“It was a slow process, initially,” recalls Abroms. “It was something Ash and I had been discussing in an offhand way for probably more than a year. It stemmed from the conversation we were having as publicists where we were constantly meeting and interacting with new crews and operators in Melbourne – be it artists, managers or labels – and being really impressed and fascinated with what these particularly young, innovative people were doing. I was always going back and forth, thinking these people should be more connected. Just fanboying over these young music dudes. That’s when we started to feel that there was a gap in the market for a networking get-together event where we could put them in the same room. We just needed that clubhouse environment to get everyone together.”
“Just making a place where we’d wanna hang out,” adds Sambrooks. “We can connect with people, network, listen to interesting topics, and just hang out, drink, and watch good music.”
“We’re absolutely spoiled in Melbourne with the number of young artists, young managers, young labels who are doing it on their own,” Abroms proclaims. “But we’re also surprised at the lack of awareness of each other between the various crews – people doing stuff in Northcote, then others in Fitzroy, it was a case of ‘Let’s push them together and see what happens’.”
“I think the people that had been coming along, certainly with the first one, had never really been on a panel before,” Sambrooks says.
While the focus has been on the new crop of industry figures, there’s still plenty to be gained by the old guard from STEP. “The first panel we did – record labels – was a classic example,” Abroms says. “I always felt that for an audience who want to break into the world of record labels, the gap is too big to hear from the head of a major label. You can’t get anything practical from hearing them talk, even though it’s interesting. I want to hear from the dudes who are three or four years ahead of the dude who just finished their music industry course, or just started signing their mates’ bands. I want to get them in a room to hear from people who are just starting to quit their day job because it’s working for them. It’s still fresh in their memory. The industry was so different five years ago, let alone 20 years ago.”
“Even though we’re getting more of these younger people, we are reaching out to the more senior parts of the industry as well,” Sambrooks says. “Even if they aren’t all coming to the events, some of them are. They certainly know about it and are talking about it.”
“It’s mutually beneficial, these young crews are figuring out new ways to do things, technologically or with marketing. They’ve got a lot to offer the old guard who are trying to reinvent themselves,” Abroms adds. “There’s definitely an interest in the upper echelons of the industry coming along to see what the new generation are doing and help them out, either financially or through networking.”
As anyone who has attended one of the STEP panels so far can attest, the events are far from standard conference fare. “They’ve been going great. I think the last one – The Critic – I haven’t seen a panel where people have spoken out of school like that before. There was some negative feedback, pretty much all directed at Jakey boy,” Sambrooks states, referring to outspoken The Vine assistant editor Jake Cleland. “But that’s the whole fuckin’ reason we got him up there. I responded to the people who were negative towards him, saying ‘He’s our boy, we stand by that shit’,” he laughs.
“I was definitely applauding all of them for speaking out of school and telling it like it is,” adds Abroms. “If you put them in the classroom environment or the traditional conference format, it can turn into a bit of a snoozefest. If you take them to a pub and put a beer in their hand, they relax and tell you what it’s really like.”
For the musical side of things, STEP has been consistently hitting it for six by providing a platform for burgeoning acts worthy of attention. “The dude who closed the last event, Planete, he’d only played a handful of shows, and hadn’t released the double A-side yet. Then he’s been booked for all these shows through that,” Sambrooks states. “People really discovered him, and fair enough, he’s sick, man!
“Rat & Co were perhaps a little more well-known than the others, but Milwaukee Banks played one of their first shows at STEP. Then there was a ridiculous amount of people talking about Lower Spectrum after their set. It’s a rare opportunity for bands to play in front of 200 people from the media who aren’t gonna do word of mouth just to their friends, but they’ll tell other people in the industry and those opportunities will materialise.”
BY LACHLAN KANONIUK
