The Group: Choir of Man
The Venue: Darwin Railway Club, Parap
One night only
Tonight, I got to see inside a Darwin institution - the Darwin Railway Club.
Of the more difficult things about being a FIFO is you're at the mercy of what's about you in the city - you need some local knowledge to get the best of the city. You're also resigned to taking taxis and ubers everywhere if it's more than 15 minutes' walk away. And unlike Melbourne or Sydney, which have Instagram pages galore touting the next best thing, this information is thinner on the group.
This is where my old friend from university comes in. Hayley's a Darwin local and a thoroughly good egg. We've not caught up for a while, and when she suggested going to see the Choir of Man, I jumped at the chance to going somewhere different.
The Railway Club is a Darwin standard away from the backpackers and drunks of Mitchell Street, tucked away in the nearby suburb of Parap (which is close to one of the offices I regularly work out of). It started life as a worker's club for the men working on the Darwin to Tennant Creek railway, but since 1974 it's been a live music venue, tucked away in the back streets, with an epic beer garden and a small stage for small gigs. It's grouse. Also, from what I can see, it closes early on school nights so the neighbours don't get annoyed.
Hayley and I turned up early, to catch up and to witness the support act. The tattooed fellow on the stage was belting out songs. His band, The Gooch Palms, is a punk band. He was a bit more melodic, though he mentioned going into his last song that this cover was not the version the band did - we would have been pleased to see that.
Next on were two guys with guitars called The Malarkeys. I will admit that Hayley and I caught up during their set. They were fine. They could sing, but it wasn't earth-shattering.
Slowly, the venue filled up.
One thing I love about going out to these smaller venues is that they are very inclusive. There are kids spinning around on the dance floor, dogs roaming around the place (The Darwin Club has a resident Chihuahua Cross named Sid, who likes to greet everybody on entry. The crowd is mixed and varied - or maybe, it could be the act we were there to see.
Choir of Man is just that - a group of middle-aged Darwin men who sing. At one of their performances at last year's festival, they performed, and they tended a barbeque, handing out sausages to the crowd.
And they can sing.
Hayley pointed out of few of the men on stage. Pointing at one fellow, she said, "I've worked with him, EGM of Cyber Security." Of another, "He's been playing bars for years. Went to school with him." And it went on. All of them in their best Darwin casual (t-shirt and long shorts) Those without song sheets in their hand were sporting a glass of red wine.
The Choir has been going for twelve years, with a few stalwarts and an ever-changing line up. For the obvious stalwarts, their musicianship was on display.
The great thing about the Choir of Man is they all looked like they were having a good time. And they can sing. Okay, some players are a bit stronger that the others, but the main singers were excellent, performing a mix of Australian covers and original songs. I particularly liked 'Beer and Nicotine'.
There were a lot of Northern Territory themed songs, some Paul Kelly and Missy Higgins classics.
In all, it was a very entertaining night. It was good fun to watch them scramble for an encore song. We were told that they had books of songs that they's performed once and let them go as they thought they were shit,
They weren't shit.
I'm also utterly grateful for having a friend or two up here with some local knowledge who's shown me some wonderful Darwin standards.
And as I was telling Hayley, I've got a colleague who loves live music - he would have loved this.
It's also wonderful to see a group of middle-aged me doing something other than tinkering in their sheds, drinking beer or playing golf.
It's all rather inspiring.
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