“The handicapped toilets,” James Young laughs. That’s the first thing that pops into the owner’s head when you say Cherry Bar.
But beyond the questionable sanitary conditions, there’s no denying that it’s our home for rock ‘n’ roll. Tucked away on the small yet storied AC/DC Lane, it’s incredible that a little establishment from ’99 is Australia’s most recognisable rock bar today.
Now in 2016, James is celebrating 10 wild years at the helm this week with a massive two-day bash CherryFest, yet with a deep belly laugh he bluntly admits that over the course of a decade, not much has changed. “To be honest, it’s exactly the same. There’s one thing you can say about Cherry Bar, and it’s that we haven’t spent a lot of money on renovation or turning the place upside down” he chuckles.
“But 10 years ago, it didn’t have a sign out the front. It was a very popular but underground bar, and in the last 10 years I think we’ve radically changed to the point where even though we’re only a late-night rock ‘n’ roll bar with a 200 capacity, we’re probably one of the best known in Australia. Practically everyone in Melbourne has heard of it.”
Establishing the inaugural Cherry Rock festival held in May, which also turned 10 this year, truly cemented the bar in its place for Young. The event has hosted impressive international as well as local acts, including Swedish rockers Truckfighters and Oregon metal five-piece Red Fang.
As Young explains, “That gave us de facto ownership of AC/DC Lane. The bar is the only business here and while the lane’s public property, it’s interesting that if anyone wants to do anything here, they come to me first.”
“One of the real pivotal things that happened is twelve years ago, on the 1st October, it changed from being Corporation Lane to AC/DC Lane. It was a turning point in the bar becoming better-known. In another city, all a fan can do is take a photograph in front of a boring street sign. But at Cherry, being the only bar in Australia open 365 nights a year with live local music every night… we activate the laneway name.
“Every band that comes and plays wants to be the next AC/DC, and it is a long way to the top if you want to rock and roll.”
Melbourne blues rockers Smoke Stack Rhino recently immortalised their love for the venue in song
Cherry Rock’s much younger sister, the three-year-old CherryFest, is also an integral part of the venue which embraces local talent. With a lineup of 25 stellar bands playing this Friday and Saturday, it’s set to be yet another success for the bar, and Young confirms that this year’s installment has been “really easy to organise”. However, the owner also reveals a dark truth to the festival’s history.
“Once we got our new neighbours at the end of the laneway with this huge apartment block, it meant that it wasn’t realistic for us to do two music festivals… in terms of the costs and disruptions to neighbours, we had to let CherryFest go last year. Then I had a rethink and said, ‘We might as well continue to do the event and celebrate local bands, but we’ll do it inside the bar with two stages, and just make it really affordable.
“You’re always going to face hurdles,” James says, his voice suddenly hardening with resolve, “and over my dead body was Cherry ever going to be closed down due to noise complaints or new apartments.”
His toughest moment was facing the $100,000 cost hanging over the bar to cover soundproofing in light of the new residencies. After considering the lack of support from the Melbourne City Council and site developers, he says wisely “I realised that the people who always give the most are people with the least money.”
Here Young’s talking about the bar’s PledgeMusic campaign launched a few years ago, reaching out to the local music community with the aim of gathering two-thirds of the funds. Hitting the target in just 24 hours was deeply satisfying for the owner, also bringing attention to the core issue of music venues “being allowed to survive in the face of oppressive new residential developments”.
Cherry Bar loyals turned out en masse to help the venue battle new developments
Young describes his founding partners Jim Bourke as “a rock” and ‘Lazy Pete’ (or ironically ‘Paperwork Pete’) as the person “doing all the important stuff in the background”. He then points to himself and laughs “I’m the one standing at the end of the bar getting drunk with rock stars. That’s my role.”
One such star rolling through those doors is Axl Rose, which the owner discovered after having just seen the legendary Neil Young at Geelong Winery.
“I walk in the bar door and someone says ‘Axl Rose is here’. His bodyguard subsequently told me that he hasn’t stayed at a venue for six hours in twelve years,” he begins. “The bizarre thing was that the jukebox was playing ‘Who’ll Stop the Rain’ (Creedence Clearwater Revival), and one of his little gofers went and pulled the plug out of the wall. I walked over and said ‘What the fuck are you doing?’, and he said ‘Axl doesn’t do Creedence’. That was the most fucked thing I’ve ever heard in my life, but also for some reason kind of cool. So I learnt something that night,” he laughs.
Plenty of other moments have blown Young’s mind. Those include the time glam-metal icons Steel Panther crashed one Cherry Jam, a Monday night mainstay where “anyone can get up and play with whoever they want”.
“They had sold out the Festival Hall the night before, and postponed flying to Adelaide because they realised they’d rather spend another night in Melbourne, not really knowing that it was a Monday,” he reminisces, chuckling. “It was very quiet when they came to the bar, and then our sound guy Red got to sing ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ with them, Red being on lead vocals.”
What you might not expect, however, is just who you might find outside the larger-than-life rock world. Young had one of his most surreal experiences to date after coming into the bar on a Tuesday night, and seeing actor RJ Mitte from hit US crime-drama Breaking Bad (Walter Jr.) “standing there by himself having a drink.”
“First thing I did was check IMDB on my mobile to make sure I got his name right.” He laughs as he remembers this vividly. “Then I walked up and said ‘Aren’t you such-and-such?’. He’s slightly cerebral himself, and he said ‘Yeah I’m out here on a corporate tour, inspiring people about how you can achieve in business if you’ve got a handicap’, and they said to come to the bar. That was very bizarre, because that was at the peak of the series.”
As well as being home for greats of all sorts, Cherry has become a much-loved sideshow hotspot for the likes of The Black Keys and The New York Dolls. However, after mulling over the moment from this year he’d love to relive, it’s Californian boys Rival Sons tearing up the bar that ultimately spring to Young’s mind.
“There’s a band on a two-year world tour, opening for Black Sabbath. I saw only two nights ago that they were playing in San Diego in front of 100,000 people, and the fact that they could take the time out to do one sideshow at Cherry… They loved that gig, and saw it as a way to ground themselves.
“I was pinching myself that night.”
Enjoy some of the best hard rock talent on offer as CherryFest kicks off this Friday and Saturday at Cherry Bar, surrounded by mates and plenty of beer, and 24 bands for 25 bucks – tickets are on sale now.
CHERRYFEST 2016
Friday
Dead City Ruins
The Ugly Kings
The Harlots
Dumb Punts
Zombitches
Redro Redriguez & His Inner Demons
Skronkadoodledoo
Brad Pot
The Nugs
Vintage Crop
Rhysics
Dear Thieves
Bona Lisa
Saturday
Tyrannamen
Elm Street
My Left Boot
Witchgrinder
Don Fernando
Gary Gray & The Sixth Circle
Grindhouse
Wod
Two Headed Dog
Bleach Girls
Hunted Crows
Stiff Richards
