Cream of the crop: Triple J pick the next big things

22 November 2010

Triple J has been perhaps the most vital tastemaker in Australian musical culture over the past three decades. Exposure on the station can set up a career in the industry; conversely being snubbed by the youth broadcaster can dramatically lower a band’s standing. Dom Alessio who co-hosts the Australian music show Home & Hosed with Steph Hughes, is more than aware of the station’s standing.

“Every day we’re getting new music, and the volume that comes in is phenomenal,” he says. “The excitement is that you never know what you’re going to find in that pile of stuff that’s come in that day. It’s the drive to discover a new artist that pushes you along.”

Alessio’s love affair with the station began in high school. He would listen to Robbie Buck’s Australian Music Show — which would later change its name to Home & Hosed — and be thrilled at all the new, local music coming through.

“Triple J was the perfect procrastinator tool for me,” Alessio explained. “Instead of studying, I’d turn on the show. That’s where you’d go to hear new music. Now I’m hosting it, which is the most bizarre thing in the world, it’s such a trip!”

Before Triple J, Alessio played guitar in fledgling bands, wrote for street press (The Brag, Rave) and cofounded the blog Who The Bloody Hell Are They? These days, his quest to find new music means, like the network’s other presenters, if he’s not out at various venues watching live music, he’s listening to the mountains of music either sent in or uploaded to Unearthed, or listening to other stations to see if any vital music has slipped through the cracks.

“What’s so great about Triple J is that everyone’s picking up on different things as well,” Alessio points out. “There’s a lot of collaboration and a lot of ‘have you heard about this record’ and ‘what about this artist.’”

Triple J has its share of detractors — at any music conference, invariably someone grumbles that the Government should set up a second network “run by 18-year olds for 18 year olds”. But the station’s obsession with finding and promoting new music is unsurpassed — on top of the radio station, they utilise streaming, CD compilations, a website and Triple J Magazine.

The network’s association with festivals like Big Day Out, Falls Festival, Splendour in The Grass and Come Together allows emerging acts to open at these events and get a taste of the big stage. Then there’s Unearthed which includes a number of initiatives including Unearthed High, which puts the spotlight on high school bands.

This year’s winner, Melbourne all sister psychedelic-rock band Iotah (later forced to change their name to Stonefield due to legal reasons) were, after their win, signed to a record label (Shock) and management (Paul Gildea Management), with their showcase at One Movement Perth resulting in a slot on Glastonbury Festival in England next year.

“Unearthed High is a lot of fun because generally kids under 18 tend to get left out of the music scene because they can’t get into licensed venues. But they’re still making music in their garages so it’s great to involve them,” Alessio explains. “As a national broadcaster, our demographic does include a younger listenership.”

Next Crop is Triple J’s annual earmarking of acts that the station predict will break through in the following year. The list is chosen primarily by a group of ten Triple J presenters, management and decision makers.

Next Crop alumnae have shaped the Australian musical landscape over the past few years, with artists such as Angus & Julia Stone, Washington, Josh Pyke, The Temper Trap, Philadelphia Grand Jury, Boy & Bear, Hungry Kids of Hungary, Eddy Current Suppression Ring, Bridezilla, British India, Little Red and Art vs Science being given the nod. The list is chosen through “thousands of emails and many hours of yelling and throwing things at each other around a round table about who we’re passionate about and who we think are amazing acts who are going to take over Australian music in the next 12 months.”

The problem, Alessio says, is that it’s difficult to narrow it down to 20. The first draft of the shortlist runs to two pages, crammed with names. In the past Triple J would announce the names in drabs through the Ausmusic month of November. This year the 20 were unveiled at the beginning of the month so that listeners could debate vigorously among themselves and let the network know what their choices were.

“The more discussions about Australian music, the better,” he says. Being on the Next Crop list has helped to launch numerous careers. A lot of the aforementioned artists are now building an international presence, winning ARIAs and seeing their records top the mainstream charts.

Alessio explains, “It puts them in the front of people’s minds. The recognition and the push that these artists get during November is vital, as the audience gets to know them a lot better. Listeners connect with them and eventually fall in love “Meg Washington, who writes fantastic songs, is a perfect example. She’d had a couple of songs on radio but she hadn’t broken through. A few months after Next Crop, she was just front and centre of everything. “That’s the ultimate goal, to discover a band and watch them grow,” continues Alessio. He cites Boy & Bear as a personal example.

“When I started at Triple J, Dave Hosking the singer sent me a song saying ‘I’m a singer songwriter from Sydney’. It was great, so I played it a couple of times. Three or four months later he wrote again to say he’d formed the band. Now they’re selling out shows around the country, and you have a sense of pride about that.”

Triple J’s focus on the 18 to 24 year olds as the core demographic (i.e. those moving out of school and into new social, workplace and educational environments) considerably aids its quest to dig out exciting new music. Alessio agrees with this sentiment.

“It was only after I left high school that I realised there was so much music I was missing out on. When you leave high school and you go to university or start working, you’re meeting new people who have different tastes in culture and music, and you discover a whole new world.”

Contrary to some doomsayers, the arrival of the Internet as purveyor of popular culture has added — not detracted — from Triple J’s mission to discover more music. It has 350,000 followers on Facebook and 30,000 on Twitter.

“The Internet is the great ‘democratiser’ of music,” explains Alessio. “There’s so much music on the Internet that you need an arbiter that you trust to filter everything and present it to you. We all have favourite blogs, favourite radio stations and favourite music magazines that we trust. And I believe that people trust Triple J to deliver the best new music. Obviously no one person can hear every single piece of music that’s been made. That’s why we have a music library team, and different presenters listening to everything and filtering everything, and being the arbiter. I think Triple J is even more relevant now than it was when it was Double J.”

The success of 2010s Next Crop list will provide an accurate litmus test over the following months. Stay tuned in!