Month: February 2024

Day 211

Sunday February 4

Tommy of The Marquis gets in touch. If you need a reminder, or are new to this, that’s the bar right by Trafalgar Square. One of his staff is leaving today and they’re having a big music day with a whole load of acts. Do we fancy it. Oh wow. Yes. We will be there. Thankyou very much. This will be our fifth gig in 17 days. We turn up totally matchfit and ready.

The main act of the day will be Tom McQ who will do his own full show from around 1pm to 4pm. I know opening acts aren’t usually the main act, but this isn’t to be seen as an opening act. It’s basically a separate thing with Tom completely owning the place for those three hours. After that, Tommy says, it will be a bit of a free for all, kind of organise as you go kind of thing. During all this, two bands which will include different staff members will be playing. The way it comes down is that Tom does his thing which we catch a good 30 to 40 minutes of. There’s a bit of a break, which has the effect of separating the two entertainment entities as I was saying. Then, once the stage and PA is all set up for the two bands, the floor is essentially free. We take the first spot, and then Brian of The Barrytones takes the second. After this, it’s band time to take us all the way to close at 8pm.

A word while we’re here on Tom McQ. He’s not just a singer/songwriter. He’s a whole event of a stage act, fully dressed for the stage, with the stage also fully dressed for him. He lives and breathes what he does and has done for years. In a three hour show, his own original songs fit right in among classic crowd pleasing covers. This is a trick so many acts find so hard to pull off as you spot the originals a mile off with the quality suddenly and very markedly dipping. Tom’s songs suffer no such fates.

I first saw him and met him when he played The Record Day at The Marquis in possibly 2015, an event I played at myself with Dan as The Insiders. Tom’s been playing there ever since and has progressed on the scene to the point that he managed to get a slot at Glastonbury last year. You can find him on instagram at tommcqofficial.

Tom has good support in here today, including a friend who owns a cocktail bar in Tottenham, north London, a place he plays at regularly.

As I said, I’ve known Tom for almost a decade. We don’t go and have coffee or anything regularly, or at all, really. But in the way of music scenes everywhere, whenever our paths happen to cross, no matter how much time has passed in between the last crossing, we come together as good friends. It’s also pretty cool that when we walk in today we get a big shoutout from him from the stage. Always helps the kudos and, yeah, lifts the ego a little. Cheers Tom.

He finishes his set, comes and joins us for a while, then does his mingling thing, then goes back to the stage to pull down so that the stage can be rebuilt for what’s going to happen for the rest of the day. Suddenly, looking towards me he calls out, ‘Hey Mark, come and have a look at this.’ So of course I do. Tom bursts into laughter. I wasn’t talking to you, he says. Here comes my friend who was sitting right behind you. He’s Mark as well. But anyway, you stay here too. This is pretty cool. Now Mark’s joined us, we have a little laugh between ourselves at what’s just happened and have a handshake hello. And that’s how I meet Mark. What Tom wants to show him/us is a signed guitar hanging up on the wall next to the stage area. It’s signed by Damien Dempsey to Tommy – Tommy in this entry is landlord Tommy. Tom is, well, the other Tom in this paragraph. As for Damien, if you’re not familiar with him, he’s a very successful Irish singer/songwriter from Dublin who shone hugely in the Meteor Awards between 2004 and 2009 being nominated for eleven and winning six, including best Irish male act which he’s won twice.

This is just one piece of signed memorabilia all around the bar which Tommy has been gifted over the years. The latest piece of memorabilia is a round plaque behind the bar, which was hung up in the place it actually happened for a while before being moved for reasons I don’t know. People probably kept taking it down and reading it and passing it around or something. That place was in the corner area where the stage is, and the plaque commemorates when Green Day played here in November, just a couple of months ago. Let me repeat that. Green Day played here in November just a couple of months ago. The story goes that Green Day had heard of The Marquis being a supporter of original music and had some cool bands. They began to follow the venue and saw videos of some of the shows they had. They were so impressed by the intention, vibe, and level of talent they saw that they decided when they were booked to play London next, they wanted to come and play here themselves. The only person who knew, until the day, was Tommy himself. The event made the news worldwide.

