Situated in picturesque Upwey, The Skylark Room has quickly earned a reputation as a specialty live music venue, despite being just over a year old.
By day, the venue operates as a café offering high-quality food in a serene setting, but as the sunlight dims the atmosphere morphs into something sultrier as the space is transformed into a live music venue harking back to the speakeasies of the prohibition era.
“Aesthetically it’s kind of like it’s been pulled out of that prohibition age style; little bit art deco, little bit of a voluptuous, velvety, back alley feeling, like an old jazz bar,” says The Skylark Room’s marketing manager Brent Dakis. “It’s a very intimate space, it’s all about sensual pleasures, there’s lots of velvet, it’s mood-lit.
“It’s quite a small space, the venue seats about 110 tops, so the capacity’s small but it makes for a really nice space to come in and sit at,” says Dakis. “One of the main things that we have heard back from patrons and that we hear back from the artists is that it’s a listening space and that’s really the key.
“Musicians love to play there because when we’ve got a room full of 110 people eating dinner there’s not a word in the room, everyone’s actually facing, listening to the musician. It’s not like a pub with background music, it’s really centralised on the performance so it’s a very respectful environment for musicians.
“It’s very quickly becoming a specialised restaurant and music venue, the whole dinner and a show form of theatre which doesn’t seem to happen much nowadays is the specialty of the Skylark.”
Another aspect that sets The Skylark Room apart from fellow music venues is that it works in conjunction with the adjoining Burrinja Cultural Centre, one of the Yarra Ranges’ main art centres. The two venues often work together to create special, exclusive events.
“To be in partnership with a 400 seat theatre and established art gallery means that we have a great opportunity to create events together and cross-promote,” says Dakis. “There’s a lot more freedom and exciting opportunities to collaborate and do things when you’re in partnership with an art centre.
“The other thing that sets us apart, from a musician’s point of view, is that we don’t take any cut from ticket sales or door sales at all, so the money that the musicians make on the door and on the ticket sales all goes to them, which is apparently unheard of in most music industry places.
“It really is a win-win for everyone in there and I feel like that’s a really strong point and a really big part of the ethos of the venue, from a music perspective, the interaction and the treatment of the artists and the respectful audience is a huge thing.”
The team behind The Skylark also recognise the importance of having a live music venue outside of the inner city suburbs to cater for live music fans who don’t live centrally.
“Just because people don’t live in the city and live further out, doesn’t mean that they don’t want to listen to good quality live music, so in the respect of catering for the local demographic, that’s really important – not having to travel as far and being able to have a really nice establishment to go along to which is nearby. And then, as well, sometimes it’s nice just to escape the city.”
Despite being just over a year old, The Skylark Room has already built quite a reputation between patrons and musicians alike. The venue has an impressive lineup of musicians set to see out the rest of the year.
“We’ve got Dave Graney coming in October, we’ve got Jed Rowe and Ben Mastwyk both launching albums and singles and what not in November and then Lily & Kim as well who are coming back in December, they had a sell-out show a few months ago,” says Dakis.
“We had Lloyd Spiegel recently and Fiona Boyes, so very quickly we’re cementing a name as that listening venue and artists are wanting to come and that means people are wanting to come and join us in that environment.”
