Paul Dempsey: Politicians Don't Protect Live Music

Something For Kate frontman Paul Dempsey believes that legislation needs to be put in place to ensure live music remains a visible part of culture in every Australian city.

In a recent interview, he lamented “the sort of bullshit rules about the number of security that you needed on and all that sort of stuff” that led to the temporary closure of the Tote Hotel in Melbourne, and other assorted venues around Australia.

“It's the same in every city in Australia and I think Brisbane's leading the way in terms of the council there designating 'entertainment zones' and I think that's the way to go. If you want a vibrant city with different cultural niches doing different cultural things, then you have to zone that way, you have to legislate that way to allow those things to grow and flourish.”

Dempsey sees supporting the local music scene as a “duty”, pointing out that strength in numbers is the only way to affect the pragmatic views of lawmakers that might not always take into account the views of punters.

“[Protecting live music] relies on a long view, which a lot of politicians don't have, so in turn it requires us to force them, or remind them, to have it, to remind them why these things are valuable. A city without live music is a boring city. You go to any city in the world and you can feel it when there's a live music culture and Melbourne in particular has been famous for it. And so that's why 25,000 Melburnians come out in the street when a venue [the Tote] gets shut down.”

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