With a truly storied history harkening back to the 1800’s, The Tote Hotel is integral to Australia’s punk, rock, post-punk and heavy metal DNA.

It’s played host to many local and international artists such as Paul Kelly, Ed Kuepper,  The White Stripes,  Gary Clarke Jnr, The Powder Monkeys, Hoodoo Gurus, , The Scientists, The Drones, Magic Dirt, The Meanies, You Am I, The Hard Ons, The Dirtbombs, Mudhoney, Courtney Barnett, High Tension, RVG, Violent Soho, Gold Class, Endless Boogie, King Parrot, Bat Piss... to name but a few. 

After a mammoth effort to Save The Tote in 2023, Venue Booker Max explains what still needs to be done to keep the lights on. The good news: it’s as easy as enjoying a beer! 

Can you tell us about your journey into the music industry and how you became the Venue Booker for The Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar and The Tote? 

I have been going to gigs, playing in bands and organising shows since I was a teenager. When I first to moved to Melbourne 10+ years ago from regional Victoria, I got involved with my local FReeZa Committee/The Push: a pivotal moment sending me on this trajectory as a “career.” I then studied Music Bizz at uni, did a bunch of internships, mentorship programs, started booking my own shows, kept playing in bands and basically just kept hanging around venues most weekends.  

Last Chance has always been one of my favourite venues and when me and venue owner Shane realised we were actually second cousins, we hit it off like a rock in a sock! I continued booking shows there over the years and did all I could to keep my eyes on the “Save The Tote” campaign when it launched. When they actually pulled it off, I knew they were going to need more bookers; I’d just quit my job, my festival Down South had wrapped up for the year and I was a bit lost/mentally fried.. in dark times where do I always turn to? Music. How can you say no to booking two of the best venues in Melbourne when they’re offered to you? 

What motivates you in your role as a booker? 

I am motivated by a bunch of different things - helping people and bringing them together probably being the main ones (that’s also why I started my own festival haha). 

Seeing a packed room for a young band who are just learning the ropes/guiding them along the way for their first launch (I remember how excited I was about anything and everything music related at that age).

I get a HUGE kick from seeing the poster sent through for a show that I might have worked on for weeks or months; who have the bands used to do the art, is the poster going to offend people? Is it not exciting or engaging enough? 

Being creative and coming up with new ideas for a series of events - who should headline, who is doing something weird and totally left of field, how are people going to react? Will it sell heaps of tickets right away or bugger all?! I could go on forever.  

What are the best sources for discovering emerging acts? Where do you look for new talent? And where should music enthusiasts look to find up-and-coming artists? 

Instagram is one of my favourites if you connect with stuff best visually. If I see a video or photo of an act I don’t know doing something hectic or nailing it, I’m gonna look them up and try book them.  

Going to shows that are outside or your “scene” and getting new ideas for genres to book or listen to. We had Ryosuke Kiyasu play at The Tote and he literally just hits a snare drum with his head, hands and sticks nonstop. After seeing that I went and booked Justice Yeldham who plays shards of glass with his teeth. I love chaos on stage. 

Listening to community radio such as PBS or Triple R. The presenters on there have their ear to the ground more than anyone else I reckon! I have the radio on in the background a lot whilst I’m working and if I hear something I enjoy or want to book I Shazam the artist straight away or fire off an email. 

The Ol’ Spotify algo - as much as Spotify sucks (pay artists properly please), you can’t deny the power of their playlists. Local noise is a good one for us!  

Bandcamp!! Their homepage has great feature articles/suggestions and all round it’s easily the best platform for grassroots, D.I.Y, Independent and underground music. Support your local independent labels! 

How have you noticed crowds or venues change since you started booking shows? Or what behaviour changes have you noticed in audiences and artists post-COVID? 

Yeah, I think right after the pandemic and lockdowns finally ended there was this huge surge of people buying presales to shows right away because they missed live music so much. Now that has died off and cost of living has increased so dramatically, people are waiting until the last minute to commit to a show. It really makes it hard on venues to plan ahead, you’ve heard this before though. 

Also, patrons drinking has decreased a whole bunch, people simply can’t afford to drink out as much as they used to. Friday knock offs isn’t even a thing at the moment? What is going on there...? Alcohol tax for venues is cooked too, everything has gone up in price. Just gotta stay optimistic and keep on truckin’ though, otherwise all your problems will drive you nuts.  

What makes Melbourne's music scene unique compared to other cities? 

I can only compare it to other cities in Australia because I haven’t done a lot of travel outside of Australia - Sydney for instance everything is so spread out and their lockout laws and street layouts are fully cooked. Adelaide is small so you don’t have the population, Canberra is similar. Brisbane I’ve only been to a handful of times, but they do have a few venues close together. So yeah, on that, I think that’s what makes Melbourne unique is everything is so accessible and easy to get to. Within around a 15km radius there’s so many venues, you could walk to 3 or 4 gigs in a day if you wanted to! The proximity of venues in Melbourne brings people together more easily and makes for a better environment and close-knit music community.  

Can you share some memorable moments or events that have stood out to you at The Last Chance Rock & Roll Bar or The Tote? 

Lastys: 

Way back before I was the booker of Lastys, I did the door. Amyl and The Sniffers played a front bar show for a $2 coin entry, that was a huge highlight for the venue and it’s still the cover photo on our Facebook page. Absolute memory bank gig when you think about the profile of the band and where they’re at now. 

Tote: 

I think the reopening weekend under official ownership of Shane & Leanne in November was a huge highlight for everyone too. We had Bad//Dreems do a secret headline show and my band Cutters played the first front bar gig that weekend – it was a dream of mine to play that space.  

Also we had Antenna play upstairs recently, the new project from Royal Headache’s Shogun, that was just a mind-blowing gig in that intimate space and that band is going places for sure. Won’t be long until they’re selling out the bandroom, and even bigger venues.  

Venues are facing a lot of challenges right now. How have you and your venues adapted to the changing landscape of live music? What is a message you’d like to get out there to the public, musicians, and other industry professionals? 

We just try to book the best possible gigs we can and think outside the box when needed. It’s a business at the end of the day and we need to constantly stay creative and sometimes book the shows that aren’t our favourite artists, but we know the bar takings will help us survive and stay afloat. So I guess I’ll pass that message onto the public: GO DRINK BEERS, ALL OF THE BEERS!!!!! Oh and BUY PRESALES! It really helps everyone involved in the shows. As for Industry professionals (not the bigwig suit wearing ones). Keep your head up and keep on keeping on, oh and also; try help us get more funding and money, cheers! 

How do you see Melbourne's music scene evolving in the next few years, and what role do you hope your Last Chance and The Tote play in that?  

I don’t really know how to answer that, all I know is we will keep doing our thing and booking sick shows. I went and saw Mos Def on the weekend so I think these lyrics are relevant to that question: 

Listen—people be askin' me all the time
"Yo Mos, what's gettin' ready to happen with hip-hop?" 
(Where do you think hip-hop is goin'?) 
I tell em, "You know what's gonna happen with hip-hop? 

Whatever's happening with us" 
So hip-hop is going where we going 
So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going 
Ask yourself: where am I going? How am I doing? 
Till you get a clear idea 

If we smoked out, hip-hop is gonna be smoked out 
If we doin' alright, hip-hop is gonna be doin' alright 
People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant livin' in the hillside 
Comin' down to visit the townspeople 

We are hip-hop 
Me, you, everybody, we are hip-hop  
So hip-hop is going where we going 

The Tote: Instagram // Website
The Last Chance: Instagram // Website