NWB - Community Blog

@ Bad Horsie
Night Train every month LOL (only joking!!!!!!!!)

Seriously...atmosphere....hard to define, but you know it when its there

Good cider as wen

yeh real ale brings in a better class of customer...and a better landlord, cos they have to look after it properly

lots of things Rob.

1 location

2 interior layout, eg stage area and open plan rooms.

3 freindly bar staff

4 resonable drinks prices.

5 high quality bands performing.

6 regular suppotive live music audience.

7 well managed by the landlord and landlady.

8 good comunications with the bands

9 long reputation as a live music venue, eg Moses gate.

10 good acoustics.

cant think of any more, is there a prize.?

This'll be interesting......

Bring on the "money over the bar" versus "pubs that have me on" debate!

@steve c

Oh hello. Showing another facet then? ;o)

Rob, you just described the Hindley Arms. lol

what on earth happened to my first post?? I did that Steve C one!!
Where's Steve C come from???

A 'great' venue can mean a satisfactory audience for venue and band alike where there appears to be a good atmosphere. But a 'successful' venue needs to make money in order to function like any other business, without this element a venue can only survive for so long.

Goes back to the whole punters in pubs debate....beer prices, cheap beer in supermarkets, smoking ban, personal financial priorities etc.

@Sugar Bullets, pretty much yep.

Of course, it's not easy when the "sheeple" want you to play things they want to hear. ;o)

A pub to me needs the following :- Good ale and cider, good rustic food, good music, wooden beams, coal fire, a dog and a ghost!!!!!!

I'm still learning on this one so shouldn't really pass comment....however, knowing how i like to waffle on.....I am finding more and more that variety is definitly the spice of life - along with cheap prices....obviously position of venues etc has a major affect but to stick to one genre of music is definitly reducing the potential. The current state of affairs mentioned by Sugar Bullets is having an impact on society in general therfore there is less of 'one specific type of customers'......if that makes sense....

"# Posted by oggi - 31/03/2010, 22:50 (GMT)

A pub to me needs the following :- Good ale and cider, good rustic food, good music, wooden beams, coal fire, a dog and a ghost!!!!!!"

I'd agree to an extent Oggi, but if we stop mid song and the drummer shouts "get of me sticks you protoplasmic bastard" we can do without the ghost....

But wot if the ghost is Keith Moon??????

Does anybody know of any pubs on the nwb circit wot serves decent cider ont tap???

Does anybody know of any pubs on the nwb circit wot serves decent cider ont tap???

As stated.
Good location
decent beers and prices.
Bit of variety with bands i.e music styles.

Fit Birds......a deffo

"Rob, you just described the Hindley Arms. lol "

totally agree there Mick ! ; )

A bar in blackpool in a big fuk off white room we 2 tables an a loado cocks wearin henleys t shirts drinkin STELLAAAAAAAA

failed on two. i will work on it. hope to see you all on monday

"# Posted by the hindley arms ( fingers bar... - 31/03/2010, 23:13 (GMT)

failed on two. i will work on it."

Not from what I've heard. And no, I'm not after a gig. ;o)

Gotta be careful with the food scenario if you want a live music venue. Totally agree with you Rob on the American bar scene. Said it before (and I'll say it again) can't beat sitting back with a combo plate of ribs, wings, onion rings (proper ones mind) and dips, a cold beer (in the states, a foaming pint of Boddingtons over here) and a shit hot band blasting out all your favourite songs. (and some of your not so favourite ones but played in such a way that, fuck it, you're going to like it tonight!!!)

Wasn't it Matt Monroe who said ... "Heaven, I'm in Heaven ... "??

Willowmayhavebeenaznavour!

Willow, the thing about that is we are not, in fact, in the US. I've been to 9 states over there and the music scene is so different it can not be translated over here. Especially in beer..

