achievements 2005 Club Of The Year WINNER Se7en Magazine 2006 Australian Nightclub Of The Year FINALIST Annual Bar Awards 2007 Best Music Offering WINNER Annual Bar Awards 2007 Australian Venue Operator Of The Year FINALIST Annual Bar Awards (Benny Roney) 2007 Australian Bartender Of The Year FINALIST Annual Bar Awards (Mark Walker) 2008 Nightclub Of The Year FINALIST Australian Liquor Industry Awards 2008 Best Music Offering In Australia FINALIST Annual Bar Awards 2008 Australian Bartender Of The Year FINALIST Annual Bar Awards (Pablo Millane) 2008 Australian Bartender Of The Year FINALIST Annual Bar Awards (Leon Scanlon) 2008 Absolut Number 100 Venue In The World Absolut Vodka Awards 2009 Nightclub Of The Year FINALIST: HIGHLY COMMENDED Australian Liquor Industry Awards 2014 Young Entrepreneur Award FINALIST Gold Coast Business News (Simone Jenkins) 2015 Venue Of The Year FINALIST Gold Coast Music Awards 2015 Queensland Hero Venue Bombay Sapphire & Grey Goose 2015 #1 Gold Coast Bartender Gold Coast Bulletin (Liam McDonald) 2016 Venue Of The Year FINALIST Gold Coast Music Awards 2017 Venue Of The Year WINNER Gold Coast Music Awards serving you gladly Tucked away in the heart of Surfers Paradise, up two flights of now-iconic stairs, nestles an unlikely space called elsewhere. Since 2003, this little family owned venue has bloomed into a cultural institution that prides itself on delivering an unrivalled platform for local artists, presenting acts of international infamy and being a springboard for those of tomorrow. Many national nominations for excellence have cemented elsewhere’s place in the industry landscape and it is widely regarded by its peers as a lighthouse venue. Against the odds, it has become much more than it’s four walls and is a space held dear by a loyal and incredibly generous audience for its intimacy and inclusive ethos, with many loved colourful characters and regulars. elsewhere is a place designed to protect the rights to a safe night out for any person of any persuasion, with excellence in service and sound. Focused on space and comfort, with a beloved flashing dancefloor and retro-industrial detailing, it is a feast of conversation and a celebration of the arts, music and escapism. A sea of culture, not just another night out. history In October of 2003, the most powerful solar flare Time always compresses when you are trying ever recorded by satellite instrumentation hap- to open a venue, some memories of those early pens. What also happens on a balmy afternoon days make us laugh or cry still. Watching the in that same month is the lease to the premises transformation from beast to butterfly. Sixteen we now know as elsewhere was signed. It was huge skips of rubbish removed by hand, building official : the company was founded. A meeting of the dance floor from scratch, hope against hope. minds and a single purpose. All we could do is make the kind of place that we We had recently moved here, knowing not a soul, would want to go. We always believed that quality after living in a tent in Byron Bay for 8 months and consistency would find a loyal following. and scouting the eastern seaboard for a premises with the cabaret license we needed to create our But eventually came opening night. passion. The year before, we parted with our dar- A trickle of people that slowly built and we grew ling signature club in Melbourne to seek warmer with them, serving you gladly. Learning together weather and start a family beside the ocean. how to get the best from the room and ourselves. We wanted to use this Melbourne ownership But it was a journey. The yawning gap at the history, winning numerous awards in Fitzroy St start between what we wanted to offer and the St Kilda for best coffee by the Melbourne Age readiness of the crowd to accept it. We wanted (in Epicure at Ninety Seven) and the multi award to offer the locals a home where they could feel winning Onesixone nightclub in Prahran, to bring comfortable in surrounds that gave them quality, an element of excellence to the Gold Coast. great sound and safety. We wanted Gold Coasters to have an intimate room with the feeling you It was clear to us then, although crazy to others, could be in any major city. That level of certainty. that Surfers Paradise had room for a personalized hospitality offering that served local and return It took a long time for people to understand clientele and identified that this market had been what we were trying to do, that we had a very neglected. This was backed up by research into defined agenda and wanted to see it through with demographics, council plans, industry indicators discipline and consistency. Looking back, the and employment data. transformation is beyond belief. As fate would have