July saw us support American band ‘Transfer’ (
www.transferband. com) at London’s ‘Water Rats’, which was a great night for us, got a load of our fan base down on the coach and got to mingle with some great musicians. ‘Transfer’ soon went on to support ‘The Kaiser Chiefs’ on a European tour and we got to go back to Cambridge and play to half full pubs and clubs, so it was a win- win. But those half full shows are why we’re doing it.
What we’ve found is that there are more people genuinely into your music in a small venue in a small town than in a packed out club in city central. It’s not as if we’re ungrateful or dislike playing in big places, those are great nights out, but as musicians nothing
beats
people coming to you and talking about your music, what they’re doing, how you can help each other out. All of that stuff can be so under-rated, we’ve seen so many bands turn up, play and then head off home instead of sticking around to see the other acts. But what we’ve found is that in a sense everyone knows more than you, they will know someone you don’t, or some way of getting your music to more people that you hadn’t even thought
of, or they
may just want to do more shows with you.
The hardest bit about performing live can be bringing in the crowds, unlike a few years ago where we’re from it seems like people are too reluctant to spend an evening listening to live music on the cheap and would rather spend double the money for drinks at a club playing chart music. Our first show as a 4 piece in our home-town, Cambridge, we supported another local band, and these guys really inspired us, because they managed to bring in about 150 people and that packed out the venue. Since then we’ve really tried hard on building a solid loyal following, people who will come to our shows, know the songs and if they have a few quid, buy the merch. Although it took a good few months to get people interested, once a handful were, then we really started noticing the turn-outs.
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