Fuck This, I'm Selling The Annandale
March 27, 2011 7:50 PM Subscribe
Sydney's live music scene faces another crisis with the announcement that the iconic Annandale Hotel will be sold. The pub is one of the centres of Sydney live music and has played host to everyone from small local bands to Joan Jett. The selling follows the closure of the Hopetoun Hotel in 2009 and the recent loss of Raval and the Excelsior Surry Hills.
In Melbourne last year the closure of the Tote Hotel lead to the 20,000 strong Slam Rally and an overhaul of planning laws. Nothing similar is planned for Sydney yet. In the meantime, you can realize your Australian live music memories with the videos at Moschcam.
There are some annoying council regulations as to when and where music can be played, but those are usually local and are found everywhere in the world.
selected Annandale memories: seeing Gaslight Anthem there for the first time and being converted. being a foot away from Neko Case. going to Cult Sinema Monday (now Tuesdays) and meeting Jay Katz, who kinda saved my life when I first moved out of home and around the corner from the 'dale. meeting a girl dressed like Steve Zizzou at one of his New Year's parties. partying upstairs/backstage with The Grates. playing a whole show there with my band and feeling like i was in a real band. an utterly insane Eddy Current Suppression Ring show there last year, with Brendan Suppression walking on the bar. the frontman from local hardcore act Totally Unicorn jumping on me during Blood Sweat and Beers, spilling beer all over my camera -which was miraculously okay. a folk punk mosh to Defiance Ohio later that day.
the carpet is so sticky it's mostly a tar pit, the Thai is a bit overpriced, and the sound can sometimes be a bit spotty. but if they actually sell the 'dale something very important will be lost.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:27 PM on March 27, 2011
selected Annandale memories: seeing Gaslight Anthem there for the first time and being converted. being a foot away from Neko Case. going to Cult Sinema Monday (now Tuesdays) and meeting Jay Katz, who kinda saved my life when I first moved out of home and around the corner from the 'dale. meeting a girl dressed like Steve Zizzou at one of his New Year's parties. partying upstairs/backstage with The Grates. playing a whole show there with my band and feeling like i was in a real band. an utterly insane Eddy Current Suppression Ring show there last year, with Brendan Suppression walking on the bar. the frontman from local hardcore act Totally Unicorn jumping on me during Blood Sweat and Beers, spilling beer all over my camera -which was miraculously okay. a folk punk mosh to Defiance Ohio later that day.
the carpet is so sticky it's mostly a tar pit, the Thai is a bit overpriced, and the sound can sometimes be a bit spotty. but if they actually sell the 'dale something very important will be lost.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:27 PM on March 27, 2011
The crisis is generally the neighbours, who like to buy properties close to iconic venues such as these for cachet amongst their shit-for-brains friends, then write letters of complaint to council.
Move in next to a sporting stadium (and Australia has more of those than it has pubs, near as I can tell, and whatsmore the clientele is of a vastly lesser standard, and are somehow far drunker) however, and it's "well what did you expect?"
Remember that Australia as a whole is a culture that respects thick thighs and punchups, not creativity and innovation. Witness the extended speaking sequence - basically an instant oral essay - that just about anybody will launch into if you ask them about cricket or football (even if your question is simply "Are you aware of this thing called football?", but quiz them on the last book they read and they will a) need to stop and think and b) finally, when they remember, misinterpret your question about their literary habits as an interrogation about which Jeremy Clarkson book they last mouthed their way through a half-page of on the toilet.
We are a culture that values knowledge, certainly, but the knowledge we value is itself valueless. Test wickets. Batting averages. Whether he was off-side or off-field or whatever. Should he be sacked? How much does he earn?
Want to know how to make a million bucks in Australia? Memorise the following line: "Yeah we're just gonna get out there and do our best and hopefully play a good game, see what happens on the day." This will get you promoted to captain of a national team, and the meaningless utterance will be reported as fresh news, each and every time you say it.
Once I finally tweaked to this it enabled me to view the country much more accurately. The silence will deafen you at news of an historically-important music venue shutting its doors, but if you play rugby and get fucked-up-and-down drunk and cave in a hooker's face with your knee, the country will plead itself blue for the authorities to show you leniency. Thuggery is our national artform.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:51 PM on March 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
Move in next to a sporting stadium (and Australia has more of those than it has pubs, near as I can tell, and whatsmore the clientele is of a vastly lesser standard, and are somehow far drunker) however, and it's "well what did you expect?"
