Just wondering if you lot knew of any lovely indie promoters down in Brighton? Who are the best, who are the worst? Do tell!
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- * The Spinto Band @ Cambridge The Soul Tree, 8/09
- * Gemma Hayes @ London Union Chapel, 8/09
- * American Music Club @ Bristol Thekla Social, 9/09
- * Glasvegas @ Glasgow Barfly, 9/09
- * To The Bones @ London Notting Hill Arts Club, 10/09
- * Katy Perry @ London Monto Water Rats, 10/09
- * Crystal Castles @ Bristol Thekla Social, 10/09
- * Mark Kozelek @ Brighton Audio, 10/09
- * Bon Iver @ London Shepherds Bush Empire, 11/09
- * American Music Club @ London Bush Hall, 11/09
- * Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ London Borderline, 11/09
- * Plans and Apologies, Jeffrey Lewis, The Atoms @ Derby The Royal, 12/09
- * Guided Missile @ London Buffalo Bar, 13/09
- * Videocrash @ London Koko, 13/09
- * Jeffrey Lewis @ Sheffield Plug, 13/09
well.....
the best in my view are the rather lovely folk at Melting Vinyl.
Lack of Communication Promotions and Lout Promotions are also alright although sometimes not the best at getting back to bands!
Lack of communication are a good company
But there's probably more bad ones than there are good. So tread carefully.
Who knows!
I think some promoters come on here like Lack Of Communication and some others but I wouldn't know how to contact them, sorry. I'm not being very helpful am I.
Why do you ask?
Astonishing ..
I was just about to post a similar thread so I hope you don't mind my enquiry as well. I trying to organise a 7-10 night tour for a band at the end of March/April period (Post rock/instrumental). Looking for suitable venues minimum capacity 50, maximum 150. Possibility of a US band headlining some of our dates as well.
any ideas for Brighton
ahhh lovely
ta all! Trying to sort some tourdates for next year innit.
i'd say.....
the Pressure Point or The Albert would be good bets for that size show i reckon. Could also try the Engine Rooms.
you
Can contact some promoters through here:
Melting Vinyl: http://www.meltingvinyl.co.uk/
Lout: http://www.loutpromotions.co.uk/
Lack of Communication: http://www.myspace.com/lackofcommunicationshows
^all the above
Steer clear of the Pav Tav and Providence...they're more of a stomping ground for local bands than actual venues.
Pav Tav
is the worst venue ever, people dont watch the bands there... they just go there for the stupidly low prices.
^
Pav Tav Saturday indie/mod night is beyond bad.
dont bother playing in brighton
nobody will go.
We did a gig two weekends ago and not one single person came to see us. And we even live there. It has got to the stage where it is beyond ridiculous. We did a 2 week tour last month where we were generally playing to between 40 and 80 people a night, people who have heard about us through the music press, or us being played on Lamacq or Huw Stephens, but we can't even get one single person in our hometown.
Also, I've been told that the Untitled Musical Project / Popular Workshop gig on Sunday has been cancelled because nobody bought an advance ticket. These are two of the best bands in the country, and are probably selling out venues in other towns, utterly ridiculous.
Obviously you aren't going to listen to me, but seriously, I wouldn't bother coming, it will be a waste of time.
On top of this, I can't think of anyone who puts on out of town bands unless you know them personally, or indeed if your band is quite well known. What is your band, just out of interest?
Of the suggestions so far, Lack of Communication generally book name touring bands and then get local acts to support, but as far as I'm aware they aren't booking any more gigs and are folding at the end of the year (or restructuring or something). Lout promotions only organise gigs for agents, and will only put on local bands, or tour supports as supports. Melting Vinyl only do big gigs, and haven't ever answered any of my emails, so good luck there!
If you really wanted to play Brighton then my advice is either rent out a venue in Hove called The Greenhouse Effect yourselves (its free i think), then somehow promote it yourself, or contact Neil at The Engine Room if you are a rock band, and he'll book you if he likes you - http://www.engineroomclub.com/.
Sorry for being so negative, but its true. It's a depressing situation.
aw!
i was going to go to your gig! i forgot tho
i suck
sorry
Shit
I keep meaning to come and watch you because I've heard loads of good things but I keep forgetting because I am shit. I wish my more proactive gig going mate didn't have a bird in Glasgow as since they got together I've really stopped going out and become frighteningly dull. I shall endeavour to split them up.
