Who’s Listening?: A Look Into Australia’s Pop/Punk Scene

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Webspinnermag

20 min readJun 11, 2021

Hello! This is my longest piece. It took a lot of collaborating, research, and conversation. It is very different to what I’ve done in the past, so I’ve been very scared to see what everyone will think of it. So, grab yourself your hot beverage of choice, get extra cozy, and let’s get started.

I originally started exploring “Australia’s obsession with the American scene”, but it quickly became more than that. Every time I thought I’d finally come up with a way to write this, more paths opened and I was back at the research stage.

Through this piece I explore:

Why it is that a lot of younger fans enter the pop/punk / emo scene following the staple American bands but never make it to the local scene
What are issues within this scene, globally, that may contribute to the local scene and what does that mean for local bands
How to make the local scene more accessible to younger fans

Gathering the research for this was hard. It was impossible to find exactly what I was looking for, but it really made me think. I researched whatever I could before speaking to some friends and vocalist Tristan Higginson of Waxflower to find the answers.

Part I— Background

The three main observations that led to this piece were:

In my visual arts class we spoke about how Australian artists take a lot of inspiration from America which has led to, in some cases, a lack of truly authentic modern Australian art. The Australian artists who have their own aesthetic and concept manage to succeed while those who attempt to ‘copy’ the American style rather than simply take inspiration from it tend to ‘fall flat’. The discussion ended with the statement — “Australian art could be more unique and powerful if it simply allowed itself to be ‘Australian art’ rather than anything else.” I began to think about this concept in terms of music and how it could or couldn’t apply to smaller local bands trying to grow into a scene that is still heavily American.
Growing up my friends would get very interested in the big American bands of the genre but mostly faded out of that scene before having the chance to get into local bands. With this I considered things like social media presentation, shows, diversity, sound, personalities, and marketing of different bands.
After reading “Punk: The Loneliest Crowd” by Lorraine Petel I came to realize that the points raised were valid for pop/punk too, in some cases. Communities under the alternative / underground umbrella tend to come from a very angsty place and, therefore, become isolated from society, which makes sense and isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, it means that in a lot of cases there is a separation between fans of the music, more so in the past than now due to the increase in the importance of social media. They create a sense of community that is somewhat skewed. This may be due to gatekeeping, a lack of diversity and representation, or simply the scene being “hidden in plain sight” — which, as previously stated, seems to be the case with Australia.

My aim with speaking to my friends about the topic was figuring out the deeper elements within these observations, to find out not just what has led them to stay in the scene and what has pushed them away from it, but also, what has kept them from joining the local scene. I was interested to see if any of my observations matched their experiences or if their story was completely different.

Part II— Audience

This part of the process was valuable as it allowed me to talk to different people with different experiences in the scene. It led all of us to consider the global scene’s lack of diversity, the presence of gatekeeping, and allegations, harassment, and assault, which have all played an important part in pushing people away from pop/punk, which in turn have a negative effect on the local scene.

So, to start off, I asked them questions like who are your favorite Australian + American artists and Why?, If you’re more detached from the pop/punk scene, do you remember why or how that happened?, what did you like and dislike about the scene?, and how have all the allegations and stories of abuse and harassment affected your view of the scene? And then I followed these up with more in-depth conversation.

Jimmy:

I want to start my talk with Jimmy (16) by simply saying — they struggled coming up with 5 Australian bands they like.

“I think it’s just because American culture is so everywhere. It’s not that I’ve been ‘put off’ Aussie music it’s just that I’ve never really thought to pay attention to many Aussie artists.”

Something that came up a lot in my conversation with them was the lack of safe spaces in the local scene — simple things like magazines, and all ages festivals and events, but then also harassment and assault within the global scene.

“It’s just made me more cautious of the people I idolise […] I dislike how many shit heads there are it’s like I have to do a background check every time I find a new artist lmao.”

On top of that, something we always talk about is social media’s negative effects on the scene and the fans. Mainly the idea of cringe culture. If you don’t know, cringe culture is basically targeted insults or ridicule toward different communities online. Emo and pop/punk have always been a big target of this— look back to the early 2000’s when the scene was at its peak, there was still a deep hate by those in the metal / hardcore / punk scenes as well as wider society because emo and pop/punk wasn’t, and in some cases, still isn’t as valued by bigger communities because of the topics the music covers, the whole culture around it including things like clothing, and, overall, how “unconventional” it is.

