Little band scene
Encyclopedia
The Little Band scene is the name given to an experimental
post-punk
scene which flourished in Melbourne
from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy
and St Kilda
, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic expression than mainstream success. The bands played in small inner-city venues, often pubs
, and their music was recorded live and broadcasted by Alan Bamford on community radio station 3RRR
. In the scene, the distinctions between performers and audience were blurred; many of the people in the audiences at shows were either in bands or ended up forming such.
The Little Band scene got its name from "Little Band nights", gigs organised in Melbourne
by members of Primitive Calculators
. Originally they were bands made up of members of the Calculators, Whirlywirld
and friends, and acted as support bands for the Calculators, Whirlywirld and The Boys Next Door. The Calculators and Whirlywirld lived next door to each other in a split terrace and had rehearsal spaces in each house. By using the Calculators' and Whirlywirld's equipment, it made it easier to practice and set up for the night. These bands often had a charming disposable quality, happy to play once or twice and then form other "little bands". This was often a result of the bands being composed of non-musicians enjoying the opportunity to realise their naive musical ideas. One journalist described their output as "sloppy, clangy and discordant. By turns, they could sound equally fantastic: a mixture of epileptic drum machine
rhythms, stabbing synth lines and creepy/witty lyrics making for oddly compelling results." Ash Wednesday
of the synthpunk
group JAB
recalled seeing "impromptu bands with noise guitars, drum machines, briefcase synthesisers, being played by people that had never learned to play music. The bands didn't really exist; they just played in loungerooms, and occasionally at venues. It was all low-tech equipment, but at the same time it was almost state-of-the-art, cutting-edge equipment—not what you'd consider rock'n'roll instrumentation." Some in the scene had received proper training in electronic music
and composition, including members of Whirlywirld, who studied under Melbourne-based composer Felix Werder
.
A local record shop owner, Max Robenstone of Climax Records and Alan Bamford, who recorded and mastered the Primitive Calculators' self-titled LP, paid for the recording of the Little Bands EP in 1979, featuring Morpions, Ronnie and the Rhythm Boys, The Take and Too Fat to Fit Through the Door. It grew from there and began to take on a life of its own. At later nights, up to ten hastily assembled bands would play for fifteen minutes each. The scene flourished from 1978 until early 1981. A number of lasting musical partnerships were forged in the scene; Lisa Gerrard
and Brendan Perry
went on to achieve international acclaim with their band Dead Can Dance
. The little bands interacted with other distinct post-punk scenes in Melbourne, including "The Organ Factory" (an experimental arts space in Clifton Hill
), and the "proto-gothic
" scene at the Crystal Ballroom
in St Kilda
, which involved The Boys Next Door (later known as The Birthday Party
), The Moodists
, and Crime and the City Solution
. After the Calculators and Whirlywirld left town for Europe and London in early 1980, the little band scene centred on the shared spaces of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies and Use No Hooks.
The first phase—up to the departure of the Calculators and Whirlywirld—was documented on an unreleased double LP, No Sin Like Dancing, that is catalogued in Clinton Walker
's book Inner City Sound. Several little bands can also be found on the 1981 One Stop Shopping compilation released by Tom Ellard
's Terse Tapes label, as well as on issues of Bruce Milne
's cassette magazine
Fast Forward (1980-82). Bootleg copies of Alan Bamford's 3RRR Little Bands radio program are also known to exist. Little band recordings have appeared on Chapter Music
releases, including the 2007 Primitive Calculators and Friends CD, and the Can't Stop It! compilation series.
, directed by Richard Lowenstein
and starring Michael Hutchence
. Primitive Calculators briefly reformed to star in the film, playing a new version of "Pumping Ugly Muscle". Original little band Thrush and the Cunts also appear with the song "Diseases", and Little Band figurehead Marie Hoy
performs a cover of "Shivers" by The Boys Next Door. The live music scenes were supervised by Whirlywirld's Ollie Olsen
. Coinciding with the film's long-awaited re-release, Lowenstein revisited Dogs in Space, the Little Band scene and Melbourne post-punk in general in the 2009 documentary We're Livin' on Dog Food, featuring rare footage and interviews with various Little Bands instigators.
