13 hours ago
Singer Ben Lee has given Aussie music tastemakers an epic serve for failing to back new artists
Ben Lee should run for president of Australian music.
The outspoken singer and songwriter has given the local industry another epic serve for its failure to 'hype' cutting-edge homegrown artists who are killing it overseas, unless they are 'toppermost of the poppermost'.
Lee said international tastemakers and music fans are backing our alternative artists – including Amyl and the Sniffers, Ecca Vandal and Radio Free Alice – even as they struggle for mainstream attention at home.
He cited the example of singer-songwriter and rapper Ecca Vandal, who he had been turned onto by Red Hot Chili Peppers legend Flea, and is currently recording at New York's legendary Electric Lady Studios with Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker.
'This artist has got some international momentum going on, right? I'm not hearing people in the Australian music industry talking about it, and it really highlights for me how this is such an ongoing issue, where Aussie artists that don't fit the pop mainstream kind of get discovered by overseas audiences and overseas parts of the industry, and Australia doesn't get behind it,' he said.
Lee said Amyl and the Sniffers, who slayed at Coachella this year and have been tapped by AC/DC to open on their stadium tour in November, built its audience overseas first before 'Australia really paid attention'.
The singer also mentioned Radio Free Alice, Party Dozen and Quivers as emerging artists stirring buzz internationally while barely rating a mention on local radio and music blogs or in industry circles.
He said one of the big problems for homegrown artists was Triple J is was now a 'commercial music radio station' rather than champions of the next big thing.
'That's fine, they can be that, but we don't have a KCRW in LA or BBC Radio 6 in the UK that actually celebrate things that are cutting edge, (and) not just because they might have the next No. 1 hit,' he said.
'We only know what to do with things that are going for the toppermost of the poppermost.'
Lee has been on a mission to call out what's wrong with the Australian music industry as it struggles to turn local audiences onto underground artists and scenes.
He warned our culture would lose its edge if it didn't start backing new artists or forced them 'to go pop', the default position of the major record labels.
The Awake Is The New Sleep star said he was a victim of this 'pop' mindset in his early career when he was considered an alternative artist before breaking into the mainstream charts.
'We stand at constant risk of losing our most radical and interesting artists unless they go pop, and I felt that in my own career,' he said.
'I'm not saying I was like so avant-garde, but I didn't have a hit until my fourth record. (And) the support that got me there all came internationally.
'Australia needs a pathway where we can get behind artists that actually offer alternatives and aren't designed to be funnelled into the top 10.'
ARIA announced drastic changes to the charts this week which will boot off songs and albums that are more than two years old in an attempt to flush more new Aussie music into the top 50.
