We are the children of the CANE
The origins of cane punk is as murky and mysterious as the individual misfits, weirdos & kids that claimed the title and celebrated their individuality in the face a culture less, harsh, beige and often violent mainstream coastal mentality.
The world wide Punk movement of the late 70s and 80s traditionally had a particular urban flavour. Generally city kids feeling disconnected from the metro monstrosities that housed them, ignited a revolutionary fired music fashion and culture that screamed independence from the main stream.
The pre- internerd punk kids of the late 80s early- 90s that happened to find their sorry asses in the culturally void rural region know as Queensland's Sunshine Coast, had a different yet no less lobotomising cultural challenge. These young coastal dwellers still shared the disconnectedness felt by the city kids, but their experience was compounded by the physical isolation that resulted in residing with in a rural community...lack of transport, employment, entertainment and opportunities to express themselves ....that and being surrounded by rednecks and footy boof heads.
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| Punk party flyer from 1995 where the infamous incident occur that gave birth to the era of sunny coast cane punk |
So what did they do... lay down, conform and try to fit in?... Hell no. Much like their city cousins, they organised against bland oppression, they formed bands, made zines, organised punk shows, held markets, opened alternative shops and generally made a stand!!
So why's it called cane punk then I hear you ask... We'll curious reader, the primary industry on the Sunshine Coast (prior to its utter collapse in the late 90s) was sugar cane farming. Local cane punk folk law recalls a night in Woombye when the term was hurled as abuse at the punk kids during a violent altercation outside a gig between the punters and a bunch of drunk footy players that should have know better. We can only assume the taunt was based on the fact that a lot of the punk kids grew up on, in or around sugar cane. The sugar cane industry may have disappeared but the name stuck.
So basically speaking..... the cities of the world may be responsible for the invention of punk, but.....Sunshine Coast put the cane in it!!
