Sydney’s new Jams

Nightlife in Sydney will amp up with the addition of three new live music venues. The Jam Gallery and Spring Street Social have been causing a stir in Bondi Junction, while The Factory Floor is about to open its doors in Marrickville.

The Jam Gallery is an underground live music venue on Oxford Street that’s been livening the scene since late September. After its grand opening on Friday November 15, it will be presenting live music acts seven nights a week.

Featuring up and coming local talent, regular resident musicians and established international acts means there’s no specific genre of music – the Gallery is open to all.

“The Jam Gallery is a creative performance space. It’s a live music venue open to anything, whether it’s Latin American, jazz or blues. We can set the room up for full dining for a dinner show or move all the tables and it’s a massive dance floor,” says proprietor Peter Wright.

“I came across this venue in Bondi Junction that was just ideal and decided to make it a live music and creative hub,” continues Wright.

“Bondi Junction is a great spot because it’s a geographic centre for the transient and artistic population.”

Unlike other venues in the area that close at midnight, Jam Gallery has a late license.

“You often go to a live music venue, see the band, and when it stops you go home. I’ve got a three am license, which is very useful. So say on a certain night a Latin band is on, we’ll have a DJ continue on with the same vibe,” Wright says.

Wright comes from a musical family and has always had a passion for live music. With a background in pharmaceuticals, he currently farms truffles and breeds Black Angus cattle.

The venue’s full commercial kitchens will eventually be stocked with his fresh farm produce.

Along with music, Jam Gallery has an aim to foster local art with several spaces for burgeoning artists to exhibit their works. Eastern suburbs artist Gabbi Lancaster is one such artist who will be adorning the gallery walls with her stunning pregnant portraits.

Declan Kelly, a local Bondi resident, will take the stage on Friday October 25 with his roots reggae band The Rising Sun.

“It has a cracking sound system that they’ve spent a fortune on and they’ve decked it out so it looks amazing,” says Kelly.

“There’s a void of other venues around the Eastern suburbs. It’s going to be much welcomed. They’re cornering the market for punters to go and see live music. I think it’s going to go off,” he says.

The Jam Gallery together with its sister venue Spring Street Social is a huge space with a capacity for 600 people. There are three separate stages, three bars along with the commercial kitchens.

Spring Street Social, while connected to the Gallery, has a separate entrance. It’s the perfect place for the after work crowd and it’s open seven nights a week.

“It’s like this underground speakeasy New York cocktail bar with food,” says Wright.

“It’s a consistent offering like your local bar, always with the same addictive experience.”

Wright aka the Farmacist has created a bar that hearkens back to a golden era of cure-all elixirs.

“I’m a pharmacist originally so we’ve made it into an old-style apothecary bar with interesting cocktails. We’re using mixology, infusions and things like that to create something that’s not on the market at the moment,” says Wright.

Spring Street Social has a stage for smaller acts, perfect for piano players or trios on a Sunday afternoon.

At the moment with the resurgence of vinyl the focus is on DJs on Friday and Saturday nights.

Across town in Marrickville The Factory Floor is about to start showcasing local bands. The venue is the ground floor bar of the Factory Theatre, with a capacity for 250 people, and Young Henry’s Brewery stocks the bar.

“It’s a small room underneath the Factory Theatre, that we’re launching to boost local music rather than just maintaining our focus on touring bands,” says Mark Gibbons, bookings co-ordinator for Century Venues.

“We want to get more involved with grassroots bands because we’ve got a lot of support slots we want to fill for the larger rooms. So we want to throw our support behind the smaller bands and give them somewhere to play before they get up to the larger rooms,” says Gibbons.

There’s been an impressive amount of interest in The Factory Floor and the venue is booked solidly until the end of December.

“It’s been really promising since we’ve announced it. We’re looking at getting more bands in through January and February now,” says Gibbons.

Tex Perkins with his new outfit The Ape play the opening night at the Factory Floor, Saturday October 19. (PG)

jamgallery.com.au

factorytheatre.com.au