It seems the message of SLAM Day, which took place this past Saturday, is still not being taken seriously by Melbourne councils. Once again there is news of a music venue that may be forced to shut its doors due to noise complaints.
As The Age reports, Pure Pop Records is facing closure if they cannot raise $150,000 by March 31st. The money is for upgrades to soundproofing and stage features, as well as an extra bathroom. The fundraising campaign over at crowdsourcing website Pozible is being sold as “Buy A Brick”, where supporters can literally help buy the soundproofing material that will save the venue.
The record store turned live music venue in St Kilda has been subject to constant complaints from its residential neighbours. Therefore Pure Pop Records is currently operating under heavy restrictions on capacity and noise. The venue can only seat 50 people in its intimate courtyard venue, which has hosted acts such as Paul Kelly and Tim Rogers, and it has also been operating under an enforced 8pm curfew.
Dave Stevens, the owner of the venue, has been fighting this battle with the Port Phillip Council for some time. The venue has been threatened with action in the Magistrates Court if they did not immediately upgrade there facilities. Stevens said “We’ve always tried to work with council but it’s become so difficult. We’ve been stonewalled and given so much grief.”
Issues first arose when the council learned that the building had been erected by previous owners without a planning permit. This, coupled with the neighbour complaints, has made the council ready to tear the stage area at Pure Pop Records down.
The main culprit for the noise complaints is Maurice Venning, aged 60, who lives behind the venue. Venning confirmed that he contacted the council over 100 times complaining about noise. “He is quite unreasonable… Basically any noise he hears he blames on us.” Dave Stevens, Pure Pop Records
Venning has been making complaints to local authorities from as far back as July last year. “It starts at 2pm in the afternoon, they have live music until 8pm and then recorded music goes on until 11pm at night,” Venning said at the time; ”…if we call the police it will take 50 minutes. There is a long history here and I’ve documented everything that has happened.”
Pure Pop Records’ owner, Dave Stevens feels victimised by Venning’s complaints, saying: “He is quite unreasonable. He complains on a day like St Kilda Festival day, he’s complained on days when we’re closed. Basically any noise he hears he blames on us.” This stalemate highlights the underlying issue of the debate, should the comfort of residents be put before the cultivation of Australian music?
Stevens’ attempt to save the venue is modeled after a campaign used by the Annanndale Hotel. Before it went into receivership, the iconic Sydney venue asked its supporters to “Buy A Brick”, using the money raised to go to much needed soundproofing upgrades, as well as paying down some of the Annanndale’s massive debts incurred from legal costs from going in and out of courts.
Pure Pop Records has taken this idea and run with it, Stevens saying, “it doesn’t roll off the mouth to say, ‘Buy a piece of sound-reinforced, acoustically treated building material.’ It doesn’t fit on the T-shirt.” They may be metaphorical bricks, but foundational none the less.
Purchasing a brick will get your name on a plaque at Pure Pop Records. Stevens estimated that $150,000 would need to be raised to save his venue but that $70,000 would keep them afloat for the short term. However, if this money isn’t raised by March 31st however, the venue will be forced to close anyway. “It doesn’t roll off the mouth to say, ‘Buy a piece of sound-reinforced, acoustically treated building material’.” – Dave Stevens, Pure Pop Records
Pure Pop Records is luckier than many small music venues. The owner is the son of music legend, Bon Scott. That should be enough to at least earn the interest of music fans, but more than this the venue hosts large and small acts, and works really hard to bring interesting music to its patrons.
One such example is Pure Pop Records’ Summer of Classic Albums series. The concept being artists perform a famous album, and place their own unique spin on it.
Julia Stone reworked David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Ella Hooper from Killing Heidi channeled her best Beyonce when she performed The Writings on the Wall by Destiny’s Child, and Melbourne three-piece Pony Face tackled The Boss’ intimate Nebraska. These performances started in December and will run through to March.
Venning, the complaining neighbour, claimed that venues should be designated to area that “is suitable for live music”. But really, where is more suitable place for live music than a record store in St Kilda?
It’s not the only record store that could is suffering from financial woes following noise complaints and council issues. Long running North Melbourne cafe/comic shop/record store Woolly Bully is looking to shut its doors when its lease runs out at the end of the year.
Co-owner Mitch Marks says that the decision to close the store was due to lack of profits from its adjoining cafe.“We were actually continuing to be really busy,” says Marks, “but because of where we are and the site we’re in, we’d need to inject a lot more money into it or move to make any profits.” Despite often hosting in-store performances by local and international acts, the venue was often limited by “council restrictions and pointless revenue-gathering permits.”
Head to Pure Pop Records’ Pozible page to help make a donation to save the St. Kilda Record Store.
