When I was a kid, I wanted to be the drummer in Led Zepplin. By the age of 16 I realised this wasn’t possible, for many very obvious reasons. So I decided to think smaller and go a bit more local.

I didn’t know where things happened or who was around playing at the time, so I looked at Missing Link Records for notices for bands to audition for. I didn’t get into any of the bands, as I was 16. But I did make some friends who introduced me to places I could go see bands.

This was about ten years ago. Since then I have played in more bands than I can count… with friends that I’ve met whilst going to gigs and becoming a part of the community here. It’s been the most delightful experience and I’ve made the best friends of my life.

Four years ago I started playing solo. First show at The Old Bar and second at Hells Kitchen. I chose these places because they were small enough that I didn’t feel intimidated about playing all by myself. Those shows were probably the most important of my entire career because they gave me the confidence to keep exploring songwriting, which has become my greatest passion.

I wound up working at Hells Kitchen after making friends there when organising the show. Whilst there I’ve curated a bunch of gigs over the years. The intention of those gigs has always been to provide a forum for expression. A place small enough that people can do their first ever gig, or play bizarre or experimental music that might only have a small niche audience, or do stuff that they’re not sure about that they want to test out in front of small audiences. So lots of great new ideas were tried out there, lots of moments of inspiration. Hells no longer puts on gigs, which is a real shame… As I was repeatedly amazed by shows I saw there. Something about sitting ten centimetres from the person who is playing makes it all the more real.

These are two experiences of entering and contributing to the musical community here in Melbourne. There are hundreds of accounts like this. We are a strong community and community is the best way to undermine any kind of culture of violence. I have a lot of faith in this big network of people, and I believe we are strong enough to overcome anything that’s thrown at us.

_{Photo by Leah Robertson}