Just got back from Newcastle where I attended Sound Summit, which is part of the epic This Is Not Art festival.

I've been to every capital city in Australia over the past couple of months to speak (pearl after pearl of wisdom, I'll have you know!) and listen at conferences but Sound Summit stands apart from the rest.

Usually it's our job to to talk about THE BOTTOM LINE. How do you make money in music? How do you stay self sufficient? How can you be resourceful and clever and actually make living in Independent Music. It's not easy but it's possible and a revolving door of music industry guests speak at these events to tell you how. It's important. You've got to pay tha rent ya know?

But at Sound Summit it's a philosophical debate about music. MUSIC Goddamit, not business. MUSIC!

I heard panels about about morality in music, the reason we play music and the reason we love music. Some were about how we make music. A lot of it was about really weird music. It was so refreshing.

I was fortunate enough to meet an Australian musical hero of mine Qua... (go on, click the link, if you don't know him you should). He produced The Wagons album (featured elsewhere on the AIR blog) as well as Clare Bowdich's soon to be released album. He's also a sh*t hgot electronic artist, an awesome performer and a gentleman.

I also met Faux Pas, Part time 3RRR announcer, part time blogger and full time independent musician. Seriously a lovely and very smart dude. You can get his incredible EP for free (but you can also pay if you want) from his website and blog, which is also highly entertaining.

The highlight for me though was the NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA showcase gig.
NEW WEIRD AUSTRALIA is a 2 man media conglomerate (Stuart Buchanan and Danny Jumpertz, both musicians with extensive and impressive resumes) combining a website/blog, a radio show and a record label focusing on mixtapes of experimental and weird Australian music. Their mini fest of 11 acts was a truly amazing musical journey. Wonderful freaks and weirdos and tech heads and computer nerds making mind bending, pretty, fascinating and brutal music. It was something that behavioral psychologists would have a field day watching.I can't remember what was more entertaining, the 300 strong crowd or the bands playing. Sometimes I couldn't tell which was which anyway

Anyway, go to Sound Summit next year. An amazing way to meet some amazing and inspiring people.