Mark is the man responsible for transforming the Perth venue, once a late night cabaret club called Deville's Pad, into the hotspot it is today. ‘I’m a big fan of live music and I thought there was a bit of a need for it in Perth,’ he said. ‘There had been a few venue closures around that time, so I felt that the local music community badly needed another live venue.’
Mark had big ambitions for the opening, and managed to snag WA band Karnivool to headline a four night run. ‘I wanted to get touring bands from all over the world as well as local bands,’ Mark said. ‘I’m a massive fan of Karnivool and my dream was to have them play here. Then they became the first band to headline at Badlands and all four nights sold out, so my dream came true early on.’
Mark is getting ready to open up Badlands for a first birthday bash like no other on Friday 4 August. ‘We’ve seen all sorts of bands come through here,’ said Mark, ‘so we wanted a real party vibe with bands that would bring a bit of insanity to the venue and let us celebrate in style.’
The event will feature headliners Psychadelic Porn Crumpets as well as music from FOAM and Moana, a $5 happy hour and a special guest RTRFM DJ. It promises to be a hell of a night, and Mark is already getting excited about it, ‘There’s a lot of hard work goes into putting these events together week in week out, so it’ll be a good opportunity for everybody behind the scenes at Badlands really sit back, enjoy the show and have a bit of a celebration ourselves.’
From here, it's only onwards and upwards for the venue. ‘I think the Perth music scene is great just now,’ said Mark. ‘The bands coming out of it are amazing. It’s not easy getting your name up in lights but WA is certainly punching above its weight when it comes to live music just now. It would be great to see even more venues around so that the Perth punters get really spoiled for choice.’
Badlands Bar First Birthday Party is on August 4. Doors open at 6pm.
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