Sonic Masala 2015 @ Greenslopes Bowls Club, 14.03.2015: Part 1

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It’s only been about nine months since the inaugural Sonic Masala Festival at Greenslopes Bowls Club but it’s clearly time to do it all again.

The slightly odd thing about these days is that basically it’s the same group of people I see at every ‘local’ show in Brisbane. Given Wikipedia gives the metropolitan population as 2.3 million, it’s amazing that it’s always a selection of the same couple of hundred people each and every time. I guess everyone else is waiting for triple j to tell them what to listen to or something. It’s also strange that given this, there are people I’ve been seeing at these shows for the last decade and I have no idea what they’re called or what they do.

Although I’m not in any way entrenched in the local DIY music scene, it’s also fascinating how so many of these bands spring out from nowhere and then you never see their name again.

Despite the comforts of the Greenslopes Bowls Club and the advantages of having the two stages and bar within about 30 metres of each other, it’s an exhausting day. Possibly because 10 hours (or whatever it is) of near constant music is still a lot to take in one hit, walking from one stage to the other when one act finishes to watch the next band start. I probably should make more use of the actual bowling facilities (although that would then mean missing out on the bands).

There’s a lot to take in and afterwards it tends to blur into one, making it difficult to recall much without the aid of notes over a year later. Having said that, the photos always act as an aide memoire and looking at those I can tell you that the highlights from the first half of the day were Unpeople (whatever happened to them?), Barge With An Antenna On It, Primitive Motion (as always) and Clever. I don’t think Sonic Masala ever does lowlights.