THE MESSY FUZZ
- ballpointpressbne
- Jun 17
- 11 min read
Writer: Aysha Swanson
Images: Carly Villiers (@sublimesyndrome)
Graphics: Alessandra Salviani
In the past year alone, Brisbane has lost The Zoo, Stranded Bar, Season Three, and most recently, The Bearded Lady—a West End staple that, for over a decade, offered one of the city’s most vital spaces for independent music. The closures are part of a growing crisis in Australia's live music landscape, where rising costs, venue restrictions, and lack of government support are putting independent events and spaces at risk.
But not everyone’s giving up. In Bundjalung land (Northern Rivers), a DIY groundswell is gaining traction, led in part by The Messy Fuzz—an independent booking initiative run by creative powerhouse Alessandra Salviani. What started as a spontaneous show at The Northern in Byron Bay has quickly evolved into a full-blown grassroots music platform, booking eclectic lineups, throwing multi-band mini fests, and building space for community connection in a scene that’s often overlooked.
Fresh off the back of Brain Fuzz Belly Fest—a collaboration with Newcastle’s New Brain Communications and Red Belly Records—Ally sat down with us to talk about how it all started, why it’s getting harder to throw a gig, and what the public can do to keep music alive, beyond just showing up.
AYSHA: Hey! Thanks so much for meeting with me today, let’s start with who you are and what The Messy Fuzz is?
ALLY: I am just your average 29 year old girl that loves living life and making things count. I guess I've always grown up a creative enthusiast. I've always been passionate about committing to something creative. Growing up, I was a big writer and dancer. I used to put my headphones on and dance in my room for hours or stay up late writing poetry in my journals. I moved up from Melbourne in 2019 and loved being up here so much! Having the ocean close by, the warmer weather, the people - this place felt like my home. Around the time Messy Fuzz was born, I was working at the Beach Hotel as a supervisor and seeing live music frequently just made me so happy. I loved it. I loved seeing the community absolutely froth over it.
At the time I was dating a musician and he played guitar and I always wanted to learn so he gave me the bass that I have today. I moved away at one point to Cairns but for some reason there was this calling to come back to the Northern Rivers and I think a big part of it was the creative community. I started dating my current partner who has a real huge passion for music. He started covering for the bass player in Couch Wizard and at the time I just had this opportunity to sort of like throw a gig for him and for the boys and stuff.
In terms of Messy Fuzz, a part of my creativity is through film. I love filming things in a really, unique, wacky kind of way. I was like, “oh, this is so messy, this is fuzzy” and the Messy Fuzz just came out. Originally Messy Fuzz was sort of the identity of my abstract creativity, but I ran with the name. The first gig, which was at The Northern on April the 4th 2024, well that event went the way that it did and became the catalyst that I didn't expect it to become. I then did the Byron Bowlo. That was my second ever Messy Fuzz gig.
I guess the more last year rolled over, I kept getting approached by musicians to put something on. At the same time, the more that I did, the more I had people within the community really excited about it and really vocalizing with me like “thank you so much for doing this, this is awesome”. I guess then Messy Fuzz sort of became the name of this gig promoting Northern Rivers booking business kind of thing. Slowly, I guess my identity merged within that and then that kind of just sort of honestly spread like wildfire. It's just gotten bigger, more inclusive or more inspiring. I'm super stoked that it's gone to where it is today and I'm really excited to see where it all goes.
AYSHA: You recently hosted Brain Fuzz Belly Fest, tell us a bit about that, how did the show go?
ALLY: I guess with Brain Fuzz Belly Fest, so it kind of manifested when I was having a chat with Fungas and I was like, “I would love to do a show with you”. Then New Brain Communications from down in Newcastle, Red Belly Records and I were talking and thought we should combine these different communities to put an event on. We're also all friends so we thought the outcome of that could be really, really beautiful. I just immediately thought we should combine all of our names together. So, Brain from New Brain Communications, Fuzz from Messy Fuzz, and then Belly from Red Belly Records. Then after that I took on the whole project, both parties were doing epic tours and so basically, Brain Fuzz Belly Fest became my entire baby. Everything that happened, every poster, every caption, like everything apart from the reels that I did have support to make was all mine, like it was all derived from my lack of sleep, my creative brain - The messiness of my heart.
