CASSIDY BURKE
- ballpointpressbne
- 13 minutes ago
- 10 min read
Writer/Interviewer: Aysha Swanson
Goo has always felt like one of those rare 4ZZZ shows that quietly becomes a compass for what’s bubbling under the surface of Meanjin’s music world. Sitting in the late-arvo slot, Cass’ curation has built its own gravitational field — one defined by curious ears, DIY reverence and an instinct for finding the artists who deserve brighter lights. Across two years, the show has shapeshifted alongside her, moving from noise-washed alt-rock beginnings to an ever-expanding palette that spans skramz, indie folk, metalcore, psych and whatever else catches her radar that week.
But beyond taste, Goo has come to represent something deeply community-rooted. Cass grew up listening to 4ZZZ; now she’s part of the station’s cultural bloodstream — platforming femme, queer, First Nations and gender-diverse artists with an intentionality that feels less like a programming choice and more like a responsibility. In a city where beloved venues are shuttering and DIY spaces are stepping in to shoulder the weight, Goo has become a small but potent ecosystem of its own: a place where emerging musicians get their first radio play, where underground scenes cross-pollinate, and where listeners get a window into the shifting pulse of Brisbane’s live landscape.
As Goo turns two, Cass celebrates with a lineup that mirrors everything the show stands for — cross-genre, community-built, fiercely local yet open to wider worlds. We sat down to talk about how the show began, how it’s evolved, and where Goo might be headed as it steps into year three.
AYSHA: I would love to know how Goo started. When you first launched the show, what did you want Goo to feel like for listeners? What was the original vision behind it?
CASS: I had been involved with the station for around a year before I started the show. I was mainly in the music department and doing a lot of fill-ins on air. I'd say that really influenced my taste. I think my style and the music that I like has shifted so much over the past few years and has been directly influenced by my involvement at 4ZZZ. The album ‘Goo’ has always had a very special place in my heart.
Sonic Youth was my introduction to late 80s, early 90s, alternative rock and more alternative music generally. ‘Goo’ has always been one of my dad's favourite records, and I've got the album tattooed on my leg. That just had a certain significance for me, and a certain musical impact in terms of counterculture and a DIY ethos generally, which has influenced the show so directly and definitely inspired the vision behind it. The beginning of my show was very playful, and it was very experimental. I think I was finding my own footing as a presenter, and it was just kind of platforming and showcasing a lot of local, Australian and overseas artists that I really liked. I think since then, it's definitely evolved in a lot of really magical ways.
AYSHA: How has being part of the Zed ecosystem shaped Goo as a show, and how has it shaped you as a presenter?
CASS: Oh my gosh, there are so many beautiful people and great music that comes through the station. We're exposed to such diversity in music, which I think has directly shaped my programming. I think it's just really centred on that backbone of community. It's very community-driven and rooted in DIY spaces. It's such a privilege and an honour to be on 4ZZZ. Especially since it’s a very full circle experience for me – I grew up listening to the station and my parents were both avid listeners and subscribers to 4ZZZ. So, to be able to say that I'm on air now, in a drive show that's been on air for two years, is really incredible, and it's a pinch-me moment every single time.
AYSHA: You have such a signature curation style. Can you walk us through your process of building a playlist for Goo?
CASS: Honestly, it varies week to week. I think I just listen to a lot of new music, locally and beyond. I say this on the show all the time, and it sounds really silly, but I have very curious ears, and I'm always open to different genres and different styles. I think even just my curation style has evolved so much over the last couple of years. I started with a lot of softer tracks at the beginning and tried to go a bit heavier towards the end, but I think now I've kind of developed a little bit of an instinct and intuitive flair for putting different songs together in a way that feels really natural and flows, but is still very genre shifting. I tend to catalogue a lot of songs that I really like into a playlist prior to the show, and again, as I said, it's very intuitive. I just sort of jump in there and make my playlist on the fly. I put things together in a way that feels right, what I'm feeling in the moment, and centre all of the bangers towards the very end. I’d say 4:30pm onwards is always my favourite songs, and it gets me really excited.
