silence,as pubs shut doors on rock bands.

[tezza]

it was the end of the six o clock swill that led to melbourne becoming the live music capital of australia.the genesis was in 1966,after almost 50 years,victoria extended pub closing hours from 6pm till 10pm,the swill-when men raced to get as drunk as possible after work,before closing time-was finally over..pubs all over town were left with enormous bars!that had been built to cater for speed-drinking sessions every night around dusk,when last drinks!were called by publicans.once they changed the liciensing,they had these big empty bars,mental as anything singer,greedy smith said,so,it was quite easy to go to the publican and say,coud we play over here?and take the door money?thats how most bands got started.perhaps the first genuine pub rock pioneer about that time was billy thorpe,who had just formed a raw band called,the aztecs,including the loudest guitar player in lobby loyde.billy managed to convince the operators of a big quite family pub called,the village green in mulgrave to let them play,they plugged in a wall of amps and cranked up the volume...it was the start of an unstoppable live music revolution.the venue quickly became a haven for young music fans,for the first time,rock music was being played on liciensed premises,alcohol and rock music!a perfect match...the concept rapidly took off around the suburbs.pub owners loved it,gigs were easy to stage,they attracted large numbers of patrons,and?alcohol sales were always high...and the musos loved it too!generating fierce loyal followers thanks to residencies,at pubs such as,the famous station hotel in prahran.the late billy thorpe.later,recalling the early days,said there was no other town on earth that had as many gigs going on at the same time,and some of the more popular bands played 10 half-hour sets a night at different pubs,from tuesdays to sundays every week.in the 70s and 80s,many pubs were renown for there support of local music and bands,it was in melbourne that acdc,cold chisel,the angels,midnite oil,inxs,and the divinyls honed there skills.jimmy barnes said cold chisel woud not have survived,without the pubs.it was a thriving pub circuit,that enabled our bands to tour up and down the eastern seaboard from queensland to victoria,new south wales smack in the middle.legend has it?bands woud wave to each other from there crowded touring combi and ford vans,as they passed on the coastal roads.the popularity of pub rock even changed the music on the charts,bands found that simple songs with easy lyrics,simple choruses,and loud snare?drums worked best for the fans,and music companies.complicated and long solos were not popular even with entoxicated fans,and they vanished from aussie rock almost overnight...some of the pub songs became national anthems...but the golden age of live rock?music,is now apparently(nearly)over.the punters club is gone,so is the continental,the tote in collingwood,the arthouse(city)crystal ballroom,st kilda,spanish club in fitzroy,manchester lane in the city.most suburban pubs have djs,disco,and dance music.the beginning of the end was in the mid nineties,with the arrival of poker machines,and noise pollution laws.for some time now,there has been talk of the apocalypse of the live music scene?the owners of the tote in collingwood are fighting hard to keep the venue going,along with the arthouse,but?council regulations,a crackdown over liquor liciensing laws,and reducing revenues have made business,impossible...the blanket rule not only covers venues with big band rooms,but also smaller bowling and ethnic clubs with live music.popular music has become fragmanted,dance music,and the(allnite?)dj phenonomen have gradually taken work away from live performers..councils have become tougher about noise restrictions,and of course,poker machines have replaced many bandstands in pubs thruout victoria and most of australia.supporting live music has become less lucrative for some melbourne venue owners,some have tried to save there venues by paying bands less?money-and sometimes nothing at all.on the pretext that they are at least getting exposure,and that becomes dangerously close to?exploitation.dave gleeson,lead singer from the screaming jets said recently,we coud learn from western australia,where they have no poker machines in pubs,but i think its commen knowledge?pubs and rsls rely on pokies to cover costs in other areas of the venue,like all businesses?music venues fail when they no longer have the support of the public...in the end,the public has the power.as one well known musician said this week,if all the people who complained?about the closures of these venues-actually went out to see a band every couple of weeks?the venues woudnt be closing down.in the six years ive been in melbourne,the waltzing matilda as a rock n roll,rockabilly venue stopped live bands on saturday night.we still have,the nitehawk club,thursday nites to sunday nites, the monash hotel on a saturday nite,or davies,groovers,in frankston,on sundays,or the ferntree gully hotel on a sunday arvo,then the mcawber tavern,and our rsls like mitcham,workers club,or dandy rsl to keep us going here on the south eastern side of melbourne.and alot of other venues still too numerous to name but support,our bands are strong in support of live venues and have loyal followers,who try hard to mix with buying a few drinks to getting home safely.i cant speak for the city.st kilda,or the other side?but know thru cyber websites like myspace,facebook,etc,the scene is still strong in alot of old pubs,and venues still,and hopefully the dedication of all music fans,wether you like rocknroll,rockabilly,blues or whatever,we can keep these places open,and dig deep to support our bands,musos and dedicated djs to keep our scene alive...(the majority of this post is from exerpts taken from the melbourne herald recently,and i think applies to us all as musos,supporters and fans to keep on chooglin...tezza.