Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ues becoming an issue in the 2010 state elections. SLAM (Save Live Australia's Music),
an advocate action group, successfully lobbied for numerous law changes. There was a
happy ending: the Tote got new owners and the music there continues, while other venues
were granted seven-day 3am licences.
Despite the liquor licence issues, Melbourne is still the live-music capital of Australia,
and draws musicians from around the country. Current buzz bands include the Drones, the
Twerps, UV Race and King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard. For a city so very far away,
Melbourne is also blessed with a large number of international touring acts each year -
pickings are particularly rich during the summer festival season.
The city also has a healthy club and dance music scene. The mega-clubs of the '80s
gave way to a more fluid dance-party culture revolving around techno and other electronic
styles. The 'doof' was born: these festivals, often held in bushland settings over several
days, peaked in the late '90s, though they still have their devotees. Legendary laneway
club Honkytonks took its musical responsibility very seriously, nurturing local DJ talent
(and a generation of club kids) through the early years of this century. Since its demise,
other venues have sprung up to fill the gap. Local electronic/synthpop artists who have
crossed into the mainstream include Cut Copy, the Avalanches and DJ Digital Primate.
Australian hip-hop is well represented in Victoria, with locals such as True Live and DJ
Peril. Hip-hop has also proven enormously popular with young Aboriginal and Islander
musicians (
All You Mob
is an excellent compilation CD of Indigenous artists). Other
modern Indigenous musicians, such as Archie Roach, create unique styles by incorporat-
ing traditional instruments into modern rock and folk formats.
Jazz also has a dedicated local audience and a large number of respected musicians who
are known for improvising, as well as crossing genres into world and experimental elec-
tronica. The heart of the scene is the long-running Bennetts Lane, an archetypal down-an-
alley jazz club if ever there was one. Its Sunday sessions are legendary, and the venue
draws a local crowd that knows its hard bop from its bebop. International and local talent
also pull respectable numbers for gigs at the Melbourne International Jazz Festival and the
Wangaratta Jazz & Blues Festival.
Ninety years after Nellie Melba was made a dame, classical music still has a strong
presence in Melbourne. The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, based at the Arts Centre's
recently renovated Hamer Hall, performs works drawn from across the classical spectrum,
from the popular to challenging contemporary composition. The all-acoustic Melbourne
