How Young Sea-Shifters Are Helping Recharge the Steel City

Aaron Curnow is chatting about the time he brought The Tallest Man on Earth to Wollongong. Tight budgets meant that the Swedish musician ended up staying at Curnow's home. But the accommodation arrangement - cosy, warm and none too fancy - is much like the local music scene in this coastal city, 95 kilometres south of Sydney.

"I was trying to put a gig on at every seaside town so I didn't have to travel one-and-a-half hours to gigs", explains Curnow. "And if you get to know an artist you can invite them to stay at yours and then it becomes a simple, 'Do you want to play a gig down here?'"

Curnow operates Spunk Records, a long-running independent record label that as well as being home to Wollongong bands like Shining Bird, tours acts such as the Tallest Man on Earth and Julien Baker and distributes records for the likes of Mac DeMarco and Active Child.

Based in Thirroul, in Wollongong's northern suburbs, Curnow says he is attracted to the city's easy lifestyle, good surfing and relative proximity to Sydney.

"I've always had a fascination with the place but it wasn't until my wife became pregnant that we came here. And by inviting people to play shows here I thought I could help vitalise the scene," he says.

'The Gong', long known for heavy industry and steel production, has a rich musical history. Steel City Sound, is a  website that chronicles this history by covers some of the region's past bands including The Marksmen, Sunday Painters and the Proton Energy Pills, who later went on to form Tumbleweed in the early 90s.

The Thirroul and Wollongong music scene appears to have picked up in recent years thanks to labels like Spunk and Famer and the Owl ,who host the annual Yours and Owl festival. Venues like Anita's Theatre and the open-air Scarborough Wombarra Bowling Club, home to Spunk's annual Coalchella, have also been a big part of this rejuvination.

Down the road from Spunk's offices is Frank's Wild Years, a second-hand record store. Opened last year by Imogen Ramsay, the store is is part of the larger sea-shift to Wollongong, that has seen younger people moving to the area attraced by a cheaper and more chilled lifestyle. Ramsay, who dropped out of university and opened the store, named after a Tom Waits album, says, "You can live the good life here."

Frank's Wild Years

Part of Ramsay's 'good life' is giving back to the community, so besides holding life drawing classes, Frank's hosts small gigs that in the past have included Melbourne's The Ocean Party, Sydney's Flowertruck and Bree Tranter who formerly played in Spunk band the Middle East. .

Wollongong is not without big city problems either and gentrification and developement have become contentious local issues.

Christopher Zanko, an artist and member of local band The Pinheads, says that his art is influenced by the city's changing face. "I depict mid-century architecture and I started to look at it because I noticed a lot of it was getting torn down."

The Wombarra Bowling Club, a venue that currently hosts day gigs, seems to be one of the early victims of this change with a four-storey retirement home set to be built on the site. The future of the 'The Bowlo' as a venue is uncertain.

Not all the action is concentrated around the northern beaches. Curated by Strawberry Visions, a management, record label and events group, Strawberry Boogie is a festival held at the University of Wollongong. The aim of the festival, according to founder Jimmy Sherley, is to promote a mix of music and art within the Wollongong scene.

Jimmy Sherley

While Strawberry Boogie is keen to keep promoting local acts, Sherley sees a future for Wollongong to support larger Australian and international acts and the upcoming Strawberry Boogie Christmas party show features Canadian indie duo Japandroids.

Of course the buzz and success around venues and festivals rubs off on local bands such as The Pinheads and Hockey Dad who in 2017 are heading back to Austin's SXSW festival.

While Farmer & The Owl and Spunk are the most notable groups in Wollongong right now, the shift away from the grimy Steel City tag has been shaped by multiple people in the music scene.

A scene, that is cosy, warm and none too fancy,  but one that has deep reserves of potential.

Images: Liam Apter