Mick you spoilsport!! We can have our own beer and bands ... and their food and customer service!
might be cold by the time it gets over here tho
(mind you its often cold when delivered from 20 friggin yards away)
Willow16statesnernernernerner

Rob, have you tried Memphis and Nashville ..???
For music and food, awesome places. Even if you don't take to country music there's no denying the talent and sheer virtuosity of playing in the bars on and off Broadway in Nashville. It's ace!
Mind you most places i've been over there have had a really good live music vibe.
WtF

A jukebox without that what I call engineered musical genocide volume 145, characters (not dickheads) at the bar, barmaids who know the difference between flirting and being a whore haha and the type of place where you walk in and get the vibe that you would rather be there than at home. If I get all those answered ill bottle it and swap it for bookings. Oh a Piggery on every payday weekend :o

Willow, every time I've been over to the US I have been humbled by the musical ability of the guys I've hung out with. The lack of ego and simple talent I've seen from Atlanta to Louisiana to NYC and Philedelphia is a real grounding experience. I was sat on a porch in louisiana in march 2007 and got Cripple Creek thrown at me. DAMN that is a learning curve when all you have to hand is a tele and a blues junior!

Rob should open a pub !

Posted by SABRE - 31/03/2010, 22:31 (GMT)

1 location
2 interior layout, eg stage area and open plan rooms.
3 freindly bar staff
4 resonable drinks prices.
5 high quality bands performing.
6 regular suppotive live music audience.
7 well managed by the landlord and landlady.
8 good comunications with the bands
9 long reputation as a live music venue, eg Moses gate.
10 good acoustics.
cant think of any more, is there a prize.?
........and then i woke up !!!

Was talking with Alan & Sharon from Cricks on Tuesnite ... as long as a venue puts on the music that they are known for ..the appropriate custom will follow ..... we hear that a venue has stopped bands recently in haslingden because they tried all types (genre's i hate that poncy french 'in' phrase ....) know yr custom,know yr music ...simples tsk!!
dont try and fit where a square hole wont go ....or a round one ....or a errr !!!
eg the Hindley does classic rock on sats, they doing alt(soft rock) stuff on sundays ...does that sound clique now ????
Sometimes a pub is always frequented on the said days of Live music so a rock juke box may help but that maybe the only nite they go in ...... i dont have a 'local' so thats my view on a midweek pub venture ...mm quiz nite anyone ???

As a punter:
A variety of bands, not just the same ones all the time
Perhaps "nights", rock one night, indie another, alternative etc
Decent selection of drinks
Decent toilets
Minimal members of the burberry mafia

As a musician:
Good sized space to perform in
Plenty of plug sockets!
Easy access for getting gear in and out

a good venue's landlord/landladiy
a) learns the names of their customers and that of the bands they book-because they return time after time to hear/play the music they (the customer) likes and the owners show their apreciation of that by the "personal touch".
b) gets to know and understand a bands requirements/set up needs.
c) makes sure the venue is a "chav free zone" (as far as posible) in order to make for a safe, relaxed environment.
d) puts on the bands that have been shown to work for their customer base-for some it's hard rock, others indie, still others, a cross section. get that recipe correct and the customers will arrive.
e)be prepared to take risks, eg. put on a new, (sometimes young)unknown band, that fits the criteria for that venue, but isn't, as yet, widely known-and have them, sometimes, pay off, sometimes not.
f) have a great deal of perseverance- a good venue with the reputation of being just that doesn't materialise overnight.
g) don't call their customers "punters" -is a tv created "cockney gangster" term that refers to a person person paying for illicit services or gambler!!)

Location
Parking
Low % of Not rights
Decent stage area
Good visibility for band
Decent numbers of audience
They put up the posters they are sent
Also they have to have The (newly slimline and rockin') Kerbcrawlers on!

Consistency I think. Good bands every week from different genres, good beer and no dickheads.

Mark

Oddly enough, we occasionally played a pub in Hounslow, where the landlord told us that he would only put a decent band on every so often because his takings would actually go down if the entertainment was too good. The theory was that the customers were too busy watching the band to spend time at the bar, but he also had to have something decent on every so often too maintain the interest.

Rob.