Natives Discuss: The Boileroom & UK Live Music
With Guildford venue the Boileroom facing the possibility of closure, TMMP caught up with Natives guitarist Jack Fairbrother to discuss the Boileroom and the state of the UK’s live music scene.
This interview is part of a larger TMMP feature which can be read in full here.
What is your general opinion of the Boileroom?
We played at the Boileroom earlier this year for the first time as Natives (we played there once in our old band years before). I like the venue, I like how personal the show is because the crowd are close to the stage, I like that the space is large width-wise rather than lengthwise so that nobody is too far back and I love that it has a Chinese takeaway built in!
How did you feel when you heard about the Boileroom’s current problems?
Disappointed. There are too many similar stories at other venues in the UK. I love independent venues and think they’re a vital part of the UK music scene. It would be terrible if the venue were to close.
What would happen if the Boileroom were to shut down? What impact would that event have?
I think there would be a huge impact for both artists and fans in the local area. To my knowledge the Boileroom is the only small independent live music venue in the area so if it were to shut down, touring acts would simply stop playing in Guildford.
This has a knock-on effect with local artists who then lose the opportunity to build their fan base by supporting bigger acts. I think it’s really important for new bands to build their following and learn their trade in their hometown, which then opens doors to more national and international touring. But without a local venue this is so much harder; it’s much more difficult to get your friends and family and fans to travel into London from Guildford to come and watch your gig than convincing them to walk to the Boileroom.
What is your favourite Boileroom-related memory?
Other than the delicious Chinese takeaway? At our recent headline show we had a one-man stage invasion by a rather intoxicated man who just really wanted to play our drums. It took our crew quite a while to drag him off those drums and off the stage!
How do you feel about the state of the UK’s live music scene right now? What could be done to improve things?
I think the UK music scene is and always has been incredibly strong, since we have amazing artists creating amazing music at all levels. I think the danger is the lack of support and funding for live music. Some venues here are in pretty bad shape and rather than receiving support the problems are covered up by calling them “Prestigious Toilet Circuit Venues”.
We’ve toured mainland Europe a fair amount over the past couple of years and the difference is striking. Take the Netherlands as an example:
There is a venue called Dynamo in Eindhoven. It is funded by the government which means it has decent working equipment, clean dressing rooms and showers and low ticket prices. The staff are all music fans who work as volunteers in exchange for the chance to meet, work with and watch their favourite bands. The venue works like a youth club where young people want to spend their time which means people will come out to shows more willingly to watch bands they’ve not seen before because they enjoy being at Dynamo.
This creates amazing shows for bands, who in turn tell their booking agents that they love playing there, which means more bands go there, which means more people turn up to shows etc.
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