‘We've Got A Really Cool Thing Going On Down Here’: The Gong Crawl Wants To Swing The Doors Of The Steel City Wide Open

In 2018, Daniel Breda – the frontman of freewheeling Wollongong garage-punks Hoon – took the train up to Sydney for Newtown's infamous literal free-for-all, the King Street Crawl. 

During the day, he saw that local veterans Straight Arrows were pulling off the wild but impressive stunt of playing three different sets across three different venues throughout the day. 

“Immediately, I wanted to play three shows in one day,” he says with glint in his eye. “I quickly realised it was a bit of a selfish idea if no other bands were involved, so we made it not all about me really quickly – but that was a pretty big inspiration behind getting the first Gong Crawl happening.”

Although it took longer than hoped to realise, due to both funding and the intervening COVID-19 years, Breda and his Hoon bandmates launched the Gong Crawl in November 2022 as a co-op with longtime local promoters Yours & Owls. 

Although Hoon only played once that day, they were in great company, with Party Dozen, Bec Sandridge, The Empty Threats, Sex On Toast, and Placement all performing. Another lack of funding made 2023 a fallow year, but it came Crawling back in 2024 with show-stopping sets from Private Function, Dust, 1300, Dust, Battlesnake, and the elusive Flight To Dubai.

The second Gong Crawl was the first under the Speed Drive banner, which Breda co-founded alongside other members of Hoon and fellow Wollongong band Private Wives. The collective came together with hopes to expand into more DIY shows, art and community around their city. 

With two successful events in the can, Speed Drive set their sights on completing a hat trick. “After the last Crawl, I started writing a huge list of who I wanted for the next year,” says Phoebe Price – Private Wives' vocalist/guitarist, as well as a member of Speed Drive. 

“We came together with a massive wishlist, and then assigned them different venues – we like to curate each venue to a certain genre, or at least a certain vibe. We knew we were onto something when the very first band we contacted, Fungas, said yes. We'd tried to get them the year before, and as soon as we had the 2025 date Daniel hit them up. They were in straight away. Amazing!”

Both speak with fervoured excitement when discussing the dozens of acts set to take over the CBD for the third Crawl, which takes place on Saturday, November 22nd. 

Among them are Stumps, The Lazy Eyes, Totally Unicorn and – in a full-circle throwback – none other than Straight Arrows. Of particular note, too, are blues-rockers The Vasco Era, returning to Wollongong for the first time in over 15 years. 

This booking holds particular sentiment for Breda: “I've got a six-stack CD player in my van, and their first album [Oh We Do Like To Be Beside The Seaside] has not left that stack for six years,” he says. “I've only ever seen them once before, up in Sydney supporting Mariachi El Bronx, so to have them come and play is wicked.”

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Further down the bill, he recommends upcoming local skramz band youdideverythingyoucould: “They're a very young band, and they play what people my age would call 'MySpace emo',” he says. “It reminds me a bit of Touché Amoré.” 

Price, meanwhile, options Sydney's self-described “alt-rock dance-punks” Kitty Of The Valley as ones to watch: “They were already on my list, but seeing them live was a holy-shit moment,” she says. “I knew then and there I had to get them on – people just love them when they're performing, and you'll see why.”

Although initially inspired by a visit to the King Street Crawl, the Gong Crawl prides itself on some key points of difference. For one, the whole city is open for business – even venues that don't normally host live music. 

This year's Gong Crawl includes places like the Aftermath Tattoo Gallery and American barbequers Two Smoking Barrels. “We had them confirmed the same day we were set to announce,” says Price of the latter. 

“We're working together on a really fun start to the afternoon. They'll be offering up free burgers while some country and bluegrass acts play in the restaurant.” 

Also of note is Van Q, located on Keira Street – just up the road from beloved longtime record store Music Farmers. “It's such a unique space,” says Breda. “They're a vintage clothes shop – think of it kind of like an elevated Salvo's – and they've been doing shows semi-regularly, so they were keen to be involved. 

“What's even better is that it used to be a bank, so downstairs there's this old bank vault. We're going to do a visual arts show there as well, which is pretty crazy.”

This neatly ties in with the other key point of difference between Crawls: The Gong Crawl is here to celebrate all different kinds of creativity and expression, even if you don't play an instrument. Along with the aforementioned art exhibition, the Crawl will also shine a light on the burgeoning drag community with a series of performers strutting their stuff. 

“We want the whole vibe of the Gong Crawl to be a fun party, and there's nothing more suited to a fun party than drag,” says Price. 

“We've got them performing in the Side Door Theatre, which already runs a lot of comedy and live theatre as well as drag, and we're pairing them with some cool post-punky, disco-y acts – it was a no brainer.

“I went to high school with [local drag queen] Cherry Ripe, and she'd always come to Hoon shows – I'm pretty sure there a picture from a festival we did at the Youth Centre where she's front and centre, so having her as part of the Gong Crawl line-up is this weird, wonderful full-circle moment.”

Breda, Price, and the entire Speed Drive collective take great pride in their city. They want Wollongong to be a place that acts from all genres, from all across the country, can come and find a sense of belonging. They want it to be a place that is about the arts in all shapes and forms, reflected in the community therein. 

Most importantly, they want the city to be worth sticking around for. “There's a lot of people from Wollongong that make great music, but there's also been a lot of people from Wollongong that make great music who have left,” says Breda matter-of-factly. 

“The bright lights of Melbourne or Sydney come calling, because you get the idea you can't create a culture in a place that isn't as big as them. I think things like this are pretty important to show that you can have that here. You can be a band and develop something here, and it doesn't have to involve you relocating in order to achieve that. 

“We've got a really cool thing going on down here,” adds Breda. “Bands like Tumbleweed, Hockey Dad, and Pacific Avenue are all testament to that. There's not as many bands on that list as there could be – and I hope that, by doing shit like Gong Crawl, that list can keep getting added to.”