I do agree that if you aren't in the NME no one will come and see you right now and no one will promote you. The originality is a bit shit. I think the end of the old Freebutt was a disaster because I and loads of people I know used to just wander down there to check bands out. No other venue really has that magic. Plus it would have posters all over the walls letting you know what was on, not just for there but for other venues as well.
Brighton promoters have all got greedy as you describe as well. It's become so easy for them to put on name bands that they've stopped trying at anything else. I've seen nationally known bands with maybe 20 people in audiences this year which is just pathetic for a supposedly musically concious city like this one.
Fuck knows why it has changed because it never used to be like this.
brighton sounds like
it has gone downhill since I lived there!
does nobody go down the freebutt now then? I love that place. Went down there a month or so back, and ignoring 'the pillar' it seems a vast improvement...
It has only
recently reopened and I think it will take time to get back to what it was.
i used to go to a gig a week at the freebutt
because at least once a week, usually up to three or four, there would be a locally promoted independent gig. Now it appears most, if not all are being booked by the parent company who are based in Southampton.
I was delighted when they announced they were re-opening the freebutt, but most of the gigs booked so far have been a bit of a joke, and I've only been to two gigs. It used to be the focal point of the local underground scene, but now its basically just a slightly less clean Pressure Point.
I just hope they leave upstairs alone - they have already stuck a quid on the prices of all the drinks, lets hope they don't stop the cool DJs playing and put the Katie Melua album on a loop. We already have The Hope thanks.
maybe because
so many bands are playing on the same day at the moment.
Take 14th of December for example:
Manic Street Preachers
M.I.A
C.S.S
I swear that never used to happen, therefore there's even less chance of an upandcoming small, exciting band being seen by the odd enthusiast. Which is a total shame. If I was over 18 I'd be going to gigs like yours all the time Dan. I just wish everybody else would at the moment.
Oh, dear
Thanks. It all sounds pretty depressing. We have a DIY promoter wanting us to play in Southampton so moving along to Brighton seemed the next logical step.
Still, there's a couple of names I can get in touch with and then there's Barfly.
Lots of promoters have got lazy
and I too have been to numerous, what-some-might-call alternative, gigs where there is literally no people.
Even sizeable venues like the Concorde - Yo La Tengo, AIHelsinki, half-full. Pretty abysmal. I feel sympathy for new local bands, it's hard to get recognition in a city where everyone seems infatuated with NME's latest fad and promoters can't be arsed with a slight gamble.
p.s.
I tried promoting a few bands myself last year and I discovered the majority of venues were absolute dicks to deal with. Greedy, and communication/helpfulness was atrocious. So maybe a little unfair holding promoters fully responsible !
well...
i work with a local Brighton band and in part i agree with whats been said above - it does seem to be hard to get people to come and see you play.
We've played the new Freebutt recently and Barfly and both of them got the start time wrong on the websites etc meaning by the time we were due on stage there was only about 3 people there.
The Freebutts new policy for local bands is a joke too - they give you a bunch of tickets in advance of the show to sell to your fans. How are new bands going to build a fan base if youre expected to do that?
The Freebutt
I know the Joiners quite well - the freebutt will get better, they've just had issues with how to work it all really.
I think they plan to do something with the penthouse, not sure what though.
What is the problem with giving local acts tickets in advance to sell to their mates? isn't that a normal thing?
is the hanbury ballrooms still going?
.
the pressure point has a night called cable club which is worth playing. Simon who runs it has been nothing but great for my band.
simon is a top guy
but isn't Cable Club exclusively local bands?
the freebutt and joiners...
i totally agree with ianc21.. i have been playing in bands for YEARS, and recently we played the freebutt where yes, we also were told about the "advanced ticket sell" that you need to apparently do. Not only is the absolute first time I have ever had this offered to me in all the years i have been playing (i might have just been lucky over the last 7 years??), but the tickets didnt actually get to us till one day before the gig!! hahaha! needless to say, they ended up in the bin. It's true, if you are a new band then selling 40 odd tickets to fans you dont have yet as you actually have only just started to gig in your new band, is a bit of a tall order. especially when you are supporting an established artist. Plus, the price was really high, and also, people KNOW that the show would not have sold out, therefore, will just buy on the door on the night.
Aside from all that though, the actual Freebutt venue was one of the best small venues I have ever played. We had great sound on and off stage, the in house engineer there was LOVELY and did a superb job, load out was easy, and all in all a great place to play.
