With La De Da in Belconnen ready to celebrate their 3rd Birthday this Friday, OutInCanberra had a chat with George from electronic duo Mondecreen, and Mitch from local fashion label Perpetually Five to discuss the importance of the bar to the local music, arts and design communities.
What has La De Da done for the Canberra creative community?
George: The biggest thing is its openness to let people in to do what that love. I think that’s the biggest thing Aaron has done. He’s given people a space to do whatever tickles their fancy – so long it’s of quality.
Mitch: So much! There are so many events. Even these birthday events are amazing! When I first got in touch with La De Da as I started fashion, Aaron was happy to host our graduate afterparty. He’s been really supportive of the Canberra fashion industry.
G: He’s willing to take a risk. Some places worry that there might be a bad performance, but this shouldn’t be the case at all… and Aaron’s really lead this in Canberra.
M: It’s the creative hub in Canberra, and everyone that goes along supports the featured artists in whatever their style of expression might be. I mean, the whole venue is covered in local art!
What’s the most amazing experience you’ve had at La De Da?
G: I think it’s the fact that La De Da is on the water. When summer hits and the weather is warm Aaron opens up the big windows and let’s the lake view connect with the interior… there’s a summer breeze and it’s beautiful. On days like this La De Da is the most incredible place to play a gig.
M: The last birthday for me. It was where I first showed off my fashion. That led to Suzan Dlouhy and me going on to create the uniforms for both Ha Ha Bar and La De Da. It was a great way to explore the venue, as we used some of the graf-art as a basis for our prints.
Other than that, watching what other do, has inspired me to be more creative and to help push the community forward.
Mitch – you designed the uniforms for the staff. What did that mean to you?
M: To be asked this was amazing – especially as this was our first commissioned work. It was a whole new style of production for us, and because of that we took longer than we thought it would. Aaron was really supportive though, and helped us get through the creative process without putting too much pressure on. That way we got a great result!
George – as a performer, what does La De Da represent?
Well, it’s where we started! We weren’t even sure if we were really going to focus on doing music.
This was about a year ago, and other venues just didn’t feel right. They were more oppressive and the crowd wasn’t as responsive or open as we might have liked. As soon as we walked into La De Da though, we thought, “Wow, this is really cool.” We knew the crowd would be interested in what we were trying to do.
It’s the openness I spoke of earlier – and I really think that’s beginning to make its way through Canberra and slowly into other venues.
What are you looking forward to on Friday?
M: I’ve got a couple of models wandering around in my designs, and Rob van Aalst will be rapping while in some of my clothes. I’m going to make my own outfit out of my face! I got some fabric printed with me on it, and I’ll be making that into pants and a shirt so I ‘ll put that on while I do a DJ set. It’s going to be great fun!
G: That’s great! I’ll be having a beer and having a dance… That’s what La De Da is all about!
Scrambled – La De Da’s 3rd Birthday is an amazing celebrations of arts and music. Get down to their beautiful Emu Bank location in Belconnen this Friday to be apart of a massive party. Doors open at 5.00pm.
Click here for more information.
