With the birth of his first child, Arron Mawson's tireless efforts to the Melbourne punk scene will be tested
Arron Mawson embodies the Melbourne punk scene. He divides his time playing in bands Stiff Richards, Split System, Polute and Doe St. On top of this, with a genuine DIY spirit, he releases his and other’s music through Legless Records. He juggles all this while maintaining a day job.
However, his time management skills will truly be tested now his partner has given birth to their first child.
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With their newborn resting nearby, Mawson describes his father’s impact on him. “My dad was in rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll bands all my life, so I grew up around music,” he says video-calling from his Rye home. “I was going to gigs with my mum from a young age and watching him.”
His father’s casual teaching style also had an effect. “Dad would sometimes come into my room and teach me the odd song on guitar,” he recalls. “I never learnt music theory or anything like that… it was always by sound and feel. I don’t feel like I’m a very technical, or the best, musician, but I feel like this naturally bred creativity.”
Mawson jammed with mates in Frankston where he grew up, before forming his first “proper” band Stiff Richards in 2016. “For me, it’s just five mates playing in a shed,” he says capturing the band’s garage punk sound. “There were a few years where [the band] felt like outsiders. We had to prove ourselves a bit.”
Stiff Richards helped forge a path for Split System to follow. “The community had already been built through playing gigs with Stiff Richards, C.O.F.F.I.N and everybody else,” explains Mawson. “Being [made up of] members from different bands in the same community, I feel like we didn’t have to climb the ladder, as such. Radio and record stores responded to us really quickly.”
Split System released their second album Vol. 2 earlier this year, showcasing sharper songwriting without losing the raucous energy of their debut. “We had about a year and a half under our belt of actually playing, touring and learning each other’s styles a bit, so it felt more solid,” he says. “We also don’t try to think about things too much.”
Mawson says the band keep the writing process as simple as possible. “Everyone brings an idea to the table, and if something sticks and feels good, we work with it. If it doesn’t, we throw it away and just keep moving on,” he details. “It’s more following energy rather than having too much intention.”
The founding of Legless Records originated with little intention too. Originally Legless Events, Arron Mawson put on one show before COVID lockdowns began. Having self-released Stiff Richards material, his friends came to him for help. “I was like ‘Ah well, I can’t put gigs on now, so I’ll help somebody put out a record,’” he recalls. As the lockdowns kept rolling on, so did the releases. “Two years later, when [Melbourne] opened up, it was a record label.”
Supporting independent artists is at the heart of Legless Records. “The music industry is a hard one for me – there are good and bad things about it, but there’s a lot of people that can suck the life out of bands,” he continues. “I just felt like I could do it myself and didn’t need someone else to do it.”
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Legless Records has provided an outlet for all of Mawson’s bands, plus C.O.F.F.I.N, Drunk Mums, Smooch, Cutters and more. “I’m here now and have put out some of my favourite bands, so it has worked,” he says. I feel like [having] a community, collaborating with friends, and doing things for the right reasons will always go somewhere.”
Though his contributions are undeniable, Mawson says Australia has always had a great music scene. “I feel like we’ve got a magnifying glass on Melbourne, especially at the moment, so we’re lucky,” he says. “There are so many good music scenes, you just have to dig for them.”
“Any scene is fragile though – The Tote getting saved is a good example of not letting gentrification kill that,” he continues. “You look at a lot of music scenes around the world and they’ve had their time and then they fizzle out, but I feel the Melbourne music scene seems to sustain itself.”
It’s sustained by the time and energy put in by people like Mawson. His extraordinary work ethic circles back to his father. “I lost my dad pretty young, at 21, and I’d never lost anyone in my life,” he reflects. “After that moment I realised that life can be taken away from you pretty quickly.
“I probably take on too much, but at the same time I see how precious things are, and I want to enjoy so much good stuff going on around us,” he continues. “There’s so much evil shit going on in the world as well, I want to try and generate as much positivity and fun as I possibly can.”
This ethos will be exemplified in the triple headline show at Brunswick Ballroom at the end of August. Arron Mawson will take on double guitar duties when Stiff Richards and Split System play with power pop band The Prize. “They are one of our favourite bands, so it’s going to be a killer night,” he says.
Get tickets here.
