Bird’s Robe Documentary: This is Family.

“Bird’s Robe: This Is Family” Documentary First Episode Released

Australian music company Bird's Robe have released the first episode in their ‘Bird’s Robe: This Is Family’ documentary series. The series celebrates 15 years of the label, as well as the stories of its flagship artists.

Titled “The Beginning”, the episode charts the founding of Bird’s Robe as a collective of artists in Sydney’s experimental music scene, eventually coalescing into a more formal organisation.

The episode extensively features founders Mike Solo & Alex Tulett, artists sleepmakeswaves, The Crooked Fiddle Band, Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes, Squat Club, Dumbsaint, Space Project & Solkyri alongside contributions from Chelsea Wolfe, COG, The Fall of Troy, Art As Catharsis Records, Tangled Thoughts of Leaving, We Lost The Sea & many more.

Bird’s Robe Director Mike Solo says:

FINALLY! Here is episode one of our long-awaited documentary.
It’s taken a long time to get here, but we’re ready to share our stories with you.
17 years ago we held the first ever Bird’s Robe show.
15 years ago we launched a label.
We never imagined we’d be here now.

Huge thanks to James O’Connor (From The Pit) for helping edit this together, as well as our interviewers Andy Dowling, Simeon Bartholomew, Nate Hill & all the artists who have contributed to getting this going.

Special thanks to everyone who supported the original kickstarter campaign. Your support was instrumental in kicking things off and we appreciate your patience.

Please check it out, share, let us know what you think & stay tuned for episode two just around the corner.

“Bird’s Robe: This Is Family” Documentary Second Episode Released

Bird’s Robe Director Mike Solo says:

Episode 2 is here!

Thanks so much for the wonderful response to episode one of our documentary series, it was so nice to relive the very earliest days of Bird’s Robe and hear people’s impressions of that time.

This second episode covers some of the most exciting and formative moments in our story so far. I really enjoyed thinking back to these times which are still some of my most cherished moments in life.

Huge thanks again to James O’Connor (From The Pit) for editing, as well as our interviewers & all the artists who have contributed.

Please check it out, share & let us know what you think. Episode 3 is due in another two weeks.

“Bird’s Robe: This Is Family” Documentary Third Episode Released

Australian music company Bird’s Robe have released the third episode in their ‘Bird’s Robe: This Is Family’ documentary series. The series celebrates 15 years of the label, as well as the stories of its flagship artists.

Titled “Mikefest”, the episode continues the story of Bird’s Robe, with flashbacks to the record label’s 5th Birthday festival back in 2015. The event showcased Bird’s Robe’s progression from a collective of artists in Sydney’s experimental music scene, to a more formal organisation as a record label & management company.

The episode features commentary and performance highlights from sleepmakeswaves, Troldhaugen, Toehider, Meniscus, Anubis, Solkyri, Dumbsaint, Captain Kickarse and the Awesomes, Mish, Pirate, Dream Cities & more.

Bird’s Robe Director Mike Solo says:

OK fine we’ll call it Mikefest.

This week’s episode is a throwback to a simpler time - one glorious day of post-rock, prog and popcorn that was fondly dubbed ‘Mikefest’ by the bands at the time.

Back in 2015 we celebrated 5 years as a formal record label with an all-day party at Manning Bar in Sydney. It was a celebration for all, it was a farewell for some & it was all in all a very memorable moment for us, which we’ve been thinking about for the past ten years.

If you were there, or if you joined us to watch the full concert online during the pandemic - hopefully you enjoy reliving it again and the behind the scenes chat we’ve added.

If you weren’t there, maybe this one is a good way to tap in to see what these acts are all about.

Either way, perhaps we’ll see you again this December?

Big thanks to James O’Connor (From The Pit), Clipped.TV, Martyn Taylor & everyone

watching for your support thus far.

Stay tuned for Episode 4 in a couple of weeks. Plus some massive tour announcements on the way soon!

Bird’s Robe Documentary: This is Family. The Beginning.

Over 10 years ago, Bird's Robe Records was launched in a little club in Sydney called the Excelsior Hotel, along with it’s first 2 releases.

Hundreds of shows, thousands of fans & millions of streams later, Bird’s Robe has become a home for artists who don't tread what can be considered a conventional musical path.

This is the story of how some of Australia's most unlikely underground musicians were drawn together under a bird-themed moniker to form a scene that would see its music shared across the globe.

  • 5 ARIA nominations

  • 5 #1 Independent Albums

  • 5 ARIA Top 50 Albums

  • 50,000+ records sold

  • 200,000+ fans on social media

  • 10 million streams online

  • 1,000+ shows

  • 100+ releases…


…This is what it is to be a part of the Bird’s Robe Collective!


From crushing, emotional crescendos of bands like sleepmakeswaves, We Lost The Sea & Meniscus, to the fiery prog rock of bands like Toehider & Closure in Moscow, or the quirky inexplicable energy of The Crooked Fiddle Band & Troldhaugen. If you love post-rock, prog or otherwise experimental rock, chances are that you're a fan of a Bird's Robe band.

Varying from post-rock, prog or otherwise experimental rock, all these bands have one thing in common: they are family.

This documentary seeks to tell this story in ambitious fashion - because the story of Bird's Robe, is the story of the bands themselves.

Bird's Robe Family at DUNK! Festival 2024 Documentary.

“Back in May marked a momentous occasion for us, with sleepmakeswaves headlining the legendary Dunk Festival in Belgium. 12 years since they became the first Australian band to perform at the event, they became the first to headline, closing the festival on Saturday night.

