Long live the Arthouse!

In amongst the shitstorm that was stirred up early last year when beloved Collingwood venue The Tote Hotel announced that it was closing its doors for good due to skyrocketing costs of keeping the place open because of having to comply with ridiculous liquor licensing laws (alcohol-fuelled violence, oh we laughed!), it also came to light soon after that popular inner-city (well, on the northern fringes at least) watering hole The Arthouse would also be closing its doors within a year. Well, the combination of a helluva lot of protestors taking to the streets and a white knight by the name of Jon Perring managed to save the Tote and it reopened in June that year, but it soon became clear that nothing would save our beloved Arty. What a shame really. In the three years I've been in Melbourne, I've always enjoyed my trips to this hallowed haven of punk, metal, and other assorted subgenres that are a bit to the left of centre! On Sunday the 1st of May, I and many other Melbournians headed to this great venue one last time. Here's a little memoriam to the venue that's served us so well over the years.

If memory serves me correctly - and "memory" and "the Arthouse" are two terms that often don't quite go together! - the first time I ever set foot in this place was on Saturday the 14th of June in 2008 (thanks to Last.fm for the exact date!). A bit late to the (p)arty perhaps, but this can be explained by the fact that I didn't live in Melbourne until that year, and once I did move I was very keen to check out this place I'd heard so much about. That night, the bands playing were Psycroptic, Terrorust, Picture the End and Aphotic Dawn. Again, there's always something about going to the Arthouse that leaves you with fuzzy (but positive!) memories, and almost three years on from this gig, I can't remember a lot of what transpired. I do remember enjoying Aphotic Dawn, hating Picture the End so much I spent the entirety of their set in the beer garden, thinking at the time that Terrorust were alright (hey, I was relatively young), and of course really enjoying Psycroptic. They ripped their way through a selection of material from what was then a three-album discography, and even threw in the first ever performance of Immortal Army of One, which would later appear on their fourth album (Ob)Servant. As the set drew to its end, vocalist Jason Peppiatt announced that Alpha Breed was to be their last song, and that was all the encouragement to go through a rite of passage that I think every Melbournian metal/punk/hardcore kid of my era has gone through - stage diving off the Arthouse stage! It was the first time I'd ever stage dived anywhere actually, and upon picking myself up off the Arthouse floor (it was a pretty awful stage-dive really!), I realised I'd lost my watch! After the show, I ended up meeting some pretty cool individuals by the names of Adam, Nat and Jules. Three top people that I've seen at quite a few gigs over the years. So there you have it. On my first night at the Arthouse, I saw some awesome bands (and one awful one), made new friends, had my first stage-dive, lost my watch, and drank a lot of beer! A successful night, I would think!

Over the years there's been many a return trip made to the place formerly known as the Royal Artillery Hotel. Many a great night has begun with an upright, coordinated walk through the Arthouse door and finished with a clumsy drunken stumble at the end. I've lost count of all the great (and some not so great bands) I've seen deliver sets from the hallowed Arty stage - grind, noise, doom, punk, industrial black metal, death metal - you name the genre, if it can be considered even vaguely alternative, it's been played on the Arthouse stage. It's impossible for me to identify my favourite Arthouse memory, but there's definitely a few in there. One that particularly stands out is an evening when America's Pig Destroyer delivered a ripping set of vicious deathgrind. Being the small venue that it is, after the show the members of the band didn't really have any choice but to hang out with the crowd, and a bunch of mates and I got to meet vocalist JR Hayes and guitarist Scott Hull out the front. Then JR decided he was pretty drained after that gig (fairly understandable) and wanted to know where he could get a Red Bull, so Nat, Adam and I decided to walk him to the nearest 7-Eleven so he could get one!

Grindcore certainly seems to be something the Arthouse did well, and over the years ear and brain cells were damaged by ridiculously fast and br00tal acts, such as Fuck...I'm Dead, Captain Cleanoff, The Kill, Roskopp, Super Fun Happy Slide, etc, etc. There was one final grind night on Sunday the 24th, but I stupidly opted to attend a My Disco gig that night. In hindsight I think it would have been far better to see the final night of a genre that's called the Arthouse home in Melbourne over the years of its existence. Of all the genres I think I've seen at the Arty, there's been something about that particular breed of metal that seems to drag me back again and again for repeated beer drinking and headbanging!