In 2010, the Melbourne Fringe Festival
revived the Little Band concept with two shows dedicated to scene's ethos of ephemerality. Participants included contemporary Melbourne bands The Boat People
, The Bowers, Bum Creek, The Crayon Fields
, The Devastations
, Dick Diver, Digger & The Pussycats, The Emergency, Fabulous Diamonds, Jessica Says, New War, The Parking Lot Experiments, Pikelet, Rat Vs. Possum, The School of Radiant Living, The Summer Cats, Teeth & Tongue and Twin City Radio, plus Chapter Music
's Guy Blackman, members of Primitive Calculators and special guests The Take, an original little band who reformed for the first time in 30 years.
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
post-punk
Post-punk
Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...
scene which flourished in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
from 1978 until early 1981. This scene was concentrated around the inner suburbs of Fitzroy
Fitzroy, Victoria
Fitzroy is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 2 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Yarra. Its borders are Alexandra Parade , Victoria Parade , Smith Street and Nicholson Street. Fitzroy is Melbourne's...
and St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, and was characterised by large numbers of small bands, more concerned with artistic expression than mainstream success. The bands played in small inner-city venues, often pubs
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, and their music was recorded live and broadcasted by Alan Bamford on community radio station 3RRR
3RRR
3RRR is a popular Australian community radio station, based in Melbourne. It is the largest per capita subscribed radio station in the world....
. In the scene, the distinctions between performers and audience were blurred; many of the people in the audiences at shows were either in bands or ended up forming such.
History
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
by members of Primitive Calculators
Primitive Calculators
The Primitive Calculators are an Australian post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizers along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time...
. Originally they were bands made up of members of the Calculators, Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld
Whirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...
and friends, and acted as support bands for the Calculators, Whirlywirld and The Boys Next Door. The Calculators and Whirlywirld lived next door to each other in a split terrace and had rehearsal spaces in each house. By using the Calculators' and Whirlywirld's equipment, it made it easier to practice and set up for the night. These bands often had a charming disposable quality, happy to play once or twice and then form other "little bands". This was often a result of the bands being composed of non-musicians enjoying the opportunity to realise their naive musical ideas. One journalist described their output as "sloppy, clangy and discordant. By turns, they could sound equally fantastic: a mixture of epileptic drum machine
Drum machine
A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument designed to imitate the sound of drums or other percussion instruments. They are used in a variety of musical genres, not just purely electronic music...
rhythms, stabbing synth lines and creepy/witty lyrics making for oddly compelling results." Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday (musician)
Ash Wednesday is an Australian musician, who played in JAB, the Models and Einstürzende Neubauten.-Biography:Wednesday formed an Australian punk rock band in Adelaide in January 1976...
of the synthpunk
Synthpunk
Synthpunk is a music genre combining elements of electronic music and punk rock. The term was coined by Damian Ramsey in 1999 as an attempt to retroactively identify a small sub-genre of punk music from 1977 to 1984 that involved musicians playing synthesizers in place of electric...
group JAB
JAB
JAB was an Australian punk rock that band formed in Adelaide in 1976. The band's original lineup consisted of Bohdan X on guitar and vocals, Ash Wednesday playing bass guitar, synthesizer and tapes, and Johnny Crash on drums and vocals. The band took its name from the first initials of the...
recalled seeing "impromptu bands with noise guitars, drum machines, briefcase synthesisers, being played by people that had never learned to play music. The bands didn't really exist; they just played in loungerooms, and occasionally at venues. It was all low-tech equipment, but at the same time it was almost state-of-the-art, cutting-edge equipment—not what you'd consider rock'n'roll instrumentation." Some in the scene had received proper training in electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
and composition, including members of Whirlywirld, who studied under Melbourne-based composer Felix Werder
Felix Werder
Felix Werder is an Australian-based German composer of classical and electronic music; also a noted critic and educator. The son of a distinguished liturgical composer, he has composed all his life; he has an international reputation and is one of Australia's most performed composers...
