Kings Cross to welcome rock star royalty
Sydneysiders, brace yourselves, there's a new club on the Kings Cross block.
But it's more than just a club, it's a studio, and it's more than just a studio, it's an exclusive venue.
Not forgetting it's also a radio studio, a live social media hub ... tired yet? Try spending five minutes with the X Studio's energetic owner Ron Creevey.
Creevey, 42, has a background as an internet entrepreneur and creator of YuuZoo - a social media firm which recently listed on the Singapore stock exchange. He's had the idea for the X Studio for about a year.
It's a concept he hopes will bring the energy and spirit of Times Square in New York to the middle of Sydney.
"A studio of this sort of nature hasn't been ever built in Sydney," he tells AAP.
"I look down the street during the day and this view is very much a sort of Times Square moment," he says, while staring down William Street from his studio's vantage point, just below the iconic Kings Cross Coke sign.
Creevey's venture could return a little kudos to the Cross.
Once a hangout for musicians and rocks stars - particularly in the 1970s and 1980s - the area has become more synonymous in recent years with late-night clubbing and strip joints.
However, as the Cross has transformed into a noticeably quieter area since lockout laws were introduced in Sydney, the time seems ripe for a high-class venture to help restore the area to some of its former glory.
The X Studio will have a live-music venue, X54 (formerly Trademark nightclub), alongside an exclusive bar which Creevey says will be for music industry people to socialise in.
He also envisages A-list celebrities hanging out in a green-room area while they're using the studio to record, and popping in to greet the crowds partying at X54.
There's even a balcony equipped for live performance, where artists can have their "Beatles" moment.
"If they're out there, they can wave and hopefully there will be thousands of people outside there to receive that wave," he says.
It looks like a rock-star's playroom: there are Gibson guitars in a glass case, ready to be played. Likewise an electronic drum kit sits in the corner and there are state-of-the-art DJ decks on hand, along with an AC/DC pinball machine.
"It's a sandbox for them to have a little fun," Creevey says.
"Most studios don't have a real green room. They might have one but it's not a place where celebrities want to hang out, it's a place where you just park celebrities."
Creevey says the fact the venue has a liquor licence could lead to some more interesting recordings, collaborations and candid moments ready to be broadcast through their custom social media channel, XCast.
"We've built the platform to allow them to broadcast immediately," he says.
"XCast is a social broadcasting platform - this is not just a studio, it's a social broadcasting studio."
Creevey says the stars can broadcast their content straight to their social pages.
"It's immediately YouTube. Instead of pre-recorded stuff, when you broadcast, you broadcast live into the platform," he says.
The entrepreneur already has some high-profile partnerships lined up, including Kiis FM's high-profile breakfast duo.
"Kyle and Jackie O will do broadcasting out of here when they have a major celebrity in town," he says.
"As it stands today, we've got 90 per cent of the media companies in the country, the main ones are on board in some way to do something within the studio."
The studio is lined up to host some of the Electronic Music Conference in early December, which will have high-profile DJs in town.
Creevey's hoping after a few drinks, they might be encouraged them to get on the decks at the studio.
And he's hoping to tap into the rich seam of talent in town next month for the ARIA awards.
"I have about five major events for ARIA week," he says.
Creevey, says he has London investors involved in X Studio, but the lion's share of the investment is still coming from him.