Obviously, we knew Couch Wizard and Fungas were going to be a part of the lineup. Then I kind of just like spread a couple of emails around and just sent a bunch of dms to say like, would you be interested? Are you free? So then the lineup became Brave Daisy, Happy Family, Flight to Dubai who were touring with Fungas, Champion Ruby, which was recommended by a friend because they're kind of a newly formed band and they're very talented as hell. Then it was Return to Nagoya, who are from the US and they were touring with Couch Wizard. Then Liminal are really beautiful friends and it kind of just worked with the timeline that they were keen to join.
It was a Sunday that we booked the Bangalow Hall and you obviously get nervous about putting like an eight band show from opening at 1:00 PM to late. Basically I just kept feeding the beast and I kept going, okay, like I need sound, I need to find a venue that I loved. Working with the Bangalow Hall, they were really amazing and it kind of worked as well with the community for location and for accessibility. The Spangled Drongo crew were onboard, and they've been such a supportive, amazing brewery and now really close friends, they're really great and supported me along the way as well.
Then to come to the day, it was honestly…to put it very, very simply, I had a moment when I was backstage and I looked at the crowd, it was when I think Couch Wizard was on stage and I just looked around me, I looked at my friends, I looked at just the whole lights, the, the setup, everything. I kind of just almost burst into tears cause I was so proud – of everyone, of myself. I was so full of love and gratitude, and it was just this ‘I can do it moment’ and also it was a very, this is why I'm doing this moment. This is my ‘why’ – seeing a room full of familiar faces, new faces, people having a laugh, people having a couple of beers. I got the chance to interview some of these musicians too and we had some really amazing talks as well as talking about, you know, the pressure of selling tickets and affordability of bands and musicians, women in the industry as well.
I guess Brain Fuzz Belly Fest became a very big seed that I think is adding to the collective of underground – local musicians, friends of musicians that are just making these things even more important. Just the importance of recognizing the work and the creative passion around all of these people – including myself – It's just wonderful to be a part of that and it's really something I can't explain in terms of my love and gratitude for it.
There was a moment as well when the door was packed, people were wanting to come in, and I was just like, no freaking way! It was a huge success. It was amazing to see the want and demand for it and I hope that from this experience and from the event that I continue to learn and grow through every single one, and I just get bigger and better every time.
AYSHA: What’s the music scene like in the Northern Rivers?
ALLY: The Northern Rivers is definitely an environment for local music and there's definitely more venues wanting to be a part of that scene. It's really inspiring to see like literally Lennox Bowlo is keen to do more gigs. I was on the phone to them the other day - “We wanna do it, we want to support the musicians here”. Then Lismore as well, Lismore’s got a crazy scene of musicians. I think what is really amazing lately, like every weekend there's always something on. It’s almost too hard to commit to anything sometimes because you're like, okay, this band's playing here and this band's playing here at my friend's party etc.. So the local scene is just growing. It's expanding, all the love around it, especially with like what I've seen with friends doing their best to support each other in any way or getting on stage and jamming - it’s so fun. It is just beautiful, it's accepting, it's moving and it's growing, I think, in such a way where sooner or later people are gonna want to be like, like I'm talking, like outsiders are wanting to be like a part of our world here.
I guess now for me, it's like whenever I go to a gig with like a couple of bands that maybe I know or that have I've put on before, it honestly feels like a big family room. It's really something that I think I want to be a part of the rest of my life.
I think there's also like lessons that I've learned, seeing the behind the scenes so much more with doing Messy Fuzz. I've been definitely mistreated and definitely like not fairly respected, maybe as a woman trying to do this, but also just from, from a perspective of like, you know, the fairness of my responsibilities to a, like a venue and stuff. I've learned a lot through some challenges within the music scene, and I think that doesn't necessarily come from this area, but it's like sort of the outsider influence because there is a different spread of monetary value and financially driven people that just want to do the music for a certain purpose that’s not authentic.
