Smorgasboarder_16_March-2013

Surf
aRT
Haus
CREATIVE
market like yourself no one like is watching...
everybody is.
BUZZ
THOMPSON
...carving his own path
And that was enough. In his early
twenties Buzz moved down the
coast near Lorne. It was here,
surfing the local breaks, that he
got to know Simon Daly, founder
of the Falls Festival - a meeting
that would set his life on course.
“I became friends with Simon in
the surf around Lorne. He was
into music and so was I, and we’d
run into each other in Geelong or
Melbourne at shows too. I was inbetween
jobs once, and asked him
if there were any jobs available
on the farm, setting up one of the
festivals. That was Falls 1996, the
fourth year of it.
And so it came about that Buzz
went on to become one of the key
organisers of the Falls Festivals
until 2009, when he finally left
to take on the full-time artist
management role of Dan Sultan
and Scott Wilson, who by 2010
had bagged seven major awards
including two ARIAS and two
independent awards. Now,
together with Scott, he has taken
that a step further in the form of
Masterstroke Records.
“I suppose it’s our love of
independent music, and love of
bands staying independent... It
seems to be the way it’s going -
not just music, but lots of other
things. People are really carving
their own paths.
“In the long term, we’ll forge
our own scene a little bit and try
to work with bands that we are
passionate about, giving them the
freedom to be themselves, and
join in with us.”
And what kind of bands are these?
The first release on the label, the
self titled Stompy and the Heat
album (which we reviewed in the
last edition and have played to
death ever since) is all about raw
rock ‘n roll, as is their overseas
act, The Graveltones , and the
latest signing from Melbourne -
King of the North.
“We’re interested in not taking
things too seriously, and fast rock
and roll seems to be a better
match with surfing and skating.
The roots scene… Ben Harper,
Jack Johnson, and all those
type of bands have connections
to surfing, but I feel more
comfortable with fast drummers...
It seems to match the speed of
fast tube rides. Heavy guitar riffs
feel like there’s more energy and
more like what I enjoy.”
Living fast involves staying up late,
but Buzz reckons it doesn’t hurt the
early starts for surfing – in fact it’s
just the opposite, he says.
“Once you’re on the band scene
and you start to become a little
successful, part of your contract of
your show is a drinks rider (a list of
requested backstage refreshments
for bands) so there are lots of
after-parties, VIP parties... I think
it’s a struggle for musicians with
alcohol and late nights. They do
need something to fall back on,
so being a surfer makes it much
easier in that regard, as you know
you’re going to have to get up
early. The surfing life is a fantastic
balance from some of those
industry traps.
Classic Surf T-shirts
from Surfing Legends
lastwaveoriginals@gmail.com • Call 0400 497 534 • www.lastwave.com
The self-titled disc from Stompy and
the Heat is the fi rst release from
Masterstroke Records - for fans of
extremely cool, very raw rock ‘n roll.
More on Stompy and Masterstroke:
soundcloud.com/masterstroke-records
or get connected on Facebook.
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SMORGASBOARDER | MAR/APR 2013