There was a lot I didn’t like about the Annandale Hotel. The smell, for starters, was pure rank. A festering mix of stale beer, vomit and urine, which became even more potent once the cigarette smokers were forced outside. The plastic cups, which were implemented because some c*#t glassed some other c*#t 15 kilometres away in the Cross, made even the better beers taste like cheap swill. And those toilets… A contender for the worst toilets in Australia. Marinated in excreta, void of any privacy, terminally soapless. I’ll tell you this for nothing – every performer who had the pre-gig jitters would “ease the nerves” in those toilets and then go on stage without being able exercise proper hygiene. Ladies and gentlemen, you’ve been rocked by shitty fingers.
I could go on, but that would be pointless. I probably played at the Annandale Hotel about 20 times, but I don’t think I’ve played there since about 2010. Maybe 2009. They gave me my first real gig in 2002. Tuesday night supporting the Hell City Glamours. Fuck, I thought I’d hit the big time. I returned again and again, each time moving up on the bill, and each time getting a little bit better. More confident, more skilled, more people, more money.
I’ve been a punter at some great shows there too. Usually from up the back, the place packed, steamy and heaving, everyone having a damn good time. Some highlights? The Drones. ECSR. Ripping Dylans. My Filthy Riot. I know those Rule boys had to put up with a lot – uptight council regulations, flaky bands, d-bag managers, pedantic label reps, drunks, teenage robbers, Australian Idol, television, bad public transport, laziness. Probably bikies too. But they did a good job to keep the place humming along for the last 13 years.
So if the Annandale does go down this time, and it goes down for good, it’ll be a damn shame. I’ll miss it. And so should you. Without it we lose contemporary Australian music. The first place a young musician should go when they walk out their door is not to an audition for a televised karaoke competition, but to the sticky floors of one of the biggest and best pub venues in the country. That’s where the real musicians are. That’s where they earn their keep. For years joints like the Annandale have been the bread and butter of artists like The Drones, Powderfinger, You Am I, Regurgitator. The Annandale’s brought international stars to our city too. Foo Fighters, Justin Townes Earle, Gaslight Anthem.
I don’t know who can save the Annandale now, or how, but it should be saved. It should be heritage listed and held in the same esteem as the god damn Opera House. Without the Annandale Hotel we lose a big part of our culture, and society cannot be civilised without culture.