AYSHA: Community radio relies so much on instinct — your taste, your mood, the week you’ve had, the shows happening around town. Do you feel like Goo has changed your relationship with music?
CASS: This is a fun question! At the very beginning, I think I had a very clear vision for the show, obviously, I loved Sonic Youth and listened to and played a lot of that alternative rock, feedback laden, wall of noise guitar music. I still love that so dearly. But I think it's just expanded and evolved in so many different ways. I think Goo has definitely challenged my preconceived notions of what I like and what I get into. It's just made it really fun. It's a real passion project for me to be able to find new bands that I really like and get to play on 4ZZZ. It's really crazy, actually saying that out loud, but I think it's definitely reflected the way that I interact with music and the way that my taste has shifted.
I've got into a lot of heavier music over the past six months even. I had a phase at the very beginning, Goo was very post-punk centric, a lot of shame, a lot of Fontaines DC, and I still love those bands so much, but now I’m able to shift into playing a little bit of skramz, a little bit of emo or metalcore, a lot of indie folk and a bit of psych rock and being able to switch it up, it's definitely expanded the bounds of what I thought my quote unquote music taste to look like. I know it's such a cliche thing to say, but I do think I really fuck with all genres of music. I don't think there's a genre that I don't like.
AYSHA: Hell yeah, maybe trap rap?
CASS: Yeah, maybe trap rap.
Both Laugh
AYSHA: What are the artists or genres that have shaped Goo most over the last two years?
CASS: Obviously, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr. I played shit tons of Dinosaur Jr and Pavement at the beginning and still to this day. Wednesday, oh my God. Wednesday, MJ Lenderman, Colin Miller and that whole Asheville, North Carolina scene, brought me more into a singer-songwriter, alternative country sound and like I said before, widened that scope of what I thought my taste could look like. When that doris album released last year, I think that was my first proper taste of emo music. It's more melodic than I think some of the stuff that I get into now, but I love it so much.
That kind of opened the floodgate for me getting into that music – I really fuck with Blind Girls, and more recently I've been getting into a lot of hardcore and metalcore like Trapped Under Ice, Incendiary, holder and on a local scale, Wetwork, Human Condition. I think just being involved in the station, but also being involved in those different communities – they are such pillars of the Meanjin/Brisbane scene – has been so rewarding. It’s so easy to confine yourself to one quote unquote scene or one type of genre that you like, but there are so many other incredible artists and DIY spaces and DIY musicians that are doing incredible things and it would be a disservice to overlook that.
AYSHA: You have had some crazy interviews on the show, including Wednesday, Shame, and Viagra Boys. Who is your dream guest to interview on Goo?
CASS: Yeah, honestly, Wednesday is the dream guest, and I think about it all the time. I think I spoke about it for like months on end. Whenever anyone would say “my God, you interviewed Wednesday”, I’d go "Yeah I love Karly Hartzman," and essentially would speak about how amazing she is. She's so lovely and so knowledgeable and her stories are so resonant, and I've loved that band for so many years now, so to have the opportunity to speak with her was insane and so beautiful. ‘Bleeds’ is my album of the year. In the future, I don't really know. I think I'm just definitely manifesting. Yeah, talking to Cameron Winter would be wild. Cameron Winter, Geese, Kim Gordon – wouldn't that just be insane? Maybe one day!
AYSHA: You spotlight so many emerging and DIY local artists, especially femme and gender-diverse musicians who often don’t get the platform they deserve. Why is championing those voices such an important part of the show for you?
CASS: I've always had a very intersectional feminist lens in the way that I perceive the world, and that is not just exclusive to music. I think everyone deserves the opportunity to have their music and their stories showcased, not just women and people who are gender diverse, but also First Nations artists, queer folk and people with disabilities. I think I live with the perspective of equity over equality, and it just comes very naturally for me to advocate for and represent women in the community.
AYSHA: As a woman in the music scene, what kinds of invisible barriers have you run into, and how have you pushed back?
