The following is a feature based on pub music. Enjoy!

It is Friday night and you are standing in a pub chatting with your best mate, twirling a coaster under your hand and taking regular sips from your beer. Then you hear the band play the unmistakable opening notes of Shania Twain’s “Man I feel like a woman.” Audible groans circulate around the room, however, by the time the first chorus rolls around the dance floor is filled.

“Its something I call a floor filler” says Scott Robson member of local Townsville band Two-iffik.

These “floor fillers” are usually geared toward the female half of the audience, “I find that if you keep the women happy they bring a good mood to the place.”

“You find the more women you get having a good time, then the guys will start having a good time,” he says.

Two-iffik is a regular fixture in the Townsville music scene, “I would describe us as a two man twenty piece band,” laughs Scott.

Two-iffik plays both outdoor gigs including festivals as well as regular pub gigs at both Irish Finnegan’s and The Cowboys League Club.

“We have been around Townsville for quite some time though, so we have pretty much played everywhere.”

When playing at these different venues, Scott says it is important to be aware of the audience.

“Finnegan’s is very much a party place so we will do 4 hours without a break. Cowboys Club is a different demographic altogether; the patrons tend to be middle aged so we tailor what we do for the specific crowd,” he says.

It is amazing how live music has continued to have a presence in local pubs and venues.

“Live entertainment brings a degree of uncertainty,” he says.

“The crowd does not really know what their going to get and there is a level of interaction that you don’t get from video or CD music,’

“I think live music also brings more of a focus. If you are just playing video music or CD music then there is no focal point for the bar itself,” Scott says.

When arriving at a venue the first thing Scott will do is “see whose there, what sort of crowd I have to work with.”

“If it is all blokes for example then you would probably play middle of the road pub rock, like Paul Kelly, the Eagles, that sort of stuff.”

It is clear that Two-iffik’s aims are to both entertain the crowd and give them a good night.

“I have been at venues where there have been a lot of fights and things as a result of the music they are playing,” says Scott.

“I find that most of the time they [the band playing] are appealing to their own ego and if they are not trying to work the crowd then what is the point of them being there,” he says.

When it comes to entertaining the crowd Scott does like to go all out.

Props like false teeth for country numbers, silly glasses when covering The Proclaimers and even doing a rendition of “The Rainbow Connection” with voices from The Muppets, have all been incorporated into Two-iffik’s act.

“You know it gets a laugh, and you keep people entertained. We try to entertain as much as we do perform,” says Scott.

It is this characteristic that has venues such as Irish Finnegan’s booking the band for 12 monthly increments.

“Two-iffik gets the best response” says Irish Finnegan’s manager Wayne Milne.

Similarly, Wayne also believes that live music is very important in creating an atmosphere at pubs and certainly prefers it over alternative forms, such as video music.

“People love live music, and the band selection brings a lot of people to the venue,” says Wayne.

“We have recently introduced a lounge band in the restaurant for people who want more laid back easy listening stuff as opposed to the bopper songs that are played in the public bar,” he says.

“We are trying to create two different atmospheres.”

“People are responding really well. The lounge band is drawing out its own crowd, and we are slowly but surely changing people’s idea of music,” says Wayne.

At Flynn’s Irish Bar in the city, live music is always a regular feature.

“That is why people come here, because we have live music. It’s what we are known for,” says Lynn Flynn, manager for the past eight years.

With live music appearing on the bill six nights a week, it is easy to see why Flynn’s is known for their live entertainment.

Acoustic jams are held every Tuesday night and Karaoke on Wednesdays, Thursday and Sunday have solo artists and full bands on Friday and Saturday night.

There have been some inevitable disasters over the years with P.A system failing just before a band started playing or worse.

“We had a band a few years ago that we nearly asked to stop because they were that bad,” she says.

Disasters aside, it is evident that live music will always be a venue’s preferred option for creating atmosphere and entertaining patrons.

This is good news for Townsville bands that rely on these venues for both monetary and sanity reasons.

“I can’t imagine not doing it. It would be like losing a limb,” says Scott.

Townsville pubs continue to be filled with patrons who are happy to be entertained by live musicians, even if they do play Shania Twain.