Has anyone played here/been here? What is it like? My band have been offered a gig here but want to know whether it is worth driving all the way to london for it. We are very loud...is it a small pub venue or can it handle decent levels of sound?
Thanks
it's a small downstairs room for pub
it has a little stage and can probably hold at a stretch a hundred people.
saw one loud band and it worked quite well.
it's quite nice, though.
"is it a small pub venue"
yes
very, very small.
depends
on the line up and promoter.
Not bad venue but when I went the promoter had literally thrown four artists on with no thought etc
Probably Bugbear
did that one. They do the Dublin Castle as well, and although they deal pretty much exclusively with indie/rock that covers quite a bit of ground.
Not sure I understand the bit about handling decent levels of sound though. It's all relative to the size of venue isn't it. You don't need the same levels in smaller venues because everyone is closer to the speakers. The PA is plenty loud enough for the place, if that's what you mean.
no
Basically I mean if the band are loud, is it too loud in the venue? The drummer hits it hard, very hard, so the drums are never even through the PA. Basically, in a small and loud venue it is just too loud for the audience so they hate it = crappy pointless gig. Some venues are automatically loud, e.g here in cardiff we have a small venue with a wooden floor / walls, so is automatically very loud! Some places however, such as the normal barfly, can be pretty small yet aren't quite so loud. Im talking about the room, not the pa.
Understand?
Ahh
I'm with you now. The place has a stone floor and brick walls so no nasty resonances. I saw Shellac there and Todd Trainer is no lightweight on drums, and there wasn't any problems with volume even right at the front.
cool
thankyou, very helpful!
you saw shellac...
at the H&A??
frankly i don't believe you.
now i do believe you
and am very jealous
but
are we talking small in a 'bath-moles' sense of small, or are we comparing it to somewhere like the astoria??
Smal;l and pokey but enjoyable
stage is about 3 inches off the floor - I used to love playing there espesh if there was a crowd
PROLEFACT: first London gig for Joy Division.
Its certainly got history
The Sex Pistols and Clash both played there
If its good enough for Joy Division, The Stranglers, Madness and U2, then I am sure it must be good
Seriously though, have played there a couple of times and it is a great venue. The only problem is, it doesnt get very crowded where the bands are playing, so unless you have a big following dont expect there to be loads of prospective punters there to check out what the bands are like. The crowd usually consists of Band friends.
Great venue though!
Nice enough venue.
But I've never been allowed to crank my amp much in there and one of the sound men goes from lovely to total bastard in the blink of an eye!
You are probably going to get thrown together with some really terrible bands
They don't seem to have much quality control with who they let play there
They don't seem to have much quality control with who they let play there
I think that seems to be the general attitude in most of London at the moment. Maybe Im just going to the wrong places.
Good Pub tho!
i like it
its got a good feel to it. Only seen fairly quiet bands there but yeah its good
as a punter...
i love the hope and anchor. it's my favourite pub around the angel area. great jukebox. have stayed till closing time on many occasions when i just popped in for one pint coz of that jukebox. great atmosphere.
the band room's small but cozy. downstairs, though, so if you or the other bands can't pull people to the gig, you won't get anyone there.
i played my first gig in London there
so did Joy Division omg.
as everyone's said tho, its just a toilet venue with bills filled with utter bilge. but a nice place, and so small that 20 people turning up makes it feel packed and "exciting"
I don't know it
It seems to have a few gigs, mostly local acts from the Coventry area.
I don't know it
It seems to have a few gigs, mostly local acts from the Coventry area.
coventry?
.
I think he means this one.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=316380664
ah right
totally different place then...
Used to be fantastic
in the late '70s early '80s. Dr Feelgood, 999, The Milkshakes, Motor Boys Motor. Ah, them were the days. That was a very helpful post, wasn't it...
yup
i played my first ever gig in london there as well. i was pleased because the birthday party had played there. it's a good venue, with a good pedigree.
My last band
played there. It was our first gig, and we actually got offered it a few weeks after we split up. It turned into a debut, farewell and reunion all rolled into one. Good venue, plus i got into a fight with someone who was stealing stuff out of our jackets in the dressing room.