the open door

The Open Door was in a pretty seedy part of Brisbane.    It was in an abandoned warehouse in the derelict part of Turbot Street, backing onto the Railway Yards, with a laneway running down the side where the bands would bring their gear in through the side entrance directly into the main hall.      As it stood it was a very shabby interior.      But when the bands started playing all that was ignored for the amazing music that was created. Haydn had counselling rooms,  a small cafe (very small),  offices upstairs, and the main hall which was to most people THE OPEN DOOR.      I would think I could pretty much say that most people that attended the Open Door had no idea of the amount of counselling that was performed in that centre.    It was not a licenced venue,   mainly because it was a Under 21 venue,  and in Queensland at that time the drinking age was 21.    It would never have been a licenced venue because Haydn would not have allowed alcohol to be sold there.

He collaborated with others and the Friday Night Venue (Mothers) was established.  The Friday night sessions were mainly the Blues bands such as Colored Balls, Ice Bag's Party, The Living End, Chain,  Brown Sugar, Gentle Art,  LTD Blues Band, Jeff St. John  and many more..........and along with Red Orb provided a perfect stage for the Blues Invasion of Brisbane town.      Blues seemed to be almost the anti political statement in the city of Brisbane.      It was the most popular of the nights at the Open Door and became legendary along with the Red Orb as a venue for great bands.    Lobby Lloyd and Mick Hadley were two of the most supportive of this concept.    They were happy to play there for very little monetary reward just to make sure that this venue  was a great place to be.     Their respect for Haydn and what he was doing was enormous and went a long way to making the venue successful.    Both would have lots of chats with Haydn and the respect was a two-way street.

  As kids started to arrive at the Door any time on Saturday looking for something to do,  he saw another opening.........mainly for the very new musos who were starting out in a pretty competitive market dominated by a very crooked agent.      The thing with Haydn was,   he saw a need,  and filled it.      Saturday Sessions were established within a very short time. 

 

Saturday Sessions was his "baby".     He would often come and just mingle and watch and talk to the kids.        The sessions were such that the bands would arrive,  put their name on the list, get up and do "their thing"  using their own set list.   This was the perfect venue for the musos who were underage for other venues,   to  come along and perform..    Some of the bands who either started from the Open Door or performed at the Open Door were Michael Turner in Session,  Iron Web,  Green Pepper, World, Country Graveyard, Red Pepper,  Crosstown Traffic and more.      Any band that turned up minus a player would have that void quickly filled by any of the musos in the room.       


 Each muso would be paid $1.50 per person, from memory,  mainly because I would get that money every Friday arvo.     Every kid playing  would get up do their set and then watch every other band.   Nobody left the Open Door till the last note was played. It was a learning curve for the young players and often their introduction to their first paying gig.     It was Haydns philosophy that every person would be paid so that they would know their worth and not play at venues for nothing.    I remember asking John Hannay and Brian Heggarty to come and check out bands on a Saturday.    Both, to their credit, did that.      It was another way to introduce the Agents to the bands in a safe environment.       Both agents had enormous respect for Haydn Sargent.    Neither were involved in the Open Door on any level.     Brian Heggarty would throw a band Haydns way for the Friday night gigs and Saturday night gigs when he could and rarely charged him a fee.   The dreaming that was done in that room by the young musos was electric.......the "what ifs" became "let's have a go".      The mentoring of the new young guys  "having their go"  by the more experienced musos was a joy to see.     

After these two sessions were established,  the Saturday night disco was started.      This was very much a pop venue on a Saturday night.    Another night that was farmed out to new young Entrepreneurs.      So not only was Haydn giving the musos a "red hot go" but he was also encouraging the young guys to run the venue.      Saturday nights showcased bands like State of Mind, Zoot,  Faze II , Capitol Show Band, Max Merritt,  and Michael Turner (not too shabby)

Sunday evolved into a Jazz Session in the afternoon and  Folk sessions at night.      This seemed to keep in with Haydns beliefs that Sunday was a day of rest.
It was , to my knowledge, the only  venue to provide a place for every music genre. 

 

The political climate of the time made it hard work to keep the Open Door safe.  Musos were pulled up by police every other day, just for having long hair and V8 style cars.         Joh Bjelke Petersen had a small amount of respect for Haydn because of his religious standing in the community,   but that did not help the Open Door to any great extent.     We were in the era of Undercover Police,  who actually stood out quite easily in their Hawaiin style shirts.  The game for us was to pick out the "undercover cop" and let him know that we knew exactly who he was.     Some of the guys to their credit were embarrassed to be there but most of them were so power hungry that they were intent on causing as much grief as they possible could.   They were the undercover drug squad police and they could be brutal.     The Open Door was raided so many times I could not put a figure on it.     Arrests of staff were made on two different occasions, for absolutely no reason.     The raid would leave the offices in disarray and  there was never anything found.........It was a hard time to be creative and achieve.

As a venue THE OPEN DOOR nurtured and encouraged young people to go someway to achieving their dreams.   Not all took the "high road" and Mothers was under quite a few different people over the journey.     When you talk to some of those  guys now who started their careers at the Open Door ,  they always remember the venue with the greatest of affection and gratitude for their start in the music industry....   DJ's,  Sound Guys, Entrepeneurs, Band Managers,  and musicians all were given a "safe environment" to practice their craft and hone their skills (both in life and music) and while all this was happening......Haydn Sargent continued on with his life work of 'MAKING A DIFFERENCE".        The OPEN DOOR  was not just a venue it was a STEP UP INTO LIFE