INDEX arts
centre. The well-known music venue that has now run as The Forum since the lease was created 19 years ago is branching out and shaking off a reputation as a teenage hangout by appealing to an older generation of music lovers. Independent promoter Mark Southgate is doing sterling work in reaching out to the more mature music fan. He says, “Older giggers have come to see acts such as The Beat, Bad Manners and The Wonder Stuff and to see tribute acts to The Doors, Led Zeppelin and AC/DC. All the signs suggest that they’re happy to forego their seat and interval ice cream for the relaxed rawness of the venue, as many return repeatedly.” Oasis, Coldplay, Muse, The Killers and Mumford & Sons are just some of the bands to have played Tunbridge Wells Forum on the way to success and bigger venues.
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“Local critics say ‘it’s for young kids’,” says Mark. “I suspect some of them haven’t come to a gig here for years – if ever – and if they chose the right show, they’d have a ball. He continues, “The Forum’s unique selling point is that it’s the only music venue for miles that’s chosen by both up-and- coming and established touring bands to build up or continue to feed their live audiences. “I do think The Forum has been misunderstood for a very long time – it might be dark inside, but it’s not a sinister place to go to. Many bands appeal to a very varied age group – 18 to 50 plus – but maybe people have dropped their teenagers off at The Forum too many times and ruled it as, ‘off limits for parents’. Sometimes, though, these misplaced ideas need to be challenged! My experience is that The Forum’s run by fantastic people and I’ve never heard of any trouble there.” Index editor Anna Lambert certainly had a great time when,
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t’s certainly come a long way since it was merely a public convenience and then a brass rubbing
The Forum Focus on
Susan Norvill delves behind a less-than- glamorous exterior to reveal all that’s on offer at this TW musical institution – and fi nds it’s not just for teenagers…
at the ripe old age of 43, she attended her fi rst-ever Forum gig – to see US rockgrass band, Hayseed Dixie – last summer. “Given that no one could describe me as hip, I thought I might feel decidedly out of place. Both staff and giggers of all ages, though, were really friendly, there was an outdoor space where we could enjoy a drink, and to hear such a great band perform in a relatively intimate space [the venue holds around 220 people] was a real privilege. Plus the tickets were only £15 each! I’d defi nitely go again. I didn’t use the loos, though – which I’ve heard are in a class of their own...“ And it’s good to hear that
professional recognition has come The Forum’s way: last year, it was voted small live music venue in the South of England, in an online poll conducted by the highly infl uential music magazine,
NME, while, back in 2010, The Forum’s owner, Jason Dormon, found himself and colleagues named on The Independent newspaper’s Happy List, for making people happy through the venue.
This ‘Happy’ accolade is perhaps unsurprising, given that Jason is the sort of person who makes time to talk to me even when he’s battling problems caused by the January gales at the three pubs he and several colleagues also run in The Pantiles. His enthusiasm for making The Forum work, like Mark’s, is almost palpable. “In this country, there aren’t many places dedicated, as The Forum is, to live music,” he says. “Ultimately, we do lose money, but a group of us put some in each year to keep it going. We rely on the generosity of local promoters and music fans, and any money we do make is ploughed straight back into the venue.”
Jason claims The Forum has never been ageist. It’s there quite simply, he says, to showcase music that people like and, together with the traders in The Pantiles Pub Group, he’s trying to energise the bottom end of Tunbridge Wells town. He and his colleagues started the fi rst regular comedy night in Tunbridge Wells in 1993 with The Bucket Cabaret at The Forum, and the third Thursday
of every month is still comedy night there, but he concedes it is diffi cult to compete locally with so many other places now offering comedy.”
Mark Southgate cites The
Kast Off Kinks (what’s left of the original band, including Mark Avory on drums) as one of the bands that brought in an older crowd when they last performed at The Forum: “Afterwards, one lady even gave me a thank-you letter as she’d had such a great evening,” he says. “We expect an equally great night when the band returns here on 3 March.” Similarly, Steve Cradock of Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller fame, who’s playing at The Forum on 18 February, should roll back the decades, with his 1960’s sound. But Jason is confi dent in his
venue’s ability to try new acts, too. “We’re not a charity so we can move quite quickly if we want to try something different, but we haven’t always got the money to do so, which is why we need audience support.” And Mark Southgate urges:
“Give the Forum a try – it may be a little ‘un-Tunbridge Wells’, but that’s good for feeding the tastes of the more cosmopolitan people of the town, isn’t it?”
For listings and more info on The Forum, see www.
twforum.co.uk or
www.molesmusic.com
63
The INDEX magazine February 2012
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