Lofly Hangar: 2007-2010

ANDREW MCMILLEN laments the loss of short-lived Brisbane venue Lofly Hangar, which shut its doors in late 2010.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Nestled under a party goods store on Musgrave Road in Red Hill, the Lofly Hangar always seemed an unlikely meeting place for Brisbane’s independent music community. Located far from the dedicated entertainment precinct in Fortitude Valley – where the majority of the city’s live music venues are based – Red Hill is very much a residential area. Yet since it first opened its doors to the public in 2007, the Hangar built a reputation for delivering quality music to curious listeners in an intimate setting.

From the beginning, $10 got you inside – a cost which was maintained through until the final show in December 2010, except for the occasional special event – and since it was classed as a private residence, there was no liquor licensing regulations involved. You’d bring your own booze, and since the main area was adorned with couches, it didn’t feel dissimilar from your living room. Such was the charm of the Hangar: interesting people and new sounds, experienced in comfort. Upon entering, you’d be almost guaranteed to have a great – and cheap – night out.

The line-ups were curated by the Lofly brains trust – Phil Laidlaw, Andrew White, Greg Cooper, Chris Perren, and Joel Edmondson – and even if you’d never heard of the bands playing, the sounds emanating from the adjoining band room were almost always diverse and intriguing. The stage, however, was non-existent. The bands played on the floor, set up in front of a wall of old televisions. The venue’s PA wasn’t amazing, but it got the job done. An unspoken, Meredith-like “no dickheads” policy seemed to be in play throughout its existence. To visit the Hangar was to be among open-minded music fans. It was a beautiful thing.

The final Hangar was held on December 11, 2010; coincidentally, it was the 100th public show held at the venue. A few weeks beforehand, three Hangar co-organisers – Laidlaw, White, and Cooper, each musicians themselves with aheadphonehome, Restream, and Toy Balloon, respectively – reflected on their time at the forefront of the Brisbane independent music scene.

Genesis

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Andrew White: We got a warehouse and leased it to practise and record in, and have parties with our friends' bands. Then we started having more people coming. The idea came about to have it as a regular thing, every month. We were interested in putting on music that we liked. Having the parties has been a way of paying the bills. It was never a profit thing; it was just something that we wanted to keep going.

Phil Laidlaw: At the time [2007], there were around three or four venues [in Brisbane] – The Troubadour, Ric's, The Zoo. So we'd approach people asking them to play, and they'd respond with, "What are you talking about?" The model of warehouse party shows wasn't happening. There wasn't a lot of faith in it. It was very difficult to get bands that we thought were good bands to play. But the culture of the space evolved from the parties we were having. There was no need for security, because we knew everyone here.

Andrew White: At the same time, we started up a label, and got some bands on board. Some of them were bands we're in, and some were friends' bands. When the Hangar became popular, the extra money we made was used to put out records. It's a DIY ethic, but it's a curated night. We've always tried to put on bands we really liked and music we thought was interesting, rather than trying to get the biggest name we could to get the most people through the door. We weren't interested in that. We were more interested in a sustainable approach, because it started out as a hobby for us all, and now it's grown into a bit more of a business, with promoting nights and running a label.

Phil Laidlaw: It's hard to imagine that it was just Andrew and I organising this during the first year. There was a night where we had 200 people, and we nearly lost our minds. But we'd have people who would sit on the door, and run around picking up bottles, so there was always lots of people around, helping out. In the first two years, I did a fair bit of the booking, and that is one of the most difficult things. It takes forever, because bands are extremely unreliable. When we first started, we had no idea about booking. We knew people in three or four bands.

Andrew White: We were quite insular at the time. We were doing our own thing: we were into local music, and buying bands’ records, but we wouldn't hear them around the place. We had a passionate and insular approach to music that was centred around this place, and from there, we started going, "Hang on - there's actually really good bands around in Brisbane, and they're really nice! They're great people! Why don't we invite them to play?" That's how we opened the doors. Our attitude wasn't snobby, we were just naive, and really into our own thing.”

