Wax Music Lounge, the new imprint of iconic Melbourne record store Wax Music Records, has opened its doors to new beginnings.
Founded by Guy Roseby and Tim Bartold of Melbourne’s iconic Wax Museum Records and Mark Lipshut (Spin Records), the launch of the new underground venue and bar Wax Music Lounge marks an exciting new chapter for the record store’s legacy and the wider cultural imprint of Melbourne’s city at-large.
Wax Music Lounge
- 250 Flinders St, Melbourne
- A new bar and music venue
- From the team behind Wax Museum Records
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Wax Museum Records has been at the forefront of Melbourne’s music community for close to two decades. Taking residence in the Campbell Arcade below Flinders Street Station, Wax Museum Records has served as a veritable supplier of independent records and a community voice for Melbourne’s jazz, hip hop, electronic, and beat making scenes.
Given the closure of seminal clubs and venues in the CBD post-Covid, opening a new music space is a defiant move. As co-owner Guy Roseby says, the journey to opening the doors of Wax Music Lounge is exciting but hasn’t been without resistance.
Wax Music Lounge’s beautiful space
Guided by an amber glow down a flight of stairs in a city basement, Wax Music Lounge is subterranean at heart. The red glow, the concrete walls, the scattered jazz-fi resounding from the speakers makes the room feel both familiar and foreign at once. If music piques mem- ories, Wax Music Lounge does exactly that. Remnants of wild nights and basement jazz in a Lower East Side basement; intimate conversations in a Kreuzberg speakeasy; all doused in liquor and sound.
- Soundsystem: Pitt & Giblin
- Architect: Thandi Stirling
- Lighting Curation: James Hebbs + Grace Darling
- Beverage: Menu Designed By Pita Dixon.
- Venue Details
- Address: Basement, 250 Flinders Street, Melbourne Vic 3000
- Licensed Venue Capacity: 175
- Trading Hours: Monday-Saturday, 5pm-1am
The closure of Campbell Arcade due to the government’s Metro Tunnel works in 2020 left Wax Music Record co-founder Guy Roseby, with nowhere to sell records. By chance, an offer came through at a basement space below 250 Flinders St, and both Roseby and Bartold have been working steadily on renovating the space since.
The space boasts a generous 175 capacity, striking lighting features curated by Melbourne-based designers James Hebbs and Grace Darling, and a beverage list with a focus on natural Australian lo-fi wines, craft beers and signature cocktails by acclaimed bartender, Pita Dixon.
The true hero? A bespoke Pitt and Giblin soundsystem. In the last few months, the unmarked space has been hosting improvisational jazz nights and secret shows from international acts including Japanese producer Grooveman Spot to ‘test’ out the space, but the venue is ready for its debut.
The elusive journey to finding Wax Music Lounge is half the fun. Secret doors were found in the venue that led back to the Flinders Street Station underpass.
“Walking through Flinders Street, you’d never know our space exists – there’s an entire world beneath your feet,” Roseby says. No detail has been overlooked. Roseby hopes patrons enter knowing it was “built by music people, for music people.”
“It’s a new place for underground scenes to thrive, a place for community. I’m overly proud of what we’ve achieved and truly feel we can bring something new to the CBD and Melbourne’s music landscape.”
An interview with Guy Roseby
How did Wax Music Lounge start?
Having a venue that was in some way connected to our store Wax Museum Records was a dream my business partner Tim and I have had for some time. After hosting many events in an old location in the iconic Campbell Arcade, there were always a lot of things to work around with permits and operational limitations. We always said to each other, wouldn’t it be awesome to do this all in one space where we don’t need to deal with this stuff each time we’d like to do something; and have the proper infrastructure in place to do this well.
When we finally had to move from the Campbell Arcade due to the Metro Tunnel works, we went looking around for a new space. After 16 years in the one spot, we canvassed many ideas and properties and actually found new space which we started the lease process on. Just as we were about to sign the lease, Covid hit and our accountants and lawyers advised that it looked like it had some legs and whatever we do, don’t sign. It was a frustrating experience as we were both very excited by the new venture but alas like everyone that took a back seat over the next couple years as Covid took over.
After a period of negotiations we reached an agreement with the new space -and it’s been a steady working process to design, fit out and operate it since. Now that we’ve reached the finish point, I’m overly proud of what we’ve achieved and truly feel that we can bring something new to the CBD and general Melbourne music and nightlife landscape.
Are there particular scenes or music movements that have inspired your curation?
