Nambour: Rusty and Cherry Nyman are two roses among the thorns of the Sunshine Coast’s male-heavy music industry.

The mother-daughter business duo are behind the region’s newest live music venue, The Presynct Venue & Bar, which opened last month to a sell-out crowd, and is an incubator and hive for some of the region’s most niche music genres.

The two sonic business women are no strangers to the game with Cherry being raised on a solid dose of home-grown music and festival life.

“Cherry’s dad was in (rock band) Geisha in the 80s,” Rusty, 48, said.

“They toured with Pseudo Echo. We had a recording studio at home.

“Cherry has grown up with musicians coming in and out of the home. Her dad is a really good musician, we used to do events in the 90s.”

The theme of family runs deep for the Nambour visionaries who live together in the child-hood family home.

“We’re both insomniacs,” Cherry, 27, said.

“We thought we may as well have something fun to do while we’re up.”

Rusty is a born nurturer: she’s trained as a teacher and is now steering the talent of the Coast’s thriving underground music scene.

She reminisced about a recent moment with a fledgling music lover who came seeking community and set his eyes on the decks at a recent open mic night.

Picture: Co-owners of The Presynct, Rusty and Cherry Nyman, have joined Nambour music royalty.

“We have industry standard decks and they can give it a go. They might not have had the chance in life. 

“After 20 mins of playing, he got it. He was so incredible.

“He brought his mum in and she sent me a text saying thank you so much for helping my boy.

“This kid has probably been sitting in his bedroom; where else can someone else give him a chance?

“I think it might be my toxic trait, watching people grow. He was just beautiful.”

Rusty wants to connect with local schools to forge a plan so music students can gain valuable industry experience at the venue.

“In our five year plan, I’d love to talk to the schools. I see this place a place as somewhere you can learn.

“We’ve got a real family here now and that’s what we really wanted.”

They say they are “winging it” on the daily as pioneers of Council’s Special Entertainment Precinct (SEP) – set up to make Nambour great again and reclaim its former title as the Coast’s music capital.

When Rusty heard that Council was giving incentives to businesses wanting to open live music venues, she jumped on the opportunity.

“Nambour: it’s crying out for it,” she said.

“I’m on the steering committee, and we meet once a month. We’ve been a guinea pig for ourselves.”

Nambour was the one of the first SEP’s in Queensland, with Fortitude Valley and Southport also creating precincts of their own.

“This is our baby. It takes a whole village to raise a child and we can’t raise our venue on our own. We need the community to tell us what they want.”

In the past month, The Presynct has been a “who’s-who” of local industry greats such as Dellacoma, Nuffin’ Butta, Sailing In Space, In2nation, Chamber Lane, Ampersand, Jack Raymond and Jay Bishoff.

Picture: Hip-Hop Haven was recently held at The Presynct.

Rusty has dreamt of opening a bar since making a pact with a childhood bestie.

“We were like 15 and thought it would be amazing to run a bar and live our dream.

“We’ve followed each other’s lives. He went and did the dream, running several bars in London.”

And now Rusty can say she’s doing the same.

But it hasn’t been an easy run for these two, with their first venue shut down following an eight month lease at Curry Street in 2019.

“It’s an old theatre and we were restoring it. The space needed too much money, it an old historic building.”

After encountering a series of setbacks, Rusty and Cherry decided to buy the current venue at Ann Street, meaning they’re here to stay.

And it’s all about making original music.

“No cover songs,” Rusty said.

“We’re not doing this for money, this is about a safe space. We don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves to any genre.”

“We’re letting the community dictate what they want.”

Since they opened, there’s been a steady stream of acts including; steam punk circus, punk, metal, jazz, reggae, hip-hop, beat-boxing, EDM, glitch-hop, folk, folk rock and hard rock.

Picture: Chamber Lane featured as our cover story last week. They performed at The Presynct in Nambour on Friday night. Watch out for our review tomorrow!

“We haven’t had country and classic,” Rusty said.

But she will be changing that, with Rusty waxing lyrical about how she will fill her new space with classical music.

Rusty is a musician in her own right, learning piano from age four and taking up to grade eight in AMEB classical music.

“I played a lot of things when Cherry was a baby. Handpan is my instrument now. It looks like a wok or a spaceship. I write my own music and use a synthesiser keyboard. It’s just a hobby.”

Rusty is the over-arching creative visionary and Cherry runs the bar and business.

“You’re the social and creativity,” Cherry said.

“Cherry is the business management and makes the executive decisions,” Rusty said.

This isn’t the first rodeo for the industry savvy pair who have been running music events such as the PSY-Day Night Social in Noosa for lovers of PSY trance, drum and bass, and techno.

And Cherry is the perfect accompaniment to helping her mum, who she calls “Rusty”, with artwork for posters, and managing the business end such as bookings and orders.

Both self-confessed sufferers of ADHD, Rusty and Cherry have juggled two jobs to bring their dream to fruition.

But it’s been a labour of love especially for Rusty who has spent thousands of hours renovating.

Cherry said the venue concept was just “an extension of our house”.

If you stand in front of the bar head-on you can see Rusty’s vision of a vintage hot air balloon stylistically imprinted on the ceiling.

The place has a retro regal look and is decked out in steam punk art deco.

There’s magenta, teal and peacock flavours.

“The gold ceiling was like painting with a melted Crunchie bar,” Rusty said.

“We were working up until the night before. Shane and Brett were the builders and Jace was our sparky. They’re all creatives and understand music.

“They were able to run with my crazy ideas.”

Rusty said music was integral in healing the community.

“You’re enjoying the same thing no matter your race, your age, your sex. You can turn to the person beside you and feel like you’ve known them a lifetime.

“People who you would never think are in the room together – are.

“We’ve got the most eclectic bunch in here.”

Rusty and Cherry want you to feel at home at The Prescynt.

“If you can’t immerse yourself in the arts, how can you be free?” Cherry said.

“Music and sound is so much a part of what we do.

“It’s a medication for mental health.”

Don’t miss the creator of Elements Festival Trenton play at The Presynct on December 2.

The Presynct is at 15 Ann Street, Nambour, Sunshine Coast. Web: https://www.facebook.com/thepresynct/.