Things come and go in this town but Bang! is a stayer. In fact, come this Saturday eve, it’ll be Bang’s “motherfucking 8th birthday” (their words). Naturally, it’ll be bigger than Christmas.
Bang!, which is part of the Destroy All Lines’ club stable, set sail eight years ago in The Royal Melbourne Hotel and has remained there as an alt-vibe stalwart. It’s played host to some of punk, metal and hardcore’s finest and routinely chucks in the unexpected – jelly wrestling this last weekend for example
Nick Lucas, Destroy All Lines’ Victorian Events Manager, organises Bang! It’s fitting because he’s been around hardcore and clubs for donkeys years – he used to tour with The Amity Affliction, ran DIY all ages events as a teenager and had his first club night at 19. Understandably, he’s well-pleased with the club and its longevity.
“Yeah, for a club to make it to its 8th birthday is a huge achievement,” he reflects proudly. “Clubs can be popular and then suddenly disappear when people jump onto a different trend or they don’t evolve with their patrons.”
Indeed, Bang! has evolved, although it’s never strayed from its punk formula or the desire to provide a place for the musically likeminded to congregate without being beaten up or ogled. “I know the original idea was to have live alternative, punk, hardcore and metal in a safer nightclub space, compared with the other places you could go,” Lucas recalls. “We wanted to put on a club where people wouldn’t look you up and down because of what you were wearing or where you wouldn’t get knocked back at the door because there were four guys rocking up with no girls.”
Bang’s also been a blessing for bands. Melbourne’s not exactly a desert when it comes to places that’ll play heavy music, but Bang! routinely brings new-start local bands and interstate bands without a local profile to the stage. After cutting their teeth at the club, some of those self same bands have gone on to become big – The Amity Affliction and Closure In Moscow for example. From time to time, it also plays host to class international acts like Silverstein and Ann Boleyn.
In addition, Bang’s now known for its inspired parties. There’s been a ball pit, movies, foam, a beach, laser hunts, pizza, cheese burgers, sleep overs and a bucking bull… and no public liability claims to date.
Lucas attributes the club’s success to this mix of elements. “It’s all of these things combined that make it special,” he explains. “When you go to a normal gig, once it’s over, the lights go on and you have to go down the road to another pub or club. We do all of that and more – and you get a jumping castle.”
So what can punters expect from the 8th birthday bash? Well, Closure In Moscow are playing again for one. It’ll be one of their first Melbourne shows since they released their new album and toured it. Plus, you get everything else normally on offer at an 8th birthday, right down to the confetti, a clown doing balloon animals and a massive cake… but no fairy bread. “We’ve tried that before,” explains Lucas, “but it gets too sticky when you drop it.”
BY MEG CRAWFORD
