Having shot the festival since 2013, there’s probably no one who has a perspective on Yours & Owls Festival quite like Ian Laidlaw. Growing up in The Gong, he’s seen the importance of the festival to the “uni town” and watched it grow to be one of the country’s premiere music experiences. Read his thoughts on Y&O below along with some his finest snaps from the festival over the years. Oh, and stay tuned for tomorrow’s lineup announcement!
I always appreciated growing up in a coastal city like Wollongong, so close to Sydney, but far enough away to offer some breathing space, affordable rents and you could get a park at the beach without having to drive around for an hour. However, fostering a career in music photography in a city focused on football, surfing and steel in the early 2000s wasn’t the easiest of rides.
Even though Wollongong has always been a University city, the arts and music scene we experience there today is vastly different from the cultural wasteland I left over a decade ago, there wasn’t much opportunity to see live music that didn’t require a drive to Sydney or Canberra.
The Oxford Tavern was the one venue in town that hosted original music. It was a midweek stop-gap for touring artists between Sydney and Melbourne and hosted music most nights of the week. I started shooting there roughly five nights a week. When it closed, the tiny scene that did exist seemed to evaporate.
New venues came and went, without establishing themselves for enough time to spark anything substantial. Bands stopped coming through The Gong as frequently, it felt like the small soul of creativity that sat with the Oxford was lost forever.
Then came Jeb Taylor and Ben Tillman, those two were the catalyst for a rebirth of a music scene in town. The way those guys approached music just felt like a new chapter was being written for local creatives. Ben and Jeb started booking a few small venues in town, filling them with a plethora of touring acts of all genres and levels and reigniting a focus on going to shows locally as regular entertainment option around town.
Ben and two of his mates from school Baluun Jones and Adam Smith opened up a café called Yours and Owls, in lower Crown Street, that ended up turning into the now infamous Rad Bar.
I was installing and selling kitchen equipment at the time and worked alongside the boys and helped them start their new enterprise. The cafe started hosting art shows and small acoustic sets and even one photography exhibition of mine. It was a small space, but you could always tell the boys had bigger ideas boiling and that things were going to expand.
I moved to Melbourne to pursue my photography career and I vividly remember Ben called me one day and said they were going to host a mini-festival that would have bands playing across the road at Wollongong Town Hall and inside the café, he asked if I would come up and document it. I packed my cameras and headed up to the first Yours and Owls festival.
Yours and Owls festival started as a celebration for the fourth anniversary of Yours and Owls café and would end up changing the cultural trajectory of Wollongong.
That first mini-festival was so exciting, seeing local bands joined by Sydney band to bring the Wollongong arts community together for the first time in years. I felt immense joy watching my friends put together this event.
That excitement multiplied exponentially when I heard they would do the same again next year, but bigger and then they announced the first “proper” Yours and Owls 2014 Festival line up.
It was a who’s who of Australian bands that people were yet to discover, but that would end up becoming local headliners in the not too distant future. Bands like, Dune Rats, Safia, Sticky Fingers, The Griswolds and a local unknown duo named Hockey Dad. A picturesque location right across from the beach at Stuart Park, with a vibe that was beyond chill.
I flew back a year later to document this second instalment of the festival, it was a game-changing moment for Wollongong which had been starved of a decent-sized youth-focused live music festival, it was wonderful! It goes to show what the three mates can do when they have a vision. It was like seeing a city wake up, arts feeding off music, feeding off a general feeling of creativity. I was so proud of my hometown.
Things were blowing up for me in Melbourne, I was touring with bands internationally, shooting covers for albums and became the head photographer for a major music magazine. But I caught myself at times getting envious of what the Yours and Owls crew were establishing back in my hometown, it was the community that I wished was there when I was cutting my teeth.
The following year was another step up, the event grew to two days, with a lineup that still kicks ass! Gang of Youths, The Preatures, Skegss, The Smith Street Band, Saskwatch amongst others. Bands I come across now still talk about the 2015 instalment when the PA blew up and the boys literally built a new one overnight.
What snowballed after the 2015 edition was enough for me to list this event alongside the well-established leaders like Falls Festival, Laneway, Splendour and Groovin as my regular stop on the festival circuit. I just love this festival.
