Blue Mountains Represent!

I was listening to FBI last night and I was pleased to hear a few familiar voices.

Belles Will Ring

Liam and Lauren from Belles Will Ring were guest programming Dusty Fingers. Liam I've only met once, but Lauren was in the year above me at school and she's a lovely person, and a talented individual. It was a nice surprise to hear them and really great to hear the Belles Will Ring are still recording because they are (and I genuinely mean this, without bias) a really great band.

During the course of the program Liam mentioned various things about the Blue Mountains, which is also my home locale. I shouted periodically at the clock radio "I know where that is! Yeah!", and it got my pride well and truly burning for Blue Mountains music.

There is a creative circle that Belles Will Ring are connected with through friendships and collaboration that includes The Maple Trail, Cloud Control, and The Paper Scissors, along with I'm sure, many other bands I don't know about.

Cloud Control

I grew up in the Mountains and throughout my teenage years I wanted nothing more than to leave school and move to the city. Living in the city, to me, meant not only pubs, cafes, galleries, music venues, fashion, and culture at my fingertips, but I assumed I would immediately be surrounded by intriguing and creative people. I would go to uni (UNI!) and I would live in Newtown (NEWTOWN!) and ideas and inspiration would flow directly to me like I was the drain in a tiled bathroom floor. To me, the Mountains only represented mediocrity, small minds and ugg boots.

In later years I realised a few important things. While the city does indeed present culture and activity within spitting distance from my front door, Sydney contains just as many boring plebs as any other place in the world, and the Mountains seem to contain more creative and successful musicians than I ever once imagined.

The Mountains provides the perfect environment for creativity. There is just the right balance of middle-class and professional-class educated people, who breed children into a place with a slightly more creative leaning than many other places. The kids are bored, because there really is nothing to do in the Mountains. Many just get stoned but quite a few sate their boredom by being creative. There are also very strong community ties, everybody knows everybody and everything is everyone's business, plus a lot of people are involved in the Christian church and every kid goes to one of about 4 major high schools that service the entire area. All this means that people interact and build strong circles, and collaborations are borne out of that. Of the above mentioned bands a few members went to my high school and I'm aware of the musical community that surrounds them and it's got nothing to do with networking or social climbing, but a group of people who hang out, collaborate and inspire each other. It's impressive.

Urthboy

Of course no conversation about Blue Mountains music would be complete without mention of the amazing Aussie hip hop that is coming out of the upper Mountains (Katoomba and surrounding towns). Hermitude and the prolific Urthboy (The Herd) are from the area, as well as Dialetrix and Thundamentals, who I love. I used to play with DJ Tommy Fiasco as a kid, he was the son of one of my Dad's colleges. Those days he was just Tom and could play a mean hide n' seek.

This isn't by any means a definitive article on Blue Mountians music, and I'm sure there are bands I have overlooked so please, let me know who I've missed! I also think that Jordan and the Original Six merit a mention. Rockabilly isn't the kind of genre I feel like I can appreciate without being in the 'scene'. I saw Jordan at the Gearins the other night, surrounded by an entourage of rockabilly people, driving their fancy old cars, looking amazing. I looked at them like a cockney orphan girl outside an expensive restaurant, realising I would never be a part of their world, but still, I've seen him play and they are great. Also CJ Shaw, another friend of a friend, who plays good folk. I met someone recently and we were talking about music. I mentioned folk and his eyes lit up. "Folk! I like folk! Like CJ Shaw, right?" Another pleasent small-world surprise.