As the Australian music industry turns the spotlight on itself during Aus-music week, the Warrnambool Music Industry Skills students are preparing to showcase their talents in the Expose Your Arts exhibition. Taking place at the Warrnambool Art Gallery on Tuesday night, the exhibition will feature memorabilia documenting 30 years of the city's musical history. But though the city has always had a strong music scene there are those who say it's never been better than it is now. With bands such as the Piffen Yonnies, Tukan Sam, Gramps and Thirteen gaining acclaim through competitions such as Triple J's Unearthed and the National Campus Battle of the Bands it's easy to see why. Yet these are just the visible tip of the iceberg that is Warrnambool's music industry. Beneath the surface, holding it afloat, are the venues, courses and industry people that promote, train and help produce the artists and their work.
Front Lyn Eales, Georgia Henderson and Ross Kyzyzanski. Rear, Mattthew Walkenden, Leigh Lewis and Ruben Shannon
Lyn Eales is a coordinator of the Ausmusic Music Industry Skills course run through the South West Institute of Tafe.
The three-month course is run nationally but in Warrnambool it is now nearing completion for the third time around in just over one year, with 54 students having taken part. "The demand is huge.. we're managing to fill every course and last time I actually had to turn people away," Ms Eales says.' The course has been included in secondary school studies as part of the Vocational Education and Training program with Brauer College the only south-west school to include it in the curriculum' ' Brauer College head of music, Sue Horton, says while Warrnambool has always been a "musical town" the results of the course can be seen reflected in the local music scene. "Like most things it's had its peaks and troughs," she says of the town's music industry, "but it's definitely coming up to another peak and this has been a part of it." Lyn cites shifting community attitudes towards the music industry as part of the reason for the course's popularity: "It's now seen as tangible industry that you can actually make a living out of". I would seem the days of being told to "get a real job" could be coming to an end. "People are being employed even while doing the course", says Lyn. Students in this years Tafe class are involved with five working bands and have been involved in lighting, mixing and on the new music newsletter comfusion.
But the course's best ambassador is founder of Cranked Promotions, Dean Ray. Before undertaking it last year, Dean was hanging curtains for a living while playing part-time in his band Dive. A decision to focus his life on music led to his establishing the business Cranked Promotions. Starting out earlier this year, his first big success was booking The Living End and Jebediah. Since then he has booked bands such as Weddings Parties Anything and The Superjesus, making a name for himself locally and in Melbourne - and at the same time promoting Warrnambool's reputation as a music centre. 'After the first course, I started booking down here and we got some good bands back to Warrnambool again.. and this created a bit of interest too," he says. "What I did was made it a mission of mine to give local bands supports. 'Now, because there's somewhere for bands to play, there's bigger bands coming; there's opportunities for supports for local bands that are trying to get noticed a bit more and I think that's all in the big picture."
Dean Ray, a graduate of the Music Industry Skills course in Warrnambool, now runs Cranked Promotions, a business that books bands for the city.
But local bands aren't getting Opportunities only to play. These days it's easier -and cheaper to record a CD than it's ever been. As a result, business is booming for the two recording studios. With 25 years of experience in the music industry Motherlode Recording Studio owner Tony Peel has witnessed the changes in society and technology that helped bring this about. After experiencing the difficulties of having to record in Melbourne, Tony set up his own studio, Primarily to record his own music, 15 years ago. These days he's busier than ever. Peter Bird, Of Yelp Studios, says for bands these days recording is not only easier but also it is par for the course - his business is also running at full throttle. The rise of smaller studios and the demise of larger studios, aided by improved technology, have made recording cheaper and more accessible to more bands. The recording by the Music Industry Students, Expose Your Arts, recorded at Motherlode Recording Studios, is an example of how accessible recording studios have become. As part of the course, each student has to write, record and produce a musical piece, the results of which can be heard on Tuesday night at the exhibition. To understand this achievement it has to be noted that some of the students beginning the course had never performed before and others had no technical experience. Tony was involved not only with the recording process but also with teaching the students about technical aspects of the industry. 'That program is a very good program, it's basically demystifying a lot of the misconceptions that people have about things like equipment and the way the industry runs," he said. 'It's very good from that point of view of getting an overview of what really happens in the industry in real life.' Dean attributes Warrnambool's thriving industry in part to the success of the course, saying it has educated musicians about the industry as well as helping them make necessary connections with each other and key industry people such as Tony. Without these skills and connections some of the bands might still be playing in their lounge rooms. According to Dean, word is getting out about Warrnambool's music scene as it has become easier to book the city's bands elsewhere and to get name bands to come here. 'There's actually a vibe in Melbourne at the moment they're talking about the scene in Warrnambool and saying 'what's in the water down there? Why's it so big down there?'
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