The location, time of year, line ups and production step up every year and have truly put the town on Wollongong back on the musical map. Watching more niche events through the Yours and Owls brand popping up, like Farmer and the Owl Festival, A Sunny afternoon, Last Dance as well as booking multiple venues and running a record label, Farmer and the Owl that primarily supports local Wollongong artist, fills me with so much pride for what my friends have created.
Those guys went out of their way to give me every opportunity to help push and carve my career path. Thanks to their work and passion, the music scene in the city of Wollongong today is a very different and exciting place to perform.
To be honest with you, as much as I dearly love Melbourne and have made this my home, I miss Wollongong for one real reason, (apart from family) summed up in 3 words….
Yours and Owls.
This was actually the Yours & Owls 4th birthday party ( I consider it the first fest ) split between the Wollongong town hall and the cafe across the road.
I can’t remember the artist performing but remember be excited by the boys putting on a mini fest.
Hockey Dad. This was the first festival in Stewart park in 2014. The boys were playing their first festival too I believe. This was shot just before they performed. Such baby faces!
This is SAFIA sound checking on the home made stage that the team made for the first festival. Amazing to see how massive it’s grown, which you’ll be able to compare in coming images
Shot from the back on the site in Stewart park in 2014. One stage, a small handful of bands and around 1000 people attended I believe?
Another 2014 festival shot. Dune Rats backstage
The Pinheads relaxing in the backstage pool. Not long after accidentally knocking out a photographer while performing. This was 2015.
Dusk on the second day of 2015 with The Smith Street Band. I remember someone stole the Smith Street in Wollongong sign and held it up their entire set.. also I believe the PA blew up shortly after they started!!
Notice the stage size! 2016 saw a massive jump in production.. and the stage facing the mountains meant my view from a cherry picker got the lovely ocean. I could have happily sat there all day.
Local legends that deliver a live show for the ages. Totally unicorn. You can’t help but shoot every part of their live show. It’s chaotically brilliant.
I remember when Ben told me they had At the Drive in headlining the 2017 festival. I laughed and didn’t believe him. I was wrong, it was awesome.
Such a powerhouse of a live band.
It felt like the kind of moment where look back and say, “remember when at the drive in played in Wollongong?”
I’m almost certain this was DMAS. 2016
It was a cold and windy evening but everyone was loving the lineup. With this being the first year of stepping up the production, this moment stuck with me as I sense the enormity of what yours and owls was becoming.
Another wide shot of Dune Rats performing in at the festival again in 2017. I have loved shooting these wide shots of artists performing at the festival each year. It just seems to get bigger and bigger.
I’ve toured with Press club and worked alongside them for a long time. We have a running joke where one ( or all ) of them will do a “pop punk” jump sporadically. This is Nat. In all her pop punk jumpin glory.
Lastly we have Windangs Finest. Zack and Billy from Hockey Dad. I’ve worked with them since pretty much the beginning. They have always been such great artists to collaborate with. This image just cements a sense of Gong Pride in me. I love watching my friends succeed.
Adam Smith with Brad Fulton. Adam is the site manager and owner of the festival. Always smiling even when it gets hectic. It’s nice to photograph the people who make these events happen. Brad just happened to be there but someone I’ve worked alongside with for years with artists like Violent Soho and PUP.
As you can see, this is Hockey Dad in 2018. The stage was flipped so the escarpment became the iconic backdrop for this year. Oh and few people turned up to see a local band play a few tunes..
Of course if it wasn’t for the crowd festivals would work.. so when I see a patron throwing their whole emotions into watching a live band it’s worth capturing.
Not sure who was playing here but it was obviously a great time.
Maz from WAAX is one of those performers you can’t take your eyes away. So engaging, so strong and dynamic. Shooting WAAX in any setting is awesome. This was 2019.
Skegss always whip the crowd into a frenzy. I feel I’m now too old to get in amongst it so I just use my monopod.
Lastly we have Windangs Finest. Zack and Billy from Hockey Dad. I’ve worked with them since pretty much the beginning. They have always been such great artists to collaborate with. This image just cements a sense of Gong Pride in me. I love watching my friends succeed.
