Read the Fanzine at The Leather Exchange, London Bridge on
Saturday 19th August 2006
Lineup: The Thought Criminals, The Real Heat and Rod Thomas
The Thought Criminals Myspace Page
The Real Heat Myspace Page
Rod Thomas Myspace Page
When our Progress Bar residency ended so abruptly, I set about finding a replacement venue.
But of course the same old problems remained that drove me to the Progress Bar in the first place. Established venues either won't work with anyone other than full time promoters with a proven track record, and/or want serious cash or guaranteed numbers or both.
I signed up for a pub finder website, not expecting much, and got a reply from a pub in London Bridge called The Leather Exchange.
It usually did comedy nights but had a live music license, it didn't normally open on a Saturday night as it wasn't a residential area, but would open especially if we thought we could bring a crowd.
The stage looked a bit small on the photos, but anywhere was worth checking out.
JG was a bit busy, but Tris was going to be in the area anyway so I met up with him to check the place out.
First impressions - it was a bit of a walk from London Bridge tube, through long dark tunnels that was scary enough during the day let alone late at night, and the stage was tiny.
But for all the minuses there were a lot of plusses.
First of all, it was going to cost $pound;100 the first night as a token of good faith (after all they were opening up the bar especially) but if we got good crowds and the takings were ok we would get it free after that.
Not only that, but they supplied a sound man - something that cost $pound;80 a night at the Progress Bar
It was on 2 floors, so Tris came up with the idea that he could DJ upstairs and I DJ and put on bands downstairs and make it a bit competitive and give people a choice of music -no more arguments over musical differences, let the crowds decide!
Also of course whilst it was a bit off the beaten track, it was in Zone 1 and there are large parts of South London with no tube that have over-ground stations that terminate at London Bridge, so if we could get the word out (not easy in London) we could build up a nice steady audience.
Being a pub with tables and chairs downstairs, it didn't take too many people to make it look busy, but including upstairs there was a capacity of 120. The best of both worlds.
It seemed the ideal venue at that stage of the development of the night, somewhere where you could experiment and try things out without risking a lot of money - and as long as we brought a reasonable crowd down to keep the bar takings at a decent level (and there was about a dozen of us between the Read the Fanzine gang and the bands) everyone was happy.
Although we already had The Dublin Castle for August, I was keen to try this new venue ASAP and booked it for the week after The Dublin Castle gig.
I turned up on the night of the gig just before the sound man turned up and Rod Thomas. We were locked out! Was it going to turn out another Progress Bar experience?
Fortunately someone turned up with a key and we got in and began putting posters up and putting the remainder of my promotional CDs out.
When the Thought Criminals started to turn up - looking a bit like a modern day glam rock band, the bar staff literally had their mouths open like they'd never seen anything like it.
They were just recovering when Rocky the lead singer turned up and shocked them all over again!
I was starting to worry that The Real Heat hadn't turned up for sound checks. I rang up Suki and she said they didn't need one and would come down later.
By the time Rod Thomas took to the stage we already had sold about 30 tickets which was a good start to the night.
Rod sounded great, and managed to enthral the audience despite Tris's attempts to lure people upstairs for a DJ set!
I rang the Real Heat again and they jumped in a taxi, turned up, had a drink and then went on. It was no surprise to see Suki on NMEs cool list a year or so later.
I was worried that they were a bit too R&B / Pop for our night, but the audience loved it!
The thought Criminals did an energetic set and the crowd were suitably impressed.
Kirlian liked the night enough that he was planning on coming back even when they weren't playing and was going to email their mailing list about our night.
There was a nice relaxed atmosphere where random people got up and DJd for a bit from time to time.
I had been worried that after The Dublin Castle the Leather Exchange would have been an anti-climax. But far from it. Of course at the same hire fee we'd have gone for the Dublin Castle every time, but The Leather Exchange was brimming full of potential - and importantly Peter the owner wanted us there and did everything he could to help, unlike the Progress Bar who seemed to go out of their way to hinder the only night that brought people into their venue!
Finally the night seemed to be on track - do the Leather Exchange gigs on a monthly basis where we can learn the trade in a low pressure environment, and do the Dublin Castle every quarter for the bands that are too big to fit on the stage of the Leather Exchange!
Read on: The Smyths at Bar Monsta, Camden