it, we found the dormant dia- mond that is now elsewhere after much scouting and snooping around surfers. It had the licence we needed, it had the dimensions we wanted and it had the upstairs position we coveted. It also had a collapsed roof, a colorful stairway dweller and a pidgeon infestation. So it goes. defining moments There are defining moments in any venue’s Steve Aoki turned up fresh from New York with Tame Impala played one of their first public gigs What So Not, Alison Wonderland and Anna Lunoe history. headphones on and carrying a small suitcase that in the downstairs bar, to a very intimate and lucky all hosted prior to now significant international was playing an LP record inside. That night the early crowd – it’s always a thrill to be a launchpad fame. Fame or infamy, it is only an illusion. We relied cement slab floor was actually rippling. He stage for talent in this way. on a blurring of boundaries as long as they dived repeatedly off the DJ booth and vowed it Kolsch’s impromptu longplay set, hopping on the respected the rights of the individual and the was one of the best gigs he has ever played. And The Presets and Cut Copy double bill on a quiet mic and comparing the experience to the legend- furthering of culture. he has done the lot. Thursday, before they blew up, with 40 people in ary Panorama Bar in Berlin. the room. Refusing Paris Hilton a roped off VIP area was a The Strokes having a cocktail at the bar, Sneaky The launch of Bag Raiders “shooting stars” still marker in time for us. The idea of allowing that Sound System doing an impromptu sneaky Jimmy and Hugo’s first ever performance as bringing down the house and going viral again in violated our belief that walking into the venue show, infamous surfers from Mick fanning to Flight Facilities was their maiden voyage event at 2017. meant equality and so we had to refuse. We Taj Burrows in for a beer, Arj Barker loving the elsewhere. never understood the idea that any famous per- Every artist who has become an advocate for space for a comedy performance. Wolfmother, The three-day extravaganza that was the else- son could be more important than our regulars the venue to the community, industry and media Bleeding Knees, early Cut Copy and Presets were where 10th birthday, with performers and friends who support us week in week out. over the journey, both here and overseas. milestones. We could never have afforded these from all around the country. bands in their full blown success and have man- It simply was not a big deal to have Metallica Being nominated for 9 national industry awards aged to help launch some on their way to super The epic Seth Troxler 5 hour marathon set, only cutting shapes on the flashing dance floor. There has been a highlight, winning Best Music from the stardom. Bang Gang, the Light Year Christmases, to be outlasted a short time later by Dirtybird’s was a lack of mob mentality that sprang from illustrious Bartender Magazine gave us a sense of Draculas staff. Family. Justin Martin’s 7 hour megathon. giving people their own respect. Peaches had pride of place, topped off with winning in 2017 a long groove without being hassled and loved Flume performing live before his profile went The Van She party of 2008 featuring our good Best Live Music Venue in the Gold Coast Music every minute. gangbusters. friend and sorely missed supporter Ajax. Awards. the co-founders elsewhere is an established venture involving Simone and Benny, who met in Melbourne when Benny owned and operated onesixone, a high profile 24 hour lounge bar in Chapel Street. Deciding to join forces, so began the search for a new project closer to the sun and warmer weather. Benny Roney • Worked for Melbourne’s best Melbourne” three years running. • Worked with Peter Raff from One operators (Brian Goldsmith, infa- Onesixone also featured in numer- Love Setting up a Sunday recovery mous in the Melbourne nightclub ous magazines, such as Bartender • Hosted parties for Sportsgirl, Roy, scene, Marios at Continental, and Australian Style. Carlo Colossimo at Lounge) as Bettina Liano • Developed onesixone into a doorman and host • Involved local talent from platform for artists and had • Set up Ninety Seven with Simon Swinburne University in graphic regular exhibitions – Phil Castle design Johnson in Fitzroy Street, St Kilda. (Collette Dinningan’s in-house Area renown as nasty and lowbrow photographer) • Regularly employed the award at the time. Won top 10 best cafes winning talents of Damn Fine in Melbourne from the Age. • Hosted fashion parades at one- foods catering company. sixone for: Fat 52 (labels stocked: • Was chairman of the street com- Monk, Jaine, Bonny Scurry, and • Collaborated with Peril from 1200 mittee for the St Kilda Festival.