FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

Metro School Reunion: If DK Books Them, They Will Come

Meet Adelaide’s best band booker/publican.

The video to Wireheads' "Five Grand" is a homage to life in the Adelaide 5000 postcode: house parties, Coopers Pale, Central Markets, and Adelaide's favourite publican Damien "DK" Kelly dancing on the front bar of his much-loved venue, The Hotel Metropolitan.

To celebrate the Labour Day long weekend, DK has curated The Metro School Reunion; a homecoming of the best bands to have graced the Metro in the past five years, including Wireheads, Constant Mongrel, Hit The Jackpot, Native Cats, Lakes, Terrible Truths, School of Radiant Living, Bitch Prefect, Peak Twins, Old Mate, Rule of Thirds, and debutants from Canberra TV Colours.

Advertisement

Metro alumni, Steph Crase (Hit The Jackpot, Summer Flake, Fair Maiden, Batrider, No Through Road), talks to DK about pub rules, being a good guy, and Adelaide goes and woes.

Noisey: What is your ultimate "DK-fest" line-up?
DK: Sonic Youth, Black Lips, Total Control, Twerps, UV Race and the rest of the line-up we already have. You're pretty close to the tight-knit Adelaide scene. Do you need to be diplomatic in who you book or is there a sense of "my pub, my rules"?
I certainly hope it doesn't come across as "my pub my rules". It's great when friends play the venue. It certainly makes it harder for me to leave at the end of the night. But booking doesn't come down to my personal tastes, it is more about coordinating the depth of enquiry to try and get as many people to the venue as I can.

The Metro is a well-maintained venue – there's even an aircon in the ladies' toilets! But some gigs there are akin to raucous house parties. How do you maintain the balance so your 150 best mates don't smash your place to bits in honour of a good time?
I like to think that the artists and punters appreciate the venue for the service that we provide and therefore are respectful of the venue. I like the fact the staff remember people's names and drinks, and I think the punters don't want to disrespect that level of respect that is given to them. In saying all of that, the worst thing to say to the staff before or after you make an ass of yourself, or ask for free drinks, is "I know DK".

Advertisement

You come from a family of publicans. Where you always going to follow the family line?
Probably, I dabbled at uni with drama and then teaching but successfully dropped out of both courses. I grew up in pubs and kitchens and doing what I am doing seemed natural thing to do. When we first met you ran the Prince Albert with your brother.
After that was sold, he moved on to run a successful trucker's titty bar and you took on The Metro. The Metro was at pretty low ebb back then. It seemed such an obvious hotel to improve; it has such a great location. I remember going to my daughter's dance performance at the theatre next door 6 months before we bought the pub and Jason and I got to leave at half time cause Lola wasn't in the second half and he said to me "we will have one in here" and I remember looking through the window and thinking "no way, this place is feral". Pubs are the backdrop of many good times, and some bad. A pal told me he shut his venue to "get out of the life-ruining business". How do you feel about that kind of stuff?
I've pretty much seen it all having grown up in pubs and if there's one thing I've learnt is that the hotel can't be reliant on one or two people's personality to draw people to the business. It is built on consistency of service, product and presentation. I can see why someone getting out the business would say that. Responsible service of alcohol and gaming dictates that we can't benefit from other people problems, nor would I given the opportunity. We all know when we have had enough and I reckon we are pretty good at doing the right thing by people if what we are offering isn't in their best interests.

Based on the number of venues closing in Adelaide in the last decade, I get the impression that it's not profitable to run venues here.
The perception that it's hard to support live music stems from the fact that venues, specifically hotels that can easily afford to live music, but don't need it to sustain their business profitably and the venues that do take the challenge are often not sustainable in the first place. I am proud that we are able to give a guarantee to all the artists that play with us. It might not be much but it is certainly at a level where I think it helps develop a sense of professionalism. I always envisaged doing live music at the Metro. The spaces lend themselves to it and it needed some sense of culture injected back into it. I view supporting live music a bit like sponsoring the local footy club, but rather than giving all the money in one year to one entity we are spreading it out over many different entities. Commitment to live music that I believe gives the pub character.

The recent Thinker in Residence panel advocated the need for more commercially successful bands to elevate the local scene. This seems at odds with the achievements of local independent acts and labels currently circumventing conventional mainstream channels. Compared with a decade ago, there's less emphasis on radio play, supports, and high production costs, and more on exploring different genres, playing in multiple bands, and finding alternative ways to record and distribute music.
You mean that No Through Road and Batrider were refined products?! Well that sheds new light on those bands. I think that there is certainly an experimental scene here in Adelaide that isn't afraid to push the boundaries of what is publicly acceptable in terms of a refined product. It is brave to be on the edge of experimental music and that vibe they don't subscribe to that you talk about is making them push harder back against it. I don't mind it but I do personally prefer a polished product or at least a bit more structure then we occasionally witness here. The Metro School Reunion, Sunday October 5 at The Hotel Metropolitan, Adelaide. Tickets available here.

Follow Steph and Summer Flake on Twitter.