In Search of ‘Independent’ Brisbane: Music, Memory, and Cultural Heritage

Abstract

As the third largest city in Australia, Brisbane has a long and established history of independent and DIY music-making dating back to the early 1970s. Although generally regarded as a second-tier music city in Australia, several groups emerging from Brisbane have scored national and international success, notably The Saints and The Go-Betweens. Indeed, in recent years these Brisbane bands have achieved iconic status in global punk and independent music scenes. Moreover, as Stafford’s (2004) book Pig City reveals, such artists were merely the vanguard of a larger local independent music scene that often waged a hidden war against oppressive law enforcement agencies and cultural parochialism. While the socio-political scenario in Brisbane is today quite different, the legacy of the city’s past remains to the extent that the local independent music scene is still largely the product of small-scale and often ad hoc arrangements for music-making (see Rogers, 2008). This presents a challenge when considering independent music heritage within Brisbane. While places of significant musical importance exist within the city, these sites rarely reflect the tone of contemporary youth music scenes. Yet, as the reception of Stafford’s Pig City together with an increasing number of local, small-scale initiatives (for example, photo-exhibitions, websites, and collections of fan memorabilia) illustrates, there is increasing interest in Brisbane’s punk and indie music past, the bearing of this on current independent music activity in the city, and Brisbane’s links with independent music scenes in other parts of Australia and overseas.

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