.
A local record shop owner, Max Robenstone of Climax Records and Alan Bamford, who recorded and mastered the Primitive Calculators' self-titled LP, paid for the recording of the Little Bands EP in 1979, featuring Morpions, Ronnie and the Rhythm Boys, The Take and Too Fat to Fit Through the Door. It grew from there and began to take on a life of its own. At later nights, up to ten hastily assembled bands would play for fifteen minutes each. The scene flourished from 1978 until early 1981. A number of lasting musical partnerships were forged in the scene; Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard
Lisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
and Brendan Perry
Brendan Perry
Brendan Michael Perry is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as the male half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard.-Early life:...
went on to achieve international acclaim with their band Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance
Dead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart...
. The little bands interacted with other distinct post-punk scenes in Melbourne, including "The Organ Factory" (an experimental arts space in Clifton Hill
Clifton Hill, Victoria
Clifton Hill is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 4 km north-east from Melbourne's central business district. The border between Clifton Hill and Fitzroy North is Queens Parade and Smith Street. Merri Creek defines the eastern border of Clifton Hill. Its Local Government Area is...
), and the "proto-gothic
Gothic rock
Gothic rock is a musical subgenre of post-punk and alternative rock that formed during the late 1970s. Gothic rock bands grew from the strong ties they had to the English punk rock and emerging post-punk scenes...
" scene at the Crystal Ballroom
Crystal Ballroom (Melbourne)
The Crystal Ballroom was a prominent alternative rock venue within the Seaview Hotel located in Fitzroy Street St.Kilda . It was run by a succession of Melbourne Rock promoters from 1978 to 1987 starting with Dolores San Miguel The Crystal Ballroom (AKA The Ballroom / Seaview Ballroom) was a...
in St Kilda
St Kilda, Victoria
St Kilda is an inner city suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km south from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Port Phillip...
, which involved The Boys Next Door (later known as The Birthday Party
The Birthday Party (band)
The Birthday Party were an Australian rock band, active from 1973 to 1983.Despite being championed by John Peel, The Birthday Party found little commercial success during their career...
), The Moodists
The Moodists
The Moodists were an Australian post-punk band that formed in 1980, when Dave Graney, Clare Moore and Steve Miller of punk group The Sputniks moved from Adelaide to Melbourne. They added bass player Chris Walsh and later added guitarist Mick Turner....
, and Crime and the City Solution
Crime and the City Solution
Crime and the City Solution was a rock music band formed by Australian singer and songwriter Simon Bonney.They had four distinct line-ups: Sydney in 1977–78, Melbourne in 1979, and two groupings in Berlin from 1985–1990. The only common member in all four line-ups was Bonney.Other members included:...
. After the Calculators and Whirlywirld left town for Europe and London in early 1980, the little band scene centred on the shared spaces of The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies and Use No Hooks.
The first phase—up to the departure of the Calculators and Whirlywirld—was documented on an unreleased double LP, No Sin Like Dancing, that is catalogued in Clinton Walker
Clinton Walker
Clinton Walker is an Australian writer, best known for his works on popular music but with a broader interest in social and cultural history and theory....
's book Inner City Sound. Several little bands can also be found on the 1981 One Stop Shopping compilation released by Tom Ellard
Tom Ellard
Thomas Ellard , is an Australian electronic musician best known as the founding member of the electronic and industrial music group Severed Heads.-Early life:...
's Terse Tapes label, as well as on issues of Bruce Milne
Bruce Milne
Bruce Milne is an Australian music entrepreneur closely linked to the Melbourne post-punk scene. He founded the independent record label Au-Go-Go in 1979....
's cassette magazine
Cassette magazine
A cassette magazine is a publication contained entirely on computer-readable media, specifically on cassette. Its content consists of some combination of text, graphics, multimedia, and executable programs, and it is normally specific to one particular computer platform or operating system...
