FAT CONTROLLER SIGNALS THE NEED TO SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC
Owners of the Fat Controller have announced the closure of the North Terrace nightclub, highlighting the continued pressures being faced by live music venues.
On December 21, the Club posted on Facebook to say it would close ‘effective immediately’ owing to ‘ongoing uncertainties within the industry’.
The closure comes on the heels of a horror two months which have seen several Hindley Street clubs – including the Dog and Duck, Enigma Bar and Wnderland – close their doors in November, with Ancient World threatening to do the same if it doesn’t get support.
“It’s the worst I’ve seen it for 20 years,” says Tam Boakes owner of Jive, another Hindley Street club.
Tam says the industry is being squeezed by soaring costs (particularly rents, electricity and insurance), reduced discretionary spend by music-lovers owing to the rising cost of living, and a trend for artists – and indeed punters – to support festivals over grassroots music.
“It’s definitely a good time to remind people that we’re still here!” says Tam. “Unfortunately, with so many festivals, people tend to think everything’s really good. But it’s not. We’re really struggling.”
Tam says closures can’t be healthy for live music since it’s the venues that nurtures new talent. “People have got to remember where the big festival artists came from in the first place!”
As well as actively encouraging music-lovers to get out onto the streets and into the venues, Tam says there’s a movement to implement a ‘big ticket levy’. This would see a dollar from every ticket sold for a festival being fed back to the grassroots venues.
“It was started in the UK and the US,” says Tam. “Musicians like Ed Sheeran do it because they understand where they got their break.
“It gets a good response when you talk about it, but it’s hard to develop as policy at the government level. And if government isn’t going to do anything about it, we might have to try implementing [a voluntary system] where you can choose to ‘add another dollar’ to the price of your big ticket.
“It’s all about paying it forward.”
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