The lockout laws suck. They suck a lot. We know this, and most of us feel pretty helpless in what we can do about it, yeah?
Well, all-round legends Sticky Fingers are here to remind us to keep dialogue about the new laws both open and constant.
They’ve chosen to do this with a cover of ‘Ghost Town’ by 2 Tone ska band The Specials. The classic OG track is about the London in the early 80’s, where the nightlife became virtually non-existent due to unemployment, cultural aggression, and England’s 1981 riots.
While Sydney’s nightlife closures are obviously for very different reasons, Sydney-siders will no doubt relate to the lyrics of the iconic song, just as Sticky Fingers did:
“A few months ago, me and the lads were listening to The Specials version of the song and then we all just started laughing because the lyrics are so poignant to how Sydney is feeling right now.‘This town is turning into a ghost town/all the clubs are closing down’. Lockout laws and the general attitude towards culture and live music in this city, and I guess all of Australia…”
“We kind of feel like the whole issue hasn’t really been addressed: that Australia has an aggressive drinking culture. I guess it’s an educational thing and it’s an awareness thing and that’s going to take time, things like that don’t just change overnight.You can’t just shut down a city and expect everyone’s going to go home to bed and that nothing bad is ever going to happen again – it doesn’t really work like that… It’s going to be up to new mums and dads to try and teach their kids how to drink [responsibly].”
via Triple J.