“I still listen to the music but I guess I’m a bit more distanced just because I went through a period of feeling a bit cringe for liking that stuff? I do love the music though keeps me going :)”

They also raised the point of gatekeeping. It’s always been a huge part of pop/punk, and really any pop-culture community online, I looked more into this in my conversation with Lee.

Jimmy made me consider:

Gatekeeping and cringe culture
Allegations, assault, and harassment
Lack of magazines and media

Lee:

Lee (22), touched up on a few different topics, firstly stating their deep love for Australian artists:

“In music I look for unique lyricism & sounds, artists that do something actually interesting. Montaigne, Tash Sultana, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Alex the astronaut, E^st. They all have a really authentic style and they are all so honest with their songwriting. Each of them are completely unique in themselves and their music.”

They then touched up on allegations, harassment, and assault and how that has contributed to their current distance from the scene:

“I mean it was one of those things where I was always kind of weary of it and as more and more scandals and allegations have come out it’s only cemented that the scene as a space can be a pretty nasty place for something that’s supposed to be inclusive.”

That also made me consider the lack of representation. These are all issues that interconnect — the lack of inclusivity is mainly due to gatekeeping and because of that, there is a lack of safe spaces, and then harassment comes in. Gatekeeping has ruined the space for fans that don’t seem to “fit the mould” of what a pop/punk fan “should look” like in every sense, so things like clothing, gender identity, race, sexuality, etc. The toxicity within the scene online has made the space really hard to feel welcomed in. It’s a scene “made for everyone” that largely favours a specific type of person — which definitely needs to change.

“Honestly, it was a build up of all the allegations combined with the negative attitudes and gatekeeping in the fan spaces that have always been very present.”

Lee made me consider:

Gatekeeping and social media
Allegations, assault, and harassment
Lack of diversity

Cordelia:

Cordelia (17) brought up similar issues to Jimmy but helped me see them from a different perspective. For example, her look at the social media aspect:

“Not necessarily ‘put off’ but I generally won’t get into Australian bands as much because the scene often isn’t that big. That won’t stop me from listening to Aus. music, I just won’t necessarily go back to it as often, probably, because I don’t see as much about it on social media, etc.”

With this I considered Australian music content on social media. I considered the way local bands post — especially smaller bands. In some cases there seems to be a lack of creative direction — which is understandable due to budgets and a lack of connections early on — however, in some cases it is also undervalued. The way bands post — in terms of when they post, how visually appealing the posts are and how they all tie in together, the type of language they use in their captions and bios, and how that ties in to their music — is all very important to the way people interact with your brand. Not paying attention to these things may lead to a failure to connect with new people and reach a wider audience.

“Allegations! I was already starting to move away from pop punk/emo music it further pushed me away as a lot of bands and artists I looked up to were receiving various allegations around sexual harassment, transphobia, homophobia, etc. and I obviously didn’t want to support that.”

Obviously, as previously stated, allegations, assault, and harassment have been a big aspect of what drives people away from the scene. However, Cordelia also mentioned how the lack of diversity within the scene has always been something she’s disliked. The idea of “reshaping” the scene today has always ran through my mind. You can’t change the past “history of pop/punk” but by creating a safer atmosphere for a diverse group of people right now, we could help change the negative aspects of the scene without diminishing the previous issues caused by gatekeeping, harassment, etc. Making the scene accessible to more people would honestly make an incredible difference.

“I’m not sure, becoming more detached wasn’t so much about the scene itself but more so just discovering and listening to new artists outside of the scene.”

She also got me to consider gatekeeping in terms of music. Apart from how someone should look or act to “fit” in pop/punk there’s also the idea of what people should listen to. While, this has decreased over time, for a while there’s been the idea that if you like pop/punk you can only like pop/punk — that’s it. It’s meant that people haven’t felt safe or comfortable enough to search for music outside of the genre. Focusing on one genre isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you’re a fan, but in terms of creating music, it’s pretty limiting — that how you end up with 4 bands that sound and look the same. When you’re a fan who likes a single genre and ensures everyone else in the community does too through ridicule and cyber bullying, that’s when it becomes a problem. The toxicity of this has meant people either get upset and join in on the ridicule, or they leave the scene completely.

