Brisbane, once labeled with the unflattering moniker as the world’s largest country town, has grown up.
The signs are everywhere, from the annual smorgasbord of music that is Bigsound, the cranes that fill the CBD’s skyline, the booming population (and prices across the board). The Olympic Games are coming. The Sunshine State and its capital has produced an impressive music scene, with its share of international standouts, commercial juggernauts, and cult acts whose aura seems to grow with each passing year.
Think the Saints and the Go-Betweens, Powderfinger and Savage Garden. Regurgitator, Kate Miller-Heidke, Thelma Plum. Heck, even the Bee Gees and Keith Urban have roots in Qld.
Australia’s third city isn’t all fun in the sun. To tell the story of its music scene requires a trip back in time, a history lesson of a town mired in corruption and heavy-handed policing, much of it unpacked by Andrew Stafford in his 2004 classic “Pig City.”
“Persecuted by the Bjelke-Petersen government and its toughest enforcers – the police,” reads the blurb from UQ Press, publishers of “Pig City,” Brisbane’s “musicians, radio announcers and political activists braved ignorance, harassment and often violence to be heard.”
Extracts from the book can be read on the walls of Fortitude Valley’s subway, and three years after “Pig City” hit the racks, Brisbane was identified by New York-based Billboard Magazine as one of the world’s five music “hotspots.”
Nothing stays the same. This week, UQ Press releases the 20th anniversary edition of “Pig City,” featuring an introduction by Eamon Sandwith from The Chats and a playlist.
Tone Deaf caught up with its author, Andrew Stafford, for a catchup on the past; the divisive late, state premier Sir Joh; and the water in which its music scene swims.
Congrats on the anniversary of “Pig City.” An entire generation has passed since the book was published. What are your memories of the release first time around, feedback, the “Pig City” concert at University of Queensland?
It was pretty hectic when the book was released. It was 2004 and the age of proto-social media — so, pre-MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. It was the time of message boards and shitposting, and there was a fair bit of shit flying around. I wasn’t prepared for that at all, was much younger (33) and took it all far too personally. The response overall was overwhelmingly positive, just very intense, so it was a lot to take on. The 2007 concert was undoubtedly the highlight — seeing the original lineup of the Saints play for the first time in nearly 30 years is something no one can take away. They were the biggest original inspiration for me writing the book in the first place, so that was cool. It went around the Go-Betweens tour van on their last run through Europe. Spiral Stairs (Pavement) wrote a song inspired by it when he was living here; that would be the most unexpected. I know Jello Biafra and Henry Rollins have copies. Nick Cave got me to sign one when I met him; we did a swap while he was signing my copy of “Faith, Hope and Carnage.” The thing I’m proudest of is the impact it’s had on younger musicians here. James from Violent Soho told me they formed their band after reading it at school. When I saw Eamon Sandwith from the Chats wearing a Razar shirt on stage I thought, my work is done. https://www.instagram.com/p/C-Ccts2sYMe/
If you felt compelled to add a chapter or three, what would you have to say for the past two decades in the Sunshine State?
The original book covered a 30 year period in 20 chapters, so really, it would take another book now, and I’m not going there. I’ve loved many of the artists that have emerged since “Pig City” came out, but I was much less connected to what was happening. It’s someone else’s story to tell.
As a fellow Queenslander who grew up in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I’m sure you heard the jokes about our lot being laid-backwards, and how we set our watches back 20 years when we arrive home. We don’t hear them anymore. They were apparently buried with Joh. For the younger generations, can you reflect on the Joh era and how he stayed in power for so long?
He’s probably an abstract figure to younger people, someone their parents talked about, if they talked about him at all. But he’s not that hard to imagine. He was like Donald Trump without the nuclear codes or a Twitter/X account — basically a right-wing populist, and they’re everywhere these days, unfortunately. The main reason he stayed in power so long was the elections were rigged: a vote in the west of Queensland — where there are hardly any people — was worth up to three times as much as a vote in Brisbane. That thwarted the majority vote for a long time. Robert Forster from the Go-Betweens described him as the kind of bird-brained conservative that a punk rock singer could only dream of railing against. Ergo, we had the Saints! That upwelling of energy really changed the face of Brisbane.
Brisbane has, of course, created some fine, globally-recognised artists. Some of whom missed out on the riches and commercial rewards. When we think of music capitals, we romanticise of harsh cities with grim winters. Detroit. Manchester. Brisbane doesn’t fit the image. What’s in the water?
The water is in the air that we breathe. It’s called humidity. It is the nourishing soup from which all art in Queensland springs.
Earlier this year, Queensland became the first state to trial pill testing at music festivals, at Rabbit Eats Lettuce. With a state election looming, opposition leader David Crisafulli has indicated he will put an end to that. What chances that history will repeat, and the spectre of Joh fully materialises?
Well, the conservatives here have been mostly unelectable since the days of Joh and the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Those days were not easily forgotten here, and it will be interesting to see if they are ready to heed those old lessons. Campbell Newman’s government was elected with a massive majority in 2012 and was turfed out after one term, after governing as though Queensland was a reflection of Townsville. The LNP has, in the main, found it impossible to win enough support in the cities; the Labor Party is probably under more pressure from the Greens in Brisbane than the LNP.
“Pig City” is released 31st July through UQ Press.
