Glasgow Rock Music In The 80's, The New Wave Of Glasgow HM Options

[metal_meg]

Where have all the Glasgow rock music fans gone?

Back in the early to mid 80's Glasgow (and Lanarkshire) was a hotbed of musical talent and had a multitude of venues and a supporting fanbase for classic rock music.

I spent the week between Glasgow's the Venue, Shadows, The Mayfair and probably the most important rock venue of the time, the Heathery Bar in Wishaw - all who always had some form of live music.

I now live in London but have been told that the Glasgow rock "scene" has almost disappeared and now people only go to see specific bands rather than just go out to a rock venue.

I've been back home a few times but nobody seems to be aware of any venues with a regular crowd who are just into the same type of music.

Doe the rock scene still exist North of the Border?

meg

[musicthom]

Sadly you are right rather than going to a specific venue to see a specific type of music,
which to be honest is not great for bands as you may find yourself playing to the wrong crowd most venues in glasgow and surrounding areas cater for all types from alternative ,ska ,metal,pop etc
i played the renfrew ferry and on the bill was myself acoustic indie pop paul duncan alternative acoustic a ska band a rock band and an indie rock band so as you can see its not all one type playing together

[pumps100]

Hi Meg,

My son is a musician and when his band tours and plays in Glasgow to the two major venues for live music are King Tuts and the Carling Academy. He says King Tuts is the best for up and coming young bands.

Sorry I cannot offer anything further. But the websites are below.

http://www.kingtuts.co.uk/

http://www.glasgow-academy.co.uk/

His band make music that I am afraid I cannot quite get.

http://www.myspace.com/viatrophy

Regards

Ian

[metal_meg]

[b]Sadly you are right rather than going to a specific venue to see a specific type of music,
which to be honest is not great for bands

The multi-band line-up thing came about in Glasgow at the same time as the whole live music scene was decimated by Tennent's and their "Tennent's Live" sponsorship scam!

That's when all the regular venues died out as suddenly there were loads of venues (albeit empty) with loads of bands - all paid for by Tennent's and all the bands who had previously built up a following through hard work and perseverance found them selves back at the same level as every other band in the area.

The venues didn't care as they were all being funded by Tennent's and didn't have to advertise or make sure that the bands would bring a crowd with them!

meg

[metal_meg]

My son is a musician and when his band tours and plays in Glasgow to the two major venues for live music are King Tuts and the Carling Academy. He says King Tuts is the best for up and coming young bands

Unfortunately these two venues are the very type of venue that doesn't have a regular crowd.

King Tut's was one of the main Tennent's Live venues (see previous post) and rose to fame being almost totally funded by Tennent's and putting on multi-band line-ups of unknown Glasgow bands who would play to a handful of their pals and nobody else.

As "musicthom" mentioned mostly these gigs were comprised of uncompatible acts that had nothing of interest for the fans of the other acts.

The Carling Academy is really a mid-level venue that only opens when there is a gig on and again people only go there to see specific bands. I've been in the Academy quite a few times and it's just a case of turn up watch the band (pay £3.50 for a can of Guinness) and then leave as soon as the band finishes.

The type of thing I miss is that you used to be able to go to different venues on different nights of the week and the people who went there were always there - no matter what band was playing.

i.e. Friday nights everyone into rock music would go to the Venue in Sauchiehall Street and on Saturdays everyone would travel out to the Heathery in Wishaw.

Nobody cared what band was playing - all people were interested in was being part of the rock "scene" and participating. All the bands would go to these venues as well and you could always guarantee to catch up with old mates etc.

I'm in London now and there's still a healthy rock music scene down here - it's just Glasgow that seems to have lost it!

meg

[musicthom]

I must say i have too agree , Tennants although appeared to be promoting live music did kill off the rock scene. and other types too.... everything has to have a pidgon hole and that really tics me off
i know only too well playing to a crowd who have no interest in my kind of music and i can't blame them,
and you know its not good but you have to play on over the talking
there is only 1 venue that i know of that supports rock music and that is rockers in midland st
its a shame i wouldnt say i am a big fan but i do like some rock but there is a place for all types
roll on the revolution

[metal_meg]

I must say i have too agree , Tennants although appeared to be promoting live music did kill off the rock scene.

