“The best gigs I’ve ever put on have been with collective help from the community.”
Yasmine Sharaf fell in love with the underground music scene the manner many people did – by means of teenage parties. “When I was 19, I went to a house show pool party in South Yarra. It was insane. It was like Skins but with rock bands. I thought, ‘Wow, this must be what cool parties are like,’ and then nothing that fun ever happened again,” she says.
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That night time should have sparked one thing in her. Whether she is aware of it or not, the Naarm-based music curatorradio presenter, occasion producer and DJ has been chasing (and recreating) that very same chaotic magic ever since.
Lara: Hi Yasmine! In your personal phrases, inform me what it’s you ‘do’?
Yasmine: Hi! I’m a music curator, radio presenter, occasion producer and founding father of Cease and Desist, a dwell music occasion mission and weekly radio present on 3RRR. Through this mission, I’ve placed on over 50 dwell music occasions, toured worldwide artists, and collaborated with a big vary of unimaginable labels, festivals and establishments.
How did you get your begin in the music business?
Like most individuals, I began as a fan. I didn’t know many individuals till I began stepping into dwell music pictures in my teenagers. Taking photographs was a good way to meet folks in bands, and plenty of of my formative relationships in the business began round then. When I turned 18, I began bartending in venues and landed my first reserving job.
At the identical time, I used to be learning a Bachelor of Arts, but it surely hadn’t occurred to me that you can research underground music in an educational setting till I got here throughout Sarah Thornton’s Club Cultures, an unimaginable guide on subculture and the underground raves of the ’90s. I transferred over to Cultural Studies and began specializing in ethnomusicology immediately.
I used to be additionally working at a tremendous unbiased file retailer referred to as Lulu’s. The retailer was run virtually like a artistic collective and I learnt a lot from everybody there. When it got here time to write a thesis, I selected to write it about Lulu’s and the function of bodily area in musical communities.
I by no means anticipated academia or music to lead to any ‘real’ jobs, however I ended up touchdown a function as a music coordinator, and after that contract wrapped, I began as head programmer for a music venue, earlier than shifting to Cease and Desist full- time in 2019.
What led you to begin Cease and Desist?
The barely longer reply is that the mission began as a file label, however I pivoted to doing occasions as a result of I rapidly realised that my sturdy fits weren’t in working a file label…
The most important impetus for beginning my very own factor was type of simply being burnt out from my job. I used to be working a two-level music venue, [putting on] like eight gigs a week, and I acquired really burnt out. I ended up leaving and I used to be like, ‘Well, it’s nonetheless one thing I get pleasure from. If I simply do one thing alone as soon as a month, that’s absolutely going to be simpler than doing eight a week’.
What was the imaginative and prescient for your early occasions? What did you need to do otherwise?
I type of took on the thought of ‘the promoter ’, in the nightclub sense of the phrase, and moved that into dwell music. I hadn’t really seen anybody do this earlier than… to recurrently curate lineups however change venues every time, from pubs to golf equipment to group halls.
Post-Covid, I felt like everybody separated into their very own little music subcultures and sub-scenes: the punk bands have been taking part in with the punks, the membership folks have been taking part in with membership folks.
I’ve at all times stated, in the event you’ve acquired the skaters and the vogue crew, and the artwork scenes there, alongside different music folks, that’s the actual melting pot that makes gigs really particular. So I wished to create extra musically various, extra culturally various gigs. And I felt like that wasn’t really popping off at the time.
How has the mission advanced? Can you inform me about a memorable gig?
It didn’t really explode into what it’s now till our first massive day competition in Russian House [a historical venue in the middle of Fitzroy]in 2023. From there, it really took off. I started doing a lot of long- kind gigs, day parties and virtually little micro festivals.
Earlier this 12 months, I co-hosted a boat social gathering with London-based DJ, Flo Dill.
I don’t suppose we really thought by means of the magnitude of throwing a boat social gathering till we noticed the line of 200 folks ready to board. It was actually a wild scene… At one level, somebody was spraying the crowd with the smoke machine, whereas the boat was whizzing round Port Phillip Bay. There’s one thing about a boat that makes folks lose their inhibitions.
What are three tangible stuff you completely want to placed on a nice dwell present?
A various group of individuals, a good smoking space and a loud PA.
What about three intangible issues?
If you have got these three issues, often the intangible magic follows.
You pour a lot of vitality into creating memorable occasions for the group. What are the finest components and what are the downsides?
The finest gigs I’ve ever placed on have been with collective assist from the group. There’s a lovely trade of information that occurs when working with completely different folks, and that’s by far the smartest thing about the music business – you get to work with a big vary of individuals.
At the identical time, burnout may be very actual in the nightlife financial system, in addition to exploitation. You shouldn’t let anybody exploit your love for group or leverage it to justify not paying you. It might be really difficult.
Of course, all of us want to present up for group – get on the market and help extra gigs. But if it at all times feels like a chore, perhaps you haven’t discovered the proper area for you. Love ought to be the motivator, not guilt.
It’s additionally a good way to meet folks off the relationship apps, if that’s what you’re doing.
Oh my gosh, completely. No, like, go to a gig. At least you’ll know that you’ve one thing in frequent earlier than you even discuss to one another. And then often, your mates will each be there, so it’s a good vetting course of as a result of somebody will let you understand if that’s not a particular person to discuss to.
Very true. What would shock folks the most about what you do?
How DIY it’s! Even after I’ve labored on bigger tasks. Sometimes you get to do glamorous issues and meet your heroes, however at the identical time, you’re usually waking up early to lug a PA throughout city or emptying bins at the finish of the night time. That’s present enterprise!
This article was initially revealed in Fashion Journal concern 198.
Find extra from Cease and Desist right here.