Remember that Australia as a whole is a culture that respects thick thighs and punchups, not creativity and innovation. Witness the extended speaking sequence - basically an instant oral essay - that just about anybody will launch into if you ask them about cricket or football (even if your question is simply "Are you aware of this thing called football?", but quiz them on the last book they read and they will a) need to stop and think and b) finally, when they remember, misinterpret your question about their literary habits as an interrogation about which Jeremy Clarkson book they last mouthed their way through a half-page of on the toilet.
We are a culture that values knowledge, certainly, but the knowledge we value is itself valueless. Test wickets. Batting averages. Whether he was off-side or off-field or whatever. Should he be sacked? How much does he earn?
Want to know how to make a million bucks in Australia? Memorise the following line: "Yeah we're just gonna get out there and do our best and hopefully play a good game, see what happens on the day." This will get you promoted to captain of a national team, and the meaningless utterance will be reported as fresh news, each and every time you say it.
Once I finally tweaked to this it enabled me to view the country much more accurately. The silence will deafen you at news of an historically-important music venue shutting its doors, but if you play rugby and get fucked-up-and-down drunk and cave in a hooker's face with your knee, the country will plead itself blue for the authorities to show you leniency. Thuggery is our national artform.
posted by tumid dahlia at 8:51 PM on March 27, 2011 [10 favorites]
Once I finally tweaked to this it enabled me to view the country much more accurately. The silence will deafen you at news of an historically-important music venue shutting its doors, but if you play rugby and get fucked-up-and-down drunk and cave in a hooker's face with your knee, the country will plead itself blue for the authorities to show you leniency. Thuggery is our national artform.
yeah, but 20,000 people showed up for the SLAM Rally
i've had some great experiences with Aussie live music, bot local and overseas bands. Sydney audiences seem to be pretty apathetic though
i've got a half-finished movie script about rock and rollers and dance fans battling for the soul of Sydney. the first act climax takes place, of course, at the Annandale
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:55 PM on March 27, 2011
yeah, but 20,000 people showed up for the SLAM Rally
i've had some great experiences with Aussie live music, bot local and overseas bands. Sydney audiences seem to be pretty apathetic though
i've got a half-finished movie script about rock and rollers and dance fans battling for the soul of Sydney. the first act climax takes place, of course, at the Annandale
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 8:55 PM on March 27, 2011
My guess is the difference between the SLAM in Melbourne and the SFA in Sydney is that Melbourne finally said "enough is enough", because councils and residents have been gradually bludgeoning the local music scene to death down there for decades. The Tote is in a pretty commercial area. But it's a shitty venue. My ex-wife's riot grrl band played there a bunch of times because it was a "name" venue, and I think I might have been forced to see Gazoonga Attack there once, but the place is just the pits.
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:05 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:05 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
I've never been, but the line ups look good. Melbourne seems like it has so much more rock and roll and rock and roll venues than Sydney has and more support for them.
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2011
(and i spelled 'Moshcam' wrong)
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:11 PM on March 27, 2011
Yeah I guess the music culture might be a little bigger in Melbourne, that seems to be the impression, dunno if it's true or not.
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:23 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by tumid dahlia at 9:23 PM on March 27, 2011
The crisis is generally the neighbours, who like to buy properties close to iconic venues such as these for cachet amongst their shit-for-brains friends, then write letters of complaint to council.
I was in a VCAT hearing when the guys that run Bar Open (same mob that nowruin run the Tote) and the local residents were claiming that the bar was destroying the local amenity. The mediator/judge laughed them out of court stating that the amenity was actually being ruined by people moving into Fitzroy because of it's Bohemian atmosphere then complaining about the very factors that make the place what it is. Quite a good decision.
posted by the noob at 9:42 PM on March 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
I was in a VCAT hearing when the guys that run Bar Open (same mob that now
posted by the noob at 9:42 PM on March 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Fingers crossed that the Annandale doesn't go the way of the Hoey. I've got some great memories of the Annandale (and of the Hopetoun too!). The Rules have spent a lot of time, money and effort on making the Annandale a fantastic pub, and done a lot to make sure that the residential neighbours don't throw a hissy fit every Friday night. It'd be a shame if it was to shut down as a live venue altogether.
Does anyone know what's happening with the Hopetoun lately? Will it ever open its doors again?
posted by robotot at 9:42 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Does anyone know what's happening with the Hopetoun lately? Will it ever open its doors again?
posted by robotot at 9:42 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
There is a day/night difference between the live music scenes in Melbourne and Sydney.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 9:44 PM on March 27, 2011
posted by Trivia Newton John at 9:44 PM on March 27, 2011
Thuggery is our national artform.
