BIGSOUND is obviously a vital source of info for the music industry and media, who flock to Brisbane once a year to catch the country’s most buzzed emerging acts and seminars from key figures – all to be discussed over far too many beers.

It’s not just the journos and publicists who find themselves enlightened though, as the musicians themselves can learn a hell of a lot from watching each other’s performances, and soaking up feedback from the entire industry over a couple of days.

Having extensively scoured the festival as our roving reporter, musician Kyle Butcher brings us the biggest lessons he’s learnt about performing live from BIGSOUND 2016.

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Bands drew bigger crowds than producers

Even though electronic is more popular as ever, it was the artists that fronted decks, samplers and drum machines that generally received the smaller crowds.

Acts like Tash Sultana, Alex Lahey, DZ Deathrays, Harts and Mosquito Coast all received packed out crowds for their sets, as did a bunch of others. Three of those artists played the triple j Unearthed stage, so perhaps the increase in indie rock airtime will continue to climb on the station as a result of the strong audience reaction?

Either way, the BIGSOUND punters crowded each stage that offered live bands, and then stuck around. It may have had something to do with the next point.

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You need to kill it live

Yes, despite this being an extremely obvious notion, the acts that blew me away at BIGSOUND were the ones that didn’t vegetate behind the mic. Think Tkay Maidza, twisting and stomping up and down the stage, or Totally Unicorn, who don’t understand the concept of a crowd barrier.

Having too many pedals in the way isn’t an excuse for any more for staying separate from your audience, and with streaming rates going up and standard sales going down, you’re going to need the money from live shows.

This is obviously a bigger challenge for producers who are tethered to various machinery and don’t have the freedom to roam around the stage or crowd-surf with their analogue synth, but crowds definitely value as much interaction they can get.

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Covers and collaborations are essential

It is pretty rare to play a gig as the only band on the lineup, so buddy up with your fellow musicians and create a Coachella experience at your shows. If you don’t have surprise vocalist-friendly songs of your own, smash out a cover instead and you’re doubling-down on giving the crowd a special moment.

Apart from feeling like Taylor Swift inviting all her celeb besties on stage, you’ll feed off each other’s energy and take the set to a new level, just like DZ Deathrays and Ecca Vandal when they covered Beastie Boys classic ‘Sabotage’ together – becoming an absolute BIGSOUND ’16 highlight in the process.

The key to DIY garage rock is high-end instruments

Forget playing grunge in the ’90s on a shitty Mexican Strat or, heaven forbid, a Squire anything – apparently you need Rickenbacker guitars and a fresh Mesa Boogie stack to achieve the sound once carried off by musicians struggling to afford rent.

Okay, a little bit tongue in cheek here. But despite many musicians only dreaming to one day earn enough to justify purchasing a Rickenbacker guitar so they can unleash buttery guitar goodness, the majority of the bands playing BIGSOUND this year were packing some serious heat when it came to their gear.

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Don’t forget your pop hooks

I was in a shitty punk band once, and we decided to take a punt at writing a hit single. A couple of mindless chords later and we thought we’d hit anthemic gold with our chorus consisting of “getting high off windex” being chanted a few times.

Despite taking off in the right direction and landing in lawsuit territory, we had the right idea with our pop hook. We didn’t have the capacity to execute it as well as BIGSOUND act Good Boy, who somehow turned “livin’ below the poverty line” into the Aussie indie-pop hook of the year.

If you don’t think you need a recurring lyrical hook, ask Rage Against The Machine (“Killing In The Name Of”), The Beatles (“Let It Be”) and The Police (“Roxanne”) – I’m sure they’ll tell you otherwise.

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