Cordelia made me consider:

Gatekeeping and social media
Lack of diversity
Lack of magazines and media

Gabs:

Gabs (25) and I talked a little bit more in-depth about the local scene, particularly the importance of attending shows .

“Perhaps before 2019, I didn’t used to listen to local music and that’s probably just through not knowing we had such a great music scene here.”

We talked about the local scene’s ‘secret nature,’ how the people that are a part of it are completely immersed in everything about it, but those who don’t know much about it are, pretty much, entirely oblivious to it. After I spoke to Tristan, I explored the importance of attending shows and spoke to Gabs about my findings — more on this in parts III and IV, but to introduce that idea, we talked about how partaking in the local scene is very important to feeling welcomed and involved in it.

“I love the sense of community, knowing I always have a place there with people who love the music, love the creation, love the art and support each other. I don’t like people who start petty drama within the scene who have no reason to, it brings everyone else down and ruins the experience.”

This very quickly linked to what I’ve explored previously with social media and the toxic nature of pop/punk online.

Gabs also made me consider lack of authenticity within music. In gushing about their favorite local bands, I thought back to the idea of “4 bands that sound and look the same,”. Although bands in the local scene may fall under the same genre, they all experiment with different sounds and stories within their music that help create a feeling and a connection with the audience, allowing themselves to create their own sound regardless of what other bands of the genre are doing has allowed them to stand out, this has allowed new audiences to enter the scene as they play around with their own understanding of music to create something exciting.

“ONLY 5 [favorite Aussie bands]? Tough choices… Stand Atlantic, Yours Truly, Down For Tomorrow, Stumps, The Dead Love. I love the innovation of sound from each band, having not only a familiar feeling of the old stuff we love but with a new twist that leaves you excited for what they’re going to make next.”

Now, how can we encourage people to continue creating this way? And, what can we do to introduce younger audiences to the local scene?

Gabs made me consider:

Social media
Lack of Authenticity
Importance of local shows

Part III— Tristan Higginson

In an interview with Rocksound vocalist Tristan Higginson of Waxflower spoke about his experience in past bands:

In the past, did you feel like you needed to write in a certain way or be a certain thing? Has Waxflower given you more freedom in that regard?
I don’t think I ever felt the pressure as I was coming up in that sort of environment. It was just symptoms of growing up on that sort of music. In previous bands we had the full American accent and were just trying to emulate something. Now having a little bit of life experience, it’s assuring to know that I don’t have to achieve someone else’s idea of what good music is.

Originally this quote made me consider the direction local bands are currently taking and their approach to music and marketing in the past. Since I know Tristan is a big fan of the Myspace era releases and a big part in the local scene, I figured he’d be the best person to talk to about the topic. He got me thinking about the importance of attending local shows, record labels, target audiences, and much like when talking to my friends, social media, which tied together nicely with my previous findings.

1.America obviously played the biggest part in creating pop/punk but bands around the world have managed to reform the sound and create their own thing out of it. In your experience, both growing up with myspace bands and now playing in a band, how do you think the obsession with American bands affects smaller bands here?
I think that, in our scene at least, the majority of the bands that hit in the 90s and 2000s were based in the states so it makes sense that Aussie kids would start emulating the style of the bands they idolised. You can see it in the big Australian scene exports like With Con, Stand Atlantic, Yours Truly — if you didn’t know these bands were from Aus it would be forgivable to assume they are US based due to their accents. I really respect that Eat Your Heart Out commit to the Aussie accent, it adds a level of authenticity IMO. The thing is, it’s possible that our accent could put international listeners off of the music but it would feel disingenuous to do it any other way.

2.Seeing my visual art class’s discussion (mentioned in “Part I — Background”) from a music lens, do you think this is true?
It really depends on the intended audience. For bands like Luca Brasi, Sly Withers, Violent Soho — it feels like these acts are writing music for the Australian market, and you can see that it’s resonated with kids over here. It’s kind of narrow minded to give a blanket statement that music influenced by international acts can’t be powerful. There have been huge success stories from Aus over the last decade from doing just that.