And talking Housing affordability is it's poetry
posted by the noob at 9:44 PM on March 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
And talking Housing affordability is it's poetry
posted by the noob at 9:44 PM on March 27, 2011 [4 favorites]
Does anyone know what's happening with the Hopetoun lately? Will it ever open its doors again?
I haven't heard anything.
and yeah i don't get people who complain about them hurting property values. i moved to my old place because it was around the corner from the Annandale and that's basically the only thing on that stretch of Parammata Road besides a McDonalds, a furniture store and the Mu Meson Archives. if i ever end up moving to Melbourne i'd love to live near Cherry or the Tote or Bar Open or the Espy or something
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:51 PM on March 27, 2011
I haven't heard anything.
and yeah i don't get people who complain about them hurting property values. i moved to my old place because it was around the corner from the Annandale and that's basically the only thing on that stretch of Parammata Road besides a McDonalds, a furniture store and the Mu Meson Archives. if i ever end up moving to Melbourne i'd love to live near Cherry or the Tote or Bar Open or the Espy or something
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 9:51 PM on March 27, 2011
I recall when the Courthouse in Newtown put up its sizable extendable umbrella/shadecloth thing - it began acting like a parabolic mirror for acoustic energy, echoing the sound of beer drinkers in the beer garden and bounding it into the neighbours living rooms. The hotel then had to spend a sizeable clump of money to build sizable walls, which also serves to fortify the bear-garden against invading tribes and nomads.
At least in that situation the local residents were right to complain. I always wonder about the strip of derelict terrace houses and shopfronts next door to the Annandale. Once they become the heritage listed facade of a Meriton apartment complex, I can't imagine the Annandale being allowed to continue trading as a live venue. I hope that whoever owns them doesn't purchase the Annandale in order to shut it down.
I always used to entertain the (pipe)dream that the Rules would buy up the entire strip of vacant shops and expand the Annandale into some super-venue running the whole lenght of the block.
posted by robotot at 10:05 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
At least in that situation the local residents were right to complain. I always wonder about the strip of derelict terrace houses and shopfronts next door to the Annandale. Once they become the heritage listed facade of a Meriton apartment complex, I can't imagine the Annandale being allowed to continue trading as a live venue. I hope that whoever owns them doesn't purchase the Annandale in order to shut it down.
I always used to entertain the (pipe)dream that the Rules would buy up the entire strip of vacant shops and expand the Annandale into some super-venue running the whole lenght of the block.
posted by robotot at 10:05 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
The hotel then had to spend a sizeable clump of money to build sizable walls, which also serves to fortify the bear-garden against invading tribes and nomads.
it hasn't worked. the Yuppies and gentrifiers are still coming
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:50 PM on March 27, 2011
it hasn't worked. the Yuppies and gentrifiers are still coming
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 10:50 PM on March 27, 2011
The hotel then had to spend a sizeable clump of money to build sizable walls, which also serves to fortify the bear-garden against invading tribes and nomads.
That bear-garden was great, although it did sometimes get a bit grizzly.
posted by sien at 10:59 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Dropbears can be fucking dangerous.
posted by peacay at 11:03 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by peacay at 11:03 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
i thought the Bear-Garden was on Oxford Street? must have moved
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:34 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 11:34 PM on March 27, 2011 [1 favorite]
Who cares about pubs closing as long as it's "Friday Friday"...
posted by greenhornet at 1:41 AM on March 28, 2011
posted by greenhornet at 1:41 AM on March 28, 2011
Yeah I guess the music culture might be a little bigger in Melbourne, that seems to be the impression, dunno if it's true or not.
Sydney used to be the live music capital until the 1980s, when a number of things nobbled it. The live music scene, in the pre-internet days, was dependent on community radio to promote gigs and new bands, and Sydney had one community station that played music, the ABC's 2JJ. When the ABC decided to turn that into the national "yoof" broadcaster JJJ, it stopped being a local Sydney station, effectively decapitating the music scene. NSW licensing/gambling laws which made poker-machine venues more profitable did the rest, and Melbourne (which had always had a decent music scene) took the lead.
Now (as in in the past 5-10 years) Sydney's apparently getting better; the arrival of FBi Radio (a music-oriented community station along the lines of Melbourne's RRR/PBS) has helped, as has the rise of MySpace/last.fm/Mess+Noise/FasterLouder.
posted by acb at 3:42 AM on March 28, 2011
Sydney used to be the live music capital until the 1980s, when a number of things nobbled it. The live music scene, in the pre-internet days, was dependent on community radio to promote gigs and new bands, and Sydney had one community station that played music, the ABC's 2JJ. When the ABC decided to turn that into the national "yoof" broadcaster JJJ, it stopped being a local Sydney station, effectively decapitating the music scene. NSW licensing/gambling laws which made poker-machine venues more profitable did the rest, and Melbourne (which had always had a decent music scene) took the lead.
