S.L.A.M. (Save Live Australia’s Music) is a collective of Victoria’s broader musical community who
have joined forces to make their voice heard as local music becomes
increasingly under threat due to these ill conceived Liquor Licensing
Laws. S.L.A.M. are calling on musicians and music lovers from all
genres, creeds and generations to unite together to Protest to Save
Live Australia’s Music on the 34th anniversary of AC/DC’s iconic ‘Long
Way To The Top’ clip originally filmed on Swanston Street. The Public Rally is to be held on Tuesday 23rd February commencing
at 4pm in the city. (proposed assembly point, the State Library –
check http://www.slamrally.org for the details).
Leading the procession will be the extraordinary Rockwiz Orchestra
performing on the back of a truck AC/DC style with Lucky Luscombe,
James Black and Mark Ferrie and everyone’s favourite host with the most
Brian Nankervis plus the original troupe of bag pipe players. This will
be filmed by Paul Dane who shot the legendary clip back in 1976. This
historic event aims to make the Government to hear our cry to save live
music from the clutches of Victoria’s draconian Liquor Licensing Laws. S.L.A.M.’s aim is to remove “Live and/or Amplified Music” as the trigger for high risk licensing conditions. Live music venues are
not high risk and we have asked that Victorian community join in a
peaceful protest to have their voice heard!
Quincy Mclean, one of the guys behind S.L.A.M. and the rally had a chat with the AU review, to give us a bit of an insight about what it’s all about!
Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Quincy, how did you get involved with S.L.A.M.?
We heard about the Tote closing on the Thursday 14th and we knew that
our community would gather there on Sunday 17th of January. The emotion
on the street was overwhelming, we felt that this energy needed to be
harnessed to push for change. Helen & I pretty quickly began to
formulate ideas on how we could help. The seed was planted at the Tote
rally. The last night of the Tote changed history for a lot of people
in this town.
A few days later out at gigs and talking to lot of our peers, we knew it was time to act.
Can you tell us a bit more about the history of S.L.A.M.?
We were all left shattered and wondering how laws applied to keep
order, could end up damaging culture. We scoured news on the issue and
found out that LLV and the Fair Go 4 Live meeting had reached a
stalemate and the meeting with the Fair Go delegation and various Govt.
Representatives was equally fruitless. On Friday 29th of January, we
started ringing our friends & colleagues, people we knew who would
get things moving. This group was made up of independent voices, with
no more important goal than to stop the rot!. We had our first meeting
on Wednesday the 3rd of February. Effectively S.L.A.M. was born 8 days
ago! This meeting was about action, in a room full of passionate, like
minded doers.
Was the AC/DC inspired rally in
the works before this happened?
We had no intention of doing an ACDC inspired event, word on the street
was Robert Doyle, the Lord Mayor of Melbourne was instrumental in a
group of fans who wanted to re-enact the film clip with ACDC on the
anniversary, and give them the keys to the city, we heard that the band
had declined, so we hijacked the idea for our protest. The image of
ACDC down Swanston Street on the back of a truck, in the middle of the
day, represents ‘Melbourne’ to a lot of people. The lyrics just seemed
perfect for our cause. Getting had, getting took…..Getting ripped
off, underpaid..It’s harder than it looks. At the moment it really does
seem like a long way to anywhere if you want to rock and roll!
What’s next for S.L.A.M. after the rally?
Through Bakehouse, we knew what an incredible community we were a part
of, this seemed like the appropriate time to give the Government and
the public a demonstration of what we have.
How can the public get more involved in both S.L.A.M. and its mission objectives?
Check out our website http://www.slamrally.org/, Facebook, Myspace, Register
to volunteer at the rally, Register to march with your band , march
with all your friends and above all, go to gigs, get involved in your
local culture. Enjoy one of the world’s greatest community spirits.
This is Melbourne, we won’t let our music die here.
What would be the dream outcome for S.L.A.M. in the Melbourne music community?
To immediately delink live music from high risk LL conditions, ie
protect what we have, and nuture, grow and empower this thing that
makes Melbourne unique.
Make your voice heard! The Public Rally is to be held on Tuesday 23rd February commencing
at 4pm in the city. (proposed assembly point, the State Library –
check http://www.slamrally.org for the details).
