There’s a panic currently gripping Brisbane’s music scene and it’s not hard to see where it’s coming from. Last month, the Queensland government announced they would be introducing late-night lockout laws inspired by Sydney’s own controversial laws.
Sydney’s lockout laws have been responsible for a 40-percent decline in live performance ticket sales, an 80-percent drop in foot traffic in lockout-affected areas, and the closure of 42 venues, bars, cafes, nightclubs, and restaurants.
Meanwhile, gig attendance overall is down 19 percent. Those are terrifying metrics for anyone who makes their living from live music, as many in Brisbane’s Fortitude Valley, for example, do. The area is a hub for the city’s live music scene.
As home to many of Brisbane’s most prominent live music venues, the Fortitude Valley has birthed some of the city’s most successful bands and many are concerned the lockouts will make the Valley unsustainable and kill the local music scene.
However, James Tidswell, guitarist for Brisbane rockers Violent Soho, isn’t so worried about the impending lockouts. As he argues, it’s just the latest flashpoint in a long history of the common folk getting screwed over by the government.
In fact, he even has a solution for bands worried they may no longer have venues to play in. “Long story short: I don’t really care, which is so hardcore to say because I have friends that own Crowbar or The Zoo,” Tidswell recently told Howl & Echoes.
“… so I totally understand and I love the idea of small independent bars and businesses in general and wanting them to survive, that’s why this is such a tough question to answer,” Tidswell clarified.
“That is a really, really good thing for our culture here in Brisbane and it continuing to grow and to have people open up these types of businesses and establishments that are like us and have a clue and treat people with respect and put on good bands and all that sort of stuff and of course I want all of that to still exist.”
“Now, how do I feel about the laws? It’s absolute bullshit,” he continued. “If the casino is the only one that’s allowed to stay open. So now for them to attract investors and ensure that the money comes back to them, they get to say to them ‘we can close the whole city and everyone has to go to the casino if they want to drink’.”
“The people who push these laws through that none of us want or agree with and to promote big business; they constantly do it in so many other aspects of our lives so I don’t see what the big deal is,” the singer argued, before suggesting an alternative.
“Let them close it. Take it back to the suburbs,” Tidswell suggested. “Take it back to your house. The drinks are cheaper, it’s going to be safer and it’s your friends who are going to be there. Put on house shows.”
“This is what we did anyway, we put on house shows. Fuck ‘em. Get the cops to come and shut it down, constantly cause every party to be shut down. Fuck ‘em. They continue to do this in every aspect of our lives so I kind of just roll over you know, ‘here we are being fucked again’.”
[include_post id=”473208″]
“To me it’s just not as big a deal because there’s so much going on where it’s like, fucking hell. And everyone’s just like ‘nah we want to go out and get fucked up’ and it’s like alright, well, how’s about everything that’s fucked.”
“I don’t want to be too negative and please understand that the laws are bullshit and I don’t stand for them or condone them or want them in any way but at the same time, they’re pushing it through whether we like it or not so fuck ‘em,” Tidswell added.
“It’s different in Sydney or Melbourne where people fight for these things but we’re from the city that just doesn’t give a fuck, so what are we gonna do? Big businesses just make the way here, it’s bullshit.”
Whilst Brisbanites not caring about their hometown is up for debate, it’s clear the city’s impending lockouts will have a powerful impact on the live music scene. How bands deal with and work around it is another matter altogether.
