WHIPLASSH and VERATIE perform at Blackflag Brewing Mooloolaba. Photos: Penny Brand.
From existential crises and teenage pressure to deliberately imperfect recordings, the songs reaching YELO’s weekly ABC Sunshine Coast segment reveal a local scene that is becoming harder to define, and far more interesting.
The Coast has long had a strong folk and indie identity, shaped by hinterland events such as Full Moon Dance, long-running community-led institutions like Peregian Originals, and artists including Andrea Kirwin and Calan Mai, who have helped carry that sound into a new generation.
Even Woodford Folk Festival began in Maleny before outgrowing the town and moving to Woodford, while smaller events and venues such as Maleny Lane and Maleny Folk Festival have continued that tradition locally.
Beyond the hinterland, Solbar helped grow a distinct indie-folk and alternative scene, helping nurture major local exports such as The Dreggs and Betty Taylor alongside a much broader mix of original local music.
The Coast’s sound is changing
With Solbar and The Station now closed, Blackflag stepping up, and renewed energy around grassroots gigs, a much broader Sunshine Coast sound is emerging.
Each Tuesday, YELO joins Sarah Howells on ABC Sunshine Coast to introduce a local release and share some of the best gigs happening across the region. Looking across the songs played lately, a few patterns are emerging.
The artists are getting younger, the guitars are getting heavier, and the lines between genres are starting to blur. Many of the songs are still wrestling with the same things.
A lot of these songs come from a generation that watched COVID blow up normal life, venues and festivals disappear, housing drift out of reach, and traditional systems feel increasingly disconnected. Perhaps it’s no surprise the guitars are getting louder.
Does this spell the end of the Coast’s indie-folk bubble? Probably not. But the younger generation is seriously leaning into 90s and early-2000s grunge and punk, with bands such as Karma Police and Wave Raiders bringing back fuzz, angst and big guitar energy.
EDM is booming too. Raw Ordio built a loyal following playing local pubs before going on to play major events such as Pranafest, while Sunny Side Up has shown there is a serious audience for electronic music on the Coast.
Local artists are writing through uncertain times
A sense of unease runs through many of the latest YELO selections.
On “Strange Times,” Those Folk join Sunshine Coast singer-songwriter Andrea Kirwin and Canadian musician Ryland Moranz to respond to political manipulation, social media, strange weather and the surreal experience of trying to understand the modern world.
Written while the musicians were touring in July 2024, the song wraps its concerns in warm, beautifully arranged folk music.
That contrast matters. The track feels welcoming on the surface, but underneath it sits the anxiety of waking up each day to a world that appears less stable and more difficult to read.
Sunshine Coast band Karma Police bring a similarly unsettled energy to “Frog In My Throat.”
The track pulls from grunge, post-punk and alternative rock, with the fuzz and nervous momentum of bands such as Nirvana, Radiohead, Pixies, Smashing Pumpkins and early Silverchair.
It is part of a wider return to music that sounds emotionally frayed rather than perfectly contained. These young artists are not trying to smooth away every rough edge. The tension is often the point.
But unease is not the only thing shaping the Coast’s new music. Coolum rapper Harlum’s “Lemon Juice” brings quick wordplay, humour and a strong local identity, while fellow Coolum artist CAELWHIP leans into sunny, feel-good songs such as “Sunny Days.”
Even within one suburb, the sound can swing from laid-back hip-hop to sunny indie-pop.
Imperfection is becoming part of the sound
That willingness to leave the edges showing also appears in The Dreggs’ “Golden Lights.” Rather than polishing away every small mistake, the Sunshine Coast duo deliberately left imperfections in the recording, describing the result as “perfectly imperfect.”
After years of hyper-polished releases, perfect vocal takes and digitally corrected performances, some artists appear to be leaning back towards work that feels human. A breath, a scrape, a missed note or an unguarded vocal moment can create a stronger connection than technical perfection.
That fits the mood of much of the music reaching YELO: songs about uncertainty, identity, anxiety, relationships and existential crises. Leaving a few imperfections behind can make that vulnerability feel more believable.
The Coast is moving beyond one genre
Sunshine Coast trio VERATIE push into darker territory on “Tranquillium,” combining electronic rock, heavy guitars and cinematic tension.
I first heard the song at a recent Blackflag Mooloolaba set. I was so drawn into it that afterwards I went straight over and asked the band, “What was that last song?”
A driving riff sits at its centre, but the track keeps building and shifting around it, creating moments where the guitar and drums seem to lock together and take control of the room.
That intensity feels a long way from the old idea that Sunshine Coast music must always sound sun-drenched or relaxed.
At the other end of the spectrum, Cora represents the region’s increasingly polished indie-pop output.
Her music is bright and immediate, but songs such as “Your Toy” still carry bite beneath the glossy production. At 20, she has already appeared at BIGSOUND, reached the Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition top 50 and earned three Sunshine Coast Music Awards finalist nominations.
Together, VERATIE and Cora show just how wide the Coast’s sound has become. The shift is not simply towards louder music. It is towards greater range.
Young artists are building serious résumés early
Another clear trend is how quickly young Sunshine Coast musicians are moving beyond school stages and small local rooms.
