Intimate gigs, big impact

On the outskirts of Richmond one of New Zealand’s best community music venues has been quietly developing, providing thousands of Nelsonians with high-quality acts, and touring musicians with an amazingly intimate performance space. The brainchild of Geoff and Sheree Sherlock, Room Twenty5 has attracted high-quality acts like Anika Moa, Greg Johnson and Julia Deans, and top New Zealand comedians, Andre King and Nick Rado. So how did this come about, what is the vision, and how have the nearly 60 house concerts so far been managed? Justin Eade meets the people beind it.

Geoff Sherlock is a man brimming with positivity and Kiwi can-do attitude, having started and managed numerous successful businesses, along with his wife Sheree. The two of them complement each other’s skills, both in business and in giving back to the community they are so fond of.

Geoff moved to Nelson from Palmerston North when he was young and grew up in Nelson, attending Waimea College. After a stint away for university, he returned and just loves the interconnectivity of the community here. Sheree was born and raised in Bedford in the UK and moved to New Zealand 23 years ago for her OE, meeting Geoff through a mutual friend. They live with their children Macy, 16, and Jake, 13, at their ever-expanding compound at 25 McShane Road.

Room Twenty5 is one of the Sherlocks’ many ‘outbuildings’—a large shed converted to a mini-concert area, complete with PA system, green room, and a beautifully designed and decorated stage area for performers. It started after Geoff went to a house concert in town years ago and thought, ‘this is awesome, but we could do it even better.’

Geoff says their property lends itself to house concerts. “We’re isolated from neighbours; we don’t really have anyone to annoy.”

The type of concerts they do are not the loud, raucous kind anyway, and they’ve never once had a noise complaint.

The Sherlocks say initially their motivation was wanting to put some gigs on and play music themselves, but it’s become more about giving back to the community, done purely for enjoyment.

“I think the way to describe what we’ve generated is it’s like a place for music lovers and a place for musicians. It brings people together and it’s quite rewarding to see artists enjoying the space, and it’s also rewarding for us to see people coming and enjoying the space. It’s just creating that place where people feel they belong and are part of it,” Sheree says.

“It’s really humbling how much people appreciate it,” adds Geoff. “That’s where the truest magic sprinkle powder comes in, when the intent is really pure. It’s just to have nice times and do something interesting… it’s not coloured by any other motive.”

Greg Johnson, Anika Moa, Julia Deans, Jason Kerrison, Rikki Morris, Jan Hellriegel, and Mel Parsons are just some of the performers to take the stage.
“Anika would probably be the most show-stopping one we’ve had here because she’s a stand-up comedian basically… she has no filter, and she just came out and laid into everybody from the first moment,” Geoff says.

Jason Kerrison has performed three shows and will be coming back again this year. Over summer, Milan Borich of Pluto and Ben King of Goldenhorse visited, and Avalanche City will play on March 15.

They have been in touch with people like Don McGlashen and Jon Toogood from Shihad, but Geoff says they consider themselves to be a venue for the working musician who’s still peddling their wares. Playing at Room Twenty5 is not like being in a pub where there’s a lot of chat and distractions. “It’s a small, intimate venue for listening audiences and for performers who want that,” Geoff says.

“There’s word of mouth through the musicians and their networks, they’re all talking, and are like, ‘you should go and play there…’ It’s really lovely, the feedback we get,” Sheree adds.

Geoff and Sheree aim to shelter the artists from most costs usually associated with touring a small town so they can comfortably do a smaller gig in a more intimate environment. Geoff says he was really surprised early on how little musicians make and how hard it is for them to make a living. The couple will usually pick the artists up from the airport and accommodate and feed them, so there’s little cost for them once they arrive. The artists ticket the gigs and the Sherlocks share the link, so they’re not handling any of the money. All of the ‘door’ goes to the artists—a fairly unique situation.

Geoff says feedback from performers has been great. “Mel Parsons used the word ‘care,’ and I think that’s it. We’ve done it so often now, there’s never any holes, and we’ve always got every angle covered, which makes for a much more relaxing experience for the performers.”