It killed it off by oversaturating it - suddenly the dedicated venues had lots of competition. Although it wasn't really competition it was venues jumping on the bandwagon and taking the Tennent's money so that they could get something that they'd never bothered about before for free.

Sadly it wasn't only the venues and the established bands who suffered. A lot of established services such as PA and lighting companies in Glasgow bit the dust as well!

Tennents picked 1 company in Glasgow (Storm) and 1 company in Edinburgh (EFX) to provide their sound systems for all their gigs. This meant that the bands weren't able to hire their preferred PA companies for their gigs as there was now a "house" PA.

Storm and EFX made a fortune out of the Tennent's scam while everyone else went out of business almost overnight.

Sad but true!

meg

P.S. For anyone interested in the Glasgow "Rock Music" scene there are a couple of related posts on the new RockScotland forum at:- http://rockscotland.freeforums.org/

[Dexter St. Clair]

The rock scene ebbs and flows in Glasgow. There were more venues offering live rock music than ever before in Glasgow but it's receding. Capitol is giving up on live music. The Box appears to be committed to offering local bands a platform and they don't charge at the door. ABC2 appears to be taking on King Tuts for booking good touring bands who attract a crowd of 200. The Ferry is the home of the tribute rock bands and blasts from the past like The Fall. The Captains Rest where you'd be struggling to get more than 50 in pulls crowds for US and Australian bands.

The Venue and The Heathery Bar were the only places for a metal fan to go to in their day. There were no medium gigs between Shadows and the Apollo. The Cathouse took over from the venue but it's had to vary the music on offer.

Hard rock is back to being a minority taste and so called Indie and acousti outfits more popular but that will change.

However in Glasgow if you want to catch a band any night of the week you can do that in Glasgow now.

[musicthom]

The rock scene ebbs and flows in Glasgow. There were more venues offering live rock music than ever before in Glasgow but it's receding. Capitol is giving up on live music. The Box appears to be committed to offering local bands a platform and they don't charge at the door. ABC2 appears to be taking on King Tuts for booking good touring bands who attract a crowd of 200. The Ferry is the home of the tribute rock bands and blasts from the past like The Fall. The Captains Rest where you'd be struggling to get more than 50 in pulls crowds for US and Australian bands.

The Venue and The Heathery Bar were the only places for a metal fan to go to in their day. There were no medium gigs between Shadows and the Apollo. The Cathouse took over from the venue but it's had to vary the music on offer.

Hard rock is back to being a minority taste and so called Indie and acousti outfits more popular but that will change.

However in Glasgow if you want to catch a band any night of the week you can do that in Glasgow now.

What you say is correct but the clubs don't make it easy for the bands , last year myself and a friend ran a few band nights, just to give unsigned talent in glasgow a platform to be heard
the venue was the old renfrew ferry now just the ferry.
Don't get me wrong the sound was spot on and the actual venue is great but!!!
Firstly they charged us over £500 hire £60 per security and £80 for the sound guy the only problem to me was the hire fee the other costs i thought were fair
Now we spent a long time in promoting and as we charged for tickets we were lucky to cover the costs and having 3oo people on the ferry they must have made a mint in bar sales in fact come to mind we prob were down as we had to get tickets printed and posters
on the other side we also ran an acoustic night in a small bistro in king street Cafe Gramafon the guy took no charge for hire and gave us a great night what was his reply " i will make money on the bar " moral to this is ............................we got ripped off but it was a lesson learned

lots of small bands dissapear because they dont get a chance its a real shame

[metal_meg]

Hard rock is back to being a minority taste and so called Indie and acousti outfits more popular but that will change.

