The Wonder Beers Discuss: The Boileroom & UK Live Music
With Guildford venue the Boileroom facing the possibility of closure, TMMP caught up with happy-go-lucky punks The Wonder Beers 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?
It’s a fantastic venue! The staff are great, the music is great, and the live sound is great! Also they serve good food, which is uncommon in most venues. It’s the full works, baby!
It is a professional venue with many touring bands passing through, allowing local bands to play with (and local punters to see) some of their favourite bands.
What would happen if the Boileroom were to shut down? What impact would that event have?
If the Boileroom shut down, it would be a massive loss and a big dent in the local music scene. Bands would have nowhere to play to their home crowd, and it can be hard enough getting gigs as it is. This is especially important for younger bands because as a kid it’s much harder to travel around to play shows.
It’s part of a wider problem really. So many of these venues are closing (e.g. The Peel in Kingston) and the effects are already being felt with people struggling to find places to play music. There is obviously the further impact it has on youngsters. When we were growing up, all we did was play music. Without that, I don’t know what we would have done… despite how much you may look back on your early creativity and cringe, at that time it gives you a much needed outlet.
What is your favourite Boileroom-related memory?
Our favourite memory has to be Hool-a-palooza 2014, which we opened. It was potentially a pretty tough gig for us, being on at 3pm ‘n’ all, but the crowd were great.
We’ve also played with some great touring bands there, including Honningbarna and Idiom, which was amazing.
As punters, we’ve also seen Monuments play there, who are one of our favourite bands.
How do you feel about the state of the UK’s live music scene right now? What could be done to improve things?
Personally, we are a bit pissed off with it. There is a massive increase in the number of ‘pay to play’ shows, which we hate. It ruins it for bands who can’t afford to buy their way onto shows and exploits people who are already struggling.
Fortunately, we think a lot of people are wising up to it and starting to create a scene through genuine passion. A well-known local promoter round our way often makes substantial losses on his shows, but they are great nights and they have a great reputation. You have to admire that kind of commitment. Maybe it sounds like it’s a bad business model, but at the moment people don’t seem as willing to pay to go to shows (or even bother to go out), so there’s not much that can be done about it except putting on great nights regardless and trying to create a buzz (speculate to accumulate and all that).
Nowadays, there is so much free music on, which is great, but people aren’t making the most of it. We all know life is busy and money is tight, but often people are more than willing to go and spunk all their money on loads of pints (and we love a pint too…) but grumble at a £4 door charge… it doesn’t seem to make sense.
We think if we had a fantastic answer on how to improve things, we’d be (semi) rich… we may have ‘saved’ the music industry!
On a positive note though, there are so many amazing bands in the UK at the moment. We think the hard times separate the men from the boys, so to speak. Bands have to be good to survive.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Support your local scene.
Links
The Wonder Beers on Facebook and Twitter.
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