Three new venues for Gold Coast, Byron & Fremantle, one closes in Brisbane

Three new venues open up on the Gold Coast, Byron Bay and Fremantle while Brisbane is set to lose one.

The Gold Coast’s first dedicated punk bar Vinnies Dive is set to open this weekend – and has the highest noise limit in Queensland, at 110 decibels.

“I’m not sure if it’s the loudest in the state but it’s certainly higher than another nightclub,” says Chris Norman, one of the club’s three founders.

The club holds 100 people and took its name when two of the three founders were watching Agnostic Front at a hardcore festival in Slovenia and figured the club should be called after guitarist Vinnie Stigma.

The club’s building (Shop A & B, 44A Nerang St, Southport) was built in 1942 and has been in its time a female hair salon and men’s shoe shop.

The weekend kicks off with names as No Fun At All, Guttermouth, Daisycutters playing their first show in 15 years, Birdcloud and JJ Speedball

Those wanting to play should email bookings@vinniesdive.com.au. Most weekends are booked out until 2019, but they’ve got some slots on weekdays.

Sydney hospitality group Three Blue Ducks has opened a bar in Byron Bay called Locura (Spanish for madness).

It’s on the site of the late night music venue La La Land (6 Lawson Street), which they bought earlier this year.

The 350-capacity space has a major focus on live music with an in-house DJ with a pop-up kitchen showcasing Latin American fare.

The Sonar Room in Fremantle’s Fishing Boat Harbour precincts (42 Mews Road) opens on Wednesday, November 7 offering a mix of live music (folk, blues, electro, singer-songwriter and soul), comedy, burlesque and boylesque

The initiative of the team at Little Creatures and Helm, booking is through Nick Compton at Six By Nine Agency.

First bands announced for the launch are Melbourne’s bluegrass Mustered Courage, Freo’s Los Porcheros and Jack Davies and Central Coast band, Little Quirks.

Brisbane’s Southside Tea Room, run by Patience Hodgson and John Patterson of The Grates will close its doors on Sunday, November 4 after six years.

They are returning to making music.

Hodgson and Patterson posted: “What we have been able to achieve, and the memories we have made together, are nothing less then epic.

“We have put on more events then we can even count. Had intimate performances from some of Australia’s biggest musicians (Courtney Barnett, The Preachers, Robert Forster, The Good Sports, Henry Wagons just to name a few), held multiple sold-out Plaster Fun House nights, raised money for charities, spent New Years Eve together, sung our hearts full with Disney Karaoke, crafted rugs, macramed, challenged you with niche trivia, launched incredible beers, recorded podcasts, enjoyed gorgeous Art exhibitions from local and international artists and yearly listened to The Hottest 100 together and the all the rest.”

Finally, Hotel Graceland in Parkes, NSW – where the town’s Elvis Festival began – was sold for $2.38 million.

Its tenant has a 30-year lease with options until 2064.