4 Walls festival is back for a fourth year, showcasing more young Brisbane acts than ever before.
“I think it’s grown a lot in terms of bands,” event organiser Gonzalo Rodrino says. “There's almost double the amount of bands this year compared to the first year. I think there's 40 bands this year so it's grown in that aspect but it's sort of become like a yearly event for the youth in Queensland. I feel like there's not many like it. There's a few, there's Valley Vibes and stuff but I think this has more of a culture and a crowd. It has the same kind of crowd and similar styles of music and it really has all the bands that are buzzing at the moment in Brisbane.
“That was one of the main ideas at the start of doing the festival. To give bands the opportunity to get festival experience and actually the chance to play with headliners so they can get a bit more credibility. ’Cause I know that a lot of the time to get to play at a festival you need festival experience and I guess that was the aim of 4 Walls to give high school bands a chance to play with big bands so once they're 18 or once they're out of high school they have that reputation.”
Not always regarded as the cultural mecca of Australia, Gonzalo can't understand why Brisbane doesn’t have a better reputation for the talent it produces.
“I think the talent we have is the best in Australia. I don't understand why we don’t have that reputation when all these great bands are coming out of Brisbane every year. Internationally, I think our music is probably more original, and I know that California has that Californian sound and they've got that west coast sound. But I think Brisbane has a sound. I don't think Sydney or Melbourne have a sound. But yeah, it’s really identifiable.”
Gonzalo wants you to come to 4 Walls even if you only know a couple acts on the bill.
“Come along! You can't really complain about it being expensive because it's not and there's a lot of young bands people don't know about but that doesn't mean people shouldn't come along and check it out anyway. That's the whole point of the festival.”
4 Walls takes place at Qld Academy of Creative Industries August 3.