This year I am ashamed to say I didn't actually patronise the Arty that much. It did start off pretty early on though, when Heathen Skulls (who else?!) brought US psychedelic jam-a-riffic trio Earthless on to the stage on the 9th of January, supported by Clagg and Agonhymn. As it turns out, I was recovering from a monstrous hangover; attending gigs on a Sunday always poses quite a challenge! But I was glad that I went in the end, because the three bands I saw were amazing, and the hangover soon disappeared! The Arty's given me enough hangovers over the years, so it was nice to see it finally cure one! I did make sure I got along to quite a few of the "last month" gigs however. First of all it was Sydney-based industrial weirdos The Amenta, with Ruins in the main support slot; naturally, that was a pretty fucking good one, despite the shortness of The Amenta's set. On a Wednesday a few weeks ago, it was once again grind time, and who better to do that than Agents of Abhorrence, Useless Children, Doubled Over and Kromosom (well, they're a little bit more on the hardcore side of things, but anyway)? What a night! But my last gig I ever went to at the Arty was actually a highly successful night - the "sold out" sign was not going to stop me and my friend Joe from seeing Frenzal Rhomb, so with the help of a friendly convenience store bloke, and some paper, a red texta and some sticky tape, we managed to make passable imitations of the wristband on the night, and got our way into the venue! What a show it was.

So on Sunday May 1st, we all battled off the hangover from whatever we went to the night before and headed off to number 616 Elizabeth St for the VERY last time ever. Surprisingly, there wasn't a line to get in, and once inside, the place was quite comfortable to move around in - plenty of people, but not too many! So for one last time, we gathered to drink the final stocks of the Arthouse's fridge (the tap beer had ran out by the time I got there!), share our Arthouse memories and dance to some surprisingly un-Arthouse music - there's a first time for everything, and I suppose the last night of business is a good opportunity to play such "classics" as Livin' on a Prayer, My Sharona and even Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. For this special occasion, invading the Arthouse stage took on a new meaning; as there was of course no band and no musical instruments on the stage, punters delighted in pulling off some truly awful drunken moves to this music they'd never heard at the Arthouse before, and never will again. Of course, many familiar Arthouse faces were hanging around and drinking themselves silly - one could quite easily spot the likes Rob Macmanus (ex-Grey Daturas and now Heathen Skulls head honcho), Jay Jones (Fuck...I'm Dead and The Kill) and of course, POODLE. It wouldn't be an Arthouse farewell without the man himself! I didn't have a lot of money so I had to leave a bit earlier than I'm sure most did, but not before I witnessed the auctioning off of the last ever bottle of beer at the Arthouse! It was a Tasman Bitter, incidentally a beer that the Arty has never sold in its entire history, but had confiscated this evening from someone trying to sneak it in, and it went for $125!

So, in summation, it's been a great few years. I'm sure in a few months they'll be turning the Arty into something highly inappropriate (my money's on apartments, grrr), but even if the building I know and love disappears, what's left of the memories will never be forgotten. So long Arthouse!

The sun sets on a brilliant career - Powderfinger, Rod Laver Arena, 11-09-2010 - Sunsets Farewell Tour

On April 9 of this year came the announcement that one of Australia's most loved bands of the past 20 years, Brisbane's Powderfinger, would be calling it quits after one final tour around the country - aptly named after their beloved Sunsets track. The tour will visit all the major cities and even stop off in quite a few regional centres, making sure that nobody misses their chance to say goodbye. Pick You Up, The Day You Come, Passenger, My Happiness, On My Mind... need I go on? On a reasonable spring Saturday night, Melbournians turned out in droves to bid farewell to these true Australian music legends.

I didn't quite get there in time to see The Vasco Era, so by the time I made my way into Rod Laver Arena, it was time for a set from Jet. Oh, what can I say? Even ignoring the fact that I haven't really cared for their music in quite some time, I just don't think these guys are engaging as a live band - they just lack energy and enthusiasm for what they're doing. But I guess it's a two-way street - several times they did try and get the crowd going with the usual handclaps and singalongs, but there were plenty of people standing around indifferently. As for the songs, I guess they performed a good mixed bag of tunes from their three studio albums, including the favourites such as Cold Hard Bitch and of course, Are You Gonna Be My Girl. Still, exactly why they're still around escapes me - you can't make a career out of one album that was really only successful because it was released at the right time for that sort of music, when the whole garage rock revival thing was going on. Sorry for the negativity, I just don't like this band much. As me and my mate headed out at the end of their set to grab a beer, I mused out loud that I wasn't sure why I was feeling tired all of a sudden. Mate replied, "You've just seen Jet".

