Loungeroom Fancies
An Interview with Courteney Hocking .
Melbourne’s newest comedy room isn’t a comedy room at all – bringing together the twin indie pursuits of comedy and music, Loungeroom Fancies is more rightly an addition to Melbourne’s music scene. The brainchild of comedian Courteney Hocking, Loungeroom Fancies is born out of a love of music and the desire to share that passion with an appreciative audience.
Andy, Lawrence and I spend a lot of time listening to music, playing each other new bands we’ve discovered and talking about lyrics and lovely things we’ve heard. Andy and Lawrence also really like going out and dancing in nightclubs, but i actually find dancing incredibly cringemaking and embarrassing, so I tend to sit and watch while the guys rip it up.
It occured to me that there’s no real place you can go to listen to great music where dancing is not enforced. It’s almost like anything you can’t dance to just has to stay at home. I wanted to start something where music could be appreciated, and respected (and held gently in the arms of people who love it… quiet, poetic music can tend to get a bit needy) and also just hear about the songs which are important to people we admire, why they love them and what they mean to them. i wanted to call it ‘music you can’t dance to’, but Andy informed me that people who like dancing can also like quiet listening (they aren’t mutually exclusive, apparently) and so began Loungeroom Fancies.
Courteney and her fellow hosts, Lawrence Leung and Andrew McClelland, have earned a lot of goodwill in the comedy community, and the caliber of their guest list reflects this. International comedians Mark Watson, David O’Doherty and Daniel Kitson were amongst the first to be invited on stage during the last weeks of the comedy festival, and an impressive lineup of local comedy stars including Angus Sampson, Dave Callan, Josh Earl and Alan Brough have kept the room going strong.
Having run for four weeks now, the room constantly shifts focus according to the whims of those invited to the stage. One moment it’s about plumbing the more obscure depths of a collection to find something new for the audience, another it’s about sharing the personal stories behind songs that many in the room will already know and love. There’s also the sharing of the odd bit of comedic music (whether intentional or otherwise).
It’s actually a really unfocused thing. It’s loose and can be anything the people on that week want it to be. The plan is kind of not to have a plan. Everyone’s relationship with music is different so we really want people to just bring to it what’s important to them. I guess the important thing, and the thing that we think makes it really special, is the honesty of our guests. People say the most beautiful, honest things about their lives when they talk about music.
Angus Sampson for example, he just talked about where his life has taken him, the songs that reminded him of specific times in his life and what he felt about the music, and it was perfect. Just a joy to listen to someone talk without thinking about trying to make people laugh, or make them do anything. It’s not even a comedy room in any sense (other than that we have comedians on) so there’s no pressure to make with the funny. We really like that. It was initially only going to be for the duration of the comedy festival- almost as a breather from all the comedy going on – but it seems to have taken on a life of its own.
There’s a special sense of community here as well. Most of the people in the room know each other – whether as regular comedy punters or as comedians – and everything has a very casual feel to it. The rules of the room (silence and respect for both the speaker and the music) are understood and obeyed without anybody asking twice. The guests can talk softly of their personal tales of love, loss and musical discovery while the room hangs on their every word. The addition of half-time cakes (provided by the hosts and some generous punters) adds to the friendly atmosphere.
We love the loungeroom feel of Glitch – it really feels like being in someone’s house, listening to their records. The wonderful thing is the people who come along all really seem to get what it’s about, and just make the vibe perfect. They don’t talk and they are supportive and kind with our guests. The only problem is when lots of people turn up, it becomes a little like a kids sleepover party, with not enough room and too many kids amped up on sugar. Nice kids. Great kids. But more cake than space.
Don’t come to Loungeroom Fancies expecting a comedy room – It’s not trying to be one. This is a quiet place for the music lover who is looking for yet another new album to add to their already overflowing collection, or to rediscover a new side to the music through somebody else’s eyes. This is about storytelling and intimacy – and above all, this is about the music.
Loungeroom Fancies can be found at Glitch Bar & Cinema, some Sundays at 2pm. Contact loungeroomfancies@gmail.com for details.