Silverchair. Something For Kate. The Living End. Spiderbait. Frenzal Rhomb. Jebediah.
If it’s one thing these heritage Aussie acts have in common, it’s that they’ve all – at some point in their career, young or old – played Push Over.
As an initiative of The Push and the State Government’s FReeZA program, that helps support young talent across Victoria, the all-ages Push Over festival is this year celebrating its coming of age with a 21st Birthday bash. To help kick off more than two decades of great live music, organisers have ensnared a killer lineup that runs the gamut from hardcore, metal, indie, hip hop and everything in between.
The Amity Affliction headline a bill that features DZ Deathrays, Violent Soho, Northeast Party House, Dream On Dreamer, and Millions on a multi stage set up in the garden precinct behind the visually resplendent Sidney Myer Music Bowl on the Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday March 11th 2013.
Presented by The Push and Triple J, and supported by FReeZA, Victorian Government, Plakkit, and Shout Out Loud, this year’s edition will also feature nine of the freshest young bands from across Victoria to take part in the FReeZA Push Start Grand Final, as well as the Push Underground Hip Hop Showcase, all providing an important place where young talent can be fostered and showcased.
Push Over Organiser Shane Wickens this year celebrates a decade as the festival’s director, and having got his start performing in Push Over back in 1996 and 1997, he has a long running history with the event, so better to sit down with and discuss the importance and impact of Victoria’s longest running all ages live music event?
This is your 10th year at the festival and its 21st year, did you ever think that you would make it this far?
We are really excited about celebrating the 21st Push Over – we’re really proud of the festival’s history and the amazing artists that have graced the stages. Something that has been really important to us is that the festival has remained independent and that young people are invited to be part of the governance of the show by voting on various decisions, like the lineup. As a funded organisation we hope that the Victorian Government will continue to see the value in such programs well into the future.
What is in store for the 21st birthday?
We’ve moved to a new venue, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, which has typically been one of the more talked about venues that hosted Push Over on only one occasion in 1998. We may involve a birthday cake at some stage!
How happy are you with the lineup that you’ve pulled for the event?
It’s fantastic! This year we had an overwhelming response from patrons who vote in our wishlist and we’re really excited to not only have artists like The Amity Affliction and DZ Deathrays, but also emerging diverse acts like D At Sea and Allday.For many punters, Push Over is one of their first live music experiences so we want to ensure that everyone’s having a great time.
There is also the FReeZA Push Start Band Comp grand final and the MC & Breakdance Battles which are always a full house.
Were you looking for anything in particular for the landmark occasion?
Our philosophy is to ensure that young people are invited to have ownership of the show and so we work closely with our Youth Committee, FReeZA groups, and general punters to deliver the artists and the styles of music that they identify as being important to them. As a result, we often have a mixed bill that includes indie, hardcore, and hip hop, to name a few broad genres.
This year’s 21st Birthday Bash talks about ‘flipping the venue on its head’ – can you explain how you’re achieving that?
As we’re a boutique festival with a limited capacity, we’re utilising the venue in a unique way whereby one of the Push Over stages is constructed on the Music Bowl stage offering the audience the opportunity to be physically on the Music Bowl stage. In order to get to that stage, you will need to walk into the traditional backstage area which will be exciting for anyone who hasn’t experienced that before. Were essentially bringing the artists and the audience together in a more intimate space for a unique music experience.
The other three stages are placed in the gardens behind the Bowl stage so there will be a great atmosphere with market stalls, merchandise vendors, food court, artist signings, and lots of areas to explore within the festival site.
With the amount of festivals out there today, what separates Push Over from the others?
Push Over is unique in the way that it’s an all ages, drug, alcohol, and smoke-free show that’s fully supervised with no passouts. For many punters, Push Over is one of their first live music experiences so we want to ensure that everyone’s having a great time. Whether that be ensuring that queue times for food and toilets are designed to be kept to a minimum, or that care has been taken to design the artists performance times versus their signing times so that punters can get an autograph from their favourite band. It’s all about having a great live music experience.
What are your thoughts on the ever-struggling festival market?
I think it’s an evolving landscape and while some festivals might close their doors, there always seems to be new festivals starting up. In terms of Push Over, we get a lot of feedback from young people who start out by coming to our show in their younger years and then, as they grow older, migrate on to shows like Big Day Out, Soundwave, Falls, Future etc.
