Hardcore in Byron
Images: © Dan Pinter, Mitchell Piny, Calllie Marshall

Growing Up in Byron

Hi, my name is Josef. I’m a sixteen-year-old boy living in Byron Bay. Byron Bay is a small coastal town in New South Wales.

I moved from Sydney to Byron when I was two years old and have grown up in this area since then. I have been to just about every school in the Byron shire and have lived in a few different places in the region.

I do art, sing in a band, skate and surf. Byron has produced many quality musicians, bands and artists and this has been very influential in the art and music that I make. I am now attending a Steiner school so I am completely surrounded by the arts. This is the second Steiner school I have been to during my schooling.

Music in Byron for me has always been a huge part of my life: going to shows, jams and just playing music. There is a fairly big hardcore scene in Byron going back many years and there are many different types of hardcore bands that have come from this small area. Bands such as Parkway Drive, 50 Lions and Word Up were born and bred in Byron and are well known throughout the Australian hardcore scene and internationally too.

Music in Byron is all about showing other people what you have been doing, what you’re into and just having fun.

My art consists of aerosol art, drawing, painting and just experimenting. I have been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. I picked up my first aerosol paint can when I was about 13 and the obsession has had a hold on me ever since. I guess the best thing about Byron being a small town is that people who knew me saw me painting in the street on legal walls and would refer me to other people and I would get jobs painting for people.

Byron being a small place has also brought my friends and peers closer to me and there is a network of people that I look up to and am good friends with.

Without Byron I don’t think I would be so into music and the arts.

Joseph, Year 11 student, Byron Bay, 2009