Dave Stevens has owned Pure Pop for almost eight years, and says that as the venue has always backed on to a residential area there have been issues for a few years. But now the figurative pimple has reached the surface and the problem has got to be addressed. Even through his anxiety about the approaching Demolition Day, Stevens is actually happy that a solution is finally within reach. “[Port Phillip Council] want to get it sorted as much as I do,” he says simply. “For a long time there was conflict between me and them. But sort of mid to late last year we sat down and said ‘Look, you know, we’re sort of butting heads; what can we do and what can you do?’ And we just worked out what we have to do. Which is basically, rebuild and take soundproofing measures.”
Here’s what needs to happen. $150,000 will mean Pure Pop can upgrade to a standard whereby the council will extend their live music license from 8pm until 11pm, to match the venue’s liquor license. But the absolute minimum needed to begin is $80,000, which will cover the essentials to rebuild a basic performance space and bar. Stevens has already managed to raise a portion of this through his loyal customers (stay with me here): “We have quite a big mailing list,” he explains. “We’d raised about 30 thousand through our own customers, but we’d sort of exhausted [them]; [they’ve] been great but we needed to widen. Glen Hansard [who played the venue a couple of weeks ago] tweeted to his tens of thousands of followers and we got, you know, brick sales from Cuba. I’m sort of using whatever tiny influence I have with artists as well, to spread the word.”
The Buy A Brick campaign is the first under the trending banner on the Pozible site, which means Stevens’ efforts to extend the message have so far done really well, but they’re still only about halfway to their target. You can donate in a number of denominations. Buying a $50 brick will mean you get your name engraved on a plaque which Stevens plans to affix to a wall so that every legend who’s helped is permanently acknowledged. A $150 brick gets you the aforementioned plus a VIP medallion entitling you to advance notification of upcoming special events and a spot at the front of the queue on full house nights. A $250 brick gets you the aforementioned plus an invite to the exclusive celebration at the opening of the new courtyard, at which food and drinks will be provided. There’s more awesomeness for larger donations; check the site. And everyone who donates gets a supremely cool limited edition t-shirt which says ‘I [brick] Pure Pop’ with the store’s famous cat logo on.
If you’re wondering where the cat came from, as I was, it’s a rather interesting tale. “Pure Pop started as a distributer, like a label, back in the ‘90s. And it was around that time that a mate was getting a tattoo done and it was all fierce,” says Stevens. “I drew this cat, and it wasn’t very good. It’s not how it is now, mine was pretty crap. But this mate cleaned it up and simplified it, and I ended up getting the cat tattoo, as a joke compared to my mate’s fierce rock ‘n’ roll one. It’s on my arm, so when I’m destitute and gone broke I can lie in the gutter and look at my arm and blame someone. Fucking cat. You did it to me, cat.”
Ideally that won’t happen, if everyone gets up and participates in this extremely worthy cause. “We can make a fantastic original music venue in St Kilda,” Stevens enthuses. “The only opportunity you get to see live music around here is pretty much acoustic dudes doing Oasis songs. You walk down Barkly and Acland Street and it’s Wonderwall coming out of every fucking bar. I’m really focusing on the solution which is right in front of us. For the first time, we know how to fix it.”
BY ZOË RADAS
