So hi – I’m Danny.
I grew up a music fan in Australia in the 90s. In fact – my entire teenage years coincided with the 90s. I turned 10 in 1990, and I turned 20 in 2000. And like every other music fan on the planet – my teenage years were the years that music changed my life.
The thing is – I grew up in Australia during the 90s. Like the alternative explosion that marked the 90s around the world – Australian music went through a huge change in that decade. In the UK they called their scene Brit Pop. In the US they called their scene Grunge (to begin with anyway). In Australia, our journalists forgot to give the scene a clever name. Ozternative? Well, it’s too late now but this podcast is about that nameless scene.
Just Ace is part-history, part-documentary and part-memoir.
History. Yes, I will look back at the alternative music explosion in Australia in the 90s. Yes, I will talk about a lot of bands. Some of them were huge in Australia, some stayed underground. Some even had a small audience overseas. Bands like The Hummingbirds, Ractcat, Clouds, Frente, The Cruel Sea, You Am I, Silverchair, Spiderbait, Regurgitator, Powderfinger, The Fauves, Jebediah and many more. Like, many more.
Documentary. It’s not just mentioning people and how things were. This is the story of how this scene came to be. How a generation bands, artists, labels and people made a decade of music. How it mixed and clashed with political and technological change. How smart people, good and bad, made up new rules, started new labels, new magazines, new festivals, new TV channels and more. How not selling out and integrity became the model for a scene – and how that scene crashed by the end of the decade.
Memoir. How it felt to be there. This isn’t the inside story – it’s very much the outside story. It’s the story of being the teenage fan who collected all the CDs and went to all the festivals. It’s the story of what my generation did, how we lived, and how we listened. But I’ll also tell my stories of meeting rock bands, working at record stores and what happened to me and a band called You Am I. By design, I didn’t record interviews with anyone, although I spoke with a lot of people. If you were there and want to add to this, get in touch, let me know.
I’ve been trying to tell this story for many, many years. If you’re a friend, you’ve probably heard me go on about this for over a decade. Thanks for putting up with all those conversations about Pollyanna.
So here’s how it works.
Just Ace will be in seasons. The first one is 12 episodes and the current plan is the others will be around the same. We will kind of be working our way from 1990 to 1999, but it’s just a springboard to talk about various topics and bands.
A lot of research went into this and other things that came from the research will be on the website. Along with a lot of show notes and playlists. In fact, just about every episode could be spun out into a book or a documentary or something else. There is so much more story. Producers and publishers please get in touch.
There’s a Patreon – of course. There’s only one tier at the moment. It’s a simple support tier with a couple of very basic benefits. If the podcast does well I will make more stuff. And patrons will get a discount or I’ll offer a higher tier. If I get there. There’s also a tipping service called Buy Me A Coffee.
I encourage you to tell a friend and leave the podcast a good review. If you want to let me know what you think you can get in contact by emailing justace90s@gmail.com.
But hey, have a listen and see what you think first. Search Just Ace in your favourite podcast app that isn’t Spotify.
PS. Find out more including what the artwork and title is all about in the FAQ.