Perth Voice Interactive

Docos chart the Hyde Park Hotel

When Woolies turned the old Hyde Park Hotel into a boutique watering hole, independent music in Perth suffered a blow and artists were left to cry in their beer.

Fridey at the Hydey documents the last years of the pub and its hey-day as a punk venue, and features interviews with local bands and locals.

Several years in the making it closes RTRFM’s music documentary festival Gimme Some Truth on Sunday, December 1.

“This is a great documentary for the local music scene,” general manager Jason Cleary says.

“The Higgins family [former owners of the pub] were very support of the local music scene.”

The festival, which kicks off Friday November 29, is showing a selection of rarely seen underground music documentaries, including Radio Unnamed, about legendary New York radio personality Bob Fass, who during his 50 years of broadcasting has interviewed the likes of Lou Reed and Bob Dylan—giving the-then virtual unknowns a leg-up as they struggled to break into the industry.

A Band Called Death is number 21 on Rotten Tomatoes’ Best Films of 2013 list and promises a ‘70s punk soundtrack that will stay with you long after you leave the cinema, Mr Cleary says.

Others are great documentaries that failed to get traction.

“For whatever reason they can’t get a showing, and end up on YouTube.”

Gimme Some Truth is on at Luna, Leederville, running in conjunction with the Light Up Leederville Carnival, Friday, November 30 and Saturday and Sunday, December 1 and 2.

by JENNY D’ANGER