Fears for future of Perth’s vibrant music scene as another venue shuts down

In a small studio in Perth’s inner south, local rock band Nylon Ströke are rehearsing their crowd favourites for an upcoming gig.

But after hearing another popular Perth live music venue, Badlands Bar, would be closing its doors in December, they’re worried they’re going to run out of places to perform.

“I think it sucks that I’ve had to watch venues that I’ve played and that I love close [their] doors,” frontman Adam Healy said.

“I’ve always kind of imagined the Perth CBD having all these different places and all these different bands playing at the same time and that’s slowly starting to fizzle away and that makes me sad as a musician and as a fan of live music.”

Venues left with no choice

As local businesses try to recover post-COVID, live music venues are struggling to keep up with increasing costs.

For Badlands Bar, a “whopping tenfold increase” in its public liability insurance premiums left it with no choice but pull down the curtains.

“This was the only insurance coverage we were able to obtain to ensure the venue could continue to operate,” the venue’s management said in a statement.

“This is a known, but rarely spoken-about issue that has been impacting live music venues across Australia to varying degrees for the last 18 months or so.”

Badlands is the latest casualty of increasing costs, following the recent closures of The Sewing Room in Perth, and The Aardvark in Fremantle.

Mark Neal, the former booking manager at The Sewing Room, said he expects more venues will follow suit.

“I think it’s bound to happen,” Mr Neal said.

“There’s so many options for people these days … and it’s harder and harder to support all the spaces you love.”

Despite hosting some of the state’s top acts, from Spacey Jane to Voyager, Mr Neal said The Sewing Room also became financially unsustainable.

“The owners were really passionate about the space and what we’d built … but we weren’t getting enough people through to cover the overall expenses,” he said.

“Even when we were doing well, as the costs went up, it just wasn’t enough.”

Devastating for live music

The state’s peak body for live music said the trend was “devastating for our live music ecosystem”.

WA Music executive director Livia Carré admitted the industry was struggling.

“What we’re hearing across not just in WA, but across the country, is that live music venues post-COVID are really finding it difficult with increasing operational costs,” she said.

“And with increasing cost of living, interest rates, and now public liability insurance, it’s much more difficult to make a living out of live music.”

Ms Carré said there was no answer as to why insurance costs have dramatically increased, but that it was impacting local artists as well.

“Artists need to perform, streaming revenue isn’t really going to cut it these days,” she said.

“They need to be out there performing and getting their music to new audiences, so one less venue means one less place they can play.”

Nylon Ströke frontman Mr Healy believes more support is needed in WA for local bands like his.

“I think it’s kind of ironic that there’s so much great music in Perth, in in your own back garden, and yet there are people going mad because Taylor Swift is selling like $300 tickets over east,” Mr Healy said.

“It’s easy to say just lower the premiums but I think the other half of this solution is us as patrons, as customers, because every single dollar that these venues make and these bands make, comes from everyone who comes through the door.”

‘We will survive’

The news of Badlands Bar’s closure also shocked other live music venues across the city.

Kabir Ramasary, the owner of The Bird, a small live music venue in Northbridge, described it as a “really sad” situation.  

“It’s really, really devastating for the industry [because] we don’t see each other as competitors, we see each other as supporting partners in a game of trying to support live music in our state,” Mr Ramasary said.

“Badlands has a definite place in the industry, because it’s a larger scale venue, it’s very special in a lot of people’s hearts.”

But Mr Kabir said he’s seen the writing on the wall and is confident diversifying a space is the key to survival.

“A lot of people look at it and say live music is a super profitable industry [but] it’s more of a passion industry,” he said.

“[The Bird] is three things: we’re a live music venue, a bar, and we also do food.

“So as long as everyone continues to support each part of the business, we will survive.”

Mr Kabir said it was also easier to fill the Bird, which has a capacity of 175, compared to larger venues like Badlands.

However, he believes every venue is doing it tough with declining attendance rates and a shift in drinking culture.

“Insurance, even for us over the last five years, has probably doubled,” he said.

“How do you afford that? Especially when attendance and the percentage of drinkers is decreasing.”

Future still bright for some

Despite an uncertain future, many still have hope they can keep the spirit of live music strong.

“Bars have been around since the beginning of time, live music has been around since the beginning of time, it’s never died,” Mr Ramasary said.

“You’ve just got to have the vision to continue and keep changing and be positive about everything.”

It’s something upcoming hard rock band Nylon Ströke are counting on.

“My hope is that all these great live venues don’t have to go the way of Badlands and The Sewing Room,” Mr Healy said.

“My hope is that there will be more venues that take a chance and will be willing to say ‘no, we believe in this scene, we believe in Perth musicians and we want to give them somewhere where they can play’.”