And it’s on this stage we’re going to play in half an hour or so.

I walk back to our table from the stage where Tom has been showing me/us the Dempsey guitar, and there’s a new addition, sitting on the other side of the table from Maja, facing the stage and minding his own business. He’s not gone and sat down with Maja or us or anything. He’s just found a seat going spare near the front of the bar and taken it. In the interests of togetherness and being social and all that we introduce ourselves to him and bring him into our company. His name is Ant. Cool. And that’s how we meet Ant.

A few minutes later, Mark turns up. Yes that one. He sits on the other side of the table from us as well, and he and Ant get talking. It’s clear they know each other very well. Soon, all four of us are chatting away, and during that time Tom comes and joins us as well. Of course he does. Those guys are his friends. Somewhere in the conversation Ant casually mentions a cocktail bar he owns in Tottenham and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s your place that Tom was talking about.’ Yep. It was indeed. He asks a little about us and we tell him we’re playing in here today and have played quite a few times before as well. That gets his interest and we talk a little more about live music and stuff. I tell him a little more about us and he says, ‘You don’t need to sell it. You’re good enough to play in here. You’re in.’ And that’s how that can get done. Cool.

Pretty much at the same time as all this is going on, Per walks in. No, not totally unannounced and surprising like that time on the last afternoon of the 100 hour Jam in the Blues Kitchen. He’s in London for a short visit and we were intending to get together. We’ve let him know we’re playing in here today and here he is. Brilliant. He’ll also film our show. Brillianter.

That showtime arrives. So often we have to make the show and really force ourselves into the collective consciousness. But not today. The whole bar is ready and waiting for things to happen now. As we get set up, we’re on the main floor but looking up at a lot of faces looking back. Things are expected. OK. Let’s go. For the first time ever at any kind of show like this we start with a slow song. Sand Bang. Oh man, they’re with us from the first note. This song is atmospheric and cabaret/musical like almost. Unfortunately we had sound issues with the cordless mic so Maja is on a corded mic and unable to really roam as she would, especially with a song like this. But that really doesn’t seem to matter as it rumbles on and the crowd gets totally sucked into the drama of it. Then they get taken off as we near the end and the song takes off too. When we hit the last notes, there’s a slight pause before the applause and cheers soak over us. Into that pause a single female voice says, in her own hushed tones, ‘Oh wow.’ Hearing something like that is worth any number of applauses.

On we go and we hit them with three of our smash set songs, closing out with Make Me Shine. This feels like a London show. They’ve been with us all the way and so many people come up and talk to us or congratulate us after, or offer to buy us drinks. One guy even says, ‘You guys belong on Top Of The Pops.’ For our non UK readers, that’s the UK’s biggest ever chart show and was almost required weekly watching once upon a time. It’s been off the screens for quite a while now, but we know what he means. We will do our best to accommodate.

Back to our table and Ant and Mark are looking at us slightly differently from how they were ten minutes ago. We were not expecting that, is the general tone and sentiment. Yes. He definitely wants to see us playing in his place. It will be done.

As we talk more to the two of them now we discover they have a long Camden history of being on the live music and DJ scenes and are both still very active on them. Of course they are. Ant has his bar and Mark, among other things, is DJing in some very prominent places. Their histories in Camden go back 15 to 20 years. So rooted are they that Mark actually has a picture of him painted onto the wall inside The Good Mixer. To recap, that’s the Camden bar that was at the centre of Britpop and which was one of the main regular spots for Amy Winehouse among many many other stars. Inside the bar are paintings of notable regulars, all set in a single bar scene. Inside that scene, we now learn, is Mark. If that’s not established in Camden music I don’t know what is.

