WELCOME TO THE DOWNUNDERGROUND
WTF IS CONTAGION COLLECTIVE?
We are a community of independent Australian artists and musicians who dabble in the darker, grittier side of alternative music, working as an aggregate and supporting each other through the 'new normal'.
Post 2020, the world has seen how under certain conditions, even something microscopic can have a far reaching effect.
As the wake of the pandemic closed doors of live music venues around the world, independent artists found themselves cut off from their audiences and peers as we saw just how easily conditions can become inhospitable for isolated organisms. In a country where cities are separated by vast distances, the importance of connective community became clear.
Contagion Collective seeks to create a nourishing substrate for our creative culture to thrive within, opening the door for collaboration, cross-promotion and most importantly, connection, as we support each other on our respective journeys.
As individual cells forming a larger organism, we can become stronger and reach further, spreading the sound of the downunderground.
OUR ORIGINS
The first incarnation of the collective started in 2018 when members of various Brisbane Industrial music projects began working together to share ideas and resources to develop our small, but kicking local scene.
Our first meeting took place in a West End pub, where some fantastic ideas were thrown around.. many of which were lost to the following morning’s hangovers.
We adopted the name “Militant Noise Division (MND)”, and began meeting regularly (no longer at the pub), organised some great local shows and began working on a compilation album to showcase our respective works in a neat little package.
When the big bug hit in 2020, physical meet ups were canned, along with live gigs and our interactions became purely online. This is where the true value of what we’d created became apparent. Aside from all the conspiring and plotting world domination, it was really healthy to have a group of like-minded creatives to bounce ideas around, collaborate and just have some banter with.
It also became apparent that with physical limitations removed, our little community could extend beyond Brisbane to artists from all around Australia. We knocked down the walls of the pigeonhole by looking beyond Industrial music alone and began reaching out to artists working in ‘adjacent’ styles as well. Finally, in light of the realisation that MND is a widely used acronym for a medical condition, we renamed the project, and Contagion Collective became a thing.
WHAT'S OUR CONNECTION WITH VIRAL RECORDS AUSTRALIA?
Contagion Collective is an entirely independent community and is not owned by or managed by the label or any other entity.
While a few of our artists are signed with Viral, the majority of us release our music independently while a few of us work with other labels.
Viral Records supports the collective by providing the space on their website that you're looking at right now and by releasing & promoting the "Outbreak" compilations.
Viral Records doesn't profit from the streaming or sale of the compilations - 100% of royalties are distributed to the contributing artists.
WHAT'S NEXT?
Connect. Conspire. Collaborate.
We'll continue digging through the downunderground to find artists who belong in our little petrie dish, forming connections and letting the collaborative culture develop organically.
As new artists come on board, we’ll release additional volumes of the Outbreak compilation to showcase their music.
Now that live music is a thing again, Contagion Collective showcase gigs and other events are in the works.
By working together as many microorganisms forming a cluster, we'll keep finding ways to connect Aussie alternative artists with each other and with audiences around the world.