Fast Forward (1980-82). Bootleg copies of Alan Bamford's 3RRR Little Bands radio program are also known to exist. Little band recordings have appeared on Chapter Music
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett inspired fanzine called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen...
releases, including the 2007 Primitive Calculators and Friends CD, and the Can't Stop It! compilation series.
Legacy and influence
The Little Band scene was represented, albeit semi-fictionally, in the 1986 cult film Dogs In SpaceDogs in Space
Dogs in Space is a 1986 Australian film set in the "little band scene" in Melbourne in 1978. It was directed by Richard Lowenstein and starred Michael Hutchence as Sam, the drug-addled frontman of the fictitious band from which the film takes its name....
, directed by Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
and starring Michael Hutchence
Michael Hutchence
Michael Kelland John Hutchence was an Australian musician and actor. He was the founding lead singer-songwriter of rock band :INXS from 1977 to his death in 1997, a period of twenty years. Hutchence was a member of short-lived pop rock group Max Q and recorded solo material which was released...
. Primitive Calculators briefly reformed to star in the film, playing a new version of "Pumping Ugly Muscle". Original little band Thrush and the Cunts also appear with the song "Diseases", and Little Band figurehead Marie Hoy
Marie Hoy
Marie Hoy is an Australian musician and actor. As a vocalist and keyboardist, she has been a member of Sacred Cowboys, Orchestra Of Skin And Bone , No and a number of bands in the Melbourne Little band scene...
performs a cover of "Shivers" by The Boys Next Door. The live music scenes were supervised by Whirlywirld's Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen
Ollie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
. Coinciding with the film's long-awaited re-release, Lowenstein revisited Dogs in Space, the Little Band scene and Melbourne post-punk in general in the 2009 documentary We're Livin' on Dog Food, featuring rare footage and interviews with various Little Bands instigators.
In 2010, the Melbourne Fringe Festival
Melbourne Fringe Festival
The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival held in Melbourne, Australia. The Festival runs for three weeks from late September to early October, usually overlapping with the beginning of the Melbourne International Arts Festival...
revived the Little Band concept with two shows dedicated to scene's ethos of ephemerality. Participants included contemporary Melbourne bands The Boat People
The Boat People (Australian band)
The Boat People are an Australian four-piece indie pop band. The Brisbane based group consists of James O'Brien, Robin Waters, Charles Dugan and Tony Garret...
, The Bowers, Bum Creek, The Crayon Fields
The Crayon Fields
Crayon Fields are a four-piece Melbourne based band signed to the labels Chapter Music and Rallye. They have been described as having an artful naïve-pop aesthetic and as lo-fi....
, The Devastations
The Devastations
Devastations are an indie rock band from Melbourne, Australia. The band was founded in 2002 by the three friends Tom Carlyon, Hugo Cran and Conrad Standish after the end of their former band Luxedo....
, Dick Diver, Digger & The Pussycats, The Emergency, Fabulous Diamonds, Jessica Says, New War, The Parking Lot Experiments, Pikelet, Rat Vs. Possum, The School of Radiant Living, The Summer Cats, Teeth & Tongue and Twin City Radio, plus Chapter Music
Chapter Music
Chapter Music is one of Australia's longest-running independent record labels. It was founded by Guy Blackman in Perth in June 1992, after a few issues of a Syd Barrett inspired fanzine called Chapter 24, that Blackman started in October 1990, when he was seventeen...
's Guy Blackman, members of Primitive Calculators and special guests The Take, an original little band who reformed for the first time in 30 years.
List of little bands
Bands listed in bold went on to become fully fledged gigging groups.- 66 Johnsons
- The Alan Bamford Musical Experience
- The Albert Hammond Megastar
- The Art Circus
- Bags of Personality
- The Band of Hope and Glory
- BeisselBoyceBoswell
- The Buck Stops Here
- The Child Molestor Plus 4
- Clang
- Club Allusion
- Company I Keep
- Consider Town Planning
- Corporate Body
- Delicatessants
- The Devils
- The Eastwood Family
- The Franging Stuttgarters
- The Great Mastabini
- The Go Set
- Government Drums
- The Incredible Metronomic Blues Band
- The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies
- Intro Muzak Band
- The Irreplacables
- The Ivan Durrants
- The J P Sartre Band
- The Jetsonnes (members went on to form Hunters & CollectorsHunters & CollectorsHunters & Collectors were an Australian rock music band formed in Melbourne in 1981, fronted by singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Seymour, they developed a blend of pub rock and art-funk...