Dunk also hosted several more of the Bird's Robe family, including Closure in Moscow, Klidas, Jo Quail, Emma Ruth Rundle and This Will Destroy You.

We're stoked to bring you another edition of our 'love letter to Dunk' series, with interviews and footage from this year's event.

Dunk Festival celebrates 20 years next year, so if you've never been, now's a great time to consider experiencing one of the world's great post-rock and experimental music events.

Much love from all of us, to everyone on the Dunk team”

- Mike & Bird's Robe

Bird's Robe at DUNK! Festival 2023 Documentary.

“Dunk and Bird's Robe go all the way back to 2012 when sleepmakeswaves became the first Australian band to play at the event. Since then, Dunk have provided a platform for so many Australian artists to help fulfil their dreams of playing overseas to a passionate and enthusiastic audience.

We have followed their progression from their early days, from growing into a respected festival in Europe, to a record label and a popular pressing plant producing high quality products. We're proud to have partnered with them on many of our releases and vinyl projects over the past decade…

…We felt it would be nice to show everyone around the world a little bit of what makes Dunk so special. This is our love letter to Dunk, a mini documentary from the amazing Dunk Festival 2023.”

- Mike & Bird's Robe

Hi everyone,

Last year was a monolithic year for us, for many many reasons. Most significantly, it signalled a return to live music. Here is a long overdue highlights reel of some of the many adventures, edited by James O'Connor (From The Pit).

Thanks to everyone for your wonderful support.

Just a quick update on the documentary and where things are at too.

When we originally launched this project in May 2021, we were in a period of time where things were open but live music was not yet back to normal. I had planned to be able to conduct all the interviews during the following few months, whilst artists were living their lives normally, albeit without touring commitments.

Obviously, what followed was the most brutal of all the lockdowns to date. I didn't want this to become a Zoom documentary and I also didn't want to impose creative obligations on artists who were just trying to get by and function like the rest of us during this 4-6 month period.

When things finally opened up again late in 2021, again, I did not feel it would be appropriate to ask artists to go straight back into interview mode. People needed to experience life, see their families and friends, have their long delayed weddings, honeymoons and holidays.

By the time 2022 rolled around, we were now faced with more issues.

A backlog of touring, releases and more. Tours were still being rescheduled (sleepmakeswaves for example) and interrupted (We Lost The Sea/The Jezabels, Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle).

A worldwide vinyl supply chain squeeze which delayed thousands of records and annoyed thousands of customers. The upkeep on simply replying to emails was hours each day.

Quite frankly, it was madness. There was no way for me to properly service the artists and audiences who had waited so long for live music and also produce a documentary at the same time.

By the end of 2022, we were all finally able to take a breath and look to making the doco.

Since then, we've done over 50 hours of interviews, filmed dozens of shows and so far produced a few little snippets that you'll see in the final doco - our love letter to Dunk Festival is one of our favourites so far.

There are still a handful of interviews still to come, but we're entering the editing phase now. From here, the plan is not to delay things further and drop a massive amount of content all in one go. Rather, we're going to put out episodes as they take shape for people to enjoy whilst we work on the big one.

This is a story that continues to be written and I'm excited to share more of it with all of you.

I also want to say a big thanks (so far) to James O'Connor, Nate Hill, Andy Dowling & Simeon Bartholomew for their help with the interviews so far.

A couple of other notes:

  • The full Bird's Robe 5th Birthday Concert (aka Mikefest) is now available to watch for free on our YouTube channel, along with our mini doco produced in 2021. Thanks to everyone who joined in to watch this with us during the lockdown and all of your kind words, it really meant a lot to all the artists involved and it's a big part of what's enabled us to share this with you.

  • Thanks to those of you who have been patiently waiting for the BR subscription launch. It's here now and you're getting 27 additional releases for free. I know that doesn't quite make up for the wait, but hopefully it goes some way to compensating you. More news on this soon, or you can follow at birdsrobe.bandcamp.com

  • Most of the past decade of Bird's Robe I have been working by myself a lot of the time - and it shows, for better or for worse. I'm really happy to say that as of 2023, the team has grown. Bridget Donnellan, Tom Gilmore & Sheree Blake have been working behind the scenes (and sometimes in front of scenes) to help level things up. Keeping overhead costs low is still super important (whilst making sure everyone is looked after), but I am confident that we'll be able to provide a much improved level of service to both artists and fans in future. They are all awesome people and truly a dream to be sharing this with.

  • Feedback is always super welcome, please email, comment or DM anytime with your thoughts and ideas.

  • 2024 is going to be a MASSIVE year. Stay tuned for a lot of big announcements. I'm so excited and unbelievably grateful for the opportunity to be involved with all of this. Thank you again.

best,

Mike

- Jan 2024

Documentary Update and Bird’s Robe ‘23 Year In Review.

2023 was a very special year for us - here are some of the many highlights in a wonderful video edited by James O'Connor (From The Pit).

In addition to a bunch of fun and emotional shows and fantastic new music, we also made big strides in producing the long-awaited BR documentary.

We filmed the bulk of the BR documentary interviews between February and November (and have been busy editing since then) and produced a lovely mini doco in tribute to Dunk Festival 2023, which featured 5 Bird's Robe bands.

We also welcomed new members of the BR dream team, including:

  • Bridget Donnellan - Digital Content & Audience Management

  • Tom Gilmore - Catalogue, Metadata & Database Management

  • Sheree Blake - Merchandise Management, Artist Liason & Project Management

2024 has been a crazy year too and we'll share more about this year in review fairly soon.

Once again, I'm extremely grateful to be able to spend my time doing things like this, thank you for your support.

Mike

—Dec 2024