Inside Semaphore Workers Club’s Mission to Keep Local Music Alive
Coastal Sounds returns bigger and better this weekend with a stacked lineup of local artists performing from West Beach to Semaphore. One of the venues involved in the event is the iconic Semaphore Workers Club. The Note spoke with one of the venue’s key programmers, Greg Naulty, about the history of the Workers Club, its role in the community and what to expect from this weekend’s event.
Words Emily Wilson // Images supplied
There is nothing like a winter’s day out by the sea - except a winter’s day out by the sea that meanders into a brisk beach-side night, and happens to be accompanied by a thoughtfully curated local soundtrack.
This is exactly what Coastal Sounds offers: a vibrant 13-kilometre coastal trail of free live music, dance workshops, art experiences and kids’ activities in 12 locations across the West Beach, Henley Beach, Grange and Semaphore coastline, taking place over the June long weekend.
This year, the historic Semaphore Workers Club will be hosting the late-night section of the program. The night will feature tunes from distinctive art-rock powerhouse Anya Anastasia, blues-cum-psych-rock four-piece The Dainty Morsels and kaleidoscopic musical wild child My Cherie.
Over the phone, Greg Naulty, one of the venue’s key programmers, proudly presents an overview of the storied history of the Semaphore Workers Club.
“The club has been there since 1870,” he declares. Located on the Esplanade, the building started out as the headquarters of the Royal South Australian Yacht Squadron before transitioning into the Semaphore Club. “A rich man’s club,” Naulty explains. “It went through a few other iterations, and in the mid-1980s it became the Semaphore Workers Club.”
The Semaphore Workers Club quickly garnered a reputation as a “political beast” in the words of Naulty, by actively supporting community and trade union campaigns. “Our politics are left-wing, communist and union.” Now, they are also hailed as one of Adelaide’s premier music venues, one that places a special emphasis on the Blues. “Blues can be a piece of string…We find that people respond to that music in different ways. Some people dance because it’s joyous, other people have another beer because it’s not joyous for them.”
The space is a not-for-profit community-based organisation. “We’re all about community, we’re all about equity,” Naulty states firmly. The word community is abundant throughout the conversation.
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Music takes place at the Semaphore Workers Club on Friday nights and Sunday afternoons, with gig fees of a mere $15.
“We don’t have poker machines - they’re a cancer on society. We don’t have a kitchen, so we rely upon people coming and listening to live music and buying beers over our bar,” Naulty says. “And the money that comes through our door goes directly to the musicians and to the professional onsite sound tech. But it also does something else.”
He explains that a large part of the attending demographic happens to be older single women. “The gig-fee filters out the drop-kicks. It means they don’t come in and harass our women. So people can come and feel safe here. You know how it is, every idiot who is fifteen beers deep thinks he’s the answer to your love life,” Naulty scoffs, with great honour.
It is evident that the safety and comfort of patrons is prioritised, which is why their involvement with Coastal Sounds this year is clearly a match made in heaven.
“Coastal Sounds, that’s all about community, it’s about getting local musicians - ones who may not have a chance to play at other places - into a space where people can come and listen to them, and listen to them with good production,” he says, evident excitement for the event making his words buzz. “We’re very happy to be involved because it’s all about community. It’s an opportunity for people to come together and look at music and be happy and safe about doing it.”
Naulty is passionate about local talented musicians being afforded the time and space to be heard, supported and applauded. “There’s a shitload of music that is played by weekend warriors, by cover band heroes who are very ordinary,” he says. “We look at people we think have some musical credibility. Our standards are fairly high.”
That being said, now and then a cover band is allowed onto the premises - Naulty mentions a recent Tom Waits night, for example. “We’re very careful about our occasional cover band nights, because we want to make sure the quality is there.”
The Semaphore Workers Club first got in touch with Coastal Sounds, run by the City of Charles Sturt Council, on the basis of their shared community values. “Councils are the grassroots of government, the members are elected voluntarily, and they’re people who have a passion for their community. So we like partnering with them, and we also like partnering with music development offices.”
The partnership allows for great music and for enriching culture to be accessible in the western suburbs.
“People can go along to the Fringe and pay $35 to see 40 minutes of music, pay an exorbitant amount of money on drinks and food, and say they’ve been out and seen great music. And they probably have,” he says. “But we present great music every week at a much cheaper admission price, with much cheaper booze and food, and it gives people an opportunity to economically experience quality music. And,” he adds, the smile evident in his voice, “With Coastal Sounds, it’s actually a quality music freebie.”
Catch Anya Anastasia, The Dainty Morsels and My Chérie performing at Semaphore Workers Club as part of Coastal Sounds on Sunday 7 June. More information is available at charlessturt.sa.gov.au.
