In the home of country music, the golden guitar casts a long shadow over heavy metal.
For more than 15 years, rock concerts have been required to pay a refundable 50 per cent security deposit for any show at Tamworth's town hall, 25 per cent more than what is required for any other genre of music.
Fans of heavy metal see the extra cost as just another obstacle to being accepted in the town.
A typical booking for four and a half hours on a Saturday night would cost $1,102, making the security deposit about $550.
The council says the fee has never been used but has been in place for years to deter rowdy crowds from damaging ratepayer assets.
Luke Fielding, the owner of The Press, Tamworth's only dedicated venue for everything from alternative rock to thrash metal, says the security deposit should go.
"It sounds completely redundant and discriminatory," he says.
"The town hall is the ultimate venue in town you can play.
"I think it comes down to perceptions of what heavy metal music is, especially in a country town.
"It would be perceived as risky if you weren't in the scene."
Mr Fielding, who lives in Tamworth, says the presence of the Country Music Festival can often make it harder to find the depth of the city's diverse music scene.
"We can't be labelled as just a country music town because the festival only runs for 10 days once a year," he says.
"There's a huge demand, and it's unfortunate the bigger venues haven't shown much interest."
Rowdy crowds council's concern
Peter Ross, Tamworth Regional Council's manager of entertainment venues, says the security deposit fee for the town hall was already in place when he started in the role more than 15 years ago.
"It's a fee we don't really enforce," he says.
"But we've kept it there just to cover us if a particular act might incite an audience to get a bit rowdy."
But while Mr Ross says the fee has managed to stay on the council's books for decades, it's a button that he's never seen pushed.
"It's a fee that probably could be removed," he says.
"It's from another time, back in the 80s.
"But as a card that we can play to protect the ratepayer's asset, I think it's fine to sit there."
Fans feel isolated
A familiar face for audiences at The Press is Jack Pallett, frontman of local metal band Traces.
He says country music's grip on the town's culture makes it hard to find kindred spirits.
"A lack of alternative culture in Tamworth really amplified that feeling of isolation," Mr Pallett says.
"It turned Tamworth into some sort of prison."
For bands and music lovers like Mr Pallett, the tyranny of distance is a major factor in finding like-minded souls in the New England North West.
More than the home of country
Mr Fielding recognises that a few bad apples in the 1980s may have ruined the whole bunch for the contemporary scene in his home town.
But he's concerned anecdotes of rioting crowds at metal concerts have condemned his vocal community of rockers and metalheads into the shadows.
"Going off something that happened 20 or 30 years ago with a couple of riots with a few metal bands, it's just not the case," Mr Fielding says.
"The alternative crowd in this town deserves something.
"It deserves something more than country."
