Geelong crowds and venues have put a lot of love into celebrating and nurturing live music; and now we’ve got another place to get our live music fix. Feast your music loving eyes on this: Geelong’s oldest pub, The Petrel Hotel will be opening its doors to a month-long celebration of original music.
ROCKtober is the event, and will see local and original bands take to the stage every Saturday night in October, with the aim of helping talented local musicians gain exposure and bring original music to the punters on the west side of town.
“It’s a really healthy scene down here,” beams Marc Welsh, a musician, music fan, rock’n’roller, and the brains behind ROCKtober. “The idea was to get the young bands in that will bring people to the pub to enjoy some live music with their mates.
“There’s a lot of musicians around, but what we’re trying to do is give young bands somewhere new to play, and somewhere not too big,” he continues. “This is the right size venue; it will hold 80 to 100 people in the side room so it’s really good for young bands to get a start and get paid to play their original music.”
With a history steeped in music, Marc (who cut his teeth in Sydney band Asylum in the 80s and who joined chart topping Killing Heidi as bass and drum tech in the 2000’s) is keen to bring in a fresh vibe to the punters, and has spent the past month headhunting 13 original musicians and bands to play in Geelong’s oldest pub.
Kicking it all off this weekend (October 6), the riff-tastic Riff Raiders will be headlining. Starting out playing b-sides and obscure songs from their favourite artists, the band hit the studio early last year to release their debut album of original material, Live Like You Mean It. They’ll be joined by young Lorne rockers Dr Sayers and the Other Guys and Aussie punks IBIS.
The next weekend will see Melbourne band Cranes Against Clouds – a quirky three piece inspired by love, loss and pets – headline the night, supported by Torquay indie-rockers Von Boheme and modern Geelong grunge rockers View From Here; while Saturday the 20th will see Geelong’s alternative rockers Smoked & Overdue and local psychedelic, indie rock quartet City at Midnight support headliners The Objex, who will finish the night with their hook-laden, melodic original material.
The last weekend will farewell ROCKtober with local glam rockers Dangerous Curves headlining the final night. They’ll be supported by heavy rockers Vendetta, Melbourne rock n roller’s Silver Bite and guitarist Jake Camillera from local hard rockers 74 Kings.
“Each night is diverse and all the bands hold their own; they’re all just quality, local, original bands and that’s what we’re trying to promote. If it goes well, we could be looking to do a lot more over summer; whether that be a metal night, or a thrash night and a punk night; hopefully people will come out and support the venue and the new gigs.”
Bringing the city’s vibrant independent music scene to life, these nights cater for all music tastes with only one prerequisite – a heartfelt love of live performance. Just come along, enjoy a cold beer and support some quality live, original music. Oh, and it’s free entry… A Saturday night at the pub has never looked so good!
The Petrel Hotel is located 81 Pakington Street, Geelong West.