BOOKING agent Spencer Scott says the Hamilton Station Hotel's new band room completes the venue's long-held "vision" to become an integral part of regional NSW's touring live music scene.
Punk icons Frenzal Rhomb will perform the opening show in the new 350-capacity band room on March 17.
It kicks off a run of major shows to break in the new band room, with Pacific Avenue (March 18), Adam Newling (March 24), Slowly Slowly (April 6), and UK folk-punk star Frank Turner (April 10) also announced.
The "Hamo" will also remain committed to local artists. The new band room can be transformed to operate at a capacity of 190.
"Everyone here was stoked with the live music we had, so what we wanted to do was do more of it and bigger versions of it," Scott says, while guiding the Newcastle Herald through the renovations.
"There will still be a heavy focus on local bands. We're still looking at metal and punk and hardcore. We also want to do indie rock and hip-hop and keep the focus on local bands and original live music."
The 10-month renovations also included the venue's first green room and load-in area and a $25,000 Live Music Australia grant provided a new PA and lighting.
Scott expects these upgrades will lead to more major acts travelling through the Hamo.
"There was definitely a ceiling we were hitting just because of production stuff," he says.
"Everything we've done music wise was making something happen out of a space we already had, whereas this is an opportunity to make a space based on what we want to do."
The upgrade is perfectly timed. The Cambridge Hotel is set to close in June and the future of Lizotte's is uncertain since it was placed on the market last August.
At the same time Newcastle's music scene is the strongest its been in a decade with bands like Dust, Turpentine Babycino, Sitting Down and Rum Jungle making serious in-roads.
"There's this enthusiasm which is really infectious around Newcastle music at the moment," Scott says.
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