Are we ready for so much music?? Next Wednesday 13th and Thursday 14th of April, Sydney will see 16 original bands play live at The Lair, the venue inside the legendary Metro Theatre, home of what many say it's the very beginning of the Australian music history. If proud is what we must be as Australians than this is none bigger to make us proud.

This is the venue that had every single successful band play there and then went to to take the world. As Australia is going through a healthy phase of musical export we can only assume that it's national music scene is good. While the rest of the world is stalling and coming out with the same "formula like" tunes and manufactured acts (even rap music is pretty monotonous these days) Australia seems to go against the tide. As an Australian based in London and working within the music field I feel somewhat proud about this feat but also a sense of "I told you" prevails in me. As I've known about the quality of the bands in OZ for years it's never been a better time to prove that Aussie bands do have the goods.....and they can prove it.

While everybody in London "fill the air" with claims such as "Tame Impala is soooo good.....such brilliant band" (something we've known for years) I cannot help but think that everything starts with the strong foundation a nation has. And that is the music scene at ground level. I'll explain: If there are so many great and deserving bands making waves around the globe can we now go and seriously go discover the next batch of artists?? Are we going out to clubs enough to see the next SIA Furler? are we seeing some 19 year olds making mistakes (as they should) on stage knowing that the potential is huge? Well, with The Australian Emergenza festival in full force we can only assume that within hundreds of bands ready to play our stages in both Victoria and NSW we will have some that will shine through. Too many times I heard people complain about the state of the live music scene and this is a huge opportunity to see some of the talent but also to "test the buzz" and to see that it is alive and well.

Australia has a huge tradition of live pub music and it keeps on going. It was only time before somebody around the world took notice but we must continue to support it. The Australian public has a duty to go sustain that live music scene. And with that I mean the Original scene. NOT the cover bands. They make money for the bar. It's the same concept as X factor on Television. It's karaoke in the box but it does not help the music industry. It destroys it. Every band has the right to bring forward and submit their tunes to the public for popular judgement or enjoyment and every band has the right to make mistakes. This is part of the bigger picture. It's part of the learning process that every single band needs to go through. We, as music lovers should go and support the original scene no matter what. Even if that band is not that good. We must have a critical yet democratic view of the scene and support all the original music we can go support.

So with this in mind I say, go see the Emergenza gigs next week in Sydney and go see the future gigs Emergenza has in place for all of you but most of all go see some band you don't know or never heard of. This, will have greatly the scene and give bands the confidence they need to make it through.

WALTER COMBI