First Look: Brunswick Scores a Heaving 250-Capacity Bandroom at The Bergy Seltzer

David “Frankie” Cudmore and Brodie Brümmer are familiar names on Melbourne’s live music scene. Between them, they have experience playing in bands (Brümmer is the lead singer in Flyying Colours), mixing sound at gigs, controlling live lighting and pouring drinks behind bars. Up until 2018 the pair worked together at the Brunswick Hotel, which closed after a freak accident – leading the duo to open no-frills bar The Bergy Seltzer one block down the next year.

“We opened the Bergy down the road as a fun little bar to run while we fixed the flood damage,” Cudmore says. “We thought we’d just be in here for a little while until we got the Brunnie up and running again – that didn’t eventuate, so we put all our effort into making this spot great.”

The Bergy became a go-to for locals, hosting comedy nights, DJs and bands, albeit in a fairly cramped space. While Cudmore and Brümmer are proud of what they’ve built between the front bar, hole-in-the-wall stage and rear beer garden, they wanted to do more.

“We were getting really busy prior to Covid, hosting bands that could barely fit on the original stage, with crowds that barely fit into the venue, so we knew a bigger space would be amazing,” Brümmer says. “Once the lockdowns hit, the $2 shop next door cleared out and we made a pact to buy the space if it was still vacant after a year, and now we’re here.”

They’ve converted the cavernous space into a 250-capacity bandroom with two bars and an all-conditions beer garden. It’s the perfect size for established and emerging local bands to put on a great show, as well as international acts who might not be able to pull huge numbers in Australia yet.

The entire venue is wheelchair accessible, and performing artists get the luxury of a spacious green room, huge stage and customisable lighting set-ups. Importantly, there’s a topnotch sound system in place and the room has been acoustically treated, so bands of all shapes and sizes sound fantastic.

Best of all, the venue has a 3am licence, so there’s no mass exodus once the headliner finishes playing. Plenty of time for punters to stick around, grab a drink and meet the bands. Or grab a feed from the tiny food-truck-sized kitchen that’s been installed and will have residents rotating through it soon.

When you’re not catching a gig (which could span any genre, Cudmore says), the beer garden out the back has more than doubled the Bergy’s outdoor capacity – with a retractable roof, heaters and a pool table in place for the cooler months. With the new spaces buzzing, Cudmore and Brümmer are expecting the front bar to become a more intimate affair, while still hosting comedy and smaller-scale gigs.

“It’s cool to experience the chaos of the bandroom, get some air in the beer garden and then wander through to the front bar for a quiet drink or a chat – it’s got a bit of a house party feel where you’re checking out different areas,” Cudmore says.

“Between the two of us, we’ve played and worked at so many gigs – we feel like we have a solid understanding of what makes a venue somewhere that bands want to play,” Brümmer says. “We’ve done a lot to make sure the venue is accessible, that artists are comfortable, punters are having a good time and, above all else, that bands sound awesome and feel good about putting on a sick show here.”

The Bergy Seltzer
68 Sydney Road, Brunswick
(03) 9380 9790

Hours
Daily 4pm–1am, expanding to 3am Thu–Sat soon

thebergyseltzer.com.au