Joe.Blog

I’m tired of nightlife getting media attention because of its economic value.

It has intrinsic value because of the connections it creates between people, independent of whether it makes money.

So…

❌ Stop giving it airtime just because of how many x billions of dollars it might create.

✅ Start giving it airtime because culture is how we strengthen and give voice to communities.

Get your values right. Money is a second order priority.

We're on the cusp of a REALLY EXCITING time in Sydney's artistic community. We need to get it right.

We need musicians + artists giving a voice to our times, and that won't truly happen if it's only driven by an industry: it needs to be a natural expression of the community itself.

Nothing against the music or arts industries. I know they're an important part of the ecosystem - but people make the mistake of seeing the music industry and our music communities as a Venn diagram containing two completely overlapping circles - that they're one and the same.

In Venn diagram terms, the music industry is a small circle in within a gigantic circle representing a dizzying number of musical communities/subcultures. That perspective is important, otherwise we're not going to have a proper view of the incredible breadth and depth around us.

Also, the music industry will be more exciting if it recognises itself as secondary and allows / encourages the grassroots stuff to thrive.

And I see green shoots that suggest that that is beginning to happen, and that makes me unbelievably happy.

Once again, I apologise. Despite my best intentions to get content into this blog at a proper rate again, there have been numerous distractions coming from nearly all directions. Just wanted to give an update on what one of these directions is.

Since we’ve moved out to Ryde (land of the musical black hole), we’ve wanted to see what we can do to encourage a bit of activity in music around here. As we seemed to have landed on our feet in moving into a house seemingly purpose-built for hosting gigs, the first step for doing so seemed pretty obvious. So for the last few months we’ve been working out how we can approach this, and out of all of that The Gate was born.

We did a test gig a couple of nights ago to see how viable the idea is and I’m am utterly thrilled to say that the gig went incredibly well, to the point where we’re more than eager to develop the environment as a venue to host a semi-regular event.

For the first gig we got some friends of mine – Garage Hymnal – to do a show for their fans. Telafonica (who I’ve raved about before) graciously accepted an invitation to play a support set.

Anyway, I just wanted to drop a post about what we’re doing as a heads-up on what will likely be happening in the near future. Ideally, each event will be an opportunity to feature up and coming artists and bands from Sydney and beyond in an area that doesn’t ever get to see them. On top of that, we think we’ve landed a space that’s a unique and exciting place to see music, and definitely one of interest to people beyond this area.

The backyard is a 150 capacity space (deck and yard) with a naturally landscaped raised level in the yard that functions as a stage.

All events will be non-profit, with all proceeds from door donations and coffee (after costs) going to the bands.

Anyway, we’ll see how things go! Look out for an announcement over the next few days for a gig on June 19th.

Thanks to Jatin Valabjee for the photos.