Mo’s Desert Clubhouse owner Kim Ferguson is celebrating the venue’s fourth birthday
A Gold Coast live music venue owner says “times are tough” as free music events on the Gold Coast are making it “really hard” for them to keep afloat.
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A Gold Coast live music venue owner says “times are tough” as free music events on the Gold Coast are making it “really hard” for them to keep afloat.
Mo’s Desert Clubhouse will celebrate its fourth birthday at its Burleigh Heads music venue on Saturday September 9.
Owner Kim Ferguson said it was the perfect opportunity to “stop and take it in”.
“Most people know that Mo’s was never meant to be what it is today,” she said.
“We intended to create a small pop-up space, a hole in the wall for parties and live gigs.
“Today, well we are so proud of what has been created and all the thousands of people, artists and crew that come through the doors each year.”
Ms Ferguson said while there was many things they would have changed along the way, they regretted nothing.
She recalled during the pandemic what they had to do to keep the venue above water.
“It was tough,” Ms Ferguson said.
“No dancing, 25 people in the entire venue, seated mosh pits became a thing.
“Telling people to sit down and stop dancing was one of the worst jobs you could ever ask a music venue owner to do.
“We are in this for the love of music, not to squash creativity.
“We had to evolve, grow and be creative during that time, to survive.
“It certainly made us stronger and made us think outside the square even more than we already had been.”
Ms Ferguson said she had been in the music game for over 12 years and it “wasn’t an easy industry”.
“People would assume that venues rake it in. The truth is that a venue’s overheads are huge,” she said.
“There is a lot of expensive cogs to keep the wheel turning.
“Right now is a really tough time in the industry.”
Ms Ferguson said music venues are struggling to sell tickets.
“Selling tickets is an avenue that most venues rely on to pay bands and production staff,” she said.
Ms Ferguson said events like the recent free Surfers Paradise event, SPRINGTIME festival made it more difficult for venues on the Coast.
“It makes it really hard,” she said.
“If there is anything I can say to the wider community right now is, ‘get out to live music venues, buy tickets in advance to see local bands and touring acts, fill the venue, purchase items, buy band merchandise and support the local scene as much as you possibly can.
“It’s a rough year for the industry.”
Ms Ferguson said it was important to for Gold Coast residents to support established live music venues in the city.
“It’s great to create more and more and it does develop a wider scene but I am sure every other live music venue on the Gold Coast will agree with me when I say, ‘please support your existing venues, especially the independently owned, pokie free venues which rely on punters to get to gigs.
“We can’t support fellow live music venues enough.
“Get to the Dust Temple, Vinnies Dive, Miami Marketta, Eddies Grubhouse … These guys are the ones we should be supporting first.”
Tickets to the venue’s fourth birthday party which will feature music acts Thunder Fox, Miss June, Bloomchild and more are priced at $40,
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