So much of my life has been shaped by going to gigs in small venues. The people involved at a grassroots level don’t get the credit they deserve for doing the job they do, which is beneficial on so many different levels, not just to the musicians, but the fans.
I wouldn’t be the person I am had it not been for the fact that I was lucky enough to find a little venue in Harlow, where I went to college. I tipped up – a kid from the sticks, don’t really know anybody, don’t really know much about life. I walked into the Harlow Square to see a gig and I made so many new friends.
I found this whole community of like-minded people who were into music, but were into all these other things too. I learned so much in the bar of the Harlow Square about politics, and literature and different sorts of music and art and all sorts of stuff. It was an education, which was provided for me by this building, and the people in that building. I want other people to have that chance to have their life enriched not just by the power of the live gig, but also by finding themselves in a new friendly group of people.
Honestly, Venue Watch fills me with joy. I endorse this absolutely, 100%. It’s a brilliant thing, and I’m so pleased that it’s happening. You’ve hit the nail on the head when you’re saying – we’re going to tell their stories. They all hold so many moments of history. And these stories deserve to be told.
As a music fan, you don’t always think about how much it costs to literally keep the lights on at a venue these days. Or how hard it can be to just balance the books. Showing what it really entails, just to be able to open the doors for you to get in at 7.30 and have a nice time, is incredible.
Unfortunately, the Square is now an NCP carpark. It’s a depressingly familiar story. If you go back and look at the early Oasis, Radiohead and Blur tours, so many of those venues are gone. On the first headlining Oasis tour, they did 21 gigs, a couple were universities, which leaves about 19 venues, of which I think 11 have since shut. Obviously there’s always a bit of a churn with venues, but there are towns now that have been left completely without a centre for alternative cultural life.