I first walked into the bar when it was just Monkey and Jerome working there. I asked Jerome to see if I could do some art in the space and he was down with it. Then we all became friends, and just hung out and organized installations. We’d invite down all the artists that we worked with, and were friends with, to do stuff and it grew organically from there — there were the Everfresh boys, Monkey, Two, Bonsai, and heaps more.
We had open reign to do whatever we wanted, and we enjoyed it. We got to paint a big wall and it was actually the real hub for all those other places like Hosier Lane… they were more commercialized, trying to cash-in on the scene while the St. Jerome’s wall was actually just people enjoying it and painting. Which is probably why it was high quality art.
We’d only invite people who were good. We were very strict about that; we wouldn’t let people paint unless they had approval. When Rancho Notorious opened up that kind of formalised everything; we’d organize who was going to paint where and have a bit of a calendar of what was going to happen. Before that, people would just rock up, drink free beers and paint a wall.
Rancho used to be some shitty op-shop next door that was never open because a crazy lady who never came in owned it. When she moved out Jerome picked up the lease. He couldn’t do anything with it because he didn’t have a licence, so he handed it over to us. It was fun, but it was a bit of a nightmare because Jerome kept hiring some new chick each week that he’d bumped into and make them manager. Then we’d have to rock up and there’d be doilies and shit product everywhere. But apart from that it was cool. Mainly we sold paint so we could subsidise all the walls, and paint for free. We didn’t know what we were doing. We were just having a good time. But then everyone started getting more professional, selling things and learning how to run a business.
The community was the best part. Having a place where you could hang out with your friends and get free drinks in what was really just an extension of your lounge room. A lot of guys got their start there, Two was one for sure, and he’s doing really great things now.