HYFEST 2014
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Corrimal Pub
November 29
Luke Armstrong sure goes to a lot of trouble to get his band a gig.
The bass player in Hytest has organised his fourth Hyfest music festival, which he says is all so his band can play their one gig a year.
"We don't get offered anything else," Armstrong explains.
But it's not really that simple. Armstrong now plays in Bruce! and the other members of Hytest all have other bands on the go too (yes, they're all playing at Hyfest).
So they're all likely too busy to play as Hytest more than once a year but, as Armstrong says, "we're not really ready to let go".
"The whole thing when we started Hytest was that we always said we wanted to be a band like The Hard-Ons," Armstrong said.
"We wanted to keep it going as long as we could. It's our teenage love, it was the way we expressed all our feelings, got out all our anger when we were young and it feels like a healthy thing for us to hang on to."
It's also a chance to encourage other Australian bands to come and play.
"A lot of national bands don't really stop in at Wollongong a lot any more, so it's a good chance to get bands that we've met to come here and play," he says.
Armstrong has been running Hyfest each year since 2011. He says he got the idea while touring Europe and seeing local festivals spring up in small towns.
The timing was also appropriate, given the first festival took place not long after the Oxford Tavern shut its doors. It was a chance to offer some stability to the music scene after its home shut up shop.
"That was a huge influence on starting it up as well," he says.
"The scene seems to have fractured a lot since then. The Oxford was the place you could go to to see all different genres of bands. Now there are all these little scenes that are taking off on their own instead of that big amalgamated thing.
"What I try and aim to do every year is try and get bands from all different genres together, to try and get that Oxford vibe back."
This Saturday's Hyfest show at the Corrimal Hotel has 21 acts spread across two stages, kicking off at noon. And, yes, Hytest are the headliners.
It's been a big effort for Armstrong to organise this year's event, partially because the festival is so popular bands are almost fighting each other to get a gig. And it's harder to find the time to do the work, too.
"This year's been the hardest so far," he said.
"I've got a new baby boy and with Bruce! doing a lot of stuff at the moment it's been really hard to try and find the time to organise it.
"I get a bit of help from some people with the art and posters, but apart from that it's pretty much a solo effort in dealing with all the bands.
"This year has been the hardest of the lot. There were a few bands who were a bit upset that they didn't get put on.
"As hard as the effort is, it's still a great reward to have all of our friends around on the day."