The interesting thing with Push Over is that it’s a revolving door with a new wave of new kids coming each year. It’s almost like a rite of passage.“…It’s a revolving door with a new wave of new kids coming each year. It’s almost like a rite of passage.”
Push Over is one of the few festivals that remains an all ages event, how important is this for the festival?
At The Push, we believe that young people should have the same rights as people over 18 to access live music in a safe, alcohol-free environment. We think it makes for a richer music community and bridges a gap between industry and young people offering greater access both ways. We’re also really passionate about young women having equal rights as performers, event organisers and punters, as well as many different minority groups such as newly arrived refuges from non-English speaking backgrounds.
It’s important to us that we offer equal access to our events and programs to all communities and this level of awareness-raising is something that I think can be promoted in an all ages/under 18s environment where everyone is focussed on one common interest: the music.
Have you found there to be more issues because of the underage setting?
We certainly put a high measure of safety and risk management in place to ensure that young people can be in a safe environment and that their parents and teachers are comfortable with the reputation of the event. We take the time to develop various event policies; for example, if a young person presents alcohol or drug affected at the front door we have a policy on how to help that person from a duty of care perspective given that we’re about to decline them entry to the show.
Sometimes this extra layer of safety often means higher event costs for us as the organisers but it’s all about creating a safe environment and an amazing live music experience that you will remember into your adult years.
What, in your time, has been the lowest point in the festival’s history?
We’ve been lucky to not have a really low point as such, however in 2003 we ran a smaller free version of Push Over which exclusively showcased the FReeZA Push Start Band Comp Grand Final. We were unable to present a multi stage setup that punters had come to expect, however the positive was that we discovered two acts in the band comp grand final being Airborne and Michael Paynter who we thought both had some amazing potential.
What, in your time, has been the best moment in the festival’s history?
I personally really enjoyed 2007 and working with Silverchair who were coming back from hiatus with their ‘Straight Lines’ single, which they launched at Push Over. After initially agreeing to do an artist-signing for 20 minutes in 36 degree heat, the line for autographs was so long that they generously extended their time to 90 minutes so that almost every person at Push Over got to meet the band.
Apart from that I also really enjoy working with bands in the early stages of their careers and watching them progress. Looking at our poster wall in the office, some of the bands that have played in the early spots over the years have included The Getaway Plan, Bliss N Eso, Children Collide, Mammal, Behind Crimson Eyes & Parkway Drive. Many bands that have opened our stages have come back and headlined their stages some years later which is the spirit of what Push Over is about.“Something For Kate, Jebediah, Frenzal Rhomb, and Silverchair.. there were also bands who played early in their careers like Caustic Soda, 28 Days, The Testeagles, Sandpit, Bodyjar, The Avalanches.”
How was the state of things when you came into it?
As mentioned, in 2003 we had a smaller free version of Push Over, so in 2004 we embarked on a new venue model in Luna Park and set the festival up for a number of years. That particular year included John Butler Trio and Spiderbait, which garnered a new generation of young people to the festival.
We had very limited funding and sponsorship, so everyone was doing their part ‘in-kind’ to help us launch Push Over at Luna Park. It was a fun event model with free rides as part of the entertainment. There was often a stray shoe dropped from the ferris wheel into the moshpit; our lost property department worked overtime at Luna Park.
Are you happy with what you’ve achieved at the festival over the past 10 years?
Absolutely, the past ten years are certainly very different event models to the previous ten years in the way that the live music scene and festival landscape has completely evolved. We’ve gone from presenting 6-7 acts on one stage to presenting over 30 acts across four stages.
Our reach into regional and rural Victoria is really strong with a large portion of our audience bussing in from town centres as far as Mildura, Horsham, Wodonga, and Swan Hill. Our hip hop stage has continued to give many multicultural performers involved with community hip hop programs an opportunity to showcase – which is important to us.
We’ve continued to present Push Over in a unique venue space, from Luna Park, to Docklands, to The Abbotsford Convent, and now to the flipped version of Myer Music Bowl.
You’ve got a fair bit on your plate with more than just Push Over, how do you manage to keep yourself sane with everything going on?
I’m really fortunate to have a dynamic team of staff, board, and volunteers that contribute in various ways to all our projects and events. Through our mentoring program and volunteer program we have over 120 young people developing their event skills on Push Over and various other areas of The Push which is hugely valuable. We owe a lot to our hardworking teams.
You have also performed at Push Over back in the day, can you tell us about that?
