Red Bennies is an exciting new live music venue, premiere cocktail bar, and arts and cultural hub. Catering to those with an interest in underground culture Red Bennies plays host to the full spectrum of performing arts including music (from funk and soul to jazz, hip hop and disco), cabaret, circus and burlesque, as well as film and visual arts.

Previously the notorious Viper Room, Red Bennies is a collaboration between a group of young owners with a shared history in music of all genres; Chris Mitchell who ran Melbourne’s longest running breaks/drum&bass/hip hop weekly club night ‘Fractured’ and writes and directs short films; Garrath Holt who has managed bars all over the world including on luxury Caribbean tour boats and who has won gold in the prestigious Martinique Bar Flare Awards three years running with a cocktail of his invention, the ‘Creole Ti Holt’; and Daniel Teuma who has been responsible for many of the international dance music and electro acts playing at major venues and festivals in Australia each year.

Designed as a rich, multi-layered venue, Red Bennies will be unique on the south side of the river, and a return to the bohemian, artistic flavour of the area in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Owner Chris Mitchell believes that for too long Chapel Street and the south side of the city has been starved of the kind of live music scene found in the city and in Melbourne’s north. ‘We are confident Red Bennies will play a big role in filling that void and developing the scene south-side. Red Bennies will be a home for quality live music, performance art and visual art, a space for art with roots in soul, jazz, funk, circus, cabaret and street culture.’

With a refit by renowned Melbourne street artist and designer, Kano (The Worker’s Club) Red Bennies aesthetic comes from classic art deco theatres and cocktail bars. The single room space is fitted in dark timber with burnt orange and amber walls, and flocked wall panels set against the sweeping curtained stage. Upholstered seats in the intimate, tiered booths dotted around the perimeter of the room are available by reservation.

The venue has a capacity of 200 people with four bars, including one with a huge outdoor area overlooking Chapel Street, as well as an open mezzanine level facing the stage. The multi-level platforms and raised seating in the style of traditional jazz clubs, allows patrons to view bands, DJs and performances from any location within the venue and offer the perfect environment to take in twisted circus show or get loose to a rambunctious jazz band.