As was indicated when the Glen Iris-based company was set up on Sunday February 5, the names Max Watt’s Melbourne, Max Watt’s Brisbane and Max Watt’s Sydney were registered.
In what Max Watt’s Operating’s CEO Greg Bourke says, music venues tend to have “poor returns” because of the way they are operated. The three clubs will be run on a new business model, he pointed out, expecting the three Max Watt’s to have “a bright future given a professional management regime.”
He has appointed to handle bookings and marketing, the Melbourne-based The Venue Collective. It operates the Corner Hotel. Northcote Social Club, Shebeen and 170 Russell in Melbourne, the Newtown Social Club in Sydney and Woolly Mammoth in Brisbane.
The three venues will be booked by Ashlea O’Loughlin. Their long time booker, James Power who was retained by administrators to keep The Hi-Fi bars going while they looked for buyers, is working on a new venture. Co-founders Luke O’Sullivan and co-founder Brad Pearce departed as soon as the venues went into administration on Sunday February 12.
Max Watt’s is co-owned by Kathryn Ann Hamblin, the sole creditor who put the three venues into administration last month over a $5 million loan.
