Recently dubbed the live music capital of the world, Melbourne’s night life is a cornucopia of music trends and vibrant venues. Capturing those moments are quite often the unsung heroes of the music industry, the photographers. 

Often up late  and always after dark, the photographers capture the moments, the sweat on the brows, the crows adoration, the moments that are long forgotten after the lights go down. 

One such photographer, Monique Pizzica has compiled a beautiful tome entitled ‘ After Hours’ to celebrate Melbourne’s music scene. 

Monique fell in love with the vibrancy that is Melbourne’s music scene, and the book showcases a variety of genres, from hip hop to rock, indie and everything in-between. It highlights the versatility of the Melbourne music community that welcomes anything within the scene. It is a city where any night of the week you can find people gathered together, escaping reality for just a few hours to embrace art. 

From Powderfinger’s Darren Middleton to Vance Joy, Monique has kept the book strictly local musicians to celebrate all that is Melbourne. In some of the darkest, grittiest venues where people crowd together are the places that memories are made, gems are discovered and you find yourself with a whole new appreciation of what life is all about. Gigs allow us to disconnect from the world for a short time, stand with strangers and experience pure joy whilst the world keeps turning outside, and its a feeling that Monique captures. 

She has showcased beautifully in an array of 98 photographs from throughout Melbourne captured over a period of five years from 2015-2020. With her humble beginnings capturing the famous tram sessions and parlour gigs Moniques work is veritable time capsule of imagery. 

So, if you love music and re-living some fantastic gigs then grab yourself a copy of this stunning book, full of beautifully captured images and quotes from the faces behind the microphone. 

Available now at: moniquepizzica.com/shop