Gig venue ‘best kept secret’
An underground gig venue on a rural Tasman road is setting the stage for some noteworthy New Zealand musicians.
Down the unassuming driveway of Geoff and Sheree Sherlock’s home, punters would never pick that well-known New Zealand musicians have played intimate shows in the double garage known as Room Twenty5.
Artists and bands including James Reid from the Feelers, Kiwi folk bands Fables and Albi and the Wolves, and singersongwriter Jan Hellriegel have performed to no more than 80 fans in the 100-square-metre space. The next one lined up to play is Greg Johnson during his latest national tour, making that the 14th Room Twenty5 gig.
Geoff laughs that Johnson is playing ‘‘Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and our garage’’.
Sheree adds: ‘‘By day we’re a garage, by night a music venue’’ for five or six nights a year.
Despite the garage looking much like a man shed on a regular day, the couple transform the space in a few hours into a venue good enough for rock royalty – including a green room. Geoff describes it as like ‘‘antique shop meets music room meets party place.’’
All the musical equipment is top-notch,and what the couple don’t have, Nelson’s Mr Music can lend them.
Nelson’s ‘‘best kept secret’’ started two years ago from the couple’s own jam sessions. Concertgoers learn about the gigs from Room Twenty5’s private Facebook page, which has nearly 600 followers and counting, because that’s the only way the gigs are marketed.
Chairs, food, drinks and cups are all BYO, and tickets are usually $25, purchased online through the artists so all the proceeds go straight to them. And in true house party style, the toilet is inside the couple’s home and ‘‘there’s always an after-show by the fire’’.
The Sherlocks are no strangers to running a business, owning DroneMate and Sherlock Landscaping, but Geoff says Room Twenty5 is more of a hobby, ‘‘for fun’’.
‘‘We don’t want money out of this one.’’
The couple also supply accommodation and transport, and ensure that the performers are fed and watered, free of charge.
The venue may sound like a dream to many musicians, but there are certain prerequisites to earn an invitation. Geoff says the couple are ‘‘quite selective’’ about who plays there.
‘‘We’ve got to like them ourselves and feel that the group as a whole would want them. They’ve got to be topical, and in our eyes worthy of the effort to get it all sorted.
‘‘A lot of these artists are incredibly hard-working, incredibly diligent and incredibly wellorganised – that sort of really impresses us.’’
Part of the fun was seeing who they could secure to play, he said. ‘‘On my bucket list, for instance, is Don McGlashan.’’ Others include Liam Finn and Boh Runga. OpShop’s Jason Kerrison has shown interest in playing next year, as has Rikki Morris.
‘‘What I was surprised about was that a lot of artists who I admire and respect . . . were very happy to come and play, and they enjoyed it.’’
Albi and the Wolves frontman Chris Dent says Room Twenty5 is ‘‘special’’.
‘‘We have done some crazy gigs on the side of mountains, in stables, at folk clubs, in country halls, and still Geoff and Sheree’s space stands out. It is an extension of their family home, really, and there is a great sense of community.’’
He says he loved connecting with the audience in the intimate setting. ‘‘You can really reach out to them and include them in the experience.’’
Geoff says he never thought ‘‘in a million years’’ he could secure Hellriegel, and when she said yes, her concert was sold out.
‘‘The audience was amazing and very receptive. Geoff and Sheree made sure the whole experience was a good one,’’ the Kiwi singer-songwriter said.
She said Kiwi musicians were ‘‘very fortunate to have such amazing people’’ who supported New Zealand music.
‘‘I loved every minute of my Room Twenty5 experience, and would love to perform there again one day.’’
‘‘A lot of artists . . . were very happy to come and play, and they enjoyed it.’’