We stick around for the rest of the afternoon taking in Brian’s fantastic acoustic cover set then the two rock’n’roll sets from the bands belonging to various barstaff. Or the bands various barstaff are in. I don’t want to assume any dynamics here. Both are just brilliant and totally rock the place. This all goes right up until close. We say our goodbyes all over the bar, then the three of us – myself, Maja and Per – are off to The Blues Kitchen in Camden. 

What this means is getting the tube back to Camden, going back to our place, dropping off the guitar, picking up a bass, then walking to The Blues Kitchen. But there’s one more thing on the way.

As we’re coming up the escalators at Camden Tube station we hear a call from behind us. It’s Mark. Oh, hi Mark. Cool. He tells us he’s off to The Hawley Arms. This is another major bar on the Camden music history trail. He says he’s going to put a word in for us. Oh wow. And just like that we have another potential venue to aim at where we will already be spoken for. This is all quite a fantastic vibe and afternoon to take with us as we walk from our place and down the road to The Blues Kitchen for the Sunday Jam.

From today’s Marquis show

https://youtu.be/wdaF2GwBPCw

Sand Bang

https://youtu.be/GEH3mHr5MHo

I Like You (Better When You’re Naked)

Day 227

Tuesday February 20

I think we can just say that life has been getting in the way a little bit lately, so not too much going on musically. Until tonight when we find our way, in just under an hour and two buses, to Ten To One Cocktail Bar, Ant’s fantastic place in Tottenham, north London. What we find is a really cool, perfectly rectangular shaped bar space, all set up for a kind of mixed open mic featuring comedians and singer/songwriters. Our first impression is that this looks remarkably like Laksmi, our favourite bar in Berlin. It’s largely painted red inside too. Oh, and right up to date. We recently unearthed what we had thought was a lost video from the last time we played there. Coming to a Youtube channel or thread near you soon. Back to Ten To One. It’s a single long space with a bar running more or less down one side. The stage area is on the left as you come in. This places it right in front of the window which gives it an earthy street backdrop, augmented by regular double decker red London buses which massively add to the experience and to videos we’ve discovered. Added to all this, a large neon bar sign provides really cool extra framing for performers.

As soon as we walk in, Ant looks up and is delighted to see us. We told him last week that we weren’t going to make it then but that we were hoping to this week, and here we are. The place feels immediately warm and welcoming and a few people take note of us after our effusive welcome. After all the hellos, he says that Den’s running the night – The Ramshackle Collective – and he’s already told her all about us. Just then, she turns up and says hello. Brilliant. Introduced, on the list and all good to go.

We settle down and are told we’ll be somewhere in the second half. Between now and then it’s something around a 60/40 split in favour of the comedy. People newish on the scene trying out new material, and people playing their first few shows, or even their first show, as they begin to find their comedy groove. I think stand up comedy is about the hardest thing you can do in entertainment and special respect is reserved for anyone having their first go at it, and indeed anyone just doing it at all. 

Den kicks things off with what she introduces as the theme song of the evening. Called Nowhere Parade, it sets the scene for where this venue actually is. On a tiny parade of shops in a quiet residential kind of area somewhere out in zone three. But then these can often be the kind of places you find the truly cool destination bars which this place very much aspires to be. Given its independence, full-on support of talent and original music, and the general vibe which Ant has created, it really could become a destination bar. A true London gem to be sought out and travelled to. It turns out people already do; during the night, Den asks for who’s come here the furthest. Someone who’s come here from out in Hertfordshire wins tonight, but we hear stories of people coming from much further afield for a night, and even the occasional international traveller is apparently discovering it, so something is clearly going on here. And Den sets the tone for the night fantastically with songs tinged with observational comedy and surreal social commentary.

As for Ten To One itself, as we sit down and look around, we see it’s made up of so much more than the venue area we’re in right now. Walk through this space to the right and there’s a pretty large outside covered area, all very well appointed with tables and chairs, kind of set up to kind of look like a diner. Then on the other side, up another few steps, there’s a lovely restaurant area. You really could pack quite a crowd into the whole place. And all of this in a former betting shop. Hence the name, Ten To One.