3.A lot of younger Aussie pop/punk fans enter the scene through the ‘staple’ bands (ex. My Chem, Fall Out Boy, Green Day) but then stop listening to that type of music before they can make it to the local scene. If you talk to older fans, though, they have a lot of love for the local scene. Where would you say you stand in this sort of ‘landscape’? What bands got you into the scene and when did you start looking at local music?
Going to local shows has been a huge part of life. I wouldn’t be playing in this band if not for meeting everyone through playing in different bands. I think you have to be really passionate about music to be apart of the “local scene”. It’s basically a hobby, you have to invest time in to going to shows. The majority of the bands you see are going to suck too, but when something hits it feels like you’re in on something special. I get why people stick to the high level bands, it’s almost guaranteed to be good, there’s little risk. It also means they can go to two shows a year and spend the rest of their weekends doing what they deem more important.

4.American fans tend to get very defensive over their local bands — so much so that it makes it harder sometimes for overseas bands to get a place in that scene. I feel like there are only a handful of Australian bands that ‘everyone’ outside of Australia knows. Which is frustrating because I’ve lived all around the world and I didn’t know of bands like Kisschasy and Short Stack, who have a similar, yet unique, sound and the same amount of ‘power’ as a lot of American bands, until fairly recently, but both bands are huge here and deserve the same amount of love as their American counterparts in the rest of the world. Do you think the scene is built to favor a specific type of band? If so, why do you think that is? How do you think that could be levelled out?
I think if those bands were only breaking now in 2021, they would definitely get snapped up by a larger independent label like Hopeless. When they were at their most popular Spotify wasn’t a thing, social media wasn’t anywhere near the level it is now. Bands largely relied on their labels for international distribution. On the flipside, I think they kind of struck at the perfect time in terms of their impact in Aus. Kisschasy were Triple J darlings, played on mainstream radio, they played national TV multiple times, huge venues. I think if they launched now they would be a little trapped by the state of the scene.

Part IV — Findings and Conclusion

So, to conclude, here’s what I found throughout the whole process of putting this piece together:

Audience Interview Findings

Younger fans move away from pop/punk before they can form connections the local scene due to:

Lack of authenticity — Throughout 2020 pop/punk regained some interest through MGK’s “Tickets To My Downfall”, Tik Tok, My Chemical Romance’s reunion, and Travis Barker’s work with a series of different musicians. However, this has also led to discussion about artists’ authenticity, which has also fuelled cringe culture. This and cultural expectation within pop/punk have led to artists and labels trying to create music that sounds authentic to the genre as it gains traction again, but fans are very capable of picking it out — for example, look at the Tramp Stamps drama earlier this year.
Lack of magazines and media — When talking about this I like using the UK as an example. They have SO many ways to celebrate music. Apart from massive shows and festivals like Slam Dunk and Reading + Leeds, they’ve got their music magazines that have helped support the global scene. For example, Kerrang! and Rock Sound, that have columns to help encourage people to learn about breakthrough acts from around the world, while still being specific to the UK. Magazines have allowed younger fans to feel connected to artists and the scene as a whole, the lack of these in Australia has meant that fans here don’t have the same amount of content here as they’ve been reading about from other countries so, they fade away from it.
Allegations, assault, and harassment — For obvious reasons this has become a problem for fans and even bands attending different events. In terms of this piece, once upon a time the allegations mainly led to cancelling a specific band but the increase of them in the past couple of years has made it clear that it isn’t a ‘once in a while’ kind of thing. A lot of global bands have been called out for partaking or not speaking up on their band members / friends’s behaviour at shows. This has made it clear to fans that the pop/punk community, for a while, haven’t had any safe spaces at shows— particularly young female + femme presenting fans.
Gatekeeping — Gatekeeping is pretty simple to explain, pop/punk fans online tend to be very defensive about bands and that tends to ruin it for everyone else. Especially people who are new to the scene. This isn’t necessarily true for the Australian scene, I’ve only had welcoming and wonderful experiences within the scene, however, the online presence of this has led to people staying away from checking out bands. I know every time I talk about an Aussie band I get nervous that I’ll say something fans don’t like / already know.
Lack of diversity — The global scene has always lacked in representing women, LGBT+people, and people of color. In the past couple of years we’ve started to see more of that — ex. bands like Meet Me @ The Altar and Doll Skin — which has allowed younger generations to feel identified by the bands they love. But there are still clear issues of this now — look at Yasmine Summan’s “Am I Too Brown To Be Emo?”. Australia has done a good job of having diversity within our scene, but any chance to continue increasing that is wonderful. However, if people don’t make it into the local scene because of the global lack of diversity then, that sucks. Along with this, I implore you — again — to check out “The importance of representation in pop punk.”

