Posts By Melissa Tan

Melbourne's Birmy to end live music

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Only a year after it’s revamp, Melbourne’s Birmingham Hotel will no longer be hosting live music by the end of this month. Venue bookers Indra Adams and Chris Bosma confirmed the news in a statement, saying:

‘Sadly the owners of the Birmingham Hotel have found the financial viability of a live music venue with all costs attached does not present a sustainable business model. The venue will continue to operate without live music with plans for refurbishing the kitchen and existing function spaces.

We as the venue bookers would like to thank all the awesome bands and punters that have made our jobs so amazing and contributed to (what was) an incredibly vibrant and exciting music venue.

To all the bands who have shows booked in the calendar after the above date, we’re sorry if this is the first you’ve heard of the plans… We aim to contact everyone this week and do our best to find replacement shows for everyone.’



The news comes after the Birmy’s ‘re-birth’  last June under the run of new management where the likes of The Basics, Frowning Clouds, Will Wagner and The Greasers helped to relaunch the once tired building with a sign outside the venue reading ‘The Birmingham Hotel: It’s not shit anymore!’.  Considering the venue recently spent $3,500 soundproofing the windows of the venue with electric operated shutters to solve noise complaints, the news does come as a surprise.

Over the past year, the venue has established itself as a healthy breeding ground for local artists, housing up to 20 bands each week. What was reportedly once neo-Nazi hangout and a venue for nationalist hatecore gigs, became a welcome addition to the fertile ground of local venues around the area. Of course, $2 pots, a no-pretense code and consistent solid lineups for which the Birmy has become known for will be missed by many, but it seems like just another another casuality to the growing list of hallowed pubs culling live music.

Gigs will continue at the Birmy until the 19th, so make sure you catch the likes of Duvtons, Gosteleradio, Kins, Grenadiers (USA), Tobias Cummings, Useless Children and more who’ll be playing before the curtain drops. Check out www.birmingham.com.au for full details.

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Grolsch Grid

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Tonight the Grolsch Grid kicks off. They claim it’s good Dutch lager, but I’m too uniformed to know otherwise. Decent brew or not, the guys have put together a collab celebrating local creativity to please your eyes and ears over the next few nights.

Art and audiovisual happenings will be hitting the streets of Melb’s CBD from Oct 21 – Oct 24.

Grolsch have partnered up with the creative minds behind the likes of Alpha 60, Gorker Gallery, Somewhere Store, Vice and more, who’ll be putting up limited edition street posters around the city, so keep an eye out.

Nothing quite says ‘Melbourne’ like pulling up an empty wooden crate/oil can/garbage lid in a seedy Chinatown alleyway, having smoke blown in your face by the hipster collective and listening to an occasional rad tune. Tonight Broken Pixel, Charles Ives Singers, Sone, Netzair & Kod will kick off the proceedings at Section 8 from 8pm. Collarbones and a heap of other interesting acts are also on the bill. It’s free, and well worth checking out.

For the locations of the street poster collaborations or the full gig lineup , hit up www.grolschgrid.com

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Kite Club – 'Goodtime Tea Show'

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Kite Club – ‘La La Melode’ (mp3)

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Kite Club – ‘Very Necessary’ (mp3)

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You may recall Kite Club from Matt’s post a few months ago. Certain to say, that penchant for large scale production hasn’t been lost in the proceedings. Enter Goodtime Tea Show.

‘La La Melode’ summons your attention as soon as that wad of synth-spiritualism drops. Those galloping beats in the intro reminds me of watching Gypsy & The Cat in the giant ampitheatre at Splendour, and I’m pretty sure this tune would echo out just as magically given the same settings. The melody here sits like an off-kilter folk hymnal and holds up the arrangement of the song really well, while the same goes for the falsetto intervention in ‘Very Necessary’. The latter does creep into MGMT territory, but is crammed with a myriad of instrumentals (check out that horn section!) to pique your interest for long enough. With Passion Pit/Naked & Famous camps moving into the commercial radio league, I can definitely see this dude pleasing the masses. Futcher’s showed great flair and craftmanship here and I’ll be surprised if the summer festivals don’t poach him to the bill soon. Feel good vibes all ‘round.

www.myspace.com/kiteclubclub

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The Paper Scissors – 'Lung Sum' video

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It’s been a while since that contagious cowbell on ‘We Don’t Walk’ writhed it’s way into the ears of the nation in 2006. The guys from The Paper Scissors are back, and have finally delivered the clip for ‘Lung Sum’ from their forthcoming second full-length album ‘In Loving Memory’ which is due for a release early next year. Just saw these guys play on Friday night in Melbs and while the new material is more emotive, their live stints are punchier than ever. They’ll be hitting up Bris, Byron Bay, Toowoomba, Syd and Perth over the next few months as part of a national tour, so make sure you check out myspace for full tour deets.

www.myspace.com/thepaperscissors

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Mission Control – 'Green Knight' video

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New clip from Melbourne outfit Mission Control who recently collaborated with US producer Memory Tapes on this tune.

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