Australian Made is a new local show celebrating the best of Aussie pub rock from the 1980s and there’s no place better for doing that than The Vic Hotel!

Coming to the Victoria Hotel on Saturday, August 31, Australian Made actually owes its inspiration to the pub itself, explains vocalist Melissa Standford,  who was contacted by Victoria Hotel publican Craig Wright about her and fellow singer Danielle Pearce performing at the Vic.

“Craig came to us and asked us about an ‘80s show, and we'd already previously done a couple of shows – a Blondie show and a Divinyls show — so we originally thought we were going to do a combination of that, but when we came to see Craig in the pub, it was like, No let's do an Aussie Pub rock night! This pub is perfect for it!” says Melissa.

“It's such a good Aussie pub,” adds Danielle. “It just still holds so many of its original characteristics and so we designed the show to suit the venue, not the other way around.” 

After talking through the idea, they decided to do a show that celebrated all the Australian music that came through the vibrant pub scene of the 1980s.

“Basically bands that earned their stripes playing hard rock shows in pubs, being their own roadies, that just did the hard yards in Aussie pubs,” says Danielle.

“We have so much fantastic music that came up through the Aussie pubs. I think, even ourselves as musicians, we forgot how good this stuff was! It's such a good playlist!” 

Supported by bandmates, Paul Burge, Mark Bradbury, Hughie Brown and Ebbo Brown, Australian Made will include songs from Bands such as ACDC, INXS, Icehouse, Cold Chisel Sunnyboys, The Angels, Divinyls and more.

“It's a mixtape and hopefully, stuff you love,” explains Melissa, who says they want to recreate the experience of seeing a good Aussie pub rock band in the ‘80s.

“In the ‘80s, you'd go to see a band in the pub every Friday, Saturday night. Everyone would be lined up out the front of the pub, and you'd have to get past the bouncer at the door, then everyone's up the front at the stage dancing. It's dark. It's smoky…we're trying to recreate that atmosphere of what that was like,” 

“But it won't be smoky anymore!” adds Melissa.

See Australian Made at The Vic Hotel on Saturday, August 31. Doors open at 6.30pm, show starts at 7.30pm. Tickets are $20 via 123tix.com.au (or talk to Craig at the bar).