Read the Fanzine at Dublin Castle, Camden on
Saturday 12th August 2006
Lineup: Parke Davis,
Big Cash Prizes,
Spectrum Fires
Smith 6079
Parke Davis Myspace Page
Spectrum Fires Myspace Page
Smith 6079 Myspace Page
We were all understandably excited about the Dublin Castle gig. It was a famous venue but whilst some legendary venues trade entirely of past glories, this one is still as vibrant today as it ever was.
Tris and Glyn were back on board, and it felt like Read the Fanzine was back on the right track.
The only real problem this time was that The Zapatistas who who had been scheduled to go on first had split up about a week before the gig. After a hasty search I came across Smith 6079 from Manchester who were used to headlining but graciously agreed to go on first since it was the Dublin Castle.
Smith 6079 even organised a meet and greet session where they came down to London the week before so that their fans could come and have a pint with them.
| "despite having a lot of fanatical fans on myspace, only 1 girl from Croydon turned up" |
Unfortunately, despite having a lot of fanatical fans on myspace, only 1 girl from Croydon turned up. Still Tris and me went on a bit of a Camden pub crawl with them and it was a good night - they were a great bunch of blokes.
The day before the gig it was quite special to see the poster outside the venue advertising upcoming gigs with Read the Fanzine name on it! It all started to feel very real.
I stood with the bouncers the night before handing out flyers and promo CDs, something I'd done before, but this time legitimately being that the gig was on at the venue itself! I had a really good laugh with the bouncers and chatting to the people coming in and out, a really nice atmosphere.
| "the morning of the gig came the stark realisation that I'd spent £500 hiring the venue" |
On the morning of the gig came the stark realisation that I'd spent £500 hiring the venue, capacity 120 with £5 tickets - and that's before I payed Sherri to collect the money or the bands. 2 bands from Stoke, one from Manchester and one from South London - seeing how few people came to the Smith 6079 meet and greet I started to panic that the turnout could be far from busy.
The Dublin Castle is unusual in that you can hear the bands in the main bar for free, you only pay your £5 if you like the bands and want to go through and watch them. What if nobody liked our bands? It was going to be an expensive night out if we didn't get a decent crowd.
Once I got down there and met the bands I stopped worrying about the money side and started to enjoy myself. Even before the audience turned up there was an electric atmosphere in the place, and everyone was such a professional, you knew it was a decent PA system and we weren't going to have the kind of problems we'd have at the Progress Bar.
| " 4 of us booking a band each, and sharing any losses or profits between us" |
Tris and Glyn obviously enjoyed the vibe too as they suggested the idea of doing nights regularly at the Dublin Castle, the 4 of us booking a band each, and sharing any losses or profits between us.
It was a nice idea, but I don't think it would have worked. How would we decide who would headline, and should the person who booked the opening act have to lose as much as whoever booked the headliner. Is it worth losing anything up to £125 to book the first band of the night?
One of my pet gripes about pub gigs is that bands often come on stage and mumble their name so you leave thinking "that was a great band, wonder what they were called", so I came up with the idea of finding someone who wanted to gain some presenting experience for their CV and would announce the bands for us for free in return.
I found a guy who wanted to get into television presenting and had come down from Manchester especially to announce the bands. I told him he was crazy and emphasised that I couldn't afford to pay his train fare, but he wanted to do it regardless.
The compere turned up and was a bag of nerves. I didn't have a prepared script so that really phased him, I suggested he go around the bands and see what they want him to say about them.
| "Sadly I don't think he had a sparkling career ahead of him in TV presenting" |
Smith 6079 were probably a bit on edge themselves given the importance of the venue, and one of them told him to f**k off, and he did! I got a text from him saying that he couldn't do it and was on his way home. Sadly I don't think he had a sparkling career ahead of him in TV presenting.
It turned out that included in my £500 was someone to collect money on the door, so I could have saved money on booking Sherri if I'd known.
Also, they said that if we DJd afterwards they would cut the cost of the hire by £50. Hang on, they were paying US to DJ? I could get to like that!
When Parke Davis started to sound check it brought back great memories of the Progress Bar gig, they sounded fabulous (I'd forgotten just how good) and I was really on cloud nine by this point.
Smith 6079 promo video for their single "Kill Romeo"
Smith 6079 took to the stage and there was soon an encouraging sized crowd getting into them. I was right down the front going mental and trying to encourage everyone else to join in. One of the comments on their myspace said that there was "some bizarre middle-aged bloke down the front giving it some". Funny, I never saw him.
Next up was Spectrum Fires. Glyn's Brother was in the band and that was how I'd heard of them, but nepotism aside they were a great band (I wouldn't have booked them if I didn't like them) and for a few people including my then missus they were the band of the evening.
Big Cash Prizes promo video for their single "Nobody There"
Big Cash Prizes were a band I'd wanted to book since before I even had a night to book them for. They not only exceeded my high expectations, but they even won over Tris who was generally quite critical about the bands I'd booked.
Parke Davis Playing Live at Read the Fanzine
Dublin Castle, Camden
Parke Davis were the headliners and brought back memories of the Progress Bar gig. Definitely one of my favourite bands to play.
Our DJ sets went down really well. I just brought a few CDs with me, I remember playing the Peel Session version of Trumpton Riots that went down really well, and a dance remix of "The Revolution will not be televised" by Gil Scott Heron that had everyone dancing and several asking for the name of the remix.
After the bands were finished, people were paying to come in and dance to the DJs which was scary as none of us had any real DJ experience. But in the end the crowd lapped up our sets and several people told me that they were regulars at the Dublin Castle and that was by far the best night they'd been to - both in terms of the quality of the bands and the DJing. Even the sound man was impressed - and he was more regular than most!
One illuminating point - as Sherri didn't have to collect money on the door, I asked her to get stats on who people had come to see, and how they heard about the night.
| "zero people said they had heard about the gig via Myspace, TimeOut, Guardian Guide, Flyers or CD " |
By this point I'd distributed over 1,000 of the CDs, and over 1,000 paper flyers yet zero people said they had heard about the gig via Myspace, TimeOut, Guardian Guide, Flyers or CD - they all either knew one of the bands or had come to the Dublin Castle wanting to hear some live music and just liked what they heard.
Perhaps that's why professional promoters don't bother with flyers and so on. If you wander around Camden you will see that most of the flyers are for regular club nights, not band nights with a list of bands.
Of course after such a great night I duly booked the venue for the next available slot which was December 2nd. After all, I'd only lost £40 on the night, which was the smallest loss yet. Meanwhile we'd already booked a new regular monthly venue.
Read on: Read the Fanzine at The Leather Exchange, London Bridge