The scene you'd be greeted with would be either electronic dance music blaring until the early hours of the morning, punters watching live sport or enjoying a nice meal and, maybe, the odd glimpse of a live music act, sometimes on stage but mostly in a corner competing for everyone's attention.

But it wasn't always the case.

As recently as the early 1990s, most venues in town were putting on a live music act, and Bathurst musician Mark Bradbury was right in the thick of it as a member of hard rock act No Idea.

"No Idea was the first band I ever saw live, and it would've been at a blue light disco in either 1987 or 1988," Bradbury said.

"I joined in 1992 on guitar, and it was the first band I'd been in. It was a big step to go from the bedroom to live gigs."

When Bradbury was in No Idea, the Bathurst live music scene was thriving, with a host of local bands taking advantage of the hard rock, heavy metal and alternative rock boom that dominated popular music in the 80s and 90s.

To put things into context, the Western Advocate's entertainment coverage was a four-page lift-out every Wednesday during the early 90s.

"It was very lively, there was a lot happening," Bradbury said.

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"In Bathurst alone, there was four or five venues putting live music on every weekend, and much of it was original music. It was much the same in Orange and Lithgow.

"We were lucky to catch the tail end of the 80s pub scene, where everyone would go into town and see a band."

Bradbury was in No Idea alongside Brad Pettitt [vocals], Paul Burge [bass], Ross Buchanan [drums] and Simon Pedersen [guitar], though Pedersen left shortly after Bradbury joined.

The group recorded an EP in late 1993 [Cold] with local producer Tim Roebuck, which was released in early 1994.

"It was a big deal for me at the time to get in the studio, and it's something I haven't done since to be honest. I'd love to get back into it," Bradbury said.

"We were one of the first groups Tim recorded at his underground studio in South Bathurst. He did a great job and the EP still sounds fantastic."

During Bradbury's tenure in the band, No Idea played every weekend until they dissolved around 1996.

"We moved to Sydney to try and take the next step, but the scene there was starting to radically change," he said.

"Gaming machines had just been deregulated, people weren't going out quite as much, so the band just fizzled out."

After a number of years living in Sydney and the Central Coast, performing a number of 'party cover' gigs along the way, Bradbury returned to Bathurst in the late 2000s.

Since then, he has been involved in a number of projects, including The Works [a former covers band in town] and a host of tribute acts such as Damnation [a tribute to the Bon Scott era of AC/DC, which toured Afghanistan], The Lizard Kings [performing The Doors' debut record in full] and, most recently, an act paying tribute to Blondie, which saw Bradbury and Burge perform together for the first time since the No Idea days.

While he doesn't miss the 'week-in, week-out' gigging schedule, Bradbury said the No Idea days played a big part in his continued appreciation for music.

"It was the first serious musical project I took part in, and I consider myself very fortunate to be part of the tail end of a vibrant local music scene," he said.

"I made plenty of good friends during that time, plenty of whom I'm still friends with to this day, but I've certainly enjoyed doing music more as a side thing in recent years, and the tribute shows are certainly more enjoyable than playing 'Khe Sanh' or 'Blister in the Sun' each weekend like some cover acts do."

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