Though it’s not for lack of demand, or because Hayden can’t keep up with the popularity the now annual event has attained. It’s because, as Hayden insists, to sacrifice the intimacy of the festival would be to sacrifice everything the fest stands for. “People spend too much time at these big festivals standing so far removed from the actual music,” he says pointedly. “The intimacy is what’s most important to me. Creating an atmosphere where bands can hang out, fans can interact with bands and forcing that social experience is what the Weekender is all about.
“I’m passionate about making the bands happy,” says the one-time bassist of local punk legends A Death In The Family, who will play their last show at The Weekender. “That’s often the first point of reference when discussing fests, is how the bands felt about it.”
And while there will be many bands returning to play The Weekender, including Luca Brasi, the good intentions of the fest have seduced a number of newcomers, including Philadelphia’s Restorations. “It’s a huge honour to be included on something like this,” says Restorations guitarist and vocalist Jon Loudon. “Poison City is sort of extended family for us. The punk community as a whole have been very kind to us, and it’s really incredible to me that we’re able to do something like this tour at such a great distance from home.”
Saxon Hall, drummer for Tasmania-based punk outfit Luca Brasi, agrees. “Nearly everyone at these shows are mates and the coming together of all these bands and friends at these venues makes for the most amazing atmosphere. It keeps the bond strong.”
The bond that Hall mentions is not lost on Hayden. He continually uses words like community to describe the growth of Melbourne’s punk scene, without a trace of irony. Instead, Hayden believes the good-natured vibe that many of the bands at The Weekender emanate is a contagious one. After taking in The Fest, a seminal punk festival in Gainesville, Florida with A Death In The Family, Hayden returned to Melbourne to discover that the city could indeed support a festival with like-minded intentions. “I thought, ‘hang on, Melbourne has got a lot of great bands as well. This is something we could do,’” he says, “And Poison City has created a community of bands and fans here.”
It’s a community that Jon Loudon understands all too well. “The Australian scene (around Melbourne, particularly) seems to mirror a lot of what we’re familiar with at home in Philadelphia. Everything seems to be very tight-knit, friendly, competitive in a positive sense, and very diverse. I think one of the most vital components of both of our cities is the open-mindedness towards different sounds and approaches.”
Favouring the ‘less is more’ mentality, Hayden puts on a number of shows throughout the weekend. He insists great care was put into curating a line-up that would bring together Melbourne’s growing punk rock community. Each show would feature a similar theme, all the while exposing a diverse collection of acts. “Essentially the idea was to capture three really good shows over one weekend. All the bands play once; we sit down and try to set up three different shows, three different but equal line-ups.”
Equality may be one of the important themes of The Weekender, but the weekend of shows is not without particular highlights. One of the more anticipated shows will reunite A Death In The Family, who called it quits earlier in the year, for one last show. Jamie Hay, guitarist and vocalist for A Death In The Family, insists that it was a “no brainer” to play their last gig at The Weekender. “I think that any festival that supports and showcases local bands is important to the scene,” he says. “The Weekender is not only important to the Melbourne punk and hardcore scene, it’s important to the Australian punk and hardcore scene. There are nearly always a few bands from each state playing The Weekender with one or two International bands. That doesn’t happen much at all, it’s usually the other way around.”
The lure of checking off a well-known headliner from their to see list is a draw for many to large, outdoor festivals. While it’s a notion Hayden understands, it’s one he can’t condone, at least not at The Weekender. For him, adding larger, international acts is merely the icing on the proverbial cake. “Not setting the whole event up so that we have to have an overseas act, or so that it revolves around an international act is important. It’s merely a bonus.”
What makes The Weekender such a vital festival is its ability to grow in terms of depth of talent and intimacy without increasing in scale. It’s a weekend that has become a mainstay on the calendar of music lovers across the country and often further. Quite simply, it’s become a weekend to celebrate. “If the goal of playing music is to get yourself as far away from the day-to-day crap as possible,” says Loudon, “I’d say this satisfies that.”
BY JOSHUA KLOKE
