Banquet Records

Well, this is something that I never thought I’d be saying 2 and a half years ago, but New Slang is moving back to McClusky’s.

There’s no massive drama here.  There hasn’t been a falling out and we’re still involved with The Hippodrome, but New Slang, as a part of what Banquet does, has had to move.  To save all the necessary replies and the like, here’s the context and the reasoning.

As well as New Slang, Banquet also runs weekend party/pop/urban night D.A.N.C.E.  This was held at The Hippodrome for the best part of three years.  It represents the more main-stream side of what we do and also houses our drum / dub / bass night Repeater.  Over the years we’ve had some real household names like Tinie Tempah, Rizzle Kicks, Stooshe, Nero, Professor Green and Example play there, as well as the room 2 playing host to some fun shows, including gigs from The Skints, and Think 182.   Its no exaggeration to say we kept the club open.   A few months ago, The Hippodrome took back the Saturdays and decided to run them in house.  And they’re doing it pretty well.  Killing it in fact.  When you consider that for some of the biggest shows we’ve ever had (Ed Sheeran, Wheatus, Vampire Weekend etc) we’ve not had more than 1600 people in the room, and you consider that they’re often getting 2000+ people in on a Saturday night, you can see why they’re running it in house now.  Our Saturday night was moved to Fridays, and we began the restructure of D.A.N.C.E on Fridays.  With a few loss leader nights to spread the word we were just about getting the numbers up to something close to what we wanted.  But after 3 months or so, the powers that be decided that they should be running the Friday nights too.   So D.A.N.C.E. was left without a home.

McClusky’s asked if we would run the Friday nights at their joint, on the condition we took New Slang along with us.  Emotionally that’s a tough decision for me.  I’ve had so many good times at The Works / The Hippodrome, but realistically New Slang, over the course of the year, just about breaks even.  D.A.N.C.E. is a massive part of the business now.  In recent months we’ve been offered some massive pop stars to play live for us, but without a club night to put them in, we’ve had to say no.  And that’s been a real frustration.  To say goodbye to D.A.N.C.E. goodbye to these live PAs would be damaging to New Slang, to Banquet and to everything else we do.

We had some real good times at McClusky’s in the past.  The more intimate-feeling shows from Friendly Fires, The Maccabees, Babyshambles, the first New Slam, Fight Like Apes, Slow Club, You Slang! and The Momeraths all stick out.  It ended with some underhanded tactics, from both sides in truth…    Im not going to pretend this didn’t happen.  But as Spector would say, “keep the past in the past and notice that I only ever did what I thought was right”.  Some people like McClusky’s more, some people like The Hippodrome more.  Yeah, McClusky’s has had an upgrade since we were last there, but I think the venue is what you make of it.  And I’d like to think the vibe of New Slang is what you and we make it.  The bands, the indie/alt community, the dancing till 2AM. Some of the best things we’ve ever done like the New Years events, Ed Sheeran, All Time Low acoustic and Lost Prophets will, for me, always be better in the bigger venue, but I reckon nearly all of the shows, and the club-night itself, will be just as good at McCluskys.  Some of the shows will sell out earlier, but its still New Slang, by New Slang.

We’re still going to do a few events here and there with The Hippodrome.  A few one off shows (like we had with Reel Big Fish, Lost Prophets, You Me At Six or Enter Shikari) will still happen in the bigger venue of The Hippodrome. The just announced Mosca and Boddika Repeater night still takes place on October 3^rd.  We’re involved in the Halloween night at The Hippo and there’ll be more one offs as and when.  Ian and the management at The Hippodrome have been great and understanding through all of this, and of course we love Oscar (who was with us at our last stint at McCluskys) and all the help he’s given and continues to give.

But for now, the message is that New Slang (and D.A.N.C.E.) is moving to McClusky’s.  The massive show on Aug 30^th (announced this Monday) still takes place at The Hippodrome, and then we’ll have one more on September 6^th as a farewell to The Hippodrome from New Slang.  Then on September 13^th we kick off New Slang at McCluksy’s with AlunaGeorge playing, and D.A.N.C.E. begins its residency in its new home from September 14^th.

So there you go.  The gang of friends that run New Slang and D.A.N.C.E. are all into the move and we’re excited for some fresh challenges, situations, bands, customers and friends. Give it a go, and do, please do, let us know your thoughts.  

i enjoyed the irony of someone on a money losing show’s guestlist complaining that the ticket price was too high

so yeah.

been thinking this for a while..  but its a funny old game, flyering.  Back in the day before everyone had a computer in their homes, and certainly not fast internet access, and definitely not smart phones, flyers were one of the main ways of telling people about shows.  

And now its often forgotten.  But i swear flyers in hands are one of the best ways of telling people about shows.  After my 5-a-side team’s third loss on the bounce, i went to the Lemuria gig last night.  They were great.  as always.  Afterwards,  I was flyering outside the underworld, and it was as disheartening as it has been for over a decade where you’re trying to tell people about shows they might be genuinely interested in, and people dont want to take a flyer.  maybe they do know all about upcoming Lemuria, Mixtapes, Slingshot Dakota, Flatliners, Latterman, A Loss For Words gigs, and dont need the flyer, but like. we only got those flyers yesterday.  there’s some shows on there that aren’t officially announced yet.  It cant hurt to take one, and then throw it away if you wish…  So many people reject the flyer, and then their mate grabs one, and they’re like “OMG that band’s playing, amazing amazing” etc.  

However disheartening it is, the fact is that the ever declining  percentage of people who do grab the flyer often do find out about some rad gigs.  So it IS worth doing.

Same with when we were flyering outside Mystery Jets for the New Slang Cribs show.  Cribs at New Slang is a big deal.  If more people know about it, then a lot more people would come to that show.  

Ultimately, we’re a small group of friends / company.  We dont have huge marketing budgets.  And i can hand on heart say that 95% of the shows we book are driven by the love of music and fun events in our home town.

Im not expecting people to do hard-core work for us flyering in the rain and missing the last train, while we sit back and rake in the money.  its not that vibe, but we always need help spreading the word.  So next time you’re going to a show if its not too much hassle, if you could take a bunch of flyers with you, even if its just to leave on the merch desk, it would be appreciated.  not just by us, but by the bands who you’re in turn helping out, and the people at the shows who’ll have a more fun time in a busier environment.

And yes, the irony of posting this on the net is not lost on me