I know that there's definitely a greater outweigh of people that are wanting to do the music for love, to share it with each other and for the musical community. If we all do our part together, whether it's me putting on an event and then these bands playing and then them bring their friends and whatever it might mean or look like, I think it's just if we come back to love and come back to that beautiful part, which I saw on Sunday was just everyone helping out, then I think the music scene can be something just really empowering and really beautiful and I think it's starting to really feel like it’s coming to that journey now.
AYSHA: What do you think the public could do to help the scene considering, you know, at least in Brisbane, we've had some major venues shut down, including The Zoo, Stranded Bar, Season Three and most recently The Bearded Lady.
ALLY: I think as a public, I can put it very simply, and I definitely saw this as another side of the challenges of doing music, people will come up to the door and they'll ask, “what's the price?” and for instance, I did 50 bucks for Brain Fuzz Belly Fest, and I felt like I had to over explain myself. When I said 50 bucks, some people would go, “oh, that's a lot”, and I'm like, okay, here's the rundown. I’ve got to pay bands. I have to pay like the hire of the hall. I have to pay the PA, like this is all coming out of my own money. At the moment, promoting is not a major money source for me at all. I'm doing this from working another job, which I'm grateful that I'm at that good balance where I can leeway, but that at the same time, I think the public sometimes don't really understand a musician's world outside of playing sometimes. Whether they have a family to feed, whether they're struggling for rent, or they need to fix their amps or whatever, it's just sometimes people assume or approach gigs and events as like maybe a bit of a waste of money.
Let's just say it's 20 bucks for a ticket. They're like, “oh, that's expensive”, and you're like, you will pay 20 bucks to eat avocado toast this morning? I guess buying a ticket is way more impactful than you think. Obviously we can't always commit to every gig because, you know, we have our own lives, but I guess it's being open to the fact that these gigs, these musicians as well, there's so much more investment than just getting on stage for 40 minutes. And that's where it's a catalytic effect, these musicians can't play cause they can't afford it, venues close because the owners can’t afford it. Of course, the cost of living is tough, but it's tough for obviously all of us and if we mold it in a system where we can like support each other, that's where things will last.
AYSHA: Okay this is kind of a big one but what does live music mean to you?
ALLY: Live music to me is sort of like transporting to another place emotionally and mentally. Sometimes it's a bit of escapism because I can be really present. Seeing a person perform, and sometimes it's just really in such an awe of a creative outlet that I've grown so much more attached to and it's like what I said before. I looked around and I saw everyone smiling and throwing each other, crowd surfing. It is just this feeling of being alive. That community, and I froth it. I love it and I wanna be going to gigs until I can't walk anymore. I wanna be having my kids on my shoulders and my partner on stage. It's just this consuming feeling and the more – oh my God, I'm gonna cry – the more that I do it, the more that it just means something, I think, deeper for myself.
I think I've just honestly met the most incredible people at gigs, the most incredible, amazing souls through music and it's not even like music. It's the lyrics, the friend sitting on a couch when you are practicing your bass guitar, whatever it is, it's just this encompassing of absolute love and presence, and I want it to not die. I want it to last forever, as much as possible, and it will never die because music can never die. But yeah, I know live music has changed my life and it's changed so many other people's lives and that is what it really means for me.
AYSHA: Yeah, that’s beautiful I couldn’t agree more. What do you have coming up? Anything you want our readers to know about?
ALLY: I've got Lennox Bowlo June 28th with Arabella And The Heist, W.O.M.B.A.T, Fly Agaric cause they're very good locally, Burnt Trash and Lip Line. Chalk Fest, another minifest I did last year with Truckstop and my good friend Forty Seven studio, which was just as impactful and amazing as Brain Fuzz Belly Fest, I got round two in the works.
Then me and Little Poet have got something brewing for a very femme focused Mini fest in August at Bangalow Bowlo. So stay tuned for that because it's going to be supporting the women in the business! I hope to see many more people coming along for the fun and for all the love of music.
MESSY FUZZ
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