Karma Police emerged through a high-school Battle of the Bands before progressing to venues including The Triffid and The Cave Inn.
Nambour is becoming an important part of that pathway too, with Black Box Theatre giving young bands a place to launch releases, build local followings and move from school-based opportunities into serious live shows. Karma Police’s upcoming Pale and Blue EP launch sold 50 per cent of its tickets soon after going on sale, showing how quickly that local support can build.
Wave Raiders became the youngest band to play Good Things Festival in Brisbane, toured with The Screaming Jets, supported The Superjesus and were invited onstage by Spiderbait to perform “Calypso” at Caloundra Music Festival.
Footage of the trio performing from the back of a ute at Double Island Point also attracted more than one million views.
Young artists can now move quickly between local gigs, festival stages, social media attention and professional studios. The challenge is making sure the local infrastructure keeps pace with their ambition.
Free live music is helping songs find an audience
New releases do not build a scene by themselves. Artists need stages where they can test songs, grow an audience and be discovered by people who may not yet know their names.
That is where venues such as Peregian Beach Hotel and Blackflag Mooloolaba become important.
Peregian Beach Hotel continues to put emerging and established musicians in front of relaxed local crowds through its free live-music program, with recent and upcoming performers including Isaiah Hing, Hayden Hack, German Sugar, Che Burns and Ino.
Burns recently won Best Song at the Sunshine Coast Music Awards, proving just how strong the artists playing free local shows can be. It creates a simple but valuable pathway: hear a new local artist on radio or Spotify, then encounter them in a real room without the barrier of an expensive ticket.
At Blackflag Mooloolaba, Ben Russoniello curates free live music across rock, punk, alternative and other local sounds. Tucked behind Mooloolaba Esplanade, the boutique brewery has a “living room” stage where the crowd is never far from the performers.
Events such as Indie Invasion, featuring Happy Valley, The Paper Ghosts and Wholesale Noise, and Drop Beers’ Punk Piss Up show what can happen when a venue treats free live music as genuine programming rather than background entertainment.
That is how local discovery still happens.
It happens when someone goes to the pub for dinner and hears a singer they did not know. It happens when a support band steals the room. It happens when a new song feels completely different after hearing it live.
Across the artists featured here, what connects them is not genre, but a willingness to experiment and build careers from the Coast without all sounding the same.
Songs on high rotation at YELO in 2026
Karma Police, “Frog In My Throat”
This group of Sunshine Coast teenagers channels 90s and early-2000s alt-rock nostalgia, drawing on Radiohead, Nirvana and early Silverchair. Lines like “there’s a man in my stomach” give the song a creepy, claustrophobic edge.
The Noggins, “Driving Down the Highway”
Sunshine Coast trio The Noggins pair an easy indie groove with bright vocals and the kind of chorus that makes it almost impossible not to bop along. “Driving Down the Highway” feels youthful, sunny and built for a windows-down Coast drive.
Harlum, “Lemon Juice”
Sunshine Coast rapper Harlum rides a sharp, stripped-back beat with laid-back confidence, quick wordplay and a hook that sticks. “Lemon Juice” is playful and self-assured, while adding a distinctly local voice to the Coast’s growing hip-hop scene.
Wholesale Noise, “Static”
“Static” takes me straight back to my university campus in 1999, when Walkmans and bus rides ruled. Sunshine Coast indie-rockers Wholesale Noise pair sharp guitars and a driving rhythm with a chorus made for a packed local room.
The Paper Ghosts, “Paralysed”
Sunshine Coast indie-rockers The Paper Ghosts build “Paralysed” around tightly wound guitars and the suspended feeling of being unable to move forward. The tension keeps building without ever allowing the song to fully settle.
The Dreggs, “Golden Lights”
The Dreggs leave the edges showing on “Golden Lights,” allowing small imperfections to remain in the recording rather than polishing away every human moment. The result is warm, open and, in the duo’s words, “perfectly imperfect.”
Those Folk, Andrea Kirwin and Ryland Moranz, “Strange Times”
Those Folk have been leaning into collaboration lately, including a recent track with Elke Louie and this new release with Andrea Kirwin and Canadian banjo player Ryland Moranz. Together, they turn uneasy ideas about social media, political manipulation and a world gone strange into warm, close-knit folk.
VERATIE, “Tranquillium”
Dark, mesmerising electronic rock built around heavy guitars, cinematic tension and the dramatic pull of bands such as Paramore and Evanescence. The song closed one of VERATIE’s sets so powerfully that I went straight over afterwards to ask what it was.
Sailing In Space, “Ride or Die Sunshine (Demo)”
Nambour electronic duo Sailing In Space bring playful, high-energy pop hooks, bright electronic production and a sense of pure fun. The demo feels spontaneous and carefree, exactly the kind of song you could imagine lighting up a local crowd at The Presynct.
Listen to Pineapple Radar
Pineapple Radar brings together the music YELO is playing right now, including every song featured during our weekly segment on ABC Sunshine Coast, plus other current favourites from the Sunshine Coast and across Queensland.
For more new music from across Queensland, discover The Pineapple Mixtapes.
Catch up with the complete list of songs featured to date, along with the artists and weekly gig selections, on the YELO on ABC Sunshine Coast page.
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