Booking Bands

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 The Underworld in Camden and “We think there’s a decided that our small patch of Pink Mist under his belt, before massive blind spot grass outside our shipping container the world came to a halt he found a home as part of the team at Signature Brew: the brewery that here for punk and guitar music...” should turn into the Signature Brew stage and collectively we should 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

we both realised we knew some people in bands