People keep asking me if the underground music scene in Australia is healthy. Short answer: yes, but it looks different than it used to, and you have to know where to find it. The geography hasn’t changed — Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane remain the main centres — but the way music gets made, shared, and experienced has shifted in ways worth paying attention to.

Melbourne: Still the Capital

Melbourne remains the beating heart of Australian underground music, and I say that as someone who lives here and might be biased but also as someone who pays very close attention.

The inner-north corridor — Fitzroy, Collingwood, Brunswick, Northcote — still has the highest concentration of small venues, practice spaces, and record shops in the country. The Tote, the Old Bar, the Curtin, and Bar Open continue to be essential rooms for underground acts.

What’s changed is the expansion outward. Footscray, Sunshine, and the western suburbs are producing increasingly interesting music, partly because artists have been priced out of the traditional inner-north and partly because the multicultural demographics of the west bring genuinely diverse influences.

The noise and experimental scene is particularly strong right now. Acts like Flaming Hands, Novessel, and the loose collective around the Nihilistic Orbs label are making music that’s challenging, strange, and vital. You won’t hear this on triple j, and that’s rather the point.

Sydney: Rebuilding After the Lockout

Sydney’s underground scene was genuinely damaged by the lockout laws era, and the recovery has been slower than anyone hoped. But it’s happening. The lifting of the lockouts and a genuine effort from venues and promoters to rebuild has produced some encouraging signs.

Marrickville has become Sydney’s equivalent of Fitzroy circa 2010 — affordable spaces, DIY venues, and a growing cluster of creative activity. The Factory Floor, Red Rattler, and various warehouse spaces host underground shows that draw dedicated audiences.

The Sydney noise and hardcore scenes are particularly vibrant. Acts coming out of the Osborne Again label and the broader western Sydney punk network are fierce and focused. There’s an energy there that feels like it has something to prove, and that always produces interesting music.

Brisbane: The Quiet Achiever

Brisbane doesn’t get enough credit. The scene there is smaller but incredibly tight-knit, and the quality of bands per capita might be the highest in the country.

The Bearded Lady, Black Bear Lodge (or whatever it’s called this month), and a rotation of house shows and DIY spaces keep things moving. The garage rock and psych scene is strong, and the crossover between music, visual art, and zine culture gives Brisbane’s underground a creative density that bigger cities sometimes lack.

The DIY Infrastructure

The underground scene runs on DIY infrastructure, and that infrastructure has adapted. Physical zines have made a comeback alongside digital newsletters. Bandcamp (despite its ownership issues) remains the primary digital marketplace. Community radio — 3RRR in Melbourne, FBi in Sydney, 4ZZZ in Brisbane — continues to be essential for airplay and exposure.

The most interesting development is the rise of small, artist-run labels that operate more like collectives than traditional businesses. These labels handle pressing, distribution, and promotion cooperatively, sharing costs and knowledge. It’s a model that suits the Australian market, where runs are small and overheads need to stay low.

The Venue Problem

Let’s not pretend everything’s fine. Venues continue to close or get noise complaints from new residential developments. The “agent of change” principle, which theoretically protects existing music venues from new neighbours’ noise complaints, exists in legislation in some states but is inconsistently enforced.

Every venue that closes is a space for underground music that doesn’t get replaced easily. A pub with a back room that books emerging bands is genuinely difficult to replicate once it’s gone. The cultural value of these spaces is enormous, and the policy settings need to protect them.

How to Find the Underground

If you’re interested in discovering what’s happening below the surface, here’s where to look:

Community radio. Subscribe to the playlists. The programming on RRR, FBi, and ZZZ is curated by people who are genuinely embedded in the scene.

Small venue listings. Follow the social media accounts of venues I’ve mentioned. They post upcoming shows, and the quality is consistently high.

Record shops. Talk to the people behind the counter at your local indie shop. We hear things before they’re widely known. It’s literally our job.

Bandcamp tags. Search Bandcamp by location and genre. The “Melbourne” tag alone surfaces hundreds of underground releases.

Zine fairs and record fairs. These events are community gathering points where you’ll discover artists, labels, and fellow fans.

The Sound of Now

If I had to characterise the current Australian underground sound, I’d call it confidently diverse. There’s no single dominant style. Noise rock, post-punk, ambient electronic, hardcore, shoegaze, experimental folk, and everything between coexist and cross-pollinate.

That diversity is a strength. The scenes that produce the best music are the ones where different sounds interact, where a noise artist plays on the same bill as a folk act and nobody blinks. That’s Australia’s underground right now, and it’s worth seeking out.