CASS: I think being a woman and also given my age, when I started the show I had just turned 20, there was potentially an assumption that I wasn't knowledgeable or capable of existing in the music industry. But in advocating for equitable representation explicitly, but also implicitly through curation, has embedded a growing confidence within myself. Pushing back against those stereotypes has helped me build that self-trust and confidence that I am worthy of taking up space and that our voices deserve to be heard. Other people's stories are worth telling. I think that's kind of been the backbone of my passion, and my drive here is storytelling, not just my own story. I think being able to platform the amazing creativity, perspectives and lived experiences of other people has helped me, but hopefully other people as well.
AYSHA: Brisbane’s music landscape has changed massively in the last year, with venues closing and DIY spaces filling the gaps. Have these shifts influenced Goo? Has the show taken on a different energy in response to what’s happening around the city?
CASS: I definitely felt such immense grief at the closure of such pivotal music venues. I think about The Bearded Lady at least once a week. I'm so glad that Season Three has a new home and I'm so glad that they are all ages for every show as of January 1st next year. That is so exciting. I think it's definitely unconsciously shaped the way that my curation has evolved and the artists that I choose to interview. I've always had such a deep connection to the DIY scene, but I think it is so important now, more than ever, to be platforming those emerging or underground artists, promoting their shows on air and really hype up their music to create that visibility on a local scale and hopefully beyond.
I think live music is so important for any community. Public arts and alternative media are so integral on a societal scale. It creates opportunities, not just for young people, but for everybody to feel a sense of belonging and be able to share and create. I have so much admiration for independent promoters, independent artists, and independent venues, who continue in spite of these challenges, continue to create and put on really amazing events that we all value, so, so much.
AYSHA: Speaking of, congrats on your show ‘Goo Turns 2’! Happy birthday, Goo! What a crazy lineup! How was the process of creating a show like this?
CASS: It's been in the works for quite some time now. It's something that I've always wanted to do, and I've been so, so excited about this. I think all of these bands, I love to death, and I've played so incessantly on the show. It’s a dream line-up, and to have The Genevieves come on from Adelaide for their first Brisbane show is so exciting, and I think it'll be really fun to create those links between artists that exist beyond borders.
The Genevieves are really sick, and I can't believe they haven't been up here yet. I'm so grateful to have that opportunity to be able to put them on. Zac (Carr) from Tiny Minds Agency actually suggested this. Around three months ago, I interviewed The Genevieves on their new single, ‘Standing In Your Way’ and kind of floated the idea, and it all just fell into place. It was very serendipitous. And then God, I love 01 Thurman, I love Knee, I love Winona. They are just three incredible local bands that I love, and I think getting Knee on the bill is awesome because it's a little bit cross-genre. Like, you get a bit of punk in there, a bit of alt-rock, a bit of indie, and having The Genevieves headline is such a pinch-me moment. So grateful for Tiny Minds, Zac and 4zzz for giving me the platform to make such a beautiful thing. It’s at Season Three, December 13th, a Saturday night, and tickets are available via my social media page @goo4zzz and Tiny Minds.
AYSHA: Two years is a long time for a radio show to stay so fresh and so loved. Looking back, what do you feel most proud of? And looking forward, what do you hope Goo becomes in its third year?
CASS: What am I proud of? I mean, everything. It's just been such a great experience over the past couple of years. The three-hour slot has been challenging at times, so I'm definitely proud of myself for staying so committed and showing up. I think life can throw so many different curve balls at you, but having this consistent part of my routine is something that I really look forward to. Goo is honestly the highlight of my week, it’s such an honour. I think my reverence for 4ZZZ has really guided the way the show has evolved. Having a show on community radio that is so rooted in the ethos and the values that have existed at this station for 50 years now is so important to me. I think the way that this will evolve is through that community focused, DIY ethos – being able to uplift and showcase local and emerging artists. Hopefully, I can put on some more cool shows. We'll see what happens.
AYSHA: Goo turns 3?
CASS: Goo turns 3. We've got to get past 2 first.
Both Laugh
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