By Calen Vanstone
Racking up an impressive 18,000 plus views overall on their Youtube channel, the 6 On The Street (alternatively titled 6 on the St) team have undoubtedly been making waves in the South Australian music and film scene. Their 12-part web-documentary series has not only featured some of the best bands our state has to offer, received backing from Carclew Youth Arts, but also the reaction to the series has been overwhelmingly positive.
For Sam Wright, the producer of the series, each episode represents his passion for the music being displayed and the people behind it, as well as an equal desire to understand it. Taking initial inspiration from the European outfit La Blogotheque’s ‘Take Away Shows’, Wright formed a strong unit around him with the aim to produce a similar show here for Adelaide artists. Several months later, after a lot of hard work and countless ideas thrown around, they shot their first episode.
‘The idea became a reality for the team as soon as we shot the first artist, Vorn Doolette. We quickly learnt how an interesting idea can become a scary reality when you lose half your audio of a song and have to loop bird sounds and traffic atmosphere for your whole Sunday afternoon,’ stated Wright.
Wright and the group then turned their focus to more bands from a variety of genres, from The Shaolin Afronauts, to Steering By Stars, to The Beards, to Dialect & Despair, with the majority of the episodes offering a short interview followed by a “street” performance from the band.
‘We were being different because we were shooting artists that were not big names. For 6 on the St, we kept our focus on Adelaide musicians, making quality music. The bands are favourites of the industry, the media, the festivals of Australia, the whispers at the Exeter, the crowd at a basement gig and the late night discussions over Facebook.’
Wright also has a clear idea of where his show fits in the scheme of things among the other “grass roots” organisations supporting local talent. Realising the importance of said initiatives, but also the larger institutions that inject a much-needed boost into these smaller groups.
‘Adelaide could always use more people creating new ideas for the music scene. We need to be sustainable with this and the same people taking part are not going to provide any fresh perspectives, which the arts scene of Adelaide is so desperately craving on a continual basis.’
‘If there was anyone out there with a little idea, I would urge them to create it into a small project, ask their friends for help and action it. The personal fulfillment will far outweigh the work you put into it, I can guarantee.’
Wright and his team have put together a feature-length documentary of the series that will be shown across three sessions at the Mercury Cinema later this month, with the aim of covering a range of topics from tours, festivals and venues to new music platforms and live music in general, which all directly relate to our music scene.
As for the future of the project and their parent organisation, Your Take Sessions, which also hosts three other web series featuring an array of Australia-wide talent, Wright is adamant about continuing to improve and add to the style of their shows, but is unsure on what the future holds exactly.
‘I know there are a few more local acts we want to feature, how we will feature them is another thing all together though. The latest idea is to find an upright piano, haul it out to a deep forest, light a whole bunch of candles and roll the cameras.’
And the six-minute time length restraint they imposed on themselves that helped form the title for the series?
‘It seemed like a good amount of time for a short interview and a song… I wish we could be more mysterious about it.’
The ‘6 On The Street’ feature documentary will be shown at the Mercury on Saturday October 29th, with all the details, session times and tickets available at Mostix. (http://www.moshtix.com.au/event.aspx?id=50240&ref=moshtix&skin=)
You can also check out the trailer for the documentary on Vimeo.
(http://www.vimeo.com/29822279)
Plus, you can also check out the Your Takes Sessions Youtube page and Facebook page for more info.
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