musicdownunder by Dylan Hewitson-Bevis What?s the local scene like in Australia?
I?m sure that the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Australia is spiders, snakes and other stuff that could kill you. I?m here to tell you there?s more to my country than deadly animals, and that the Australian music scene is thriving more than you might know. While I may have only joined the scene in mid-2016, it should be known that kids have been throwing fists to their local bands since as far back as 2003. I?m not too sure if bands like Parkway Drive and Amity Affliction are household names outside of my country, but here they were and still are the litmus tests for kids dipping their toe into hardcore and melodic hardcore. I can attest to this. I begun my journey into the pit of my local youth club with Amity Affliction?s Let the Ocean Take Me, and from there developed and grew further into the genre. Unfortunately, by the time I felt ready to leave my shell and join the antics of the live scene, the biggest all ages venue in Brisbane, known as The Lab, had shuttered. This meant my first show was at Foundry Records, a little record store and bar in The Valley, and I can remember this gig incredibly fondly. This show starred four (four!) local Brisbane acts and one act traveling up from south of the Queensland border. The boys from Stepson, The Comfort, Vitals, Satellites and Grim Indiana gave me my first ever look into what the live scene was like for local Brisbane acts, and it was insane to say the least. The venue only had a capacity of around 80 but the space felt huge, with people hanging off the ceiling girders and forming huge mobs around the enthusiastic singers.
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