Byron Writers Festival spoke with poet, musician, writer, singer, producer, and former Goanna frontman, Shane Howard. Speaking to Shane is like mining for gold. If by mining you mean reclining on a lilo in a pool with a cocktail, and the person doing the hard graft is handing you nugget after nugget of the good stuff.
Howard, whose work remains as incisive and prescient as ever, has a deep connection to Byron Bay and will join author Tricia Shantz at the Byron Writers Festival to discuss her new book, Musicland: When the Music Came to Byron 1970–1995.
“Byron is an epicentre point in my life, and one of the places I keep returning to,” Howard said.
“My first encounter was in 1975 hitchhiking up the East Coast. The world was widening and I met lots of different people, counterculture figures, and alternative cultural influences.
“I ended up back in Geelong, which is like a parallel universe of Byron. The thriving surf culture that was emerging was also happening in Byron, and at the same time, Goanna was emerging.
“On that journey, I began to write Living on the Razor’s Edge and, of course, Byron gets a mention.”
The era itself was rich pickings for a young writer, as Gough Whitlam came to power and major geopolitical shifts worldwide fuelled pent-up angst in its generation.
“The post-WWII era is what I would call stasis, where nothing is happening. Our parents had been at war – they’d seen too much,” Howard said.
“It was up to us to tip the apple cart over. We wanted to make a change, and all those influences fed into this fierce determination to create our own cultural, creative identity.
“The Vietnam War was also happening, and Aboriginal land rights emerged. It was a very powerful and potent time. Byron was at the epicentre of that, and for that generation, but it kind of lost its edge, just as our generation lost the edge for reform and change and settled back into being comfortably numb. There was such promise in the 70s, and I think we betrayed that.”
Howard believes optimism lies with the younger generation, whose role is to tip over that apple cart and cause trouble.
“And long may they continue to do so. My dad used to say that old men must give way, and I think that resonates for me,” he said.
“We must move into the background and support young people with good mentorship and support and let them take the lead.”
He endorses Samuel Johnson’s quote, ‘Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel,’ believing people should be critical of their own nation.
“When I had my jolt and wake-up call, I realised I had woken up in someone else’s country,” Howard said.
“I was at Uluru in 1981, where I began to write Solid Rock, and camped out with First Nations mob in its shadow. I woke up in the morning and I didn’t even know where I was. The god of my ancestors had no sway out there, and it began a journey that has never ended.
“I want to say to my brothers and sisters in this country, no matter who they vote for, that this is a rewarding journey. It has enriched my, and my family’s life enormously, and there’s nothing to fear.”
Shane Howard will appear at the Byron Writers Festival on Friday for Musicland: Book Launch, and the Festival Finale on Sunday. For more information, visit www.byronwritersfestival.com.
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