How The Festival Is Re-Invigorating Perth's All-Ages Scene

When this scribe was around 16 years of age, he found himself wandering around the old Midland trainyards during his first Hyperfest experience. There was a lot to take in: the hordes of other kids hungry for music, the multitudes of bands setting up at the various stages, that desk where they give you free condoms. It was an incredibly useful and life-changing experience – free condoms excepted, no matter how high my hormonal charge was at the time – and something that really should be a marker in any young music lover’s upbringing. I stood directly next to the stack during Frenzal Rhomb’s set. I still have permanent hearing loss in my left ear. It’s a slightly inconvenient badge of honour I’ll wear until I die.

Hyperfest, in essence, is about providing a basis and a starting point for the huge amount of young people in WA who are eager to make music, and to find their place in the local music scene. Over the years it has become a melting pot of bands, events, artists, skaters and youth culture in general. It’s more than just another music festival; it’s a chance for those young people to discover a world outside their own bedroom, and connect with those who share their passion.

The Music gathered members of some of the acts who are set to make ripples at Midland Oval this year. Liam Young from swampy, rollicking stoner rock dudes Puck, Sean Harmanis from super-heavy metal heroes Make Them Suffer and Kiera Owen of arty, evocative post-punkers Rag N’ Bone sat down to talk about their expectations, memories and what Hyperfest means to them and all the young’uns out there looking for a taste.

“I first went when I was 15, I caught the train with some friends,” Owen begins. “I was kinda just getting into music at that point, so it was really cool. I didn’t even know half the bands, but I just got so swept up in the whole experience from the start. I remember seeing Elora Danan, and a bunch of other bands like that. It was a lot of heavy bands, and that was a pretty new experience. But when you’re that age you open up to a lot, and I just kinda went with the flow.”

“Elora Danan?” Young chimes in. “I remember those dudes, partly because the rhythm guitarist used to play really high up.” Young does his best Paul McCartney impression, and we all nod and go, ‘Oh, yeah.’ That’s the kind of nostalgic remembrance that comes from your favourite bands as a teenager, and generally the vibe that Hyperfest creates.

“It’s great, just the general environment and the sense of wellbeing through the whole thing,” Young continues. “There really is a sense of community and getting along at underage gigs a lot of the time. It’s good, because a lot of these kids are looking for that kind of environment.”

But it’s not just about a place for youth to meet and greet. Hyperfest, and other youth events of the same ilk, offer a very important and potentially lucrative market for bands to tap into. It’s one thing to judge whatever state the music industry is in, but another to forget the importance of appealing to those who are just discovering music for the first time.

“The all-ages thing, that’s a really important niche in itself,” Harmanis shares. “A lot of bands do try really hard to play as many under-18 gigs as possible, because that’s where the market is. When you go out and play over-18 gigs, you tend to forget about everyone under 18. But then when you do get around to playing an all-ages show, there’s fuckin’ thousands of them. And they’re not there to start anything or talk loudly or whatever; they’re there to listen to music. And that’s something that’s refreshing, a lot of the time.”

“I think that two-way thing is really important,” Owen elaborates. “Like the bands get to be introduced to an audience they might not be connected with otherwise. And then they get to experience local music, and by the time they’re 18 they can come and see those bands out wherever. It’s a really important growth thing, I think.”

“And also you get a lot of young bands playing with more established bands,” Young adds. “This year, there’s people like Illy and Slumberjack coming and stuff like that. That’s a really awesome thing to put on your resume if you’re a young band, to say that you’ve played with all these national acts.”

Attached to that is the eclecticism of this year’s acts, following on from the successful programming of previous years. With Illy, Slumberjack, Make Them Suffer, Japanese Wallpaper, The Bennies, Coin Banks, Ecca Vandal and Super Best Friends all headlining, there’s something on offer for everyone. While the under-18 market is made up of mostly hardcore and other heavy acts, pushing a message of ‘all music for everyone’ is key to the Hyperfest mandate.

“There’s so many genres this year, and a lot of bands who are really good at what they do. I haven’t really listened to Japanese Wallpaper that much, but I know it’s really cool to listen to him at the moment,” Young laughs.

“It’s more of a festival, in that way,” Owen says. “Like any other festival you go to – well, most festivals – you’ll have a large range of genres and acts so there’s something for everyone. I don’t see why under-18s gigs can’t be like that as well. Not everyone’s gonna be into metal or whatever.”

“If kids get to go see a bunch of local bands as well as some national acts before they get a chance to go to a ‘proper’ over-18 gig, then you’ve got… new recruits, I guess?” Harmanis chuckles. “You can’t deny that.”

There’s obviously a lot of good that can be said about Hyperfest’s position in the youth culture industry, but it’s important to also not forget the spot it fills in a very underdeveloped youth music scene. Apart from this one yearly festival – as successful and fantastic as it is – there’s not much else to capture the attention of the under-18 market. Even the established all-ages venues are struggling.

“I don’t really know what it’s like for other genres, but I know that places like HQ are seeing fewer and fewer younger people coming out to see gigs,” Harmanis says, his band being one of the core established acts to play the iconic venue. “There’s less support for smaller, local shows, whereas more young people are opting to come to bigger shows like Hyperfest.”

It’s a tough point to make, but all in company believe that Hyperfest is a very integral part of re-invigorating Perth’s all-ages scene, and making sure that the proper platforms are laid out to ensure young people in WA do have an avenue to explore their artistic interests.

“Definitely Hyperfest is a big part of that,” Harmanis says. “Like, Hyperfest isn’t just about giving these kids a chance to go out and see all these bands at once. It’s also about reminding them that there is a local scene out there, and that there is room for them in it.”