Floodway’s Joel Haskew on the Wollongong music scene
Floodway is a garage and indie rock band from Wollongong known for their electric live shows and small but mighty fanbase. Performing since 2018, the outfits’ three members, Gus Kettley, Kye Storey and Joel Haskew have shared the stage with acts like Skegss and Baker Boy at Yours and Owls, received airplay on triple j, and more recently have been providing the tight instrumentation to the music of Aidan Whitehall, also known as Aodhan.
Since first working with Aodhan just a few years ago, Floodway have performed with the songwriter for triple j’s Like a Version, and at festivals including Groovin the Moo, Bigsound, and Lazy Mountain. According to Floodway’s lead vocalist Joel Haskew, meeting Whitehall was quite a surreal experience.
Haskew and Aodhan performing for Like a Version, 09/12/21. Photo: triple j
Talking to Haskew, I gained insights into the difficulties and joys of breaking into Wollongong's music scene and how listeners can help support their favourite local artists after the pandemic’s major disruptions.
MS: You’ve just come off performing with Aodhan alongside Gang of Youths and Middle Kids at Lazy Mountain in Berry. How were you feeling in the lead-up?
JH: Excited. It was really weird – in a good way. Every act on that bill, I was a fan of already. I had some friends on it – one of the guitarists from Merci, Mercy was my old guitar teacher growing up. It was a fun day, just getting to play a festival like that is surreal.
Aodhan with Floodway performing at Lazy Mountain, Berry, 08/04/23. Photo: GongSceneand JohnnyD Photography
MS: Can you tell me about your relationship with Aodhan and how Floodway got to be his backing band?
JH: We all used to go to music camps together – me, Gus and Kye – one year we went and Aodhan just happened to be there, and it's funny because I knew about his music before, because my mum had found him [after] he’d won the Indigenous initiative on triple j... that was dead set, maybe like a week or two weeks before the music camp.
Aodhan’s quite a shy fella. One of the camp guys came up to us and was like: “Oh, you should talk to this Aodhan guy, he knows your music,” which we thought was weird – in a cool way. Then we just started hanging out with Aodhan, and it wasn’t til a few days later that he told us he was *that* Aodhan. It was a really weird moment.
He needed a live band for shows… and he already played with us before at that music camp, so the chemistry was already good. He asked us to do it, and we got Sarah on the keys ‘cause Gus and Kye went to school with her and she’s just a weapon musician at everything she touches. That’s how that happened!
MS: You’ve come so far with Aodhan as well, from him producing his music solo, to you guys being a huge part of his act.
The pandemic had a tremendous impact on the music industry. Do you think without its disruptions, your band Floodway would be in a different position today?
JH: It’s hard to say, but I think so. I feel like it would be quite different – we were about to hit a point where we decided: do we take this quite seriously now? And then COVID happened, and then Aodhan happened as well, at similar times. I think COVID very heavily impacted the trajectory of Floodway – definitely has delayed it significantly.
MS: At least you were able to bounce back a little bit with some gigs here and there – back in 2022 Floodway headlined at the youth centre with funding from the Wollongong Council. How was the process to organise that event?
JH: The youth centre got in touch with me, because I know a few of the guys that work there. It was the only place you can really play an all-ages show in Wollongong, and it still really is since Rad Bar’s gone.
They were like: “Hey, the council’s doing this live music grant, we can help you organise that," so I put together a little pitch, and [sent] a couple bands an expression of interest. There were 20 applicants and they handed out three or four. [It was] way more money than I was expecting.
The youth centre was awesome about it, they funded all the security and venue hire cost… the money I got just went straight back into the artists which was really good too, because a lot of those kids we played with had never been paid for a gig before. It was a good gig – way more people came than I thought were gonna. Council was really cool about it – I couldn’t praise everyone highly enough.
Haskew performing at the Youth Centre, 14/04/22. Photo: Nathan Shaw
MS: As you just touched on with the closing of the Rad Bar, do you think apart from the youth centre, Wollongong is a very welcoming space for artists trying to break into the scene, or do you think there’s work to be done?
JH: I feel like Wollongong is a tough one because if you’re young, since Rad Bar’s closed, you haven’t really been able to go to shows. I was lucky enough to just be old enough when my parents would let me go to Rad Bar, I was like 14, 15, going to little all-ages gigs. I think that was really important to myself, kind of a world-changing thing.
“I was like 14, 15, going to little all-ages gigs. I think that was really important to myself, kind of a world-changing thing.”
As for artists, Wollongong is a bit of a hard market to tap into, but at the same time it’s also not – it’s a blessing and a curse.
All of the venues – Yours and Owls book them. They’re quite easy to get into contact with, so it’s where they’ll put you – climbing up through the ranks of other bands because they’re managing so many venues and booking heaps of people. You’ve got to really stand out, and I think trying to stand out can be a bit tricky. It’s also kinda good because once your foot’s in the door with them, they’ll offer you stuff.
We used to play La La La’s and then we’d have to leave immediately after our sets.
MS: Yeah, that’s ridiculous.
JH: We used to play North Gong and we’d all have to bring our parents and then legally say we were there for dinner after our set had finished, so we could stay and watch the other bands. I feel like it’s hard if you’re young to get into the Wollongong music scene, and to even just experience it as a punter can be quite difficult. But it’s not their fault, it’s just the law.
I feel like it’s hard if you’re young to get into the Wollongong music scene, and to even just experience it as a punter can be quite difficult.
Haskew performing at the Youth Centre, 14/04/22. Photo: Nathan Shaw
MS: Talking about promoting music, you and the band are understandably big advocates for strengthening the Australian music scene – what are some ways that the average listener can better support their favourite artists?
JH: Go to gigs, buy merch, buy physical albums. Even if you don’t have a record player, I’m sure there's a CD player somewhere in the house.
MS: And they just look good as well.
JH: I’ve got a mad stack – a huge stack of vinyls, of not just small artists but big artists too. I think the best way you can support a local artist. A little bit of money goes a long way. That one shirt you buy off them at a gig can probably pay for one of their meals that night. Even just putting their music on your story, someone else might hear it.
MS: That’s how I found some of my favourite bands, it’s crazy, the power of just a simple tag on your story. One more question for you, do you have any advice for any young musicians wanting to start a band of their own?
JH: Just do it. Put your foot in as many doors as you can. Even if nine of those ten doors close, that one door might lead to hundreds of opportunities further down the line. Don’t be afraid to ask for things – you might hear that X band is coming to town, you wanna open for them – just email their manager or something, because they’re probably looking for someone to open for them.
“Even if nine of those ten doors close, that one door might lead to hundreds of opportunities further down the line.”
Do it for yourself, don’t do it for money or for clout – that's what I would say. Make music ‘cause you love music and you wanna share your art.
Follow Floodway on Instagram: @floodwayband.