) - Jimmy Haemorrhoid and the Piles
- Junk Logic
- Kim and Mark
- The Klu
- The Leapfrogs
- Lest We Forget
- The Lunatic Fringe
- The Melbourne SS
- Morpions
- The Nookies
- The Oroton Bags
- The Pastel Bats (also known as The Pink Bats)
- The Persons Borthers
- The Potato Cooperative
- The Quits
- Rosehip and the Teas
- Rolf Horrors
- Ronnie and the Rhythm Boys
- Sample Only
- The Sandmen
- The Saxophone Caper
- Seaside Resort
- Serious Young Insects (members went on to form Boom Crash OperaBoom Crash OperaBoom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band formed in Melbourne, Australia in 1985. Initially based around the songwriting partnership of Richard Pleasance and Peter Farnan Boom Crash Opera also includes Dale Ryder , Peter 'Maz' Maslen , Greg O'Connor and Ian Tilley Boom Crash Opera are a pop-rock band...
) - Shop Soiled
- The Shower Scene From Psycho
- Simplex
- Small Men Big Cars
- Somersaulting Consciences
- The Soporifics
- The Spanish Inquisition
- Stand by Your Guns
- The Swinging Hoy Family
- The Take
- Three Toed Sloths
- Thrush and the Cunts
- Too Fat to Fit Through the Door
- Too Many Daves
- Use No Hooks
- World of Sport
Bands and artists associated with the scene
- Lisa GerrardLisa GerrardLisa Gerrard is an Australian musician, singer, and composer who rose to prominence as part of the music group Dead Can Dance with former music partner Brendan Perry....
and Brendan PerryBrendan PerryBrendan Michael Perry is a singer and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work as the male half of the duo Dead Can Dance with Lisa Gerrard.-Early life:...
of Dead Can DanceDead Can DanceDead Can Dance are an ethereal neoclassical duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in August 1981, by Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. The band relocated to London in May 1982 and disbanded in 1998. Their 1996 album Spiritchaser reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top World Music Albums Chart... - Marie HoyMarie HoyMarie Hoy is an Australian musician and actor. As a vocalist and keyboardist, she has been a member of Sacred Cowboys, Orchestra Of Skin And Bone , No and a number of bands in the Melbourne Little band scene...
- John MurphyJohn Murphy (musician)John Murphy , sometimes credited as "Jonh Murphy", is an Australian drummer, percussionist and multi-instrumental session musician who has played in numerous Australian and British post-punk, ambient and industrial music groups...
- Ollie OlsenOllie OlsenOllie Olsen 1958, Melbourne, Australia) is an Australian composer, synthesist and sound designer who has been producing and performing rock, electronic and experimental music for the past thirty years...
- Richard PleasanceRichard PleasanceRichard Arnold Pleasance is an Australian rock musician and producer. He was a founding member of Boom Crash Opera on guitar, bass guitar, vocals and as a songwriter in 1985; they released three albums before Pleasance left in 1992...
- Primitive CalculatorsPrimitive CalculatorsThe Primitive Calculators are an Australian post punk band formed in the late 1970s, known for their use of a screeching Mosrite Ventures model guitar, primitive synthesizers along with an electronic organ played through effects pedals, and an extra fast drum machine keeping time...
- Ron RudeRon RudeRon Rude is a rock and roll musician in Melbourne, Australia. He was part of the post punk "little band scene" that flourished in Melbourne in the late 1970s - 1980s, and is best known for staging a hunger strike in the window of local record shop Missing Link, and the demand that local radio...
- WhirlywirldWhirlywirldWhirlywirld was an Australian post punk band led by Ollie Olsen in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and the first of his musical collaborations with drummer John Murphy...