Third Keep your ears Peeled at Arizona Bar and Grill, Camden on
Thursday 12th April 2007
Lineup: Mister Solo (from Dave Devant and his Spirit Wife) and Jean
Mr Solo (from Dave Devant and his Spirit Wife) Myspace Page
Jean Myspace Page
By the time of the April gig, our café wasn't performing as well as we needed it to (with a whopping £2K a month find to pay our mortgage, £600 for childcare and so on) and we took the decision to move out of London - something I thought we would never do. This was to be the last Fanzine night in London.
It would have been nice to have gone out on a bang, but once again the night was beset by problems.
First of all the landlords had been throwing their weight about again and moved our night to another one of their venues, the Arizona Bar and Grill, also in Camden
Secondly the night had been double booked, so I had to do the night with another "promoter", funnily enough a barman from the Progress Bar who had been doing nights there, but the noise police had closed it down when they received complaints about noise. Perhaps the manager wasn't as paranoid as I thought he was.
It could have worked out well - The Arizona Bar and Kitchen is on a side street, just off the main street on the way to the market, much more on the beaten track than Bar Monsta.
Two promoters means double the promotion, at least in theory.
But in practice, the first thing the sound man said when I arrived was "This is going to sound crap, it's a rubbish PA system and the acoustics are bad in here". Great start!
Every single one of the flyers that people had printed off and handed in for their discount came from me, not a single one for the other guy. He booked 3 crap bands, and slinked off without paying them, or paying Mick for his half of the venue hire (which should have been returned to me).
Definitely the kind of promoter that gives promoters a bad name. Give him one thing, he certainly had balls, I wouldn't like to owe Mick money.
Whilst one of his bands was on I stepped out with JG to pop down to Bar Monsta. They were meant to put a poster up to guide people to the other venue. They had a metal night on, so no skin off their nose. But surprise, surprise, no poster, and when we asked the girls on the door they'd never heard of Keep your ears Peeled or Read the Fanzine.
No wonder our new found regulars were thin on the ground.
I booked Jean as I was keen to see them play again, of course they are true professionals, but there was something missing in that venue, none of the vibe from the Smyths night.
I also booked Mr Solo, from Dave Devant and his Spirit Wife, who was supposed to play the September Leather Exchange gig that never happened. He pulled a good crowd and it was at least a good end to an an otherwise dodgy night.
Looking on the bright side, if it had been a corker then it would have been harder to leave London. At least it reminded me of how difficult running a night can be.