“I think they find it relaxing and homely. They come in here, sit round the table, meet the kids, have a coffee, have breakfast; sometimes they’re jumping on the trampoline with the kids… they’re like part of the family while they’re here,” Sheree says.

So who are some of the key collaborators helping the Sherlocks run Room Twenty5? Bo Ade-Simpson has been key to the development, helping out with sound quality and running the desk. Robbie Sissons specced the PA system—he really knows his stuff and helps out enormously too.

“Both Robbie and Bo have been a big part of Room Twenty5,” says Geoff. “And Neville Claughton, aka ‘Mr Music,’ helped us tremendously in the early days, lending us his gear. Local band Sun City Soul also helped raise money for equipment.”

Audio quality is really important, and all of the artists comment on the fact the sound is superb. Sheree says timewise, Room Twenty5 isn’t all-consuming.
“We do a gig maybe once a month and it’s sort of game on for a day or so setting up, and then the clean-up… but apart from that, it’s just the social media presence and sharing.”

Sheree will usually run the door, meeting everyone as they come in and doing house-rules, and Geoff runs the setup of the venue and introduces the acts. Geoff says though sometimes the thank-you’s are directed at him, the truth is that from very early on, Sheree’s done most of the promotion and hospitality, whereas he would liaise with the artists and start three days before the event with setting up the venue.

Each gig has a story, so it’s important to get up and set the scene, introducing the acts.

In terms of satisfaction and community involvement, the venue plays a larger part in the Sherlocks’ lives. “I guess the true proof of that is we’ve done nearly 60 of these events now and we don’t take money from them, so we must enjoy it!” Geoff says.

However, they don’t want to do more than about five shows a year now and they want those to be ‘can’t say no’ acts. Geoff says it’s a bit sad as they get emails from groups and people wanting to perform, but if they’re not going to generate sufficient interest from the public, they have to draw the line somewhere.

Although it’s mainly music, the Sherlocks also have other types of gigs through the venue, including stand-up comedians. They met established comedian Andre King who lives in Nelson, and he pitched doing comedy nights there and they’ve filmed a few, including Nick Rado’s US comedy special.

“We want to have different things here. We’ll totally entertain the idea of comedy, theatre or key-note speakers. We had Freddie Silver, an amazing international speaker. As long as we think it’s interesting…”

Opening their home to so many strangers has been a positive experience for Sheree and Geoff. “I like to do the door because I like to see who’s coming in, and I can always spot the newbies. People are like, ‘are we in the right place?’ The toilet’s inside the house. A lot of people will come who haven’t been before and go, ‘wow, this is someone’s house.’ It’s nice; they’re all so kind and positive about it,” Sheree says.

As well as some great new friendships, they have both always been passionate about music, with Geoff playing guitar and Sheree learning drums. To have it set up permanently means they can go in there and practice any time, and Geoff has been fortunate to play guitar with Jason Kerrison and Greg Johnson.

When they first moved in, Sheree remembers sitting out on the deck, looking out and thinking, this place is for entertaining. At the time, they didn’t know what that would look like, but they felt the need to create some kind of space for gathering. That vision became Room Twenty5, and for Sheree, it’s heart-warming to watch everyone enjoying the space.

“It’s nice to be able to create an area where people can come and enjoy things and relax. It’s very rewarding seeing the musicians coming and playing, seeing it all up close and ‘back-stage,’ as it were,” Sheree says.

“For me, when we bought this place, it was just a paddock and house and a shed, and now seeing it fully transformed into a built-up area with lots of people there, the fire going, and people are smiling and applauding, you think… yeah, this is good,” Geoff reflects.

Geoff says to pick the artists up from the airport and hear about the last show or hear the story about such and such a time… “that part of it is really cool.”

A really cool intimate little venue built up with great care, which shelters artists.

That seems like it might be a fitting tribute to Room Twenty5 and the awesome people who have built it into what it is—a real gem for the whole community and a major blessing for performers from all around New Zealand.