CHANGES 2019: What We Learnt From The Legendary Lydia Lunch

The legendary Lydia Lunch hit the stage as part of day one of the CHANGES music conference 2019 in Melbourne today. 

Lunch joined the conference to present an exclusive keynote about her career as a musician, poet, writer and actress, as well as how she became known as a No Wave pioneer. 

Rapper, singer and producer Mz Neon then sat down with Lunch for an in conversation session to talk about their collective histories, collaborations and friendship. 

These are our favourite learnings from today's session with Lunch. 

On her arrival to New York City

"[It was] like the lunatics had taken over the asylum and they had."

"I ran away at the age of 13 to find the New York Dolls."

On the No Wave genre/movement

"It’s only a movement in retrospect."

"It was a mad collective of death-defied miscreants."

"If you’re going to be that dissonant, you have to be really fucking good."

"No Wave is more of an attitude."

"We just didn’t fucking care."

"I never felt part of any scene."

"No No Wave sounds like any other No Wave."

On her music

"I still find words the most important thing I do. I see music as the bullets to the machine gun I fire."

"I was originally inspired by literature."

"I read books before I started listening to music."

"It just kept ever morphing."

"No one genre is ever going to satisfy what I want to express."

"I didn’t get into music to monetise it."

On everything else

"I first blackmailed a cop when I was 12."

"I was the laziest go-go dancer in the world."

"I validate anyone that is an individual."

CHANGES takes place across Abbotsford and Fitzroy on Wednesday 3 and Thursday 4 July. For all the info, head to their website here.