Of Hovhannes and Mathers III

I don’t recall ever listening to music as a kid. And by kid I mean young- under 10. I have three older sisters: the first one is 7 years older, then 9 and 11 years older. I basically grew up around teenage girls, and while I remember their posters of Wham! and Rick Astley, I don’t recall ever hearing their music. I have a few memories of Martin Plaza film clips, and I certainly know a whole heap of songs from that period – Gold 104 in the car - but music wasn’t a part of my life at that age. I was always running around outside, morning and night. Plus, my parents didn’t have piles of Deep Purple records.

When I was about 12, my sister moved in with her boyfriend. They lived in a caravan in our backyard, which I thought the coolest thing. He was in to music that was at the time called heavy metal – Poison, Skid Row, Whitesnake, Def Leppard, Faster Pussycat. Today it’s called glam rock, and boy, was he a glam rocker – big hair, tight jeans, bass guitar.

He was impressive, and so was the music. Here was an older male who was able to give me a lesson in real life, and to hear his stories told through his music. I started wearing his cast-off heavy metal t-shirts, and getting right in to the bands he liked. Up went the posters of Guns N Roses. My brother and I even started a band with some neighbours, and wrote atrocious lyrics and performed guitar solos on tennis racquets. I loved the driving rhythm, the energy. Finally I was listening.

When I was 15 we were living in another house, and my neighbours were a Sri Lankan family with two sons about the same age as my brother (2 years younger than me) and I. We quickly became good friends. These two guys were into basketball and a style of music that was totally new to me: hip hop.

Pretty soon I was wearing Cross Colours and Stussy, had an undercut and was listening to Snoop Dogg, Johnny Gill and Salt N Pepa. I started hanging out awkwardly at bus stops and shopping centres, scaring parents and myself. I wasn’t cut out for the street scene, I was too polite. You ever met a thug that says please when he tries to steal your shoes? That would be me. (not that I did, but you get my point). I opted out early, but I got hooked on the music: the clever lyrics, the aggression and energy.

When I was 21 I moved out of home and got an apartment on Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn. It was 300 metres from a pretty decent nightclub (yeah right), and I knew some guys who got me in each week for free. I started to go out just to dance, and loved the music – house, hard house and techno. The driving bass, the high energy.

(When I was 31) My brother gave me an iPod for my birthday. I was so excited – I was finally in the gang. Running with music is so cool, and it adds about 10% to my credibility. But the revelation comes not in owning it, but in selecting music to play. Going through my cd’s, and downloading songs online, has made me examine the role of music in my life and highlighted the influences: not just music influences, but key events, times and people that make me who I am.

Hearing new music with a friend is as much about sharing an experience with them –as it is about the music. I see this now.

Listening to Sean’s records in his caravan was his way of welcoming me to his world, telling his stories. A guy who people probably crossed the road to avoid (looks are deceiving) had someone listening and learning. Nodding to hip hop with Brad and Al,
Panos and Steve at uni telling me about a new Armand Van Helden track. Their world opened to me. Or dear Alec playing Prof. Alan Hovhannes City of Lights for me: his passion, shared. These moments aren’t about music, they are a very basic and human need - sharing. “I love this music, it does something to me, I want you to have that too.”

It happened just the other day, all the way back 19 years to heavy metal. I still love it, and I still love that memory. It will happen again – what will it be next.

Some of my music

Eninem, Metallica, Raekwon, Goldfrapp, Dr Dre, Grandaddy, Joanna Newsom, Fugees, Mos Def and BlackStar, Tool, Ministry of Sound, Rage Against the Machine, the Offspring, Audioslave, classical and more.