Little Band Scene

The Little Band Scene was an experimental post-punk scene which flourished in Melbourne, Australia from 1978 until early 1981. Instigated by local group Primitive Calculators, this scene was concentrated in the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and was characterised by large numbers of short-lived bands, more concerned with artistic expression than mainstream success. The bands played in small inner-city venues, often pubs, and their music was recorded live and broadcast by Alan Bamford on community radio station 3RRR. In the scene, the distinctions between performers and audience were blurred; many audience members were either in little bands or ended up forming such.

The scene was dramatised in the 1986 cult film Dogs in Space.

"There were impromptu bands with noise guitars, drum machines, briefcase synthesisers, being played by people that had never learned to play music. The bands didn't really exist; they just played in loungerooms, and occasionally at venues. It was all low-tech equipment, but at the same time it was almost state-of-the-art, cutting-edge equipment—not what you'd consider rock'n'roll instrumentation."

In 1978, members of Primitive Calculators, an experimental post-punk group from Melbourne, formed a short-lived side band, the Leapfrogs. Using it as their own opening act, Primitive Calculators decided to form other "little bands" with friends, including members of Whirlywirld, who lived next door to the group in Fitzroy North, with rehearsal spaces in each house. By sharing their equipment with the little bands, it made it easier to practice and set up for each gig. Soon they started staging "Little Band nights" at various inner city venues, and at first, rules were strictly imposed: no little band was allowed to play more than twice and could have no more than fifteen minutes worth of material. According to Primitive Calculators frontman Stuart Grant, it was "the punk ethos of disposability, novelty and working against the grain of the standard modes of procedure in the music business." Many of the little bands were composed of non-musicians who enjoyed the opportunity to realise their naive musical ideas. One journalist described their output as "sloppy, clangy and discordant. By turns, they could sound equally fantastic: a mixture of epileptic drum machine rhythms, stabbing synth lines and creepy/witty lyrics making for oddly compelling results." Some in the scene had received proper training in electronic music and composition, including members of Whirlywirld, who studied under Melbourne-based composer Felix Werder.

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