Last night something very strange happened in Belgrave in Melbourne’s outer south-east.  Adults on the autism spectrum as well as parents of children on the autism spectrum and people working with them began to converge on a loud mainstream live music lounge bar until we essentially became the social majority.

From a trickle at 8pm of rather scared people gathering awkwardly around a table, there was a healthy crowd of around 60 people at Ruby’s Lounge  by 9.30. They had come by car, by train and bus.  Some had taken two trains and over an hour to get there.  Another had taken a bus and a train.  And they had done so to hear an unusual band, an autism spectrum band.

Then Donna And The Aspinauts took the stage.  There I was in fishnet gloves and stockings, my Elvis Costello blue glasses, Mickey Mouse T-shirt and funky roll & roll punk shoes and looking like something out of a witches brew of gothic meets punk meets theatrical.  The guys in the band; Russell Edwards our keyboard player, Earl Wollff our bass player, Andrew Sherman our lead guitarist and our fabulous stand in autie-friendly drummer, Paul Spears all began their sound checks. My husband Chris stood proudly in the audience, camera in hand.  Nearby, Russell’s wife, Alex, had her camera at the ready too.  Both of them part of the less visible but no less important Aspinauts team.

As I launched into a surreal poem my hands and arms drew stories in the air through a combination of animated characterisations and gestural signing.  The room stilled.  The guys started up with their Floydish music madness and The Aspinauts launched into Fear is Here.  The autism friendly audience were right there with us, staring at something they’d never seen before, a band mostly full of people on the autism spectrum, playing wild, rhythmic, surreal, fun music they could relate to.

Soon we’d made our way through funky avant garde labyrinths of gothic poetic madness into Wierdos Like Me and you could feel the camaraderie in the the room.  After taking them on a challenging journey in social-enviro reflection which would have had Al Gore cheering, we wound up the set, winding up with We Try.  As we finished I felt the applause was not just for us, it was for themselves, a celebration of being there, part of the event, and the feeling of belonging in this strange yet mainstream environment many would never normally have ventured into.

But the greatest surprise for me was in walking outside after the show.  A 20-something non-spectrum guy  stepped up from a bunch of his friends and came up to me.  He was beaming.  “Your band was just awesome”, he said, “we loved it”.  He asked the name of our band.  “Donna and The Aspinauts”, I said proudly, fumbling in my handbag for some business cards.  He took them, still beaming and thanked me.  And there I knew this is where it begins, that journey in creating a more diversity friendly world, and I was chuffed to be part of that adventure.

Back inside, I approached Russell, our keyboard player who was packing up.  “Thanks for always convincing me I really could do this”, I said.

Now, we are off to conquer the Noise Bar (Railway Hotel) this Sunday, 8th of Feb, at 291 Albert St Brunswick, 2-5pm. Expect even more madness and surrealism and most of all, atmosphere that’s way out there….

Donna Williams

http://www.myspace.com/donnaandtheaspinauts

http://www.donnawilliams.net