Behind a painted red, blue and yellow 1900s-era shopfront, an indie-pop band called Little Guilt is stepping onto a small stage framed with velvet curtains. They’re launching their new single to a sweaty throng of 20-somethings at Mojos Bar on a Saturday night in North Fremantle. It’s a scene reminiscent of Berlin, or perhaps even Austin: a heady blur of mullets, moustaches and midriffs, pool table flirtation, graffitied toilets and hazy conversations, surrounded by crumbling paint likely older than the punters themselves.
This fresh-faced crowd mightn’t know it, but they’re standing on hallowed turf for Western Australian music. Since the late 1960s, Mojos has been a testing ground for some of the country’s (and the world’s) most loved bands including homegrown icons Tame Impala, the Triffids, the Farriss Brothers (who later became INXS), Pond, Jebediah, Spacey Jane, John Butler, Abbe May, San Cisco and too many others to name.
“It’s a good old fashioned bandroom,” says James Legge, managing director of Triple-1-Three, which owns the 200-capacity venue. “It’s not polished by any means, there’s a few chips and cracks around the place, but there’s layers of history in these walls – it’s what gives Mojos its atmosphere.”
Perhaps what’s even more remarkable than the bands who’ve played here is the story of the venue itself – its evolution (and survival) over more than 50 years.
In the late 60s it had a turn as the Noggin Shop, and then became the Stoned Crow from the 70s right up till the 90s. Described by one punter as “small, dark and a bit grotty”, it was known for its $2.50 Sunday roasts, middies of Kirup syrup (fermented fruit and vegetables) and for platforming the cream of the local scene, from the Triffids to the Scientists.
In 1998, it was purchased by Phil Stevens, a music promoter and artist manager, and his wife, Anna Chiovitti. They gutted its interiors, installing new staging and red velvet curtains which are still there to this day, and renamed the venue Mojos.
It was a “golden era”, according to Stevens, with raucous themed parties, “moody Tuesdays” dedicated to funk and soul, comedy nights and well-attended gigs most nights of the week – including the likes of Archie Roach, Tim Rogers and the Waifs.
“There was this beautiful nucleus of people who would come down and treat the bar as an extension of their home,” says Stevens. “Our first complaint was somebody asking if the bar staff could stop hugging so much! There was just a lovely vibe that generated from the bar outwards.”
When Phil saw a dreadlocked bloke named John Butler busking at Fremantle markets, he knew he’d found something special. He set up a Wednesday night residency for the California-born singer-songwriter at Mojos, before taking his music to the world.
“The place to me is legendary for so many reasons,” says Butler. “It’s where I cut my teeth on an actual stage, where I launched my first album, and where I met Phil Stevens, who became my manager for the last 25 years.”
Like Butler, Mojos has been an essential part of Abbe May’s career: “I’ve played there, at a guesstimate, maybe 50 times now,” she says. It’s the sense of community that keeps drawing her back.
“Mojos has this kind of unstoppable regenerative force – it’s constantly evolving,” she says. “But it has managed to retain this essence that hasn’t changed. It’s unpretentious and very fun and you know you’ll be treated with respect.”
May dissolves into laughter, recalling a gig where she decorated the stage in dried chicken bones: “I don’t know what I was thinking, but they are so open to experimentation at Mojos – I’ve always developed interesting sets and sounds and visuals there.”
For Fremantle-bred indie-rock band San Cisco, Mojos has been an enduring touchstone since they founded in 2009, when lead singer Jordi Davieson was still in high school. The band’s drummer, Scarlett Stevens, is the daughter of Mojos founders Stevens and Chiovitti.
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“My dad used to take me there to watch a few songs after dinner when I was a little kid,” Davieson says. “There are pictures of Scarlett walking across the bar when she must have been four or five.”
“Fastforward a decade and a bit and Mojos isn’t only one of our favourite venues to play at but also a frequent haunt of ours to play pool, drink Swan [Draught] and connect with our fellow Fremantle musicians.”
In recent years, Mojos has expanded its offering to include more DJ sets and themed events like the popular Smoked Trout queer party – a necessary step to future-proof the venue in a tenuous market, says Legge.
“With cost-of-living pressures and a more moderate approach to drinking among youth, people are spending less in the venue, so we’re having to look into diversified revenue sources like non-alcoholic drinks and food, as well as a varied program that appeals to all ages,” he says.
A handful of Perth’s live music venues closed during the pandemic, and Mojos came close in 2020 – but it was saved by a fundraising campaign that raised more than $66,000.
When Triple-1-Three purchased Mojos in 2021, they did so knowing they’d be able to steward the venue through any financial uncertainty. “We knew there’d be some rocky times, but we felt that Mojos had a lot of potential,” says Legge.
If the crowd at Little Guilt on a Saturday night is anything to go by, it looks as though Mojos will be kicking on for another few decades at least. “It just has this intangible feeling that you can’t find anywhere else,” says May. “It’s an iconic rock’n’roll venue, and it’s still pumping.”
“If there’s a good band playing, I’ll head back to Mojos,” says Phil Stevens. “It’s funny going back now because so much has changed but so much is the same. It’s still the same paint job we did 22 years ago.”
“I know we got it right the first time. It’s always been a venue for music lovers, and it still is.”