The path of any young musician is often fraught with uncertainty. This is partially based on a lack of experience in navigating one’s chosen field while juggling the pressures of life. Progress is often made through a variety of difficult processes across different settings, including rehearsal spaces, venue stages, or recording studios. Human experiences resulting from these areas can be physical, emotional, psychological, or a combination of all three. Fortunately, our central passion for creating music is able to crest atop the noise of commitments, deadlines, timeframes, and other nervous struggles, gradually developing inner strength for the committed. This seemingly simple joy transcends national and global geography, and its effects can be found anywhere, from Chicago to Cairo.
In my 14-year career as a drummer in NSW, Australia, I’ve observed the constantly shifting community dynamics of my musically rich hometown of Katoomba in the Blue Mountains. Our laidback, left-wing approach has encouraged a bold DIY support-base for countless emerging artists. One musician to be recently included among these creative types is 19-year old pop songstress Taylah Harrington, who migrated to Katoomba late last year from her small, industrial hometown of Lithgow. After being discovered while busking on the street as a disconnected newcomer, her passionate approach and spectacular singing voice earned her a radio interview and on-air performance slot, the second cash prize in a talent show, a new tribe of musical friends, and her first band, Trash Baby. This all occurred in the last five months.
Reflecting on her surprising change of lifestyle, she explained, “there were a handful of [musical supporters] in Lithgow, but there’s not really a scene there, which is why I left…I think [the Katoomba scene] is a good place to start up”. While Taylah explained that she could relocate her music career to the disorienting chaos of Sydney if she had to, she’s now found a supportive home in the mountains. The current work of ten diverse venues and five genre-spanning booking agencies are vital forces in maintaining Katoomba’s global reputation as an enthusiastic hub of music and art, against a well-preserved backdrop of beautifully vast wilderness.
This is opposed to the flat reality of inland, industrial towns like Lithgow or Bathurst, which are widespread in Australia. We are a nation in which arts scenes find much more footing in coastal cities and capitals, and hybridised tourist zones like Katoomba.
Situated west of the coast, halfway between Canberra and Bateman’s Bay, you’ll find the rustic country town of Braidwood – a place which I travelled to on March 20th to play drums at a small show with my new rock band earprojector.
There was only one venue in which we could have played in, that being Smokey Horse, a live venue, bar, and Himalayan-Aussie restaurant. Having travelled for over four hours to play the show, we were re-energised from our trip when meeting the members of the opening rock band, The Bazza Morgs. After our show, I chatted to their youngest member, Lily Morris, discussing her current opinions on the scene and any plans she had for expanding her music career.
Just like Taylah, Lily is an ambitious 19-year old female songwriter and guitar player. However, while Taylah already moved to Katoomba from Lithgow, Lily is in the process of moving away from Braidwood, a place which is smaller and much more isolated than Lithgow. Her nearest cities are Canberra and Melbourne, and she has her sights set on moving to the latter. “It’s like the default thing to do”, she surmised. Lily has no real plan to get by on, but she does dream of a bigger life in metropolis. The mind boggles when thinking about how many similar young musicians there may currently be in this country…people who internalise the feeling of being trapped in a small town with no idea of how to get out.
Back up in the Blue Mountains, I later chatted to Swift Treweeke, AKA Passenger Of Shit, in order to get some fresh perspectives from an older artist who has seen far more of the world. After beginning his music career in the early 90s at the age of 13, Swift went on to live in Melbourne, the Netherlands, Greece, and Belgium while becoming a pioneering creative figure in ‘breakcore’, a harsh subculture of electronic music renowned for its extreme speed, volume, and rhythmic intricacy. Through releasing recordings, merchandise, art, running a label, and playing numerous shows both here and abroad, Swift has long been observing the constant evolution of global and local music industries.
Reflecting on his early days in the Blue Mountains music scene, he recalled, “it was supportive, venues were inviting, [and] easy to access and play at”. He also praised the helpful efforts of older musicians and festival organisers, and the power of Katoomba’s community radio station, Radio Blue Mountains (RBM), which officially started broadcasting around the time Swift started out in 1993. Referencing the noble reason inspiring the work of younger cultural facilitators like Katoomba’s Willem Hendriksen, Swift stated, “I think that changed a lot…it seems that the local [Blue Mountains] youth don’t have any outlets now.”
Katoomba’s venues, such as the Family Hotel and the Baroque Room, are able to generate opportunities for young artists, to various extents. However, many young mountains musicians still find themselves working in unglamorous jobs, living off Centrelink support or at their parents houses, or busking for spare change on the streets. This is due to their lack of the proper skills required for successfully engaging with their local arts industry; a problem which would be helped by more education, mentoring, and opportunities.
For young musicians like Taylah, the Blue Mountains scene is still far busier than Lithgow, which in turn is more busy than Braidwood, despite the fresh appeal of Smokey Horse.
As I have learnt through my own musical journey, this is proof of the many differing communities that individual artists have to progress through in order to become more well-known, busier, and happier in their local scenes, before expanding out into the wider world.
The two most vital qualities for young musicians to possess are, arguably, the quality of their work and their skills for forming professional connections within their scenes. This statement mainly rings true for Taylah, Lily, Swift, and myself. In turn, we believe that effort is key, or both are required, or that connections, funding, and the help of an organised crew or label are important. As Swift states, taking oneself seriously and putting in the hard work is crucial.
Seeing as Australia’s live arts scene has almost stabilised again after the COVID-19 pandemic, we can now observe the return of exciting venues hosting standing audiences, artists re-energised from their time in lockdown, and strengthened cultures of online connection.
These are just some of the unlikely benefits to have been gained after billions of modern lifestyles were redefined by the spread of a deadly global disease. Bearing knowledge of this historic case, in which new opportunities have emerged from the unlikeliest of circumstances, I hope to discover more success stories from fellow young musicians.
• ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY’S FEATURE WRITING COURSE, APRIL 2021