Read the Fanzine at Dublin Castle, Camden on
Saturday 12th August 2006
Lineup: Parke Davis, Big Cash Prizes, Spectrum Fires and Smith 6079
Spectrum Fires Myspace Page
Smith 6079 Myspace Page
A few weeks before the Dublin Castle gig, we found out that the Zapatistas who were scheduled to go on first had split up. After a hasty search I came across Smith 6079 from Manchester who usually headlined but were willing to go on first to play the Dublin Castle.
They 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.
Dublin Castle, Camden
Unfortunately, despite having a lot of fanatical fans on myspace, only 1 girl from Croydon turned up. Still we went on a bit of a Camden pub crawl and it was a good night - they were a great bunch of blokes.
The day before the gig it was quite something to see the poster outside the venue advertising upcoming gigs, and seeing the Read the Fanzine name on it! Fame at last!
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, but it wasn't that busy.
On the morning of the gig came the stark realisation that I'd spent $pound;500 hiring the venue, capacity 120 with $pound;5 tickets - and that's before I payed Sheri 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 $pound;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.
Later in the day when I got down there, started to meet the bands and so on 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 you weren't going to have the kind of problems you'd have at the Progress Bar.
When Tris and Glyn turned up we discussed 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 $pound;125 to book the first band of the night?
I'd booked a guy to compere the show. He wanted to get into television presenting and had come down from Manchester especially to announce the bands. I told him he was crazy, but he wanted to do it so why not.
When he turned up he was a bag of nerves. Smith 6079 being a bit on edge themselves given the importance of the venue, 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. Somehow I don't think he had a sparkling career ahead of him in TV presenting.
It turned out that included in my $pound;500 hire that it included someone to collect money on the door, so I could have saved money on Sherri if I'd known.
Also, they said that if we DJd afterwards they would cut the cost of the hire by $pound;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 sound fabulous (I'd forgotten just how good) and I was really in the party mood by this time.
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 trying to get encourage everyone else.
Their set seemed to fly by, and quite a few people seemed to really enjoy it.
Next up was Spectrum Fires. Glyn's Brother was in the band and that was how I'd heard of them, but nepatism 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 missus they were the band of the evening.
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 didn't disappoint. But they even won over Tris who was generally quite critical about the bands I'd booked.
Parke Davis headlined and brought back memories of the Progress Bar gig. Definitely one of my favourite bands that played for us.
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 by HMHB that went down really well, and a dance remix of The Revolution will not be televised. Tris and Glyn did good sets, but the star of the evening was JG who had downloaded some mashups that drove the crowd wild.
After the bands people had paid to get in to listen to the DJs which was scary as none of us had much DJ experience, yet the crowd loved it, and several people told me that they were regulars at the Dublin Castle and that was the best night they'd been to there - both in terms of the quality of the bands and the DJing.
In the end I only lost about $pound;40 on the night. I normally pay bands at the start of the night, but nobody asked for payment that night and I felt that having risked $pound;500 to make the night happen the bands had got a fair deal as it was. I mean $pound;50 amongst a 5 piece band is a tenner a head, nothing for the band, but I'd be $pound;200 out of pocket which is quite significant.
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 said 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 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. Well it was worth a try!
Of course after such a great night I duly booked the venue for the next available slot: December 2nd!
Read on: Read the Fanzine at The Leather Exchange, London Bridge