Shotkickers, a music venue located in the Melbourne suburb of Thornbury, has launched a new initiative designed to get punters through the doors early to watch support acts.
It’s called Support the Supports. To get more attendees to watch a whole show, not just the headliner, Shotkickers – teaming up with local brewery Tallboy and Moose – will sell cheap drinks at every gig, from when doors open until the end of the first artist’s set. Punters will be able to get their hands on $4 pots and $8 pints as part of the initiative.
Shotkickers announced the news on social media, sharing a graphic showing drink prices and detailing the idea behind Support the Supports in the caption.
“It is an absolutely wild time to get a band off the ground these days. We want to see punters getting down to catch the openers and get new music into your earballs, so we’re offering cheap beers if ya do! From doors til the end of the first set,” the venue’s team wrote.
They continued, “One of our favourite things about this venue is when a band brings an opening act we haven’t come across before and the opener rips our F#%ing heads off 🤯 It genuinely is one of the best feelings. And the thing is, it’s not rare! This city is absolutely overflowing with sensational emerging bands; but it’s a harder time than ever for them to be reaching wide audiences.
“So, get along early and support the supports, you’ll probably discover ya new favourite band and ya first few rounds will be cheap as 🍻 You can use the savings to buy their merch!”
Shotkickers opened in Melbourne in early 2022; the venue name is a reference to The Simpsons. The space is a project from musicians Christopher Windley and Mathias Northway. The 200-capacity venue has a band room, booth seating, a bar, and a kitchen.
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In October 2024, Windley discussed his mission for expanding Shotkickers with The Music. Having taken over the lease of an adjacent property, the venue is set to expand, and it called on the local music-loving community for help.
“Shotkickers as we know it will become the band room, and we’ll score a new bar for food and drinks in a separate space,” Windley told The Music. “We also gain a smoking area, which allows us to move smokers off the footpath out the front.”
Formerly known as Swamplands Bar/Tago Mago, which opened in 2010 and hosted Spencer P Jones, Kim Salmon and more, Shotkickers has remained an intimate venue that hosts small bands of all sorts of genres.