Powderfinger made their way onstage to little fanfare just after 9, and opened their set with a stirring rendition of Love Your Way. As the fans cheered right before that massive chorus kicked in for the first time, the band paused briefly and the curtain opened - and then the lighting guy went nuts! Following that, another curtain fell to reveal a very stylish semi-circular screen and lighting rig at the back of the stage, as the Brisvegas boys kicked into Lost and Running. Even from the early stages of their performance, it was clear that Powderfinger were bringing their A game to the stage tonight, after all, it is their farewell tour, and they preferred to go out with a bang, rather than just sticking to the same old monotonous performance. The setlist on the night would prove to be a great mixed bag, something that must’ve been a challenge considering the band has seven studio albums to choose from and a set falling just short of two hours. But fans were not left disappointed, with the band busting out all the classics such as On My Mind, Passenger and My Happiness, and even treating us to a few numbers that we perhaps hadn’t heard in a while – Capoicity, JC and Rockin’ Rocks were particularly unexpected. Unfortunately, tonight we wouldn’t get to witness anything from the band’s debut “Parables for Wooden Ears” – I suspect they may be saving a few of those for the series of “FINAL” shows taking place in October. As always, Bernard Fanning was particularly engaging with the crowd, talking about the AFL finals, and touching on the band’s long history of playing gigs in Melbourne. “I remember one night at the Pelly Bar in Frankston...” he began, and the crowd laughed, anticipating what might be coming. “We saw some pretty crazy fights that night... and some pretty decent ones involving guys as well”. Another typically witty moment occurred after a solo performance of Nobody Sees, when he commented that “...Because the lights are still off, as the guys come back on, I get a nice little pat on the arse”. As I’ve already touched on, production-wise the show was excellent – they went all-out on the lighting and visual front, even throwing in some beautiful laser displays to “Thrilloilogy” and “These Days”. A real highlight of the show came right after The Metre – the band disappeared offstage, but at only about 9:40, it seemed even too early for an encore. The video screen played some old historical footage, and then slowly the crowd started turning around – it quickly became apparent that the band had made their way to the back of the crowd, to play a small “intimate” set on a B stage – lucky people sitting in the front row at that point! From this stage, they busted out storming renditions of Like a Dog and Rockin’ Rocks, before drummer Cogsy and bassist JC performed an awesome impromptu jam, allowing Fanning to get back to the main stage for Nobody Sees. But the surprises didn’t stop there – Fanning informing the crowd that the next song, JC, would be sung entirely by Darren Middleton, and he left the stage completely. Of course, he would return soon enough, to complete a particularly epic conclusion of the main set – My Happiness and Passenger. Demands for the encore were satisfied quickly, with the band opting for “Internationalist” oddity Capoicity, then bringing it home with more sure-fire crowd favourites in Pick You Up and On My Mind. But there was one more card to play, and finally, the five members returned to the stage one last time and the night ended with a beautiful rendition of These Days – recently voted as Brisbane’s favourite Powderfinger song. Something quite a lot of people in the country would agree with no doubt, and it was a fitting way to end the night – for many, the very last time they’d see these guys on a live stage.

SETLIST:
Love Your Way
Lost and Running
Burn Your Name
Sunsets
Sail the Widest Stretch
Thrilloilogy (always nice to see this one, particularly awesome jams from Darren Middleton and Ian Haug)
Already Gone
The Metre
----Video plays while band makes their way to B-stage at back of stadium----
Like a Dog
Rockin' Rocks
Cogsy and JC solo
----Return to main stage----
Nobody Sees (Bernard Fanning solo)
JC (with Darren Middleton on lead vox)
My Happiness
Passenger
----Encore 1----
Capoicity
Pick You Up
(Baby I've Got You) On My Mind
----Encore 2----
These Days