By the time we’re called up the atmosphere is well and truly warmed up. With Ant having invited us here especially after having seen us at The Marquis, we’re keen to 

demonstrate to him our range of repertoire. This may take some time over a period of weeks and more, but for starters we’re keen not to play any of the songs we played when he saw us. So tonight we go for Talk About The Weather and Rock’n’Roll Tree. Although we do open with Sand Bang which we also opened with at The Marquis. The reasoning there being that we haven’t yet done it justice live and really feel we’re ready now to get a solid full live performance of this one under our belts. And we do. This eases us really nicely into it and then we’re away with the next two. Which take us right up to the high energy levels that so impressed Ant at The Marquis, although we like to think he enjoyed the atmospheric and theatrical Sand Bang as well. But yeah. Talk About The Weather and Rock’n’Roll Tree. Two authentic smash set songs. And smash in here tonight they certainly do, with Ant rocking behind us and really getting into it as he keeps an eye on the sound. And yes. Having an actual venue owner appear to enjoy us as much as this really is a great boost.

When the night is all over, the buzz around the room is all about the high levels of energy of our set and how it all but put people through the ceiling. Ant is on it as well. He pulls us aside and looks at his calendar of events. He says he’s all booked up on his Wednesday night full set music nights until May, but he’d love to have us headline a show that night. He says we can look at this together over the next few months, deciding on any acts from here that could work well with us. So yeah. We’re in and we’re on. Our first offer of a headline show in an actual London music venue. 

We go home quite a different way to how we came here as we head out onto the street and find that the first bus coming our way is going to Archway. Oh, let’s do that. Which gives us a walk home from Archway, through Kentish Town and onto Camden. Right past the two places we lived in London before Ireland, and onto the place we live now.

And another thought or two on that Nowhere Parade song. Yeah. By London standards, Ten To One is a bit isolated and kind of out of the way. But that really makes it the true London hidden gem that it is. A place you really have to seek out or care about to find. And when you do, you know it’s yours and isn’t going to be beset by tourists. Yes the tourists are all fantastic, we absolutely love living in a place that people want to come all over the world to and we very much feel a sense of pride of that in our own Camden Town. But to know the places that are yours, that the tourists don’t know about – unless they really, really look – can be its own special thing too. It’s really what makes you a local. And knowing places like Ten To One and hopefully becoming part of them is what truly makes you a London local. And also being apart like it is, I’m guessing makes it a bit easier to attract and build its own local crowd. Its own community. And to have a chance of becoming part of that is its own kind of special. 

Day 241

Tuesday March 5

I told you life had got in the way a little bit. I think you can see that now with these last few entries being quite far apart. February 4, February 20, and now March 5. But here we are. Out and ready to go again. And yeah, I think I can say that we are pretty much on the trail again. It begins tonight with a return to Ant’s bar, The Ten To One Cocktail Bar in Tottenham. 

And once more a wonderful night of music, comedy and general hanging out and chatting to all the different acts and audience members. But there’s a slight shift for us tonight. We’re held right back until the very end when we’re actually called to close the show. We had no idea that was going to happen until Den announced us as the last act of the night. Second time out and we get that privilege. Fantastic. We grab it with all four of our hands and totally smash it with I Like You (Better When You’re Naked) – Ant had heard this one but we decided it really was time to unleash it on everyone else in here – an absolutely breathless My Game My Rules – of which we get our first full recording – and Fire. This is one of our more gentle songs although it does have a barnstorming finish. It’s also nice to show we can do something a bit more controlled and reserved. I feel it’s like we’re saying, look, we don’t have to blow the doors off every single time. Although to be fair, before we get to Fire, we already have pretty much blown the doors right off and everyone’s just desperately holding on to try not to get blown out with them. The reactions have been huge again tonight. And again, Ant seems to be really into what we’re doing. Yes. We really are feeling good about this venue. It’s relatively far out when you live in Camden with everything on your doorstep, but as I was saying in the last entry, very much worth the journey.