Q&A: Cameron Byers of Mulgara on No Front Fences 2017 Music and Art Festival

Over the weekend of March 17-19, a small Canberra based music and arts collective by the name of Mulgara hosted their first ever do-it-yourself (DIY) festival.

The three day event consisted of live music and art between two residential backyards in Canberra’s inner-north, and one show at the Lowbrow Gallery & Bar in the city centre.

The talent was made up of a cohort of local and interstate musicians, as well as a handful of local artists who all came out to show off the fruit of their creative endeavours.

The weekend was a roaring success with all three shows selling out. I caught up with Cameron Byers, one of the founding members of Mulgara, for a bit of a post-festival chat about how the weekend worked out.

James: So you pulled it off! This was your first attempt at running a DIY festival like this, how do you feel now that it’s all over?

Cameron: A little tired, a little relieved that we actually pulled it off, mostly just stoked to do it all again next year.

James: What other festivals or events inspired you and the rest of the Mulgara crew, to try and organise something like this?

Cameron: We took a lot of inspiration from other annual DIY punk events from around Australia, like Sad by Sad West in Sydney, and Fools Festival in Adelaide. Melbourne is well known for punk Christmas, also known as The Poison City Weekender and I love what the guys in Launceston have done with Til the Wheels Fall Off – another awesome multi venue, multi day punk party in an absolutely beautiful part of the world that many of us would rarely visit otherwise.

James: I guess it is about time Canberra came up with something similar of our own, I had an amazing time and it felt long overdue. What were some of your personal highlights from the weekend?

Cameron: It was awesome to see Rather Be Dead rocking such a big crowd for their first show in years, and I was pumped to see Ben Stewart from the Melbourne band Slowly Slowly kill it on his first visit here – that guy can write a song. We had a fantastic brunch, market stalls and cold brew coffee at the Sunday morning show which was a real life saver for some people. The best highlight was seeing so many people pull together for an inclusive and community-driven weekend of music, art and mateship.

James: Why do you think events like this are important in cities like Canberra, where there are already live music events at various bars nearly every weekend?

Cameron: It’s targeting a more focused audience of people who like the same sort of stuff, and making sure they have a reason to be in Canberra listening to bands for the whole weekend. It’s a bit of a showcase. We had a super line up of local and interstate artists, and it was great to give some of them the chance to show their stuff in Canberra for the first time in a warm and welcoming place. Hopefully we’ll get to see them again here, and get to see our Canberra mates killing it in Sydney and Melbourne for the potential return legs!

James: Do you feel like this festival will have a lasting positive effect on the Canberra music scene as a whole?

Cameron: I hope so. It’s not just music; it’s pulling in the artists, the designers, and giving all these different kinds of expression a chance to have a voice. I think it will be great for Canberra’s reputation when some of the touring musicians to go away and say to their bands and mates “we have to add Canberra to our next tour,” rather than just driving through to Sydney or Melbourne. That can only be good. People seemed to have a good time and like what we’re doing, so hopefully we will be back in 2018. And if others are encouraged to have a go at shows, music or events then that’s just dandy too.