Lout Promotions
are excellent.
The Freebutt
Yeah, Martin is the sound man there - he rules. he worked in the joiners for years before that, one of the best soundman ever.
In southampton though, local bands getting advance tickets to sell is pretty standard. isn't it just a way of getting your mates to definitely turn up & see you, while saving themselves a quid or two compared to paying on the door?
Simon from Cable club is a great guy, but it is pretty much local acts only.
Venues
Crowds in Brighton can at times be incredibly unresponsive it has to be said. In the year that we've been putting on shows in Brighton our attendence's have fluctuated wildly.
Beyond the actual gig going public though the main problem Brighton has is a lack of respectable and helpful venues. Personally we choose to now only use 3 or 4 venues due to being screwed over by venue owners on numerous occasions. I would very much steer clear of the Greenhouse Effect in Hove. We were scheduled to put on John Maus with Gay Against You last week but just 4 days prior to the show, which had been booked for 2 months, the venue rang to say that the night had been double booked and there was no possible way we could have it there. We searched continually for 3 days to find a new home for the show but there just wasn't a free venue. The venue offered us no compensation to pay the bands and left us substantially out of pocket. We have one final show at the Greenhouse Effect on the 14th of December with Gowns (ex-mae shi and amps for christ) then we are never going to ever use that venue again. Just a few weeks prior to that incident they only gave 5 days to re-house our David Thomas Broughton show. Personally if you choose to promote a show of that size yourself I would recommend any of the following venues as they're the few moral venues that will actually help you:
The Albert
Engine Rooms
The Westhill Hall
We run a monthly charity residency at the Albert and we've never had a single problem with them.
Of the bigger Brighton promoters that have been mentioned I would 100% recommend Lack of Communication, those guys really care for their bands and are one of the few that will balance their larger money making shows with smaller more risky ones.
Cheapless self promotion for our shows now:
December 10th - Phil Collins 3 w/ Shield Your Eyes (feat. members of Meet Me in St. Louis) @ The Albert
December 14th - Gowns (ex-Mae Shi and Amps for Christ) w/ Zettasaur and Monsters Build Mean Robots @ The Greenhouse Effect
January 25th - Yeborobo w/ Cleckhuddersfax and Pheromoans @ The Albert
Brighton is
a weird city, i think a lot of people assume because its so well known for being a music mecca that it is easy to draw a crowd here.
Every venue and promoter is going through some sort of change because there is so much competition. luckily we never started our company to make money or else we would have packed up a long time ago.
We started lack of communication promotions last August after thinking that a show we attended was badly organized and thought we could do better. We are just two music fans who work multiple jobs when needed and attend university to make it work. Although one of us had some experience in promotion before, we never imagined the hard work it would take to run our own company. We have invested a lot of time and money into this and try and make our gigs the best we can as bands deserve to be trested with respect, kindness and like you would your standard workmates,as friends.
I would recommend melting vinyl and lout promotions as well as the oib records crew above. Everyone has a different approach to promoting shows and we continually work hard to get some of the best shows we can in Brighton. I feel that we do a great job and have plans for the rest of 2008 to be a great year for us. We dont always get to promote everyone we want, ideally if we could run 5 shows a week we would. but as people have expressed above, not work for everyone involved and no-one wants that.
We started off as a diy organization and have expanded and we love what we do.
My only recommendation would be to work with independent promoters were possible rather than venues as your better to get the best deal with the former. However i must stress that we are always under the rules and boundaries of the music industry to perform to what is in the "best interest" of the acts involved.
if you'd like to get in contact our e-mail address is lackofcommunicationgigs@yahoo.co.uk
^this guy is great
has put on most of my favourite gigs in Brighton.
I believe lack of communication
put on the FOTL show last night, I therefore blame you for not supplying those little battery operated fans to us plebs, I almost died from heat exhaustion.
I have an alternate explanation for local bands struggling in Brighton
Maybe it just isn't an indie place anymore, and its character has changed a bit?
It's still "alternative", but maybe genres like breakcore, dubstep, D'n'B, and local hip-hop are in the ascendancy right now? I go to clubs like Volks and Concorde 2 and see big attendances at club nights and gigs (i.e. something like Dubpressure). There are some really good local indie/rock bands in Brighton (Electrelane, Charlottefield) and also some great bands who have moved down here (Foals/Blood Red Shoes... not so sure on the second one whether they moved down here or not) but they seem to have built up their fanbase in different locations (i.e. Foals as the Edmund Fitzgerald in Oxford).
