Read the Fanzine Second Live Night:
Saturday 3rd June 2006
@ Progress Bar, Tufnell Park
Lineup: Rod Thomas Band, Velvet Condom, Vespucci and Jones, Sarah Jane (aka Bobbing for Apples), Mike Anstey
Vespucci and Jones Myspace Page
Sarah Jane (aka Bobbing for Apples) Myspace Page
Mike Anstey Myspace Page Also check Mike's new band: Soulsmith
After the unqualified success of the Parke Davis / Kaputt night, I was obviously keen to keep the momentum going and experiment with it.
But clearly, as much fun as the first night was, I couldn't afford to lose £500 every month! We had the offer of a free night at the Progresss Bar, but we still needed to find a sound man, and beg steal or borrow microphones, XLR cables, DI boxes and so on.
I came up with the idea of using the free night for a more mellow, folk oriented night, where not having a powerful PA system wouldn't be an issue, and we could hopefully get away with borrowing microphones if the performers couldn't bring their own.
Meanwhile we would carry on looking for a regular venue that had a decent PA system and supplied a sound man who knew the equipment and would come as part of the hire fee.
I liked the idea of doing something at the Dublin Castle, but the private hire was going to cost £500 and they book up 3 months ahead, so the earliest I could have it wasn't until August.
Additionally, they wouldn't let me book a second night until I proved myself with the first one, (and I didn't want to be risking £500 a month until I saw how the figures stacked up) so the next night we could do wasn't until November at the earliest.
I booked the Dublin Castle and considered just doing a quarterly night there. But I went down to check it out (admittedly on a Monday night) and the lack of atmosphere that night reminded me just how good the progress bar gig had been.
The owner of the Progress Bar had said it was the busiest night they'd had in years, had done well at the bar and he even liked the bands. Surely there was some way of showing him that they if they spent a couple of grand on a decent PA system, and hired a regular sound man, it could be busy like that every weekend, and build up a reputation as the gig venue to be.
Unfortunately, having had a few pints in the Dublin Castle, I decided to strike whilst the iron was hot, and went down to the Progress Bar asking to speak to the owner, but making little sense.
The owner wasn't in, but I spoke to the new manager who knew nothing about our free night or anything, but put the booking in the diary.
I was thinking around this time that it would be good if instead of giving our flyers listing 4 bands most people won't have heard of, if instead we could ask the bands to give us a song to put on a CD so that people can listen to the bands, and hopefully if they like them, check out their myspace so that they can sing along at the gig.
But he cost of doing this for one gig just didn't stack up.
However. I went back to the Progress Bar, this time sober and with JG, and the manager had an interesting proposition for us.
Pay for the next 2 nights, and if they go as well as the first night, then we can have a monthly residency - first Saturday of the month. Best of all, they would waive the hire fee!
Suddenly it all fell into place. Being the first Saturday of the month we could book bands up to December and ask them for a track for the CD. The CD would be promoting several nights instead of one, and if people liked most of the tracks on the CD then they would hopefully pop down to at least one of the nights, and it's easy to remember that it's the first Saturday of the month.
The manager had plans to buy a decent PA system, and they wanted to become the premier music venue in North London. Sorted!
I managed to track down a sound man who worked for Nambucca via Myspace, and I bought some microphones, LED lights, XLR cables and DI boxes . We were all set!
Alas, things didn't quite go to plan.
On the morning of the gig I got a phone call from the new manager. Apparently the manager I booked the night through had left, and although the booking would be honoured, he hadn't written in the book that the bands and soundman needed access in the afternoon to do the sound checks.
With 5 acts on the bill and a 11.45pm live music curfew imposed by the council, there was no way that we were going to be able to get them all sound checked and play if we couldn't get into the venue until 6pm as he suggested.
He wasn't for budging, and after 2 more phone calls explaining the situation and how it was going to cock things up if we didn't get access by mid afternoon, he threatened to cancel the whole booking if I didn't get off his back.
Fortunately Glyn lived at Kentish Town at the time and took the time to go down and try to make him see reason. He showed him our listing in the Guardian Guide and Time Out, and pointed out how well the last night had gone, and that it's good business for the venue if they want to become a serious music venue.
I got a phone call saying that we can have access from 4pm, which was a slight improvement. Then he rang back and said we could have access from 2pm, as he now realised we weren't a bunch of amateurs who would pull a cable out to get a free night. He'd even had a phone call from someone wanting to reserve a table!
With that out of the way, I got down to the venue, and helped the sound guy set everything up.
I'd had this idea of getting a compere for the night. I'd been to so many gigs where the band come on and mumble their name, and are half way through their first song before people even notice they've started. "Who's that?", "Dunno".
I found an actors website and tracked down a girl who wanted to get into TV presenting, and was willing to do it for expenses.
When the first act took to the stage, it was clear that the turnout was going to be disappointing compared with the Kaputt/Parke Davis night. 2 of the acts lived around Shoreditch and said their friends wouldn't come when they knew it was Zone 2!
It was a beautiful summers evening, too many people were probably settled at BBQs and couldn't be bothered making the trek down to Tufnell Park.
Once again a load of people barged in without waiting to be charged, so I decided to get someone officially to do the door the following month.
The bigger concern was that even with everyone paying, there weren't enough people to cover costs - even without the venue hire costs. I didn't spot anyone from the previous night, apart from people we knew personally.
Mike Anstey took to the stage and did a mesmerising set. Many people wondered why I'd booked him, his Myspace songs didn't do much for them, but I heard something and had a gut feeling he would be great live, and he was, with the naysayers backtracking!
Sarah Jane (now Bobbing for Apples) did an equally good laid back set.
Vespucci and Jones did a sort of indie guitar and piano thing that worked really well.
The break from folk and acoustic indie came in the form of Velvet Condom who were a French synth band heavily influenced by Depeche Mode and New Order.
I'd been given their demo at the Kaputt gig buy a friend of the band. They were coming over to the UK to see their friends anyway and were keen to play in London.
I loved their set, it blew away the cobwebs and was a nice interlude between the more laid back stuff.
Rod Thomas Band (their last gig as a band, he went solo after that) were really good but had a few sound problems as there were no stage monitors, indeed all the acts complained of that.
All in all, a musically entertaining night, but the problems with the venue and the lack of turnout was a huge disappointment, particularly as I lost another £400 or so on a night that just didn't have the vibe of the previous one.