Is it my imagination or did the whole ‘New Rave’ movement start in Sydney?
Bang Gang, Modular Records, The Presets and Tsubi (now Ksubi) are all Sydney institutions that were doing ‘New Rave’ well before NME hopped on the wagon and made the term popular. But New Rave is really just another name for post-punk or electro-rock with glowsticks. Music genres are tired. Might as well coin a new one.
For more navel gazing on the topic see The Guardian, The Valentinos, The Times and The Big Stereo.
Whatever the case, fashionable young Sydneysiders turned out in force on Friday night for the Modular/Ksubi Christmas party. It featured the current king and queen of New Rave: Klaxons and New Young Pony Club from the UK. Also on the bill was Van She plus young upstarts The Ghosts and not so young upstarts Vendettas.
I’m no writer, so i shan’t bother reviewing the gig. But i did take lots of photos. 
think you’re right there dan.
it all started right here in syderney.
I would’ve thought it started more in Melbourne (Cut Copy, Midnight Juggernauts, etc)
But either way, definitely started in Australia before it got big in UK.
Oh man, I went to the Melbourne one, which had a VERY tiny stage compared to the Sydney one. And oh god, possibly one of the best gigs I’ve been to. Klaxons are definitely not overrated..
by the way.. Is that a chandelier out of GLOWSTICKS?!
i’m so out of the music media loop (i only read wire on occasion), that i wasn’t even aware of the new term. not to mention i found new young pony club a true cringe fest the only time i saw them onstage. unfortunately for me i was bartending that night and couldn’t leave the premises.
i guess i’ll blame australia for that now.
🙂
New Rave…interesting indeed.. We’re starting to see signs of it up here at a couple of “venues” if you could call them venues…..anyway we had Van She up here the other week playing at one of those venues and dude seriously it was way more a scenester thing than a music thing.. Not my bag but a load of people were into it..
Cool photos as always, you’re really doing the documentary type thing so well lately..
Olivia, yes indeed that is a glowstick chandelier. There were two of them. Someone’s dedicated to the cause.
I was wondering whether the melbournites would claim the new rave title. I guess the electro-rock acts, and your nights like click click and street party have been around for a while. But i think Sydney take the cake in terms of the whole fashion/glowstick/flurotrash aesthetic.
Not that it’s neccesarily something to be proud of.
Twas a great fun gig, I enjoyed every band, but what a fashion parade! Lukily though most of the kids made for a good atmosphere… at previous modular dos there’s often been too much posing and posturing, everyone there seemed to be having fun and not worrying too much about putting their asymmetrical haircuts out of place which is unusual!
Those stageside shots are awesome. Good on you Dan, and I notice you managed to get one of my tash (now sadly RIP) too!
Hi friends,
I’m from Moscow, Russia. I’m really interesting abt new rave movement. At early 90s I was partisipated in moscow rave culture. Pls. right me more ino abt this. I have russian style web site and want to write something abt this new wave. Regards, Sherhan
great photos dan, love your website.
I was at the melbourne gig and like the above mentions, there was plenty of hipsters and posers there but they seemed to enjoy themselves alot more at this one. New young pony club were nothing special, have no idea why there is heaps of hype around them and I dont think ive ever seen van she move on stage, but klaxons was another story, they blew me away!
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dont beg it started in ldn!
How could you have been new rave before anyone else if NME made up that tag? haha
new rave started in england end off.
The term may have first been used in the NME, but only to describe a band signed to an Australian record label. And i bet they’ve been largely responsible for grooming the NME to write about “new Rave”.
New rave has been in the uk for ages. Us art fags have been dressing like that for years. whats wrong with being a hipster and a poser? theres nothing wrong with taking time and pride in what you look like.
Dan NME tagged the klaxons as New Rave and the Klaxons r signed 2 polydor records which is an english record label. So it is an english band and an english record label so ure wrong. The Klaxons also claimed at the time that they were nuthin 2 do with new rave and so therefore why the fuck wud they hav helped NME coin the phrase..? in terms of glow sticks and clothes new Rave is quite obviously jus “new” RAVE and as RAVE was invented in U.S.A. and UK in the late 80s involving this style. Post-Punk and all these genres associated with New Rave were also not invented in Sydney and so i dnt rely think sydney has ne claim 2 fame at all!
oh i love NYPC theyre so hot!
haha look at this dudes pupils in the 2nd picture i bet hes feelin good haha
It’s funny how every country seems to claim New Rave… To settle it, it was a genre named by New Musical Express in England, UK, about a British English Band (The Klaxons), signed with an British English Record company (polydor). The UK and Britannia may not rule the naval waves anymore, but she rules the radio waves. British music is the best, and Britain has long been known as the setter for new trends, even influencing the American music market!