Oz acts heads to SXSW this week

Australia came to Los Angeles on Sunday, but it did not exactly conquer the town. A cluster of Australian acts, led by Melbourne indie rockers the Drones and My Disco, held court in LA's hipster enclave Silverlake for the Aussie BBQ, a low-glitz afternoon of a barbecue, bands and beer under unusually grey southern Californian skies.

The LA showcase was hosted by Stagemothers, the non-profit group behind this week's larger scale Aussie BBQ at Austin's South by Southwest festival.

While in previous years, Stagemothers has hosted seven shows at a time in the US and Britain, the protagonists, local music industry stalwarts Glenn Dickie and Mary Mihelakos, have dialled it down for 2009. They will host three showcases this year: LA, Austin later this week, and New York next week.

Something of a labour of love for the two, the Aussie BBQ has hosted a stellar line-up of Australian talent in Texas since 2003: Powderfinger, John Butler, Missy Higgins, Ben Lee, the Living End, Paul Kelly, Hoodoo Gurus, You Am I and Children Collide.

This year, teen pop star Gabriella Cilmi and radio-friendly Melbourne four-piece the Temper Trap top the bill, which also includes the Grates,Josh Pyke, Youth Group and Red Riders.

Although a record 31 Australian acts are heading to South by Southwest, which begins tomorrow, Mihelakos says the economic downturn has had a dramatic impact on the Aussie BBQ. She and Dickie say they have taken on significant personal debt to cover the the costs of the showcase. Sponsorship has dried up, logistical costs have risen significantly and organisers have found themselves competing against a rival Australian-themed event in Austin, funded by a handful of government bodies.

Sounds Australia — a newly launched brand that brings together Austrade, the Australia Council for the Arts, APRA and a handful of state music bodies — is hosting an event called Sounds Australia House. It runs this Thursday, the day before the Aussie BBQ.

Sandra Bender, executive director of arts development at the Australia Council for the Arts, says the events are not competing.

"It's a work in progress," she says. "We are not interested in cutting off anybody who has been there consistently. Everybody on the ground in Austin is aware of what everybody else is doing. (Sounds Australia) want to raise the visibility of Australia and cut through the clutter. They were not set up as competitors and they are not seen that way, either. It was complementary, to benefit one another."

Bender says the Aussie BBQ and Sounds Australia could possibly merge into one event and create a similar presence to the much-envied set of the well-funded British acts.

Stagemothers, however, says the group missed out on crucial Federal Government funding because it was advised there would be funds included for it in the Sounds Australia group. But it says this was not the case.

The biggest Los Angeles show staged by Stagemothers so far was a gig headlined by the Living End in 2006 at famed Hollywood club the Troubadour. It sold out a month in advance.

Last year, it was a different story — a gig at the Spacelands club attracted only a small handful of paying punters.

While the attendance was better on Sunday, it was a crowd salted with Australian celebreties such as the Veronicas, Holly Valance and Andrew G.

A small cluster of dissenting voices in the local industry say events such as the Aussie BBQ often do more harm than good to a band's reputation.

"There's no right or wrong answer as to what's the best way to go," says a manager of a major Australian act who asked not to be named.

"There are artists for whom an Australian association is a great fit. But if you're the Presets and part of a global music movement and coming from a left-of-centre, anti-Establishment positioning, it won't make as much sense to be seen with a quasi-government thing."

The acts at the LA show appeared oblivious to the political noise in the background, and were focusing on breaking the US market in a time of deep recession.

"Most of them are spending between $40,000 and $50,000 to tour America," Bender says. "But it's a wise risk, because there's not much money coming into the music industry unless you are touring."

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