Get To Know… Neat Collective
Hard to define, easy to love. The Note goes underground with Neat Collective, a duo that brings artists together in unlikely places…
Words Timothea Moylan // Image supplied
Warehouse parties. Basement experimental nights. Postpunk at the pub. With such a varied collection of projects under their belts, it’s hard to define what Neat Collective actually is.
“It’s an experiment”, explains Lewis Godwin, one half of the programming duo. “Really simply, it’s an avenue for booking, curation and event production. Our background is in underground music communities, and we wanted to find a way to make programming in this space work with a slightly more ‘industry’ approach.”
Neat Collective comprises Lewis and graphic designer, Junxin Peng. Together, they’ve tackled their own brief with gusto, spending the last three years working with small to medium venues to devise programs that celebrate ‘niche’ and alternative genres. The team has brought interstate and international acts to spaces across greater Adelaide, including their residency at west-end pub, The Metro. They’ve also hosted live electronic nights at Ancient World and a Dark Mofo-esque Port Adelaide warehouse party called SONAR.
With their fresh, diverse and non-genre-specific approach to programming, Neat Collective have played a significant part in re-establishing a South Australian leg of touring circuits in the wake of the pandemic. “Audiences and bands are excited about what we’re doing… they’re hungry for something new and different.”
For Neat Collective, their point of difference is an emphasis on community – an unwavering passion for highlighting local artists and connecting them with bands from beyond state borders. “It’s really important to us to increase dialogue between artists, facilitate a network and open up opportunities for local bands.”
With a background as a self-managed musician and experience in label and tour management, Lewis acknowledges the chasm between the “cut and dried” music industry and the grassroots music community. He hopes that Neat Collective can be the place where these two worlds blur, but makes it clear that community will always be the core driver.
“Music at a grassroots level is an opportunity for engagement with one’s community and with one’s culture. Cultural agency gives people – especially young people – meaning in their lives. It’s an opportunity to really grab something and say: ‘This is me. This is who I am. This is why I’m here and what I think.’
“Both Peng and I had formative experiences with finding meaning and community through live music. For me, it was as a teenager going to local gigs and finding people that I resonated with. For Peng, it was when he came to Australia as an international student. The music community was an entry point for him into the local culture.”
It’s not to say the project hasn’t come without its challenges – in particular, the question of whether underground programming is sustainable in Adelaide. With a smaller industry than our east coast neighbours, and urban planning that sees live music activity centralised in the city’s CBD, Neat Collective are up against the same barriers as many local event producers.
Lewis describes Adelaide as an “awkward teenager”, said with deep affection and a touch of exhaustion. “We should acknowledge Adelaide’s difficulties,” he explains. “But we shouldn’t think of them as shortcomings – just as challenges that we should accept and attempt to work around. We need to work together collaboratively to strengthen our community, and we need people who will put their foot in the door to let others in behind them.”
So what’s next for the team?
“Over the last three years, we’ve thrown everything against the wall. We’ve pushed ourselves and tried things we’d never done before. Going forward, we want to put more of ourselves into the curation and just keep making fun programming that challenges people.”
Challenge accepted.
Follow Neat Collective on socials to keep an eye out for the announcement of their July Metro residency program.
