2006

2005

2004

2003

2002

10/12/01 Annandale Hotel, Sydney
08/12/01 Homebake Festival
06/12/01 Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney
20/11/01 Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney
16/11/01 Vic On The Park, Sydney
17/09/01 Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney
18/07/01 Under The Clothesline, Sydney
31/03/01 Newtown RSL, Sydney

18/07/01
Under The Clothesline

Sodastream, Machine Translations, Decoder Ring

Drive to a narrow, dead-end street next to a baseball park in Sydney's inner west, follow the side path around to the back of a run-down cottage nestled between rows of terraces, and you will find a small gathering of people. From twentysomethings to people in their early 30s, they mingle around chairs and blankets set out in front of a mess of amps, keyboards, guitar stands and cables packed into one corner of a wild and ill-defined garden.

There is a certain awkwardness in the air - we're here for a gig but, unlike in pubs, it's much harder to avoid interaction without seeming rude. After all, we are standing in someone's backyard. And it isn't that big. It seems impossible to flop down on a rug next to a stranger, to look around and study the collapsing paling fence, without passing some friendly comment about the weather.

Decoder Ring set up and launch into the first set, creating an electronic ambience that fuses into indie pop as the guitars take over from the synthesisers. I can't see the bass player too well as he is obscured by an untamed chilli bush, but i can hear his presence. The crowd loses its self-consciousness as it collectively focuses on the waves of sound, soothing and stimulating on a Sunday afternoon.

This is the third of what has become a series of backyard gigs. Quaintly called Under the Clothesline, the series has given a breath of life to an underpowered Sydney independent music scene.