Little Band scene

[2] Instigated by groups Primitive Calculators and Whirlywhirld, this scene was concentrated in the inner suburbs of Fitzroy and St Kilda, and involved many short-lived bands that played live only once or twice before changing names and swapping members.

The scene gave rise to several notable bands, including Dead Can Dance and Hunters & Collectors, and also served as the backdrop for the 1986 cult film Dogs in Space, starring INXS frontman Michael Hutchence.

Using it as their own opening act, they decided to form other "little bands" with friends, including members of Whirlywirld, who lived next door to the group in Fitzroy North, with rehearsal spaces in each house.

Soon they started staging "Little Band Nights" at various inner city venues, notably the Champion Hotel in Fitzroy, the Crystal Ballroom in St Kilda and the Exford in Chinatown, with occasional appearances in Carlton, Collingwood and Richmond.

[1] According to Primitive Calculators frontman Stuart Grant, it was "the punk ethos of disposability, novelty and working against the grain of the standard modes of procedure in the music business.

By turns, they could sound equally fantastic: a mixture of epileptic drum machine rhythms, stabbing synth lines and creepy/witty lyrics making for oddly compelling results.

"[1] Some members of the scene had received proper training in electronic music and composition, including Whirlywirld's Ollie Olsen, who studied under Melbourne-based composer Felix Werder.

[7] After the Calculators and Whirlywirld left Melbourne for Europe and London in early 1980, the Little Band scene centred on the shared spaces of Use No Hooks and The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed Up Zombies.

Several lasting musical partnerships were forged in the scene: Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry went on to achieve international fame as Dead Can Dance;[8] members of the Jetsonnes regrouped to form Hunters & Collectors; Kim Beissel and Chris Astley joined the Melbourne incarnation of Crime & the City Solution; and the Serious Young Insects later became Boom Crash Opera.