The Making Of Soundwave: 'It's Never Been Cool'

The year's 2004, pop punk is in its prime and Good Charlotte have just released their third record, The Chronicles Of Life And Death.

Twins Benji and Joel Madden haven't quite made the transition from pop punkers to gossip magazine cover stars and KFC mascots yet, and instead are actively touring, where they find themselves in a small riverside park in Perth headlining a two-night festival that accompanies water-based and action sports event Gravity Games. After a successful debut, promoter AJ Maddah brings Gravity Soundwave back in 2005.

Unfortunately, like with any other trend, pop punk isn't as fashionable anymore and he loses everything on the festival, forcing him to recede into the shadows until 2007. He returns with a more diverse line-up, this time touring Perth, Sydney and Brisbane, before launching the full national Soundwave tour in 2008, setting the wheels in motion for the festival we know today.

Working on Soundwave 2014's second artist announcement, things are “fucking mental” when Maddah answers the phone. “I went to bed at 4am, got up at 8am, that's how it goes,” Maddah begins. It's his work ethic that's been imperative in the festival's success, but he also learnt something from the first few years of Soundwave that he still utilises today. “Soundwave is maybe fifty per cent me booking it and fifty per cent kids on Twitter booking it, in terms of the feedback we get and discovering new music.”

The Blackout at Soundwave Melbourne 2013. Pic by Jay Hynes

Listening to and responding to feedback via Twitter can only get you so far, which is why he tends to get a little more hands-on come festival time. “What I try to do in Adelaide every year is actually attend the show with a ticket. I go through the gates with everybody else and try to spend the whole day out in the public area, using the public amenities, eating at the public catering, just to have the fan experience. It's my way of making sure that we're providing adequate quality and working out what needs to be improved.”

Attending every year since 2004 and flying interstate most years to attend multiple shows, Perth-based punter Monty Kanungo is one of those shouting their opinion via the message board and social media. “The use of social media has been the biggest growth for the festival scene. Not only in terms of advertising and promotion but bringing people together as a community,” Kanungo says. “I was an avid member of the Soundwave forum in its first few years and made some great friends. Many of us travelled from city to city and crashed on each other's couches.”

Dragonforce at Soundwave Sydney 2013. Pic by Josh Groom

Maddah places emphasis numerous times throughout our conversation on the importance of those relationships, citing a fan-organised picnic around the time of the first Soundwave that consisted of fans that met on the message board. “At first I thought, 'Wow, my kids are completely fucking insane,' and then I was just really, really proud,” Maddah admits. “There's just an amazing sense of community, amongst the fans, and between the bands and the fans, if you ever go to our signed tent.”

National signing tent supervisor Ben Steele sees those connections firsthand each year and will be touring with Soundwave for the fifth time in 2014. “I think the most important aspect in Soundwave's success has been the community feeling built between the staff, the bands and the fans... Other festivals feel like a competition, Soundwave feels like an open house party with friends you haven't met yet,” Steele says.

Kyuss fans at Soundwave Brisbane 2013. Pic by Stephen Booth

And it doesn't end with the punters; backstage, artists experience the same sort of thing. After playing the festival in 2010 and having such a great time, AFI are returning next year. “It's a great experience; I had such a fun time touring with Soundwave,” vocalist Davey Havok says. “At the final show, Perry of Jane's Addiction invited me on stage to sing a song with them, which was a moment I'll never forget; it was one of the greatest moments of my life.”

It's clear a strong sense of community was key in Soundwave's development, but there was another factor that has aided its success. Bands such as The Amity Affliction, Parkway Drive and Dream On, Dreamer, who have toured Soundwave in past years, seem to have experienced a rise to success in the same timeframe the festival has. “Parkway Drive and The Amity Affliction and bands like that have made it big because, first of all, they're great bands,” Maddah explains. “Secondly and thirdly, it's because they've shown a lot of integrity and they've done the hard work. I mean, the number of times those bands have been around the country playing shows to however many people they could pull, until they got to that tipping point, is an amazing amount of hard work. And look, the kids recognise the honesty and integrity.”

Anthrax at Soundwave Sydney 2013. Pic by Josh Groom

The Amity Affliction played Brisbane's local stage in 2008, toured with the festival in 2011 and this year headlined a stage on the tour, and bassist Ahren Stringer has noticed a shift in the way the heavier genres are perceived. “I think it's kind of become acceptable to have heavy music in the top 40 and played on the radio, and with Soundwave as well, it's just more acceptable to get with heavy music and support it.”

It's more acceptable, but, Maddah stresses, it isn't necessarily more popular or fashionable. “The best thing going for Soundwave is that it's never been fashionable; it's never been cool. We never want it to be fashionable; we never want it to be cool. I guess part of the problem for some other festivals is they live and die by fashion, whereas, people who come to Soundwave aren't there as a rite of passage, they are not there to pose in their clothes or be part of a scene, or take fifty photos to put on their Facebook page – people come to Soundwave for the music, and that's constant. The real music fans, they come to the festival for the music and therefore they'll be back the next year and the following year as long as the line-up is good. Fashion is temporary, music is permanent.”

Metallica at Soundwave Sydney 2013. Pic by Josh Groom