The New Globe Theatre will pay tribute to 13 years of swinging ‘60s and psychedelic garage-music when it farewells 4ZZZ’s Subterranea programme – as the show moves across to the station’s digital channel.
Subterranea’s co-creator and long-time host, Judy Jetson, says the move represents an exciting transition, both for her professionally and for the community broadcaster as it adapts to evolving mediums. “I’m going to try and move Subterranea over to Zed Digital,” Judy explains.
“We’ve had the digital channel at Triple Zed for a couple of years and it’s something that I think they’re really working on at Triple Zed, and a lot of other stations as well are moving over to digital; it’s just moving to a parallel universe,” she jokes.
The On And OnsWith Subterranea’s shift to Zed Digital, friends and lovers of the show can celebrate at New Globe Theatre with a farewell concert including performances by stalwarts of the Australian scene: The New Christs and The On And Ons. “I reckon it’s going to be non-stop fun because we’ve got a couple of local bands in there as well, Dr Bombay and Some Jerks, so there’s a bit of everything,” Judy says.
The Farewell Subterranea line-up has been curated by Mick Medew, who will also perform on the night with his own supergroup The Mesmerisers, which includes his bandmates from The Screaming Tribesmen. “Mick of course has helped to get the rest of the line-up organised as well because he’s still mates with all those old, rock & roll dudes,” Judy says, adding with a laugh, “well, they’re old now but back in the day they were the people I looked up to.
“The On And Ons I’m particularly excited about seeing because it’s got Glenn Morris, also Richard Lane from The Stems is in it, Clyde Bramley, and Jon Roberts from The Barbarellas… plus they’ll get to see me bawling my eyes out at least once,” she laughs.
Since its inception to the airwaves 13 years ago, Subterranea has been a reliable outlet for ‘60s garage music from Australia and around the world. What began as a passion project quickly bloomed into a long running and popular radio show serving as a time capsule for the sounds and styles of a most turbulent decade in modern history. “I was always fascinated with the ‘60s in general,” Judy says.
“It was such a free and creative time in world history and it’s the music, the fashion, politics and what was going on. We went to space and lots of cool things happened in the ‘60s as well, so I was always very interested in that.
“The music was equally as diverse, creative and interesting, so that really got me. When I was a teenager in the ‘80s there was all this electronic, New Romantic stuff and even then I could see it was manufactured. Whereas I like the organic quality of the music that was made in the ‘60s.”
Farewell Subterranea takes place at New Globe Theatre 30 January.
