International Regional and Local Music Scenes
Local Perth, Australia Music Scene
Perth is located in Western Australia on the opposite coast as Brisbane. It's a completely different scene with
its own culture, but is still part of the Australian touring circuit for international acts who visit the
country. The opposite coasts still share many of the same regional acts who promote themselves as up and coming
national acts. Some of the top artists in the region include Rolf Harris, John Butler Trio, Tim Minchin, Kevin Parker,
David Helfgott and Luke Steele. Some emerging acts have included Tame Impala, Eskimo Joe and
the Birds of Tokyo. Perth is about a 2 day drive non-stop from Brisbane.
One of the best ways a songwriter can connect with a local audience is to write
songs about local landmarks or stories. It's also a way to creatively document
local history. It allows the songwriter to carve out a niche as being on a short
list of writers who chose to tackle a rare topic in music. The more a songwriter
can embrace a niche, the more he or she may develop a unique identity. One of the
places that embraces niche alternative music is Triple J, a government-owned station
controlled by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The station gives a lot of
support to Australian artists.
Another way to tap into local flavors is to sing about people in the local scene.
Once again, this is an excellent way to document history and carve out a niche that
not many others have approached. Add creativity to the process and you end up with
very different sounding music that can still be very relatable to a crowd. The main
reason that local artists don't get played on the radio is because their music is
not relatable to anyone but themselves and many their small following.
The pressure for most local bands is to play either popular hits that everyone knows
or to have some kind of groove that gets people dancing. Either way the main driver
behind both schools of thought is to help alcohol sales, as most music venues are either
bars, restaurants or places that serve alcohol. The era of the all-ages venue has dissipated
over time, although those venues still exist, but are outnumbered by places that serve alcoholic drinks.
Consequently, the history of Perth local music is mainly tied in with the night club scene.
Since alcohol is the real cash cow behind the Perth music scene in many cases, bar owners and managers tend to
want bands that help alcohol sales by either creating a dance scene or a social scene. Either way, the music
becomes secondary, but as a useful soundtrack. With dance bands the goal is to create an energetic party
atmosphere that inspires a flow of ordering drinks. Important music venues in Perth include Perth Concert Hall, Challenge Stadium, Perth Arena,
the Burswood Dome and Fremantle Arts Centre. The local scene is documented by Grok Magazine.
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