“I was born in Coffs Harbour in September 2002. My name is Axl Tyler Delandro. I was named after Axl Rose, Tyler after Steve Tyler from Aerosmith, the 2 worst 80’s bands in the world (laughs). I grew up out in the Thora Valley of Bellingen. I did Primary School at Bellingen Public and we lived there till I was 9. My parents split and I moved with my Mum out to a small town out west near Forbes and Orange. So going from rainforest area to drought was pretty full on. We lived in a town of about 2,000 people and I wet to high school there. It was pretty insane going from an alternative area to a super conservative, straight, bogan area. I was a hippy kid so I grew up getting the best of both worlds I think, learning to fit in with all kinds of people. �
I have an older brother who’s in Sydney and my Mum and her partner had another child so I have a half sister. She was born with a chromosome abnormality which is likened to Down Syndrome so I’ve grown up being the best support I can be for her. Her name is Daisy May.
My Dad is a full time Musician. He had his heyday back in the 80’s over in America. His name is Guy Delandro and he had a band in Australia called Lie Detectors and they toured with Cold Chisel, INXS and then he went solo for a while. He was a songwriter for Richard Clapton and others. I was always surrounded by music, especially in Bellingen at the time. I was always in the studio with him and that was definitely a big inspiration for where I’ve gone from there. I wasn’t fantastic at school so I pursued music. I played a lot of guitar and drums.
I left school and had saved money to buy a nice car but I ended up investing in my coffee caravan. I had worked for years as an IGA delivery boy right through my school years. It was terrible but that $15 an hour really added up over 5 years. I really wanted to be independent and coffee’s great, the cafe scene is great so I figured out a way where I could turn that money I could spend on a car into something that could make me money and build a career.
Early 2021 I put an order in to a place in Melbourne to build me a retro type caravan which took 8 months to build. I paid that off over that time and came out of it with a van with a window and some benches. That’s about it. I had no idea of business but I thought …just go for it. I bought a coffee machine and it’s taken a bit of time to get going and get my personality in there as well.
The name of my caravan…Headly Grange, is the name of an old recording studio in England. It’s where The Who, Led Zeppelin and those bands recorded. It’s kind of a homage to that world. I basically set it up for a year on a little grass island in the middle of this tiny town out west called Grenfell. It was pretty grim but people loved it as there’s not much going on. Some days though I’d make 20 coffees in 8 hours which was pretty dismal but it was a good stepping stone into getting my head around business and people.
I had an opportunity to move here with my partner to a granny flat in Goonellabah and I arrived to Lismore on the 29th February this year which was the day after the biggest flood. On the way up the coast we heard about the flood so we were stuck on the other side of the highway till we could get in. I’d never seen Lismore before moving here. It was such an off the cuff thing so for the last 7 months I’m watching the town grow because I’ve only seen it since the flood. It’s really interesting to hear all the stories about how it was before, all the history and how it had recovered since 2017 flood.
As soon as the water receded I found myself as the only coffee shop in Lismore which was massive and really daunting. For the first month I gave free coffees which helped the community and also helped me make a name. I just came down when the town started to help with the clean up and gave out free coffees. To come into this big town as a no-name 19 year old and try and be the coffee guy was scary. I was at Richmond Hill for a while and Brett and Sue who have Floret in Woodlark St came and offered me a spot out the front of their shop with a powerpoint and free everything which was massive and then Council started cracking down. It’s been an uphill battle since the flood. I got a warning because you’re not allowed to set up anywhere in Lismore as it’s Council land so I would have had to pay a huge amount of money and set up where they said I could. Basically they didn’t want me here. With that ultimatum Brett and Sue offered me a spot in their shop. They said, ‘We’ll take the front door down for you so you can put the van in the shop’ so now I’m under cover and I’ve spent the last 3 months in here.
Before the flood I was told there were over 36 commercial coffee machines in the CBD and post flood where we are now there’s about 7 or 8 which is really good that it’s building up again. My neighbour Kelly does my baking so I have delicious cakes and slices. She get’s up at 4am every morning and bakes.
I love this town. There’s a huge gap between personalities. You have your Range Rovers and your BMW’s and then you have your pushbikes and your stolen pushbikes and everyone else. It’s easy to fit in, coming from a small town of cowboys, RM Williams and Land Cruisers, it’s been really nice and refreshing.
I’ve found myself playing live music with people here of a weekend. I’m in a Punk band at the moment and we play around Byron a lot. There’s a lot of music around this town and lot’s of good musos. I’m still trying to make my way in Lismore I guess as the new guy.”