Laurie Richards operated the Tiger Lounge (also known sometimes as the Tiger Room) in the Royal Oak Hotel, Bridge Road Richmond in 1978. Within six months the Age was claiming that it was amongst the ‘best of Melbourne’s rock pubs,’ alongside the London Tavern, Caulfield; Martinis, Carlton and the Prospect Hill Hotel (‘Rock, Folk and all that Jazz’ Age 9 June 1978 p. 41). Groups that played there included the Autodrifters (Friday 6 January); Rose Tattoo (Friday 13 Jan); Red Hot Peppers (Friday 27 January); Jab (Friday 10 February) The Sports (Saturday 24 March) and Sidewinder (Friday 13 May). Richards left to run the Crystal Ballroom in the Seaview Hotel in St Kilda at the beginning of 1979. By 1980, the venue was known as The Bottom Line; in 1981 it had reverted to the Tiger Lounge name but was described in the Age as 'a haunt for aggressive drinkers' (6 November 1981, p. 44). A video circa 1978 of the Boys Next Door performing Shivers - a song which appears twice in Dogs in Space, once sung by Nick Cave in the Boys Next Door, and once sung by Marie Hoy - can be found at https://vimeo.com/130398698
by davidnichols on Oct. 6, 2018Please login to comment on this item