Woes of Will: Venues & Promoters Yorkshire/North East

[Nothingman]

Not sure if this is the right forum, but hey ho, I’ll give it a shot. 
 

I’m returning to gigging with my new project for the first time since lockdown.

 

Band is well rehearsed and experienced (we’ve all knocked about a bit).

 

We have a support slot worth of songs. 

We have recorded and starting to release our material. 
 

However, things have changed.

 

It seems nigh on impossible find decent promoters or indie venues unless you’re in some magical clique. 
 

Have I missed something? I’m I doing something wrong? 
 

I was brought up doing things DIY. We hosted and put on bands from across the globe, no questions asked.

 

Today it feels so different. Gotta be a certain age, a certain style, a certain pigeonhole.

 

Anybody else experiencing this?

 

Alternatively can people recommend those decent venues and promoters around Yorkshire and the North East?
 

Cheers.

 

Will  

 

Edited April 5, 2023 by Nothingman

[warwickhunt]

Contact Dave Hills at Trillians, Newcastle; if he is interested you'll still not get a gig till 2024 as he is booked virtually every day of the week till then.  I have to say there are more bands chasing fewer good gigs/venues, which is an issue!

[Lozz196]

I don’t know how far wide STP Promotions do gigs, we always worked in the North West with them, but def worth a try, they’re on Facebook, Stu is a great guy to deal with.

[Guest]

You could always give Victoria Vaults in York a try, or Lending Room / Oporto in Leeds - they‘re not always the most reliable communicators but can sometimes have gig slots going. 
 

In general though, I agree with warwickhunt - fewer venues, less money & the same number of bands means it’s harder & harder for everyone to keep gigging consistently, clique or no.

[Nothingman]

58 minutes ago, Spaced said:

You could always give Victoria Vaults in York a try, or Lending Room / Oporto in Leeds - they‘re not always the most reliable communicators but can sometimes have gig slots going. 
 

In general though, I agree with warwickhunt - fewer venues, less money & the same number of bands means it’s harder & harder for everyone to keep gigging consistently, clique or no.

 

Actually been on with Vaults today. I will check Lending room. THINK I have played there before. 

[BigRedX]

What sort of music is it? Do you have a link to something we can listen to? It's difficult to give specific advice if the actual music is unknown.

 

IME there are plenty of gigs available so long as:

 

1. You are extremely proactive about going after them

2. You are entertaining to watch as well as listen to.

 

If you're not having any luck with promotors and venues go straight to the bands you'd like to support, when you know they have a gig in your area.

 

I'd also suggest that if you haven't already you make a "promo video" to go with your best song.

[casapete]

Try Darren Bunting, owner of venue O’Rileys in Hull.

Also in Hull you could contact Paul Jackson at The New Adelphi Club.

[BigRedX]

Have I missed something? How are you able to make recommendations of venues and promotors without knowing what genre the OP's band are in? 

[wateroftyne]

20 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Have I missed something? How are you able to make recommendations of venues and promotors without knowing what genre the OP's band are in? 

Because some promoters promote music, not genres.

[BigRedX]

1 hour ago, wateroftyne said:

Because some promoters promote music, not genres.

 

Maybe because I've mostly played in genre bands, it has been my experience that most promotors tend to stick to particular genres that they understand and can book an appropriate bands to complete the bill. Otherwise you end up with those terrible London gigs where 4 random bands with nothing in common get flung into a venue and play only to the their own fans.

 

Case in point for one the venues that has already been mentioned in this thread - The Lending Room in Leeds. Yes, they put on loads of different bands, but nothing is done by the venue itself and each night is handled by it's own promotor and you have to approach the right one for your band in order to get a gig there. It's the same with promotors that do a couple of different genres, that they will have different names for each one and you need to have done your homework to make sure that you go for the correct one.

 

Of course if the OP just wants a gig, then they can go for one of those random four bands at a venue, but IME it does no-one any favours. One well-targeted gig is worth any number of these.

[Lozz196]

3 hours ago, casapete said:

Try Darren Bunting, owner of venue O’Rileys in Hull.

Also in Hull you could contact Paul Jackson at The New Adelphi Club.

The New Adelphi was the scene of my first “proper” gig.  Great venue, would be nice to play there again some day. Used to frequent Hull quite regularly in the late 80s.

[casapete]

2 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

The New Adelphi was the scene of my first “proper” gig.  Great venue, would be nice to play there again some day. Used to frequent Hull quite regularly in the late 80s.

Paul Jackson is a bit of a local legend, and as you know Lozz the Adelphi has seen some great bands

over nearly 40 years. Glad your memories of it are good ones.

[BigRedX]

And additional to my previous point, my various bands have done loads of gigs over the last 10+ years in the area the OP is talking about, but I haven't heard of most of the promotors mentioned in this thread, most likely because they don't put on the sorts of bands that I play in. Conversely my contacts will be of no use to the OP unless their band falls into the goth, post-punk, horror punk or psychobilly genres.

[Nothingman]

Loads of good shouts here and some I have spoken to this week as I have been a busy boy. 

 

So my indie-rock post-punk 90's inspired buddies will get some stuff lined up for early summer. 

 

Maybe this forum could benefit with a gig/promoter section - Venue/Promotor/Genres  etc....