Richard Lane honours Richard Lane

31 March 2021

Richard Lane’s partner Cathy and daughter Penny in the newly named ‘Richard Lane’.

The laneway behind Fremantle’s historic Artillery Drill Hall has been officially named ‘Richard Lane’ in honour of one of the city’s most beloved musicians.

Richard Lane, a talented guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist and founding member of much-loved Perth garage band The Stems, passed away in May last year.

The Drill Hall is now the popular live music venue Freo.Social, but was previously the home of the iconic Fly-By-Night Musicians Club and was used by Richard as a venue for his music school Penny Lane’s Music Workshop for a couple of years.

A proposal to name the Drill Hall laneway ‘Richard Lane’ was supported by Fremantle Council in August last year.

The name became official when the street sign was unveiled during an intimate ceremony with family and closest friends this afternoon.

Richard Lane’s partner Cathy Gavranich said he would have been honoured by this tribute.

“We ran Penny Lane’s Music Workshop out of the Drill Hall for about two and half years and we did two Fremantle Festival parades where we had hundreds of kids out in this laneway all dressed up and playing music together,” she said.

“Everyone had Sgt. Pepper costumes on one year and another year we were adorned with rainbows. The building was filled with and surrounded by happy musical children with Richard inspiring and leading them all; he was King of the Kids.

“Hundreds of local children and their families have fond memories of Richard in this laneway, so that’s pretty special and makes this the perfect place to honour our shared precious memories of him.

“I honestly don’t think Richard realised how well loved he was or the amount of respect and high regard that he held within the community.

“He was selfless, he was always doing so much for so many people without any want of recognition. It was his nature to be helpful however and wherever he could. He gave so much of his time and energy to helping others launch their careers and realise their dreams. He was kind and humble and he always put others first. He was so loved.”

Richard Lane co-founded The Stems in 1983. The four-piece played its first gig at Perth’s Old Civic Theatre supporting The Saints and The Triffids.

The Stems released their seminal album At First Sight, Violets Are Blue in 1987 but due to irreconcilable differences disbanded shortly after. The band reformed in 2003 and in 2007 released a second album, Heads Up.

In 1989 Richard founded The Chevelles before moving on to The Rosebuds, as well as contributing to other bands such as The Rosebud Generation, The Morris Lane Project, The On and Ons, The Painkillers and the Lazy Shavers.

In the 1990s he founded and ran a Perth-based record label, Idaho Records, oversaw a venue booking agency, worked for X-Press Magazine and performed with a myriad of other musicians, all the while tending to his own career as a renowned recording artist, songwriter and musician.