Babaganouj On Rising Above Cultural Cringe And Embracing 'Australianness'

Charles Sale doesn't get to stretch his brain a lot. "I work in like a — I hesitate to call it a call centre but it's a customer support centre, shall we say... you gotta flex that brain."

The big, brain flexor of a question involves the hypothetical future of the music industry, a topic that will undoubtedly be floating around the conference venues at BIGSOUND this year. "The next big thing... It depends on the scene, I suppose. In the indie scene there's kinda facets of all things at all times," he muses. "I can't pick it, I feel like there's a lot of emphasis on 'story'. I mean, there's definitely going to be more visual albums; Frank Ocean just released his probably-really-pretentious visual album, at least this is what I've heard," Sale laughs. "I don't have a problem with it, I just know it's going to be incredibly pretentious... See, this is the Queenslander in me: I can't ever accept someone's wankiness.

"I feel like that's going to become more of a thing. I mean, everything is cheaper to produce these days. Shooting a video: it's simple to edit, faster to do, less of a budget - maybe that'll be a thing. Maybe your cool, local indie band will be releasing visual albums." We come up with a fantastic, futuristic(ish) idea to create a Dogme 95-style challenge for all the indie bands out there. "Every indie band owns a camcorder VHS anyway, so you could just do it like the original [Vow Of Chastity]," he realises. (If you're not a film buff, we apologise for the tangent.)

"I'm just thinking about all the times I've gone on tours and it's been incredibly, like, let's say 'under attended' interstate."

Music industry personnel, artists and punters alike with be traversing the country at the start of September for the three-day BIGSOUND music conference and festival in Fortitude Valley, an event centric to the discussion around the challenges and changes facing the Australian scene. Sale will be among those attending the conference, as well as performing with his local Brisbane band Babaganouj. But he has a slight problem. "You get one conference pass per band. I think I get the — I took work off, so I think I'm gonna get the lanyard. So I'm gonna see some things, see some talks," he chuckles, not at all guilty. "There's lots of people I want to talk to. It's kinda weird when you're geographically isolated from Sydney, Melbourne — you know, where it all happens. So it's kinda nice to see these people in real life."

Geographical isolation or not, the Brisbane scene has boomed over the last few years. Sale attributes this trend to "the internet; it's easier to spread your gospel". Also the fact that "[Brisbane] bands have always had this mentality of having to tour. You kinda have to get out of where you are and I think Brisbane bands are definitely willing to do that... Most bands I know from our town go for big drives, go down South; the hard working thing. It's kinda a Queensland trait to punish yourself a little bit... I'm just thinking about all the times I've gone on tours and it's been incredibly, like, let's say 'under attended' interstate," he says diplomatically.

"I feel like we're in a - I wouldn't say difficult point in our career - but you get a lot of support when you're starting out because you're exciting and fresh. But keeping that going, keeping the momentum, is one of the hardest things to do," he explains; a common hurdle facing artists attempting to break into the elusive music industry. "Finding the money to release things, put out press and get in a magazine or get on a blog or record a song... You gotta increase the amount of people coming to your shows, especially if you don't have a massive support behind you. So we're feeling a little bit of strain at the moment."

Although financial backing and pulling crowds might be something independent bands are still getting their heads around, it's hard not to notice the sense of nationalism embraced by a bunch of up-and-comers: the resurgence of Aussie pub rock. "I know what you mean, I've totally been following that throughout my teenagehood and adulthood," Sale agrees. "[In the past] there was kinda this cultural cringe in Australia to avoid any 'Australianness'. Especially when I started playing, it was all about pretty, metropolitan, urban vibes. But I suppose everyone's started to realise, 'Hey, Paul Kelly is an asset to the Australian culture, let's take some influence from him,' or The Go-Betweens, for instance; I wouldn't say they're Australiana but there's definitely some thematic references to Australia, and people aren't turned off by that anymore. I think it's cool; we kinda should accept who we are, where we're from. There's a lot of great music here."