The Melbourne music scene is often described as ‘rich,’ ‘vibrant’ or ‘eclectic’ – or any other manner of exciting adjective. And if you’ve ever taken a quick squiz at the gig guide on any night of the week, there’s plenty there to suggest such descriptions are warranted. Tinpan Orange, as one of the relative newcomers to the Melbourne scene, closely represents all that is rich, vibrant, eclectic or other about the Melbourne music landscape.

But amongst a landscape that often sounds like it’s all beer and skittles, the road of a Melbourne indie artist is one that usually involves less of the beer and not as many skittles as you would otherwise imagine. Yet the realities of the industry certainly haven’t seemed to dull the passion of Tinpan Orange’s Emily Lubitz, Jesse Lubitz and Alex Burkoy, enough to devote their life to it.

So when I got the chance to chat with Emily, I wanted answers. As they strive in an industry as competitive as it is exciting, I wanted to know why they do it, and I wanted to know how they do it. Strangely enough, it seems answering the latter provides some obvious answers to the former.

The Tinpan Orange story began in familiar territory, no doubt, as it does for many musical-types keen on making music. Jamming with her brother Jesse, busking, going to open mic nights, writing songs if and when they felt right… it was a social thing, an outlet, and largely an unconscious, gradual process towards what we now know as Tinpan Orange.

Perhaps surprisingly, the life of an indie artist was never originally a conscious decision for the band – after all, they were just going up to Darwin to hang out with friends, do a bit of busking, do some markets and play in a few pubs, maybe sell a few CDs along the way. It wasn’t until they sold a few more CDs each week than they expected, during what Emily describes as “a real random winter up there”, that they started to approach this vocation with a little more seriousness when they returned down south.

The small world that it is engineered a chance meeting with Alex Burkoy in 2005, whom they previously went to school with, and whose musical ability and sensibility seemed to fit like a glove with the direction the Lubitz siblings were heading.

So they now had the band, and the building blocks of their sound. But that’s not enough to allow an indie artist to enjoy even the modest success that Tinpan Orange are now eexperiencing. The difference, as is often the case for those indie artists with any kind of longevity, is the song writing.

Emily shoulders much of the song writing responsibilities for Tinpan Orange, with brother Jesse chiming in here and there. Listening to their second and latest release, The Bottom of the Lake, it’s clear that such crafting was not only a crucial aspect of allowing them to choose such a life, but also one crucial aspect that will no doubt foster their longevity on the scene.

Yet by her own admission, Emily is not the most prolific of songwriters. Their new record, for instance, was two years in the making. But, as she prefers the song to come to her, rather than her going to it, being prolific is not often the way to find quality. While every songwriter has their way of finding, crafting and ultimately delivering the tune, Emily’s process is more inspiration than perspiration.

“Often I can feel a song coming, it’s a really weird sensation. I feel it in the air, or inside me, but I don’t really know at that stage how it goes or what I’m trying to say, and it’ll take maybe 3 days, maybe 3 weeks, to get it out. But it’s actually a really lovely feeling. It’s kind of like this feeling that something’s about to hatch,” she explains.

But that’s not to say they all turn out to be good ones. One of the benefits of being an indie artist means you’re only working under the pressure you place on yourself. Emily puts it simply: “I find the songs are written because they need to be written, because they need to come into existence for themselves – to frame a moment or present an idea that I feel I can’t really present in any other way.”

It’s the absence of pressure, too, that helps shape the quality of tracks that do get recorded. And when it comes to letting go of a song that has hatched but shows little promise, Emily has the luxury to let it fall by the wayside without having to force it. For the punter, this means that each track you hear on the disc is their highest quality. As she explained the process of sorting the good from the bad for their latest record, the benefit for the listener is obvious: “With this record, we only recorded the songs that we loved.”

Ultimately, however, it’s the audiences that can often determine the success of a song. Sure, each idea goes through the rigours of the band, arranging and re-arranging to get the right feel. But it’s often the Melbourne audiences that will help the band determine what makes it to the record and what doesn’t. 

Surely the Melbourne scene is the perfect testing ground, too? Yes and no. Emily admits that the Melbourne scene for an indie artist is an awesome place to be with so much happening and so many venues to play in, but in the same breath, she also admits it’s a scene that could be a little more supportive of its artists.

Much of this can come down to the venue, which, depending on the venue’s dedication to, and respect of, its acts, can have a similar bearing on the audience it brings. For Emily, winning over such an audience can be a richly rewarding experience.

So it seems the Melbourne scene can be a double-edged sword for those following in the Tinpan Orange mould; so many accomplished artists so keen to play their music to the masses, and so many venues concerned with the dollar more than the artist.

Tinpan Orange's new album: The Bottom of the Lake

As success for Tinpan Orange grows, however, it allows them a little more choice in the venues and festivals they play. Bennett’s Lane is a favourite, and the scene of their latest album launch, the Thornbury Theatre, proves to hold much promise – “It’s a really dedicated music venue, it’s an old ballroom, so it’s got this beautiful décor, and red velvet curtains and gold trimmings, so there’s something quite grand about it. It looks very beautiful. I’m looking forward to playing there”, Emily explains.

Being able to choose their venues, choose their gigs, is a simple of measure of success for the band. They’re not looking for the big break. For starters, Melbourne doesn’t always want the big names, opting more for the credibility of the artist. And Tinpan Orange, like so many other indie acts, aren’t in it for the break or the money.

While the Melbourne scene brings opportunity, opportunity does not necessarily bring riches.

The benefit for Melbourne audiences is that when you attend a Tinpan Orange show, you know they’re in it for the sake of the song. But then that will be obvious from the quality of the songs. So if you’re a punter in Melbourne, I recommend you catch a Tinpan Orange gig sometime. It’s ‘rich’, ‘vibrant’, and ‘eclectic’ – and no doubt you’ll find your own adjective to aptly describe it.

Tinpan Orange playing the Thornbury Theatre on October 1, 2009, launching their second album, The Bottom of the Lake.