There’s no better place to discover new music than the underground. Sofar Sounds is a grassroots music community with branches all over the world, and we asked the Sydney team to let us in on a few secrets.
Tell us about the concept behind Sofar Sounds.
Sofar Sounds is now the world’s largest live music discovery community, curating secret, intimate gigs in unique spaces all around the world. Born in London, the idea is to reinvigorate the way we experience live music and give the opportunity for artists to share their music with an attentive audience.
We know you can’t give away the secrets of upcoming lineups, but what acts have played in the past?
We have had some incredible local talent come and play for us – The Preatures, Iluka, Papa Pilko and the Binrats, Lupa J, Nova and the Experience, Jones Jnr., Oxblvd and many more. We have some really exciting things planned for 2015 and are looking forward to working with some amazing musicians!
How does Sofar reflect the diversity of Sydney’s live music scene? What about its audiences?
I think Sofar really showcases what Sydney has to offer in its live music scene. One of our objectives is to program amazing music across a wide range of genres, from folk to rock to electro to hip hop. We believe this caters to the wide range of musical tastes that our audience has and keeps things exciting and interesting. We also love it when we hear people say, “I don’t normally listen to that kind of music, but that was amazing.”
If you could choose any act in the world, what would be your dream Sofar lineup?
Both myself and Therese Watson are the leaders of Sofar Sounds Sydney and we program each show together, so our combined list would be: The Staves, Passenger, Chet Faker, The War On Drugs and Alt-J.
How do artists, fans and hosts get involved with a Sofar event?
You can apply to do all of those things on the website – visit sofarsounds.com. And check us out on our Facebook page, facebook.com/SofarSoundsSydney. Alternatively, artists can drop us a line by emailing [email protected]. We would love to see you at an upcoming show!
Sofar Sounds is going down at aSecret Location onSunday January 25, more details online.
