Beware, the Brisbane Scene

So, for my second research entry, I have decided to investigate the Brisbane pub rock “scene”. As my focus for my assignment is “the local and the global”, I feel it is fitting to explore the local Brisbane “scene” using Will Straw’s framework followed by a series of ethnographic studies in my third research entry. Firstly, Straw (2002) defines the function of “scene” as being used “to circumscribe highly local clusters of activity and give unity to practices dispersed throughout the world”. Though in other articles (Systems of Articulation, Logics of Change: Scenes and communities in popular music (1991), and Consumption (2001)), Straw has also asserted scenes as simply “geographically specific spaces for the articulation of multiple musical practices”. In Scenes and Sensibilities, Straw contends five components which identify the direction and scale of a scene, all which are able to be viewed within the lens of Brisbane pub rock as follows:

1. The recurring congregation of people at a particular place

The daily occurrence of pubs filling up with patrons is slightly neotribal in nature: in the way that it represents an informal, dynamic, and frequently temporary alliance between patrons and the pub. And this happens everyday, in every Brisbane pub or bar.

2. The movement of these people between places and other places

Also known as the notorious ‘pub crawl’, this is the simple activity of patrons visiting a number of pubs in one night, for example the movement from The Tivoli to Club 299, from The Zoo to The HiFi, or from The Royal Exchange to The Regatta.

3. The streets/strips along which this movement takes place

Brisbane offers many strips of nightlife and live music, notably Fortitude Valley, Caxton Street, West End, and the city.

4. Places and activities which surround and nourish a particular cultural preference

This entails the interconnected features that combine to create the live pub rock experience: the alcohol consumption, the socialisation, dancing, noise restrictions, merchandise, requesting songs, liquor licensing, the cab rank, street press and promotions etc. all applicable to the Brisbane scene.

5. Webs of microeconomic activity which foster sociability and link to the city’s ongoing self reproduction

From The Bee Gees to The Saints to Powderfinger, Brisbane is always promoting live music exports as one of our main selling points (see here). The financial exchange between the performer/s and the pub as well as revenue the pub makes from drink sales on the night indicates a micro economy which underscores any live music scene.

So it seems that the Brisbane pub rock “scene” adheres to Will Straw’s “scene” ideology. Other notable academic literature in the areas of locality and “scene” that I plan to examine include Tony Mitchell’s Popular Music and Local Identity (1996), Arjun Appadurai’s five spheres of influence (1996), Andy Bennett and Richard Peterson’s Music Scenes (2004), and Shane Homan’s numerous studies of the Sydney live music scene and regulations. Because there is limited studies into the Brisbane live music scene in particular, I also hope to gather some first and second hand introspection for my next research entry.