It's taken me a while to collect my thoughts on the tragic closure of The Tote. Having witnessed the demise of such seemingly indestructible institutions as The Punters Club and the struggles of many a Melbourne music venue since (The Empress Of India, et al) against Liquor Licensing and neighbour-imposed noise restrictions, I thought I'd grown somehow inured to the inevitability of it all.
But the abrupt closure of The Tote this week - like a sudden, unexpected death in its finality - and the outpouring of anger and grief it has elicited, has touched that nerve and made it raw once again.
I write this as a musician of some 20 years experience, the last 15 of which were spent plying that trade in Melbourne. My cohorts and I from The Dumb Earth actually MOVED here from Adelaide in 1995, giving up our day jobs and leaving friends and family behind, because of Melbourne's legendary reputation as Australia's music Mecca. We were welcomed into the community with open arms, playing over 70 gigs in our first year here and forging fast friendships within the music fraternity.
There were venues aplenty, and it seemed that everyone we met was in at least one band - if not two or three. We spent almost every night of the week bouncing from pub to pub, venue to venue, all within a very small radius of Fitzroy (with occasional sorties into Richmond and St Kilda).
The Tote was just one of many legendary venues, each with their own particular attractions and musical preference.
This potent milieu led to collaborations, connections, entire genres of like-minded bands emerging, guest appearances on recordings and at live performances, people filling in on instruments when a band member was indisposed, bands putting together complementary line-ups for gigs, and devoted audience members taking inspiration from the bands they admired onstage and getting their OWN ensembles together, creating wave after wave of bands in the wake of other bands.
It was beautiful, in that wonderful way that being in a band enables you to create an alternative universe in which to live, and be part of a gang that CREATES rather than DESTROYS. And to then take that out in front of people, who hopefully look up at the stage and don't simply wish to emulate the sex/drugs/rock and roll (all very important to a balanced diet, don't get me wrong), but who also see a bunch of people DOING SOMETHING, original, together, in harmony, and think ''Shit, I could do/want to do that.''
I'm not sure if I'm making any kind of point here, I've just sort of gotten swept along on a wave of reminiscence about what makes the Melbourne music scene great, made all the more vivid because it has never seemed more determinedly under attack by a wrong-thinking bureaucracy.
So yes, let me finally make my point, as it relates to The Tote, one of the many bastions (if not the last) of those Halcyon days, now seemingly sadly behind us.
One of the many absurd reasons given for the closure is the seeming impossibility of convincing the Liquor Licensing board that The Tote is not a 'high risk' venue. This has been written about in greater detail elsewhere, so I won't bother summarising it again.
I for one, think that The Tote IS a high risk venue, but not for the reasons for which it is being closed down.
Whenever the venue supports a fledgling band in their infancy, giving them a break, they are taking a risk. Whenever a band making original music steps on the stage at The Tote, they are taking a risk. To even dare to set foot on The Tote's stage - which has been pounded and prowled by some formidable legends in its time - is a risk (''We're not worthy!''), and whenever someone looks up from the crowd and feels the music in them and is inspired enough to get their own thing happening, they are taking a risk.
The Tote has been a long supporter of such 'high risk' behaviour, and I for one applaud them.
POST SCRIPT: And what I really, REALLY fear is that the more live music venues that close, and the fewer people who have such creative hubs around which to gravitate - that they can contribute to and be inspired by - the more we are creating a climate of frustration and boredom, where the only places to drink are enormous, anonymous nightclubs where the emphasis is on pounding, soulless music and getting laid, and where people WILL feel insignificant, aggressive and perhaps more prone to violence and destruction.
nice post.
Great post. Very well said.
You should put that in an email to local and councilers, MPs, Green candidates and the liquor licencing board.
Oh and the newspapers!
well put :)
Some heart felt ideas.
Thankyou for your kind words.
I wish I had gone public 6 months ago, when I thought I was fighting a lone battle. And punching the walls with impotent rage.
If I'd known the support would have been so immediate and passionate I could have saved the Tote.
Don't blame yourself, Bruce.
Because no-one else does. Everyone knows the effort you've put in.
bruce if you served latte's or cups of teas and put bands on, we'd come and pay. i'd rather drink water (but still pay you for it) and hear bands than not have the tote here at all, whilst still formulating a battle plan to save it to being a licensed venue
you know i like that idea nexus
gospel truth
Perhaps the Tote needs to reopen as an ''Art Gallery'' featuring audio art and performance. You can purchase alcohol at many of the Art Gallery exhibitions I attend. Or maybe a Centre for the performing arts with a small bar at the front that wouldn't attract the same licensing laws? I know silly ideas, but there has to be some way to differentiate between beer bars and other venues.
''REALLY fear is that the more live music venues that close, and the fewer people who have such creative hubs around which to gravitate - that they can contribute to and be inspired by - the more we are creating a climate of frustration and boredom, where the only places to drink are enormous, anonymous nightclubs where the emphasis is on pounding, soulless music and getting laid, and where people WILL feel insignificant, aggressive and perhaps more prone to violence and destruction.''
Such an ace post, sums it up nicely.
The teaTOTEler.
Indeed.
Or, what about a RRR/PBS subscriber/membership kinda thing?
I'd be more than happy to pay $50/$100 per year to help keep the Tote running. It's only a buck or two a week, after all. Give punters free entry to one gig a year and a priority ticket allocation or something... And a tote keyring.
Surely there'd be a thousand or so people willing to spring for that.
Very good post. your POST SCRIPT is very true and important.
get this to the papers and pollies.
I may be biased but that's a fucking great idea. Why not have the final show tomorrow as planned as a 'fundraiser' to help with the legal costs that have been accrued. Then give people the option to purchase a 12 month membership. You could have different prices to accommodate varying incomes ($50, $100 and $150)... By my calculations, if you could get 1000 people at $150, that's $150,000 right there.
Look at how much people are spending to fly interstate just to be at the final gig. We've had 4 days of 'oh-my-fucking-god-the-Tote-is-closing' to shock people in to action. Judging by the public outpouring of anger indicates that there are a lot of people who would sign up just to make sure this doesn't happen again.
Obviously pleas to change the law have fallen on deaf ears and no amount of crying on to the sticky carpet is going to fix anything. Why not something that shares the burden? If Mohammad can't come to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammad... or something.
Who's in?
It might be worth setting up a rebadged Tote and doing this.
Eloquent as ever, Mr Mift.
Good idea, Saucy. I would definitely stump up money to subscribe.
There you go, at $150 a pop, we're up to $600 already.
count me in. make it $250 from me.
Perth in a nutshell.
Hmm, if there is still rent to be paid on this building by the licensee and bands need to find good rehearsal space, and people may happened to wander in to watch those rehearsals because its hot and they kept the doors open...