Gang of Youths, Shark sign up for MTV Unplugged in Melbourne

The influential concept, which once yielded legendary performances, is being revived for the Australian market.

Gang of Youths frontman David Le'aupepe at last year’s ARIA Awards 2017. Picture: Getty Images.

Offered the chance to become the first act on MTV Unplugged Melbourne, Sydney indie rock band Gang of Youths did not hesitate.

“We’re not an immediate ‘yes’ band, but this was an immediate yes,” says bassist Max Dunn with a laugh, standing outside the space where the band is rehearsing with a string section. “This was very exciting; the opportunity to do one is pretty insane.”

Pop artist Amy Shark had a similar response. “I’ve grown up watching MTV Unplugged and I think it’s such a classic, awesome thing to be able to do,” says the Gold Coast singer-songwriter, whose debut album Love Monster at the weekend reached No 1 on the ARIA chart. “All of my songs were written on guitar, so I think it’s going to be pretty easy to strip them back.”

Gang of Youths and Shark will later this week become the inaugural artists in what MTV hopes will be a profitable venture — recording their sessions at the Meat Market Cobblestone Pavilion in North Melbourne before a seated crowd of around 400 people, including a handful of lucky fans chosen from a radio competition.

For listeners of a certain age, MTV Unplugged triggers nostalgia for the 1990s, when compact discs were sold by the truckload and the only way to see music videos was to be in front of the television at the right time.

It is unclear, however, whether younger listeners — for whom accessing the entire history of recorded music is second nature — will buy into the concept.

From the broadcaster’s perspective, it is hoped that the unique experience of seeing these artists perform acoustic or stripped-back arrangements of their songs will be enough to establish MTV’s cultural cachet among a new generation.

In a world where music is plentiful to the point of saturation, will casual fans have the patience to sit and watch an hour-long musical performance on live television?

“In industry meetings, I was constantly hearing from labels, managers and bands that they are desperately needing more music television,” says Simon Bates, vice-president and head of MTV Asia Pacific.

Amy Shark at Splendour in the Grass earlier this year. Picture: Ian Laidlaw.

“If you’re looking at television opportunities, you’re down to Sunrise and maybe a chat show on free-to-air, which is only really suitable for a certain kind of artist,” he continues. “For MTV, we’ve continued to showcase Australian music on our channels — but filming performances is tough in this market, in terms of making a return on investment from a production point of view.”

Why? “It’s very, very expensive and the ratings often don’t justify that expenditure in a market as small as Australia,” Bates replies. “That’s why there’s been a decline in music television; that’s why broadcasters aren’t clambering over each other to produce more live television content — because unless it’s really special, it’s going to need a bit more to make it really perform.”

By way of example, he notes that Paul Kelly’s performance at the Sydney Opera House late last year attracted more than 430,000 viewers, showing here’s still an appetite for great performers in a unique setting. Crowded House at the same venue was another relative ratings success for the ABC, attracting more than 600,000 viewers in late 2016.

“That was talked about, it cut through and captured everybody’s imagination,” says Bates of the Crowded House show. “I think that’s why the Unplugged format will work. To make live music television work in Australia, it needs to feel special, unique, different and exciting.”

Importantly, MTV appears to understand that there’s little point in attempting to restrict these performances to a single blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot on pay television. Instead, the plan is for the shows to be widely available soon after the premiere.

“We want to make sure audiences can find and enjoy the show on as many platforms as possible,” says Bates. “The first and best place to experience it will be on MTV on Foxtel, but then on many platforms after that. The total reach number is what we’re interested in.”

While some music fans may regard the resurrection of Unplugged as a bold move, Bates says the format has continued in a range of different markets, with the likes of Japan, Germany and Britain continuing to show a strong interest.

“We’re going to be continuing this for at least a few years,” he says of the local production, noting plans to announce another two Australian artists soon. “It’s not a one-off; we’re going to keep making these shows.”

While Eric Clapton’s 1992 Unplugged release remains the best-selling performance of the lot, with estimated worldwide sales of 26 million, the 1993 recording by Seattle rock trio Nirvana is more commonly associated with the format.

Kurt Cobain during Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged performance in 1993.

After rising to worldwide fame in the early 90s with its dynamic clash of electric guitar, thundering drums and Kurt Cobain’s screamed vocals that came to define grunge, the MTV Unplugged in New York recording allowed the band’s songwriting to shine with the assistance of acoustic instruments, an additional guitarist and a preference for delicate brushes rather than drumsticks.

The album version of that show — whose set list included lesser-known tracks and covers of artists such as David Bowie, the Meat Puppets and Lead Belly — was released in late 1994, six months after Cobain committed suicide, aged 27. Many of the band’s fans fondly remember it as the final opportunity to hear that singularly talented artist in action.

There was a hint of history repeating when another Seattle rock group, Alice in Chains, reconvened for an Unplugged performance in April 1996. The band had been inactive for more than two years as a result of Layne Staley’s heroin addiction.

The singer wore sunglasses and appeared visibly pained throughout the show; yet, as with Cobain, the undeniable quality of his voice set the recording apart as something to be cherished. It turned out to be one of Staley’s final appearances with Alice in Chains; he disappeared from public view and died in 2002, aged 34.

These are just two examples of many loved and lauded performances that now exist as significant cultural documents. The two Australian artists will striving to make a similar statement, and neither is taking the opportunity lightly.

Up first is Gang of Youths, a powerful rock band whose approach from the beginning has been to treat every show as if it were the last.

“We’ll be trying to maximise the message and the emotional journey we take people on — but with a completely different tool set,” says bassist Max Dunn.

“It’s a more naked performance, I guess.”

Shark cites a 2002 Unplugged appearance by American rock band Dashboard Confessional as the artistic bar she’s aiming for. “That was such an amazing performance,” she says. “And, obviously, Nirvana’s — that’ll go down in history, that one.”

Can these artists deliver something truly special that will be spoken about for decades to come?

The answer will only be known by the lucky few hundred people who witness the live performances — before they air on the home of music television, followed by an appearance on screens of all shapes and sizes.

MTV Australia will screen performances by Gang of Youths on August 19 and Amy Shark on September 16.