Most definitely. I take inspiration from people doing great things locally and abroad in many different ways.
I really like what the JAZZ IS DEAD guys from LA are doing. They’re curating shows with legends as well as contemporary artists and recording records of new exclusive music with them for their label. I was able to visit them when I was last there prior to COVID and they have a DIY ethos which aspires to do everything in house from recording to event production to vinyl manufacturing.
Locally, it’s hard to go past what Crown Ruler and The Operatives are doing.
I personally like to follow a motto in life which is ‘don’t do them, just do you’. To me this carries over to music and to an extent with this project as well. We could be just trying to make a commercial club that services the mainstream. But instead we are staying true to what we would want. That is a place to go to have a fun comfortable hangout in the middle of the city with great drinks, a banging sound system and the added bonus of digging for records.
What’s your earliest memory associated with vinyl?
I grew up with parents who were music lovers. Particularly my father was music obsessed. I unintentionally followed his footsteps as he too worked in and later owned his own record store. His school friend started the iconic Gaslight Records that he worked for and he later started his own record store Licorice Pie Records (predating the current Melb store of that name) on Toorak Rd in South Yarra in the late 70s. So I grew up with records in the house and music playing all the time. Dad would take my sister and I every Saturday to get a CD of our choosing and encouraged the habit. Eventually that moved to vinyl for me in my early teens.
Why do you think there’s been a resurgence in vinyl collecting?
I think with so many things moving to the digital and streaming sphere, it’s come full circle and people want to own tangible physical products again. Curating a vinyl collection from scratch has a special mystique to it as well. Lastly,the quality of the sound of vinyl I think has also become appreciated again as much warmer and richer than digital and people notice the difference.
What has been the most challenging part about running a record store so far?
Firstly, the move from just a physical brick-and-mortar store into the e-commerce and online realm. Some have adapted well, others choose to ignore it. It’s taken the daily operations from order, receive, price and sell to many more steps involving a POS system and database, online store, marketing and social media etc. I would also say as for indie stores and especially as one that has been around for a while, staying unique with our curation focus. When Wax Museum began, there were a lot less stores and they predominantly all specialized in specific genres, sounds and scenes. In Melbourne I believe we have the most stores per square capita of any city in the world so remaining unique has become more challenging as there are many more stores trying to do similar things and then also online.
What does Melbourne’s music venue scene do well now? How is Wax Music Lounge different?
The thing I love about the Melbourne music scene and it stands out to me most when I’m away travelling is that sheer amount of variety on offer seven nights a week. You truely can find awesome music every night of the week in all shapes and forms.
We plan to add to that mix but in our own way. The size of our venue and the quality of our sound system’s listening experience is stellar, with our custom Pitt & Giblin system. In the CBD especially, it’s harder to find live music on the weekends as most other venues focus on more club and DJ-orientated sounds.
Okay. Tell us about the soundsystem.
Having a great sounding room was a non-negotiable for me when we internally discussed what we wanted to achieve with our fit out design. I’m a lover of classic vintage JBL speakers as I grew up with my father’s set at home. But to acquire a good condition vintage pair that doesn’t need to be restored can be costly and time consuming. Especially in Australia.
Having traveled to iconic cities such as Tokyo, New York, Berlin etc over my adult life, I’ve been able to experience the differences in good sound systems with differing characteristics which have also helped shape my tastes.
I had heard Pitt & Giblin’s (P&G) speakers in a few listening bars in Melbourne and they sounded great so I called them and asked if they had any plans to do any custom designs for a set of speakers that could also handle live PA so bands could play through them. Their current line is more designed for hi-fi playback of vinyl, cd and digital. Ross at P&G said they were and would be able to deliver a product in about 4-5 months.
I explained to them an experience I had had in a very very small club room in Tokyo once where we were watching a DJ play a loud banging techno set in a 4x4m room where if you focused on the music you were totally immersed in it but then you could also have a comfortable conversation with the person next to you without shouting and your ears hurting from the sound exposure.
What they have ended up delivering us is in their words ‘the best speakers they’ve made’ that’s accompanied by a custom sub as well. They delivered exactly what I asked for! Ross’s partner Jack also assisted us in designing the acoustic treatment for the room which has really added to making the full listening experience exceptional. So you patrons will really be coming to listen to a one of a kind sound experience we’ve been really fortunate to have been able to put together with the assistance of Pitt & Giblin. We are excited to hear great DJs and bands play through it!
Head to the Wax Music Lounge website here.