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A popular Sunshine Coast live music venue has shut its doors amid ongoing issues with the building and COVID-19's lasting effect on the industry.
Key points:
- The Eleven Dive Bar owner says it was "gut-wrenching" to tell staff
- It is the second Sunshine Coast live music venue to close in two months
- The owner says the situation is untenable unless an investor comes onboard
Eleven Dive Bar owner Aaron Crump said he and his partner Danielle Stafford made the "very difficult decision" over the Christmas break, after pouring everything into the business.
"Not only financially, but emotionally … my stepson and I, we built that place," Mr Crump said.
"We turned it from an old Cash Converters building that sat dormant for years.
"Everything inside we built with minimal trade … there's a fair amount of my blood, sweat and tears in there."
Mr Crump said the roof had leaked since they took on the tenancy, and the issue had not been resolved three years on despite "constant communication" with their landlord, the Queensland Investment Corporation (QIC).
The ABC has contacted the state government-owned QIC for comment.
There was a 'giant hole'
Mr Crump said the leaking roof had cost his business upwards of $150,000.
"We had a big storm about a year ago," he said.
"So much water came through … it wrecked the disabled toilets.
"Water was pouring through there, as well as into the second bar and part of the public area as well."
Mr Crump described it as being "like a swimming pool" that forced him to shut the venue and "cancel gigs".
"There was a giant hole," he said.
"They fixed that section but then after that it just never went away until very recently when they did some work, and it seems to have put a plaster cast on it, rather than just a bandaid."
Pandemic impacts still being felt
It is the second live music venue to shut on the Sunshine Coast in as many months, with NightQuarter at Birtinya shutting its doors in late November, blaming pandemic pressures.
Eleven Dive Bar opened in March 2020, which meant it did not qualify for state government COVID-19 financial assistance packages.
"All of the grants stated that you had to be in business before March 2020 … when we opened there was no talk of vaccines and mask mandates and all that sort of stuff," Mr Crump said.
While pandemic restrictions had been lifted, he said it had "changed the landscape" for live music, with people still leaving it to the last minute to purchase tickets.
"Since COVID, ticket sales would be almost nothing until 48 or 24 hours before a show because nobody would want to lay out any more money for a ticket to a show that they don't know is going to go ahead," Mr Crump said.
"And it's changed the cancellation policies of bands.
"They can pull out whenever they think they're not going to sell enough."
Calls for more support
Musicians have expressed their shock and sadness over the venue's closure.
Jake Laderman, a drummer with Melbourne punk rock band Clowns, said it was "devastating" for the music scene.
"They basically made a home for young bands to find their feet," he said.
"They really made everyone feel welcome … I walked away with such a sense of gratitude for the place because they were genuine in their passion for music."
Mr Laderman said he hoped the venue could reopen, even if it took the community to "come together" to help raise funds.
Sunshine Coast singer Connor Hanson's band Chamber Lane performed their first gig at Eleven.
"They were the first venue that ever gave us the time of day," he said.
"A lot of venues will only really care based on how many people you can pull to a show. They gave us our first gig based on how they enjoyed our music."
He said he felt like the local scene had made good progress in the past few years, but the closure of two venues in two months felt like it was going backwards.
"There's a lot of bands on the Sunshine Coast that are phenomenally talented and deserve to have a place to go," Mr Hanson said.
"I'm not trying to sound like an angsty teenager ... but the government, they claim to care about the arts and the industry and all that type of thing, but this to me is a prime example of why they don't."
A 'gut-wrenching' moment
Mr Crump said it was "gut-wrenching" to inform his 10 staff members of the closure.
"They're our people, they're into alternative music, we gave them leeway to be who they are," he said.
"They can get work pretty easily in the hospitality sector because everyone's screaming for workers, but that's not the point … they're our family."
Mr Crump said he hoped it was not the end of the bar, which had attracted international acts and provided a much-needed platform for new and existing bands.
"At the moment it's just tapped us out," he said.
"I'd love to have the doors open … I love what Eleven stands for and I'm proud of where we got to with no help whatsoever.
"As it stands at the moment, I just don't know."