Now (as in in the past 5-10 years) Sydney's apparently getting better; the arrival of FBi Radio (a music-oriented community station along the lines of Melbourne's RRR/PBS) has helped, as has the rise of MySpace/last.fm/Mess+Noise/FasterLouder.
posted by acb at 3:42 AM on March 28, 2011
Damn! The Annandale too? I heard about Raval only on Friday. To be fair, the Excelsior hasn't gone for good, it's just been amalgamated into the Hemmes'sphere to be retooled as another echo-chamber for coked-up, vacuous, pointy-shoed, roid-ragers and the women who love 'em.
Time to move to Melbourne. Had enough of yuppies pushing up house-prices and killing what little live music scene there is in Sydney
posted by JustAsItSounds at 3:47 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Time to move to Melbourne. Had enough of yuppies pushing up house-prices and killing what little live music scene there is in Sydney
posted by JustAsItSounds at 3:47 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
I was in a VCAT hearing when the guys that run Bar Open (same mob that now ruin run the Tote) and the local residents were claiming that the bar was destroying the local amenity. The mediator/judge laughed them out of court stating that the amenity was actually being ruined by people moving into Fitzroy because of it's Bohemian atmosphere then complaining about the very factors that make the place what it is. Quite a good decision.
Thankfully it's shifting in that direction. Let's hope, anyway.
I remember when the Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy had problems with some yuppie woman who moved into a cheaply-built chrome-and-concrete lifestyle-apartment block nearby and aggressively complained about the noise from the music venue next door (which had been hosting gigs since 1987 or so, back when North Fitzroy was still pretty rough). They almost lost their licence, and had to have a no-drum-kits policy, effectively becoming an acoustic folk/blues venue. This event catalysed the rise of the Fair Go For Live Music campaign, which was instrumental in getting the rules changed and building awareness of Melbourne's music heritage.
posted by acb at 3:47 AM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Thankfully it's shifting in that direction. Let's hope, anyway.
I remember when the Empress Hotel in North Fitzroy had problems with some yuppie woman who moved into a cheaply-built chrome-and-concrete lifestyle-apartment block nearby and aggressively complained about the noise from the music venue next door (which had been hosting gigs since 1987 or so, back when North Fitzroy was still pretty rough). They almost lost their licence, and had to have a no-drum-kits policy, effectively becoming an acoustic folk/blues venue. This event catalysed the rise of the Fair Go For Live Music campaign, which was instrumental in getting the rules changed and building awareness of Melbourne's music heritage.
posted by acb at 3:47 AM on March 28, 2011 [2 favorites]
Time to move to Melbourne. Had enough of yuppies pushing up house-prices and killing what little live music scene there is in Sydney
Melbourne's not far behind. Music-scene people are being pushed out of the inner-urban (and not-so-inner-urban) areas by spiralling rents and housing prices, and ending up in Broadmeadows, Ballarat and such. And culturally, these days, Brunswick St. is south of the Yarra.
posted by acb at 3:49 AM on March 28, 2011
Melbourne's not far behind. Music-scene people are being pushed out of the inner-urban (and not-so-inner-urban) areas by spiralling rents and housing prices, and ending up in Broadmeadows, Ballarat and such. And culturally, these days, Brunswick St. is south of the Yarra.
posted by acb at 3:49 AM on March 28, 2011
The Annandale has been through this before in the late 90's. There's every chance it will be sold and continue on as a live music venue.
posted by onya at 4:34 AM on March 28, 2011
posted by onya at 4:34 AM on March 28, 2011
To be fair, the Excelsior hasn't gone for good, it's just been amalgamated into the Hemmes'sphere to be retooled as another echo-chamber for coked-up, vacuous, pointy-shoed, roid-ragers and the women who love 'em.