In response to Dan, the only explanation I can come up for why not many people have been going to your gigs is that Brighton just isn't a conducive place to your sound. That's not meant offensively at all in any way, but when you get crowds like you did at the Barfly when I saw you support Mooney Suzuki, you have to wonder whether people in Brighton like the whole alt-rock thing anymore. I have no idea why they don't!!!
Very good point.
Brighton is a party town. A lot of people that move here do so to do just that...with the D'n'B scene, the upcoming dubstep scene and such like...those promoters have never had it so good. The Indie/alt/rock scene mainly relys on the student or out of towner crowd which constanly fluctuates each year. The only constant are the 24 party people and when they move here they rarely leave after a few years and would rather go see their mate D.J than their mate's band. I've just formulated this hypothesis so I could be completely wrong.
Speaking as a 2nd year Sussex student
I really don't know that many indie people who are willing to check out local bands and put the hours in listening to local bands seeking out the good stuff, turning up at open mic nights, seeing friends play and then discovering acts playing with them and so on.
The indie, out of town kids I know who will go to the indie floorfiller night on Thursday at the Barfly (me being one of them) just won't turn up, and aren't turning up at small, local, underground events.
I could have ended
that sentence after the word "people" in retrospect!
Slightly off topic..
But how close to Brighton is Sussex Uni? I'm considering it for a masters largely because of a dire need for a change of scenery, but I don't want to end up stuck at a campus in the middle of nowhere.
about 15 minute busride
or a 5 minute train. Pretty close. You can live in town and still comfortably get there each day.
yeah that's a decent explanation tom
I agree that this is partly the problem. Brighton just seems to be full of people who don't like alt-rock, but this is only part of the problem.
There are actually still a hell of a lot of people that do like alt-rock in Brighton, its just that the city itself makes people not really care about live music due to the other attractions it has. I guess to an extent, I'm no different, I don't go to half as many gigs as I perhaps should, or would enjoy. But I still go to a fair few, and when I'm not, I'm playing them elsewhere!
I really love living in Brighton, but I can't help but feel if I had started my band in a different town, we'd be a lot more widely known by now due to the support we would have gained from local music press / people, and fans. That's not to say we haven't had support - the nice people at Lack of Communication for instance have given us two decent support slots, and both times hardly anyone came to see us, Cable Club have supported us well too, but local radio and press both seem to have not even acknowleged our existence, as have the bigger promotions companies like Melting Vinyl and others too, even though we've been getting Radio 1 play for the last 6 months, and in London, and plenty of other towns around the UK, promoters are knocking down our door to put us on.
This is probably all because we don't have a manager called Johnny Charisma and don't wear shrink fit jeans.
I agree that a lot of people like different types of music now here in Brighton, but good music is good music wherever it is, and I think we are good, and so do a lot of other people. Just not in Brighton!
SLACKERS OF BRIGHTON UNITE! GET OUT OF YOUR ROOM AND COME AND SEE US AT THE ALBERT ON JANUARY 22ND!
I think another major problem
is the monopoly that S.W.A.T has over postering and flyering around Brighton. I didn't see a single poster for your gig that you mentioned earlier in the tread
*thread
This makes
a lot of sense. I rarely get pestered with flyers for things I might be interested in (ie small gigs) in town anymore. I still get lots of clubs ones and some for larger gigs but I am sure I used to get a lot more for smaller shows. The amount of publicity on the streets has really fallen back in recent years and I din't know about the monopoly. The only place which still bothers me with stuff I want is teh Komedia but I don't really need it for there as the website is always up to date.
this might have something to do with
some ridiculous law the council brought in, where you have to apply for and pay for a permit to hand out flyers, or it is technically illegal and you can be fined.
They brought it in due to the "excessive amount of litter" that flyering causes. But basically all the shit that nobody wants still gets handed out because the big companies pay £70 a year for a handing out flyers license or whatever.
