Driving along Parramatta Rd this week I was saddened to notice Downtown Music had recently closed. Downtown was Mark Evan’s guitar shop; former bass player for AC DC who played on their first four albums. You can see him in their iconic videos ‘Long Way to the Top’ and ‘Jail Break’. Their other iconic video of the time ‘Let There Be Rock’ had his replacement Cliff Williams in the video, but it was Mark who played the song, and with gumption too.
Not so long ago Annandale was the guitar capital of the world. The very reason I moved here in 2008 to start a family was because it had eight guitar shops. Yes eight. Over a walk of about half a kilometre there was Downtown Music, Global Vintage, Music 101, The Bass Player, Jacksons Rare Guitars, Gallins Music, Sydney Guitar Set Ups and Billy Hydes Music. And only a short walk further on there was Smithy’s on Salisbury Rd and Petersham Music opposite Norton Street. Now all sadly gone.
Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, Slash, and James Hetfield of Metallica, all walked the stretch of Parramatta Rd to buy guitars or amps, get repairs or pick up spare parts while on tour.
It was Annandale, more than any other suburb in Australia that forged an Australian culture through music.
With the iconic Trafalgar Street Studios, where life soundtracks were made for anyone who grew up in Australia in the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s; the list of artists who recorded albums there, great albums too, is overwhelming. They are immortals and household names, such as: Slim Dusty, Cold Chisel, Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly, INXS, Hoodoo Gurus, Divinyls, The Beasts of Bourbon, Mental as Anything, The Sunnyboys, Died Pretty, and Tumbleweed, just to name a few.
Songs that so many know so well that we could sing the whole song whether it’s on or not, including the guitar, drum and piano solos. Songs such as: Khe Sanh, Before Too Long, Too Her Door, and Like Wow Wipe Out.
And the album that permanently rearranged so many of us for the better, instantly signing us up to the religion of raw power for life from the very first note: Radios Appear by Radio Birdman; a banger from start to finish that you can’t listen to and expect to sit still.
And some English bloke named David Bowie laid some tracks down at Trafalgar too.
Live music fans will of course know the legendary Annandale Hotel in its previous life, only about a five in volume projection on a Fender Twin to the guitar shop strip and about a nine to Trafalgar Studios.
Like Trafalgar Studios, the bill of bands who played there is long and often loud. I was lucky to see some unforgettable gigs there over the years: The Cruel Sea, The Dirty Three, The Butthole Surfers, Celibate Rifles, Rocket Science, The Mess Hall, The Datsun’s, Tumbleweed, Magic Dirt, Frenzal Rhomb, and Nitocris. Imagine if that line up was a festival.
I unfortunately just missed out on The Black Keys secret gig at the Annandale but heard the sound check. A secret gig I did get to see though was legendary guitarist Ian Moss from Cold Chisel who played a fund raiser at Annandale North Public School in 2012.
And it wasn’t just the Annandale Hotel, the Empire Hotel was a reliable destination when you needed quality blues, folk or country. I saw the Gadfly’s and the Kevin Borich Express among others.
But the suburb had been famous for strings since 1902 when the Beale Piano Factory opened, also in Trafalgar Street. It is said to have made 95 000 instruments until its closure in the early sixties. In World War II it was adapted to produce parts for our defence. The former factory (now apartments) is a historical feature of its own.
Annandale was once at the top as Bon Scott famously sang, and it was for real. Downtown Music with its close AC DC connection was the last of the suburbs rich music history to go. The irony that AC DC happen to be playing in Sydney this week is not lost.
Thus, the last wail of guitar feedback from the encore has faded out, and all is quiet in Annandale.
By Mal Finnan