Live at 55 is born

In a town like Wollongong there are some institutions and landmarks that are instantly recognisable as important parts of our culture, such as the Steelworks (RIP you mighty stack..), the Sea Cliff bridge and our beautiful escarpment. But if you look a little deeper you’ll find some more interesting cultural stalwarts in the city and its surrounds. The mighty Wollongong sharehouse network is a web intertwined with creative hubs and byo loungeroom nightclubs and it has been this way for years. These houses have become so established in our culture that people only need to mention a street name or just a number and everybody is on the same page. So outside of Wollongong the name “Live at 55” might not sound like much, but within Wollongong it makes perfect sense: “oh some bullshit good bands must be playing at 55 or something”, which is fairly spot on.

Live at 55 is the result of a bunch of music fans and musos living together and wanting to help get bands a bit more press and make something pretty wicked at the same time. Sweeney is big on music making, recording and production where Jye and Jacob are super into film and video production. All three are big fans of live music and spend most nights either working or drinking at Rad Bar watching bands who generally end up crashing on the floor of 55. So it didn’t take to long for the idea of filming and recording these bands playing live in the house came up and eventually turned into a reality.

“I bought myself a mixing desk and a bunch of microphones to record music around the same time the others bought new cameras, so it only took a few drinks to merge it all together into the basic idea.” says Sweeney.

Brisbanes Good Boy make a great first episode, with their personalities standing out in the clip as much as their music does with their performance of S.O.G.K. in the loungeroom on a belting hot day setting the vibe of the whole project.

“I just want to see the personalities of the bands come out because you don’t really get a chance to see that too often, it’s always text on a screen or a serious recording. The bands that crash here are usually really cool people that also make really good music, so we wanted all of that to come across.”

Live at 55 will be airing new episodes monthly, so be sure to follow their socials to stay in the loop.