I'm not actually sure if this is why, but I remember this being brought in just after I gave up promoting gigs myself a couple of years ago, and thought it was stupid.
ahh the albert....
i haven't been to a music related event there since some random swedish night thingy last january
In my experience gig going in Brighton has been pretty good, last.fm tells me i'v been to 32 gigs this year most of which have been in brighton...
turnouts are wierd though, sometimes good sometimes pretty bad
i do find it strange that local bands don't get much support, i remember going to see seafood earlier in the year and being surprised that not many people had shown up. I guess the amount of people moving here or staying just for the time their degrees last dilutes the amount of support around for a local scene...
32?
That's pretty good.
I've been to 5 gigs this term I think...
Foals w/Metronomy and Maths Class
4 or 5 Magicians supporting Mooney Suzuki
Brainlove Records night at Westhill
Talk Taxis/The Melodica, Melody and Me at Ocean Rooms
There's definitely another one I forgot.
I reckon I've been to maybe 11 or 12 gigs this year, ignoring Great Escape and Reading.
that's a point i dind't count the talk taxi's thing
that'd be 33 :P
you forgot asobi seksu! that was ace..
this term in brighton
4or5 magicians supporting MS
Los Camps
Asobi Seksu
the horrible vice thingy
two gallants
caribou
Brainlove
talk taxis etc
Okkervil river
not bad for 10 weeks :P
i used to live in Bton, now in Southampton
and brighton bands get LOADS more exposure than the Southampton equivilent.
I think most of the problems mentioned above are experienced everywhere. We (Ejector Seat) have put on gigs in Southampton for the last 3 1/2 years and have constantly struggled for audiences. we put on kling klang last thursday, and there was about 60 people there, despite decent promo & us forming a improv band from the best local musicians - too few people give a shit!
The reason I am interested in Brighton is that we are starting to do shows at the freebutt. I am hoping we'll get a better reception down there, as generally people are more culturally aware - this thread worries me though, especially was we actively avoid the NME style bands. It is a poor show when in a city of approx 200,000 people, you struggle to get 100 people turn up for a gig.
a plug for our brighton show - 31st January, the freebutt - upcdowncleftcrightcabc+start, bela emerson, Revenge of shinobi & -a+M.
that show will get a good turnout
wouldn't worry about that!
......
the albert is a great little venue as is weshill hall....never had any problems there myself.
Personally my favourite local promoters are Gilded Palace of Sin / Be A Ham. Both run by the same guy, one is more country orientated, the other anything else. He treats the bands really well and genuinly cares about the music he puts on.
Oh and i have to agree that Lack of Communication do put on some great shows...good mix of bigger and lesser know acts.
It is a trucky one that's for sure...
I'll definitely come to every show mentioned on here as it is just a case of getting off our arses and caring that little bit more about the local scene.
And while we're on the subject *ahem*
my band Heels Catch Fire are playing tomorrow night 'Tuesday 11th' at the aforementioned Freebutt supported by Telegraphs and Riot Lights. It's going to be fun. Especially judging by the heat experienced at the Future of the Left gig last night. Sweltering.
oooh
see i didn't know that, has it been advertised?
it'll make a good last gig before christmas :)
Not by the Freebutt...
They've been a little bit crap with their promo, but we've done our best with postering and flyering. And bothering people on Facebook.
ah fair 'nough
i'v been a bit tied up with essayage/ the flu to notice these kinds of things i guess
will pop down now though, what time does it start?
7:30,
Riot Lights first, then Telegraphs then us.
Im lame
at attending shows. I'm always tired, and skint, and selfish.
btw - whoever decided Fox Cub would be an ideal support act for future of the left the other night needs a good shooting. Tesco-Value-Killers-Lite-Shite. Mind you, some nice heckling.
Singer "Anyone here from brighton?"
Audience "Meh"
Singer "Well this is going to be a fun night then.."
Heckler "Not for us, you're shit"
first band were good though. can't remember their name.
yeah,
way to start on the wrong foot. The deserved every heckle for thinking if you're on stage, you're better than audience. Dicks.
choice of the booking agent
was just a really bad choice of tour support. Whoever Who Owns Death TV were amazing.
Sorry about not providing fans though, really really should of.
Reasson I Don't Go To Many Local Band Gigs?
As for many others is not that the isn't a love for alt-rock or the underground it is because............
EVERYONE
AND I MEAN EVERYONE
STARTED
MOVING DOWN HERE
The are too many bands and its getting harder and harder to get to the good ones, it's like finding a needle in a haystack.
---STOP MOVING DOWN HERE----
well.....
there LOADS of amazing local bands in Brighton in my opinion...take a pick from: