Hold Hands for community radio

Thu 23rd Jul, 2009 in Features

Two months ago Sydney station FBi did its best to remind all us frugal, music-loving freeloaders just how precarious the state of metropolitan community radio is in these current economic climes. They did it with flair – executing an audacious and media-savvy campaign to persuade Sir Richard Branson to part with a quick million to save the young station.

The ‘Ask Richard’ project garnered not an unexpected torrent of attention on the interwebs and while $1 million was not immediately forthcoming from the world’s 236th richest person, Sir Richard phoned in and did promise a couple of international flights and tickets to the V-fest, to the likely delight of listeners and station volunteers.

What this amusing episode reminds us is that community radio and the punters have an ongoing, mutually beneficial relationship that needs regular sustenance and nourishment on both sides. Thus heading to the Tote on Sunday for Hold Hands is good for you and for your radio.

The day-long gig, hosted by the uber-collaboration of the Chapter Music, Lost & Lonesome, Mistletone, Remote Control/Dot Dash, Sensory Projects, Two Bright Lakes and Unstable Ape labels, will see a great array of local acts grace the stage, like local stalwarts Kes Band, Kid Sam and the Sand Pebbles.

It’s a fundraiser for Melbourne’s Triple R and PBS and Sydney’s FBi and 2SER. Sophie Best from Mistletone is quick to recognise how fundamental community radio is to Melbourne’s music scene.

‘I think we’ve got really fantastic community radio here,’ she says, ‘and the stations in Sydney have been really important to us and to our bands because it means our bands have been able to have a second home and have somewhere to go play regularly to crowds [when in Sydney].’

‘That’s made a really big difference… if you’re in America or in Europe you can travel around the whole time playing different audiences whereas in Australia because of the distance it’s really hard. You don’t want to be stuck in Melbourne your whole life just playing to the same crowd. Having Sydney opening up has been totally because of 2SER and FBi, so all four of those stations are important to us and our bands.’

On the Mistletone roster is five-piece Beaches, a hazy psych-rock outfit that has been pressing plenty of people’s buttons of late. As Beaches guitarist Alison Bolger tells it, the band formed in fairly casual circumstances in 2007.

‘We’re all mates – we’ve known each other for years, seeing each other’s bands, talking about playing together, so one day we finally jammed together and we wrote a couple of songs,’ she says.

The five women clearly hit upon a winning dynamic, and as Sophie Best recalls, Mistletone were fast in signing them.

‘We found out about them really early in the piece… we were just totally blown away by them. We just approached them and said you guys are rad, are you doing an album, we’d love to work with you and they pretty much said yes straight away…with Beaches we pretty much fell in love with what they were doing and with them as people.’

Last year Beaches scored an AMP nomination for their debut eponymous album, plus an invitation to play at January’s ATP festivals in Mt Bulla and Cockatoo Island in Sydney, which were curated by Nick Cave. It was the stellar point of a busy summer, which also included gigs at Meredith and the Big Day Out.

‘It was awesome. I really wanted to go the festival anyway…then playing was so much fun,’ says Bolger. ‘In Sydney it was on that island, another awesome place. At the Sydney one we got more of a chance to meet the other bands.’

Beaches was well-received by fans and critics alike. Mess & Noise called it ‘the perfect soundtrack for this (and every other) summer’ while SMH declared Beaches an ‘excellent, genre-defying album’.

According to Sophie Best, Beaches’ allure is in their sound. ‘I think people like Beaches for the same reason we do, that there’s something really fresh and pure about what they are doing, they have just created something that’s a reflection of the music that all five of them love, coming from five individual personalities. Just the way a band should be really, creating something that reflects them as people.’

While a number of bands set to play on Sunday are on the Mistletone label, Hold Hands is really a joint effort with, as Sophie makes clear, Steve Phillips from Sensory Projects (‘a totally amazing label’) is spearheading the event.

‘I feel guilty taking any credit cos he’s done all the work. Steve’s been totally amazing, his energy has driven this whole thing. Basically what happened was FBi in Sydney put out the call for support when they were struggling financially and Steve rang around to all of us and said, look, we should do something, and between us we decided, yeah, lets help FBi but we also want to help the other stations because they are all equally important to us.’

Hold Hands is the result of the munificence of many. Everything has been donated, including a showcase CD that will be given away on the day with any merch purchase.

‘And that was another idea of Steve’s too because you know it’s tough to sell CDs these days’, says Sophie. ‘Anyone who wants to stock up on Australian music should come along with their wallets, because there is going to be a really amazing selection of music there on sale.’

And of course, Sophie gives a nod to the Tote, a Melbourne institution and the perfect location for the fundraiser fest.

‘The Tote have been fantastic…it’s going to be an access all areas gig, which means we’re going to take over the whole venue,’ she says. ‘Obviously the event will sell out so it just means we’ll be able to fit a few more people in and just make the whole day dedicated to this event.’

‘The Tote is obviously such a mainstay of Melbourne and we’ve held a lot of Mistletone events at the Tote…it’s such a community place in Melbourne. I mean people from all different parts of the music scene feel comfortable at the Tote…and it’s a cosy place to hang out.’

Hold Hands takes place at the Tote on Sunday 26th of July with Beaches, Black Cab, Guy Blackman, Jessica Says, Kes Band, Kid Sam, Lee Memorial, Mick Turner, St Helens and many more. For the full line up and playing times head HERE