“Music City Melbourne: Urban Culture, History and Policy” with Shane Homan and Seamus O’Hanlon

This Must Be The Place Podcast

As part of Amplify: Story, Resistance, Radio Liz Taylor of This Must be the Place talks with Shane Homan and Seamus O’Hanlon about their book “Music City Melbourne: Urban Culture, History and Policy” - looking back on Melbourne’s music spaces from the 1950s to now. From town hall to stadium to pub, how have the physical spaces of popular music changed alongside a dramatically changing city? What are the ingredients of a music city, and what role does government policy have? Shane argues music cities are “a bit more complex than making sure you have enough live music venues in your city, add some funding and stir – each city as its own histories and settings”. The book starts with the arrival of rock and roll (and other transformative changes, like television) in 1956 after which Shane and Seamus chart the emergence and declines of different music circuits in Melbourne: e.g. drawing on interviews with musicians of Italian background who came to Melbourne in the mid 20th century and created their own Italian ballroom circuit across suburbia. These shows would attract thousands of people, playing hits from the Italian hit parade for local consumption. Another example is unlicensed discotheques of the 1960s – at one point there were 25 in the Melbourne CBD, such as Catcher in Flinders Lane which served as a space for late night jams. Not having liquor licenses, discotheques were hard to shut down, but police were in “a constant search for what we can do these venues for”. Seamus argues that as economic conditions change, new spaces become redundant, and “one of the really interesting things about music is that it’s really good at taking over redundant spaces” – whether suburban theatres, boxing rings, hotels, and later warehouses. In Melbourne, culture and tourism became seen as sources of economic growth after the decline of manufacturing in the 1970s - “in the 1950s and 1960s it was all about factories and come and get a job. By the 1980s they were gone. It was all about, come and have fun instead”. Alongside these broader economic and social upheavals, beer barns and the pub rock scene come to prominence. Melbourne changed from an almost parochial but vibrant music scene, to a self-consciously globally connected city promoted for its local live music scene of smaller venues and sub-genres. Looking back on Melbourne’s specific music scenes, Shane argues that what they have all had in common is a “do-it-yourself enthusiasm from communities finding their own members, with venues building from there”. Governments, generally, have tended to not notice them until years later when they’re under threat. The interview covers liquor licensing, demographics, migration trends, noise complaints, moral panics, planning and policy settings like Agent of Change, broadcasting and the origins of community radio, Sydney and Melbourne rivalries, recording labels, publishing, and cultural policy; but also lands back on the inexorable pressures of housing and land costs. The contemporary challenges in Melbourne and other expensive and unequal cities are “how do you keep the small hole in the wall venues going?” and how do you create the conditions for new venues and opportunities to emerge? “Venues aren’t just bricks and mortar, they have a heritage component in terms of memories of both fans and performers”. With music venues facing hostile conditions, new ideas and models include the Collingwood Yards precinct, and the Tote’s latest iteration. But does place and live music still matter? You can record music to high quality on your phone, but “seeing it performed live- there’s still something about it” – at least for now. Links – https://amplifies.blog/2023/09/27/pirate-radio-schedule/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/amplify-story-resistance-radio/id1704273057 https://www.bloomsbury.com/au/music-city-melbourne-9781501365720/