Artist Interview Findings

My main takeaways from this part were:

The importance of local shows — I found Tristan’s point interesting, stating that being invested in the local scene is more of a risk for fans so international acts tends to be the safer option. Local shows are generally in 18+ venues due to their capacity, meaning younger fans are unable to attend these shows or have no one to come with them. It is partly because of this that they are unable to move through both a local and international scene seamlessly. With that, every time I’ve been to an arena show, which is what younger fans are able to attend more, the opener hasn’t been local so they don’t really have a way to find those local artists either. Places like Wrangler Studios (please check out their Go Fund Me here to help support them) help introduce younger people to the local scene and we definitely need more of that.
Target market — Some bands don’t necessarily target the worldwide market, and that’s okay. Many have seen massive success here due to that. However, there are many bands that do want to see global success but don’t find it due to the “hidden in plain sight” nature the local scene has. By that, I mean, fans that are in the local scene are fully invested in every part of it, but fans that aren’t, don’t know too much. This makes it harder for local bands to gain international traction.
Social media — I will look more into this in the general findings section below :)

General Findings

Social media has obviously played a huge part in the pop/punk scene in the last few years. Australian bands have proven that their engagement with fans online has changed everything, the content they create to improve engagement with fans has begun to make the scene more approachable. I hate gushing about them all, but, some good examples of this are:

Waxflower’s visual content and aesthetics, the way they address fans on their posts and how they include behind-the-scenes video content where possible. All of these things make them really approachable from an audience perspective.
Sinclaire’s use of Instagram stories — the QnA feature, livestreams, and, notably, the Tik Tok they filmed explaining the process behind their “Fly to Rome” music video. They use these to communicate more with their audience in a way that feels like you’re talking to a friend.
Even things like A Swift Farewell’s posts to hype up their new track. It’s similar to bigger bands who put together that cryptic atmosphere to release news, they’ve managed to do it in a way that fits their audience and the type of band they are. While the cryptic thing is frustrating sometimes from an audience perspective, fans are brought together by it as well because it opens a conversation between them about something they care about.

Positive communication with bands who put effort into social media helps fans feel like they’re a part of something.

Social media has also played a negative part, however, because through things like cringe culture and gatekeeping people have begun to turn away from the scene’s toxicity. On top of that, the stories of assault and harassment that have come out about bands in pop/punk around the world has kept people away from listening to the music and investing in the culture, which is absolutely valid and understandable. This has had a negative turn on local bands, thought, because it’s made people be more cautious about who they support. Social media has also led to a lot of extra pressure being added on both bands and fans who feel like they have to act a certain way to fit into the scene — but that’s an argument for another day.

So, in simple terms, what can we do?

The local scene does a very good job at lifting each other up, both in terms of bands and fans, I think it’s part of what differentiates this scene from pop/punk around the world. Once COVID is finally fully over, including more opportunities like RedHook’s video premiere and Waxflower’s EP release event where fans can interact with bands off stage and off social media will be very helpful to continue spreading and welcoming more people into the local scene. It’s also important to remember to always bring up your friends in conversations that may give them new opportunities. Always encourage collaboration, not just between friends but also, people you’ve worked on art with, that band that opened for you that one time, someone you know who plays an instrument, etc. Work with a diverse group of people where possible, give more people a chance to partake in different activities within the scene. Credit every single person who worked on a specific project, every single time. Let’s do what we can to keep it growing!

Thank you all so much for reading! This piece wouldn’t have been possible without everyone involved so a massive thank you to everyone who listened to my endless rambling. Very, very special thank you to Gabby, Lee, Jimmy, Cordelia, and Tristan for letting me hear their thoughts and discussing different ideas with me. It was a huge honour to have Jimmy creating the beautiful art the fills this piece, so a huge thank you for that as well.

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