Sorry but that's rubbish. Hard rock, heavy rock - whatever you want to call it has always had a huge following in the UK and especially in Glasgow, it's never been a "minority taste"! It's just that the people have nowhere to go to learn about new bands etc. The existing rock gigs shove a band on and then kick everyone out - the Cathouse is a classic example.

However in Glasgow if you want to catch a band any night of the week you can do that in Glasgow now.

You can - but quantity can't replace quality - the whole point being that people will not turn out to see a band, no matter how good they are, if they don't know them. Tennent's created this band in every pub culture and completely destroyed the Glasgow music scene overnight - loads of gigs with nobody there but the pals of the band.

In the good old days people went to the dedicated venues because they knew that they could meet up with others with similar musical tastes. That was the whole point of the original post - people went to the dedicated venues no matter what band was playing.

The heavy rock fans in Glasgow have never dwindled and the 96.3 Rock Radio gigs, which have all sold out very quickly, with relatively minor heavy rock acts are testament to that.

meg

[Dexter St. Clair]

Firstly they charged us over £500 hire £60 per security and £80 for the sound guy the only problem to me was the hire fee the other costs i thought were fair
Now we spent a long time in promoting and as we charged for tickets we were lucky to cover the costs and having 3oo people on the ferry they must have made a mint in bar sales in fact come to mind we prob were down as we had to get tickets printed and posters
on the other side we also ran an acoustic night in a small bistro in king street Cafe Gramafon the guy took no charge for hire and gave us a great night what was his reply " i will make money on the bar " moral to this is ............................we got ripped off but it was a lesson learned

lots of small bands dissapear because they dont get a chance its a real shame

Any body who can run a night at The Ferry and pull 300 in does not need any advice from me. But I hope you don't mind me adding some comments. You're obviously into the music and not about making money. I've been lucky enough to have mates who did the same and 'd help out. Not by investing money but doing posters, publicity even security. I noted there always comes a point where you are faced with doing it for the money or for the music. Or you've no money to do it for the music. You noticed that you get a good ccrowd for a certain kind of band but it's not your kind of music. Or you're running a club with live bands but most people arrive after the bands just for your club djs afterwards.

On the other hand another mate earned a good reputation amongst bands and their agents by giving unknown or almost forgotten US artists a platform. It helped that he ran a bar and had contacts elsewhere in Scotland so that he could offer a long weekend tour. he did not earn much money. Profitable gigs funded money losing gigs. The galling bit for him was when they returned to Scotland they would not let him promote but would use the usual big Scottish promoters. He's still doing it but keeps it to small gigs.

There are more venues than ever before in Glasgow. Getting the right one is always the difficulty. The Ferry seems to be popular with an older crowd who like a seat and the bar. Nice'n'sleazy being a basement bar can put them off as it seems a bit uninviting. Stereo appears to be available at weekends where other venues are not. I've had good and bad nights at barfly dependent on how many people turn up. I always feels sorry when thru no fault of their own only a few people turn up.

Good luck with your gigs.

(I'm typing this out whilst watching Wayne's World 2 which does have the occasional tip for would be promoters)

[musicthom]

Thank you for your reply and yes i just do it for the music but my band now is getting better so we need to gig soon too one more kincaid live night and i think i will concentrate on the music from me

[**Tallon**]

I'm now 46 and I miss the Glasgow rock scene from the mid 80's to early 90's, meet up with friends in either The Solid (Solid Rock Cafe), or Shadows on bath street, spend a few hours there then head up to lymburns with adding The Venue at the weekends, damn that place was sweat city.

The music was always Metal but of the Iron Maiden, Deep Purple, Faster Pussycat etc and the live bands were great, How they ever managed to fit those bands onto the small stage i'll never know. Local bands like Trident and Big George and the Business were great.

Another memory was being at the Barrowlands watching Marillion and Magnum with the floor actually moving up and down, aye, them were the days.