Songs about Brisbane – 16: Heinz Riegler
It’s the sound of being a few years out of the share-house and the goon cask and finally noticing the beautiful autumn streets.
Songs about Brisbane – 15: Yves Klein Blue
From every conversation I’ve had with any person, the response is the same. “Why would anybody write a song about Brisbane?”
Songs About Brisbane – 14: Powderfinger
I’ve never been a huge Powderfinger fan, but when I first moved to Brisbane they were just starting to become popular on the back of Internationalist [1998]. Not longer after I moved, Odyssey Number 5 [2000] was released and about half of Brisbane owned that album. Nowadays, people don’t seem have a lot of nice things […]
Songs about Brisbane – 13: Washington
[Another suggestion from the indefatigable Rachel Newnham. This one features a particular favourite of mine – Ed.] Washington – Rich Kids This song always reminds me walking through the Valley, our hub of scungy males and inappropriately dressed ladies. With my fear of gross people, this song could soundtrack many nights of being accosted by groups […]
Songs about Brisbane – 12: Custard, pt 2
The opening lyrics of Custard’s 1998 song ‘Caboolture Speed Lab’ summarise the rebellious fuck-it ethos that the band perpetrated. It’s all power chords, tempo changes and keytar solos
Songs about Brisbane – 10: Ed Kuepper
Shortly after I arrived in Brisbane, I sat at a table in the government building on George St with several high-up types from Arts QLD and Trade QLD and Tourism QLD. I’d been expressly invited to discuss a potential new venture from myself, and funded by the state government: a high-quality, bi-annual music and arts […]
Songs about Brisbane – 9: Allo Darlin’
As well as deep feelings, this song just emulates any summer university student road trip; burning arms on car doors is such a Queensland problem.
Songs about Brisbane – 8: Sekiden
Let’s face it. Brisbane is a small town. So small in fact, that you don’t even need to write the entire word. Simply just shorten it to BNE and there it is. You get it. “I’m giving up on you/And everything you do.” It’s big, but not that big. It’s the same faces, day in […]
Songs about Brisbane – 7: John Kennedy’s ’68 Comeback Special
If there’s one thing I find genuinely irritating about Brisbane’s music scene (and that list is a lot shorter than most people would think), it’s that everyone is always trying to give it an angle. We are The Next Big Thing, The Cultural Backwater, The Experimental Sound Capital. We’re on the cusp of greatness, forcing […]
Songs about Brisbane – 5: The Go-Betweens
[The following was written almost a year ago to the day for my regular column for the Spanish magazine Go Mag. I was trying to capture the feeling of listening to the rain outside my house in The Gap, and futilely searching around in my iTunes for songs featuring the word ‘rain’, before stumbling across what […]
