Trying to make a name as a DJ can be a tough gig at times. Playing to unappreciative crowds, having to suck up to promoters to get gigs and trying to make a name for yourself amongst hordes of competitors. But when you’ve been banished to the kitchen to play amongst the cooks, the food and the soaps and suds, it’s been taken to a new level. However, for DJs performing at the Adelaide pub Dublin, this is exactly what was happening after the venue came up against strict licensing laws. For the managers of the Dublin though, it was a case of ‘whatever it takes’ to get the beats happening.

As of only a few days ago, music at the Dublin Irish Pub in the Adelaide suburb of Glenelg was being mixed by DJs in the kitchen, and subsequently “piped” into the public areas to circumvent the hotel’s licence restrictions on live music. According to local rag The Advertiser, the pub’s liquor licence allows only for folk-style string music to be played on the venue’s in-house sound system. Live rock music and dance tunes are banned. The pub was fined in March after a reported breach in June 2008, after the police spotted a DJ dropping tunes at the pub, and this was the second time it had been investigated for allegedly having a DJ on the premises. Shock horror!

ITM spoke to Mr Foy from The Dublin last week, who confirmed the pub would push ahead with challenges its license conditions. After all, why should the venue’s DJs have to suffer the humiliation of being banished amongst the food preparation? “Personally I’m a big believer in supporting music. It’s an unfortunately dying part of the industry and I see hotels as being part of the live-music industry,” he said, adding that, “they [the council] just want everything to be geared towards old people or young people with families . . . they don’t want any trade and just want to put a little fence around Glenelg.”

In September, the council had opposed an application by the Dublin to the Liquor Licensing Commissioner to vary its licence to allow live rock music and DJ performances, amid concerns it would transform the venue into a nightclub. The hotel countered by pointing out that it was happy to keep its existing trading hours, and offered to close all doors and windows during any live performance. Well, it looks like they were successful because on Tuesday it was revealed that the Dublin’s requests were approved – so they’ll finally be able to shift the decks out of the kitchen, after all.