In just a few short years Kate Stroud has established herself as a mainstay of the local music scene as a curator, organiser and singer-songwriter in her own right and last year, with the opening of the Dusty Attic Music Lounge, she hopes to have created a new home of the Lismore indy music scene.

I grew up with parents who are big music lovers. There was never any dead air in our house. There was always a radio or a mix tape or a CD on in the background. When they would wake up in the morning, I'd hear the flick-flick of the radio and it was on. So I guess music has been in my day-to-day forever. I was the kid at parties in a bassinet underneath the table while it was blaring. So it's in me.

I've always found a lot of joy singing and found it's been a big part of my overall wellbeing and means of expression. I was in the Perth Children's Choir for a time and I always loved music through school but I didn't have any formal lessons as a kid. When I got to early adulthood and kind of took charge of my life and my own, I guess, financial situation, that’s when I began lessons.

I started with singing lessons and piano lessons. I did a couple of units at WAAPA [Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts] doing theory and aural, which was terribly boring, and had various teachers over there. That's actually what brought me to Lismore because I did the contemporary music degree here at SCU.

This area offered, I guess, the kind of that kind of learning and that kind of acceptance and nurturing that I needed.

I tend to throw myself in the deep end because that's how I learn and my ambition is always bigger than my skillset. So when I came to uni, I couldn't play an instrument. I'd just played a few odd gigs with friends. So I bought a guitar and I started learning, teaching myself.

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It was tricky because I found myself being quite behind the level of everyone else, but it was also very inspiring to have a bar to raise myself to. I got to a level where I was able to do that and overcome my lack of belief in myself and my feeling that I was terribly uncoordinated.

One of the biggest things is learning that you are deserving and people do want to hear what you have to say and that there is a level that they can connect with you on. Playing music is a really vulnerable thing to do in front of people, especially if it's something that you've written. But there's something really empowering standing in that vulnerability and delivering a part of yourself to strangers.

After three years at uni, I was pretty immersed in the community. I'd been running the open mic for three years at the uni and I was working with Red Square Music, Mullum Music Fest and all of those guys. So I had a lot of things within the industry that were tying me here, but I also had nothing tying me there. So I did go home to check and was there for a couple of months but I'd gone past that tipping point of feeling where home was.

Running the open mic was really significant because I got to learn about what makes people want to gather in places, about consistency and community, about how people need things like that to have a sense of belonging. I guess I've always been a really strong, I guess, coordinator and organizer.

I was also running a series of naughty house shows - pushing the limits a bit - and there were many nights underneath the stars with too much of everything and a lot of fun.

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Having those house shows was kind of like the platform for where I've kind come to now. Those nights where you've collected all of these people in a really special secret intimate location to have these interactions with these artists that are just so intimate and special, it's those moments in time when time does stop and you're like: “how is this even happening? You can't pay for this. This is just one of those special moments of life.”

So I guess all that lead up to Dusty Attic. I had a very relaxed conversation with some friends who were passionate about this kind of stuff as well, and we decided to be like, well, why don't, why don't we just do it? There's no reason why we can't do it.

I missed having that consistent go to on a Friday or Saturday or whatever night that you knew that there was going to be something good on. And if you wanted just to have that little fix of culture, you could go get it. So I decided that that was what I was going to do.

So we found a space, we signed a lease, we started the proceedings with council to get it rolling. And, you know, unfortunately we had the whole flood incident, which was really devastating. And it we had to start again and that set us back a year to open.

And I guess that's what I've been working on the last few years to try and create and to have a platform for local musicians to play out.

It's a small business, so of course it's challenging but I've received amazing support from the community, which is brilliant. And I feel like I'm in that phase now where it's like everyone needs you to prove yourself, unfortunately. I feel like I'm in the slugging it out time now where people are waiting to see if it's going to be delivered consistently and if it's going to be something that's going to have longevity or if it's something else it's going to pass.

I'm just doing my best to wade through that time and to keep doing what I'm doing and learn how to do it better because I'm still learning in this process.

So far I think some of the best moments at Dusty Attic have been performances from people who were still even starting out. Maybe it's because I can resonate with them, but they walk off that stage feeling really loved and supported and heard, which is a pretty incredible feeling.

Other nice moments, I'm going to get on my little feminist high horse here, are when I’ve met people who at first go “oh, are you the owner?” Yes, I'm the owner. “Oh, okay.” And then want to speak to you about the tech specs and sound gear and things like that and I can answer them because I do know what I'm talking about and to have that moment of feeling like: no, I deserve to be here. I bloody do know what I'm talking about. And yeah, you can wipe that surprised, look off your face. I do know how to roll lead. Yes. Thanks for asking.

One of the highlights was when Liz Stringer come through. Liz has been doing this for 10, 15 plus years, the hard yards around pubs around Australia, around Canada. She's an Oz female singer, songwriter icon. She came through and I got an email from her afterwards in reflection thanking us for what we're doing, because in her opinion there are not many spaces left like Dusty Attic - dedicated spaces for music - and that it is really special.

Another part of who I am and stuff I do is sign writing, which is also really important for me. It’s the thing that actually pays my bills - usually late - but they get paid. I’m a sign writer and hand letterer and I also do graphic design work. So I've been doing that since 2012 and I moved that over with me and started doing cafe chalkboards and friends’ gig posters and stuff like that, which evolved to handle lettering and brush work. So that's also something that I need to get a little bit more balance for because it's a skill that takes a lot of time and effort, but it’s something that I find really fulfilling and integral for my happiness I guess.

Another community event that I run is the Reel Abrupt Film Festival with myself and two other friends. We've had community arts grants for it twice now and run it in Nesbitt Lane in conjunction with a The Loft. It’s another very different kind of festival, but also one that's really lovely because it's accessible for any kind of creative which is I guess another thread of the inclusion and community, which I believe is really important for places like Lismore and just humanity in general.

I'm really interested to see how Dusty Attic will grow and evolve because in the six months it's changed a lot. I want to see if I can grow it to be a little bit of an icon in the way that spaces have been to me. If I can be that for other people, I'm going to be stoked.

I want to expand to be able to hold more people and open up that back space, so I can have larger events. In regards to the community, I want to be able to make it accessible for people who are ability challenged and the deaf community I've started working in that kind of way. So I guess continually growing an inclusive space.

I believe it’s a stepping stone, to what I have no freaking idea, but I just know that it is a stepping stone and that I'm just exciting to see what future collaborations will pop up out of it. I'm just open to and excited to see what will happen.

Dusty Attic Music Lounge is located at 149 Woodlark St, Lismore, and for more information on Kate's sign writing check out the Stroud de' Signs Facebook page.

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