From Punk Rock To Radio Jock: How This Melbourne Barista Turned Music Into A Career In His Late ’20s

Meet Adam Branson. A Melbourne dude who spent 14-years of his life frothing cappuccinos to earn his rent cheque, while thrashing it out in a scuzzy punk band to satisfy his musical cravings between shifts.

Sound familiar?

If Branson’s situation hits a little close to home, you might be interested to know that his life has totally morphed since he decided he was going to find a way to turn his passion and creativity into a bonafide career.

The realisation didn’t hit him until well into his twenties, long after the majority of his high school peers had thrown their undergrad caps into the air and sauntered off into the professional workforce. But age didn’t hold him back from chucking his apron in the trash, raising two middle fingers in the direction of the espresso machine and marching off to university to bag a degree in Media & Communication (well, truth be told he waited ’til after he had his Bachelors before turfing the coffee job. Gotta pay for textbooks somehow, after all).

Either way, Branson was the ripe old age of 28 before he decided to go for his Master degree at Melbourne’s Swinburne University of Technology, a decision that ultimately led him down a completely unexpected new career path, and unlocked a variety of surprising new passions and opportunities in the process.

Thanks to an unpaid internship he managed to score while completing his Masters at Swinburne, the Frenzal Rhomb fanboy now has a permanent role as a content producer at fine music radio station, 3MBS. He also produces his own classical music podcast dubbed ‘Bach to Basics’ and dabbles in producing video content for a bunch of other local Melbourne community radio hubs.

So how did a punk rocker and classical music n00b (who FYI got his Tchaikovskys mixed up on the job one time and has never lived it down) end up forging a career as a rising voice in the Melbourne classical music community, all in the space of a few years?

Music Feeds caught up with Branson for a double shot of career inspo.

Watch him spill the coffee beans about the “accessible” field of community radio, and how even a late bloomer like himself can quickly catch up, and gain access to millions of different potential career paths and opportunities with the right uni degree under their belt.

Even if that belt is covered in metal studs and a NOFX buckle.

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