On a tangent: is cocaine use common in Australia? I thought that Australia's geographical distance and infamously strict quarantine regime would have limited the amount of the stuff coming in and kept it expensive and the preserve of only the most cashed-up of the cashed-up bogans. Or is Sydney awash with cheap, low-grade coke these days like the European capitals are?
posted by acb at 4:52 AM on March 28, 2011
On a tangent: is cocaine use common in Australia? I thought that Australia's geographical distance and infamously strict quarantine regime would have limited the amount of the stuff coming in and kept it expensive and the preserve of only the most cashed-up of the cashed-up bogans. Or is Sydney awash with cheap, low-grade coke these days like the European capitals are?
posted by acb at 4:52 AM on March 28, 2011
This has been going on in Sydney for a long time. I only got to play the Hopetoun once (in about 1990 I guess) and they were under the pump from the neighbours then. They only had a vocal PA too. Same with the 3 Weeds - there was a huge amount of effort going into keeping the noise down by about 11, but it was never going to be enough for the good folks of Rozelle.
posted by hawthorne at 6:03 AM on March 28, 2011
posted by hawthorne at 6:03 AM on March 28, 2011
I used to play at the Hopetoun with Louis Burdett. You could hear it in Rozelle.
posted by Wolof at 6:20 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolof at 6:20 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Bad boy for love here.
posted by Wolof at 6:34 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolof at 6:34 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Once they become the heritage listed facade of a Meriton apartment complex, I can't imagine the Annandale being allowed to continue trading as a live venue.
I've got news for you: that row of terraces, which has been derelict for as long as I can remember, is now going to be the heritage listed facade of a Meriton apartment complex.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:34 AM on March 28, 2011
I've got news for you: that row of terraces, which has been derelict for as long as I can remember, is now going to be the heritage listed facade of a Meriton apartment complex.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:34 AM on March 28, 2011
Bad boy for love here.
That's why they call you 'One of the Boys...'
posted by jonmc at 6:36 AM on March 28, 2011
That's why they call you 'One of the Boys...'
posted by jonmc at 6:36 AM on March 28, 2011
I recall when the Courthouse in Newtown put up its sizable extendable umbrella/shadecloth thing
Hey, that's my local. Also, the place I'd take jonmc if he ever came to Sydney. It'd be totally up his alley, I'm sure.
The thing that screwed the Courty more than the umbrellas was the fact that when the new anti-smoking laws came in, it was about the only pub in Newtown equipped to allow people to have a smoke with their beers, meaning that the crowds who used to hang out at the Townie or the Coopers etc descended en-masse, late into the night. This led to the erection of a shitty soundproofed fence blocking the view to the park opposite. The pub offered to pay for noiseproofing for the neighbours, but they insisted on the fence; arseholes.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:56 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
Hey, that's my local. Also, the place I'd take jonmc if he ever came to Sydney. It'd be totally up his alley, I'm sure.
The thing that screwed the Courty more than the umbrellas was the fact that when the new anti-smoking laws came in, it was about the only pub in Newtown equipped to allow people to have a smoke with their beers, meaning that the crowds who used to hang out at the Townie or the Coopers etc descended en-masse, late into the night. This led to the erection of a shitty soundproofed fence blocking the view to the park opposite. The pub offered to pay for noiseproofing for the neighbours, but they insisted on the fence; arseholes.
posted by UbuRoivas at 6:56 AM on March 28, 2011 [1 favorite]
On a tangent: is cocaine use common in Australia?
It can be had fairly cheaply, it's just the postage that's the killer.
posted by tumid dahlia at 2:48 PM on March 28, 2011
It can be had fairly cheaply, it's just the postage that's the killer.
posted by tumid dahlia at 2:48 PM on March 28, 2011
I think jonmc would prefer the Sando. Even if there isn't a pub rock legend playing upstairs someone like Jonathan Devoy will be free downstairs. My local, the Botany View, has good free rock on Sundays.
FBi encourages wankers but the nights they're doing at the Kings Cross Hotel look good.
Wolof- for real? I only know Louie from the Whitlams song.
ACB; add Liveguide.com.au to that list of sites.biased 'cause I work there...
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:12 PM on March 28, 2011
FBi encourages wankers but the nights they're doing at the Kings Cross Hotel look good.
Wolof- for real? I only know Louie from the Whitlams song.
ACB; add Liveguide.com.au to that list of sites.biased 'cause I work there...
posted by Lovecraft In Brooklyn at 3:12 PM on March 28, 2011
Wolof- for real?
Yeah, for reals. Seriously great drummer.
posted by Wolof at 7:56 PM on March 28, 2011
Yeah, for reals. Seriously great drummer.
posted by Wolof at 7:56 PM on March 28, 2011
My local, the Botany View, has good free rock on Sundays.
Yes, I remember Sunday evenings, from when friends and/or partners used to live in the apartment above the hotel. The corrugated iron rooftop up above was always a nice spot for a quiet beer.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:40 AM on March 29, 2011
Yes, I remember Sunday evenings, from when friends and/or partners used to live in the apartment above the hotel. The corrugated iron rooftop up above was always a nice spot for a quiet beer.
posted by UbuRoivas at 3:40 AM on March 29, 2011
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