Behind The Scenes A Look At Promoting Shows...In A Brewery Photos by Derek Bremner
We spoke to bookings manager Charlie Simmonds about how he got into promoting live music, it’s challenges, particularly over the past year, putting on shows inside a Signature Brew and landing their own stage at Bigfoot Festival.
as a shipping container bar and a small patch of grass for an acoustic stage, to now taking over the second stage with the freedom to book bands on the heavier side of the spectrum. “When it was postponed for the year and moved to this year they sat down with From DIY shows in Guildford to Tufnell their bookings team and said ‘we think there’s Park’s The Dome, Signature Brew’s booking a massive blind spot here for punk and guitar manager Charlie Simmonds has been putting on music’. So we suggested they add in a second shows for almost 10 years. With residencies at stage and they were like ‘Cool, how do we do acclaimed venues such as the Green Door Store, this?’” he says over a zoom call on a dreary The Dome and Boston Music Room, Tuesday afternoon. “They just “We think there’s a decided that our small patch of The Underworld in Camden and Pink Mist under his belt, before grass outside our shipping container massive blind spot the world came to a halt he found should turn into the Signature Brew here for punk and a home as part of the team at stage and collectively we should guitar music...” Signature Brew: the brewery that look at booking a whole 3 day stage demands music lovers “don’t go and give us our own tent. They gave to gigs and drink shit beer. Throughout 2020 us a budget and [I] spent about 6 weeks putting a they ingeniously kept faithful drinkers’ thirsts line up together and absolutely have never done quenched with their Pub In A Box — quite literally that before and it is an insane task.” a box stuffed full of beers, a branded glass, music Simmonds began his promoting career quiz and traditional pub snacks delivered right to in 2010 when a close friend decided they should your door. Score! put on a show. The green-faced teenagers With summer 2021 promising to let the booked their mates band Yearbook at a local good times roll, Simmonds and the team have venue and almost made back the cash they spent secured their own stage at Bigfoot Festival, a so decided to put on another show, and the rest, three day green field event marrying both craft as they say, is history. “He just decided that one beer and music all in one place, originally booked day he wanted to put on some gigs and stuff and 24