Expansion

Phil Laidlaw: We wouldn't just have anyone come on and help us. We had to know that they were coming from the same place, and that we were all as stupidly committed as each other.

Greg Cooper: I came in halfway through. I wasn't involved in the label or running the gigs. I came in as a punter and rehearsed here [with Toy Balloon]. I asked if I could DJ once, and they said yes, then I just kept turning up and DJing. Then when I'd get here early, I'd go to Phil, “Have you heard this band? They're really good!” A couple of months later, they'd turn up on the bill, and I'd be like, “Yes!”

Andrew White: It was hard explaining to interstate touring bands that we had a mailing list, and that we've got people that come [to each event]. We’d tell them that they wouldn’t be playing to nobody; we’d try to convince them that it'd be OK. We were a bit more lenient [towards advertising] for some of those bands. Facebook exploded too, so we stopped doing Facebook events. We would only allude to shows, and urge people to join the mailing list, and go to the website.

Red Hill

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Andrew White: Our relationship with the neighbours is OK. We're tolerated, but it's not easy. Our biggest problem was when we started to advertise a little bit. We thought, “Oh, that's great that people are coming. We'll make it a bit bigger.” Suddenly there were 300-plus people coming every time. It started to be a little bit less about people into bands, and more about people just here to party. Which is fine, but it then became a lot noisier and rowdier, and more crowded. That was the hardest bit for the neighbours. There were a few complaints, but we've just snuck under the radar, and everyone's been pretty OK with it. And in return, we've tried to keep the neighbourhood pretty clean, and try to get everyone out at a reasonable hour, and turn the music down at an appropriate time. If we'd have kept going how it was when it was at its peak this year, we wouldn't be here now. We would've been shut down.

Greg Cooper: We had a six-week break, which was more for the neighbours than anyone else. That was the hard bit: doing something that became successful, and then getting punished for being successful.

Andrew White: We were at a platform where we could do some really big shows, but we couldn't really [do them] because we were worried about getting shut down. So the last six months has been a lot less advertised, a lot more word-of-mouth, and it's been good. It's been getting back to the old way a lot more. We've been getting a couple hundred people, instead of 300, and that makes a huge difference to the nights. It seems a lot nicer, and more friendly, and everyone's more amiable.

Culture

Andrew White: When Hangar’s at its best, everyone here is in a band, or a filmmaker, or a music journalist; people who are really passionate about the culture that's being created here, but still maintaining a very friendly ideal. When you broach those nights where, “Oh, everyone's in a band, and it's very much about the music”, there's often a fair bit of attitude flowing around. But I think the real strength was that you could talk to the person next to you, and everyone was friendly. One thing we're proud of is that a lot of bands have started up from here; people meeting who didn't know each other, and collaborations. Bands being able to do gigs with other bands because they've met here. Sometimes when you do a show at a venue, you load in, you do your show, you hang out with your friends, and you go home. You often don't even get to meet the other bands. There was a very different idea here. Everyone involved felt a part of it, rather than something that was being put on for them. The friendliness, and the ability for people to get ahead, and get gigs in other places.

[Historical image is withheld pending rights review.] Greg Cooper: It's really hard going into a venue and knowing whether you're going to get something good. The strength of this place was that you could come whenever there was a show on, and know that you were going to see something fairly interesting. It may not be your favourite band, but it was going to be interesting, and you're going to meet people who're interested in music. It's hard running a monthly venue that's curated, because there's more bands that you want to put on than are available in a year. With any other venue, you can ask whether they want to do the Friday night; if not, you can offer the Saturday or the Thursday. For us, it was one date every six weeks. It's a tricky job. The whole thing was that we didn't want to seem exclusive. We didn't want to be an elitist music snob venue. We wanted to open it up to whatever was out there, and whatever was interesting. It was very challenging, but for me, it just gave me so much knowledge of what is out there in Brisbane. It's far bigger than anyone would imagine. There's so many little pockets of things that go unnoticed. It's impossible trying to bring everyone into a scene when you're only running it once every six weeks.”