Yes, I performed in ’96 at the Docklands with my band Gravel. We were fortunate to win the grand final of the Band Comp and were invited back to play the following year after our release was added to Triple J.
It was an invaluable experience for an emerging artist to be sharing the stage with bands like The Living End. I particularly remember Something For Kate, Jebediah, and Ricaine playing that day, which were a highlight.
At Push Over 97 (November 22nd), much of the talk around the festival site was of Michael Hutchence’s passing overnight. I remember a few bands dedicating songs to him during their sets.
The festival has had some absolutely amazing local talent play it over the years; do you have any favourite bands that have played?
Yes, many of my personal favourite bands have played Push Over and often they weren’t the headliners which is a testament to the grass roots level of artists that the festival would work with. In the mid 90s it was Something For Kate, Jebediah, Frenzal Rhomb, and Silverchair, but there were also bands who played early in their careers like Caustic Soda, 28 Days, The Testeagles, Sandpit, Bodyjar, The Avalanches – lots of great acts that were on the way up.
In 1996, Killing Heidi performed in their infancy as a duo – they were ‘talent spotted’ and signed to their management after the festival. Following the huge success of their debut record, they came back to headline in 2000.
In recent years some of the acts that I’ve been really excited to have on the bill have included: 360, Yves Klein Blue, Yacht Club DJs, Funkoars, The Getaway Plan, Horsell Common, and Karnivool.
Through the FReeZA Push Start Band Comp grand final we have seen bands like The Vasco Era, Fearless Vampire Killers, Michael Paynter, Airbourne, Her Nightmare, and many others showcase through a competition that is for emerging bands under the age of 21.
“As a performer/punter in 1996-98 – I loved those shows as the culture of ABC’s Recovery was really starting to influence young people’s music choices.”What are some of the fond memories that you’ve had with these bands?
I think for artists travelling from interstate, there is often a level of appreciation to play an all ages show for their young Victorian fans. A band like Gyroscope comes to mind who were so appreciative of the times they’ve toured from Perth to play a sold out Push Over in Melbourne. Each year we have an MC Battle and last year it was won by Allday who has since had a release and is now back on the bill headlining the hip hop stage in 2013. It’s great to work with artists at a grass roots level and have them come back to the festival when they are at a national level.
There have been some bands, such as Spiderbait for example, who played at this festival on several occasions, how much does this mean? To know that the bands obviously love playing it and are willing to come back again and again?
Absolutely, bands like Spiderbait and Frenzal Rhomb that have played multiple times are amazing in the way that they really understand what The Push aims to do and they truly value playing to young people – that in itself gets instant respect from the punters.
In recent years we’ve seen a similar level of dedication from Parkway Drive who have played three times in ’06, ’09, and 2012. They’ve caught the generational wave of new kids that revolve through our doors every three or so years.
What has been your overall favourite and least favourite year?
In terms of favourite year- I could put this into two categories. As a performer/punter in 1996-98 – I loved those shows as the culture of ABC’s Recovery was really starting to influence young people’s music choices and Push Over featured many of those acts including Silverchair, Spiderbait, Regurgitator, The Living End, Frenzal Rhomb, Jebediah and many more that would be seen on our TVs every Saturday morning.
As Artistic Director for Push Over in recent years, I would say 2007 was a highlight with Silverchair, Something For Kate, and Karnivool. I also really loved last year by having the mash-up of Parkway Drive and 360, two very different audiences that totally respected one another.
In terms of a least favourite year, the 2003 show as mentioned… it was very different compared to the multi stage ticketed event with headline acts, but the positive was it helped inform our development of the new model at Luna Park which launched the following year.
What are you now looking ahead to for the future of Push Over?
I’m interested in diversifying our event model and creating a unique show at the Myer Music Bowl while still keeping it affordable and accessible for regional young people. I’m quite interested in exploring new partnership opportunities and growing the festival to include more stages and music styles which is only currently limited by budget.
Generationally, there are many young people that might have volunteered or been part of our mentoring program in past years that are now working in the industry. Many of these people are passionate about contributing to The Push and Push Over so that goodwill goes a long way.
To learn more about The Push and this year’s 21st Birthday Bash, head to ThePush.asn.nu
Push Over 2013 Tickets & Event Details
Push Over 21st Birthday Party
Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne
Labour Day Public Holiday – Monday March 11th 2013
12pm – 8pm
Tickets: $40 +bf pre-sale via Ticketmaster www.ticketmaster.com.au
