catch a show or buy a beer for almost two years. A fantastic old pub with loads of Melbourne music history. Arguably Melbourne’s home of rock and roll and I hadn’t been enjoying it. For a lot of musicians, this is true. It seems like there’s always time to accept a show offer or work in an extra gig on the weekend, but getting motivated to go and support other local music can prove difficult.
Generally speaking, a musician is made from a music fan. It’s time that we embraced the latter and attended some shows up front with the diehards before all of us are nostalgically musing about the venues we fought to save but rarely enjoyed, walking frames in hand, old and grey.
My Echo are gearing up to release their debut album! Recorded with esteemed producer Hadyn Buxton (Trial Kennedy, Ecca Vandall) in Adelaide the newest single ‘Old & Grey’ is about friendships, nostalgia, hardships and resilience.