Economics

Phil Laidlaw: I think that for a DIY space, we're pretty generous with money. We wouldn't change that at all. That was the idea from the beginning – to pay artists appropriately.

Andrew White: Hangar has never been profitable, because any extra money we've made has gone into putting out records. We can certainly say that none of us have ever taken any cash from this, which people find very strange. They tend to not believe it.

Greg Cooper: Phil's done sound for 15 gigs this year, and hasn't taken a cent.

Phil Laidlaw: In the last six months, we've started going, “Maybe we should buy a carton out of Hangar money?”

Greg Cooper: We all go to Liquorland across the road and get our own money out. Then lately, we’ve been like, “Hang on – we could get Hangar to pay for this!”

Phil Laidlaw: Yeah. “We could shout ourselves a beer!”

Highlights

Greg Cooper: Having people like [Melbourne label] Mistletone contact us to put on gigs, and having Mick Turner approach us was something you'd only dream of. After the Rat Vs Possum/TTT show [in May 2010], I just remember thinking how lucky all of us are, to be able to come to a place like this, and pay $10, and bring a cheap bottle of wine. In Brisbane, I think we'll always have this chip on our shoulder, where we're like, “We're cool, but we're not Melbourne cool.” But to have one of the coolest Melbourne bands [Rat Vs Possum] play here, and say that it was the best musical experience of their lives; that was really affirming.

“We didn't want to be an elitist music snob venue. We wanted to open it up to whatever was out there, and whatever was interesting.”

Phil Laidlaw: The refreshing part about the Hangar was that I wouldn't have thought that you'd be able to get 300, or 350 people to gigs that had local bands, or interstate bands that didn't have a high profile, or triple j rotation. It's probably the best thing I've been involved with in my life. It's definitely the most communal thing. We've all made an enormous amount of friends. Andrew and I had been bedroom musicians for a couple of years [beforehand]. We've met a lot of great people, and that's probably the best thing that's come out of it.

Greg Cooper: It was a pretty amazing and organic way to learn about the music industry, and how music scenes work. I don't know where I'd be without it. I'd probably be working in a bank. It was the kick up the arse that I needed.

The Label

Greg Cooper: We wouldn't be anywhere near the label we are now, if the Hangar wasn’t attached to it. I think that'll change next year, because we've got some kick-arse stuff coming out, and a steady flow. We've been stunted in the level we've put out [so far] because of the Hangar. While we'll still be putting on shows, it'd be nice to put more of an emphasis on the label, having built all those relationships and goodwill that we have now.

Phil Laidlaw: I don't think we're far away from having a breakthrough artist that's come through Hangar, and it's because of that whole “slow push” approach, of getting better over the years. Not just getting plucked from obscurity, getting good management and a good booking agent, and high rotation straight away. Which is great if it happens, but if it doesn't, it's just refreshing to know that you can still do your thing, and have fun.

Future

Andrew White: We're moving onto different stuff because we talked a while ago after some big nights and said, “Look, we've been pretty serious about doing this place in a way that we thought would be a good night out, and had great music that we were into, and that people could get into.” It got to a point where it kind of wasn't like that anymore. To our credit, we've got it back [recently]; we've stopped a lot of the advertising, and the last several have just been a really nice bunch of people. It's nice to finish the evening and say, “Oh, wasn't that great?”, rather than, “Oh god, I'm glad no-one died!” That was an important part of why we wanted to change gears, and do something a bit different next year. We do this because we like it, and if we're not enjoying it, there's no point in doing it. We’re still enjoying it, but we've just got it to a point where we can move onto something different, and it'll be great.

Greg Cooper: We will do something else. But if we don't, I'll be pretty happy with what I've achieved in the Brisbane music scene over the last couple of years.

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Lofly’s latest release is ‘The Strain Of Origin’, a collaboration/remix album with Sydney label Feral Media. Download it for free here.