While many venues may resort to party bands and DJ’s for their weekend entertainment, there are still a bunch of local venues which enjoy showcasing the local talent, along with providing the city with popular mainland acts in a variety of musical genres.

The Gunners Arms Tavern is one of these venues. Pub owner Adrian Singline runs the business with his wife, and says that they enjoy putting on shows, giving local musicians a creative outlet but also catering for the masses.

“Under 25’s – 25-30 year olds can’t afford to go out three or four nights a week. So we have four or five bands, one night, once a month – not having something all the time makes it easier and worthwhile for the punters,” Singline said.

The Gunners Arms welcomes bands and artists from genres across the spectrum with open arms.

“We seem to host a lot of metal nights, and they are great to deal with – nobody causes any havoc even the rowdy bands, just people out to enjoy music,” Singline said.

The hard work however, can be getting some of the big mainland acts to play in Launceston, as many seem to make a bypass straight to the state’s capital.

“I personally email a few bands especially ones from Melbourne – it is a bit hard in Launceston to get good acts here, mainland bands often fly in and fly out of Hobart, and forget about Launceston,” Singline said.

When it comes to local musicians, it can be heard to catch a break. Some great local acts have been able to achieve some recent success such as Luca Brasi and Save the Clock Tower, but all bands have to start somewhere.

Local music venues allow bands to be able to get to that next step, Singline said that it can be even harder for alternative and metal bands to get to break through, as they don’t get radio play as easily.

“There is a lot of music popping up now, home grown music – there will always be a place for cover bands and party bands – we are only small and it’s nice to have an outlet for musos to come and play,” he said.

There are local bands playing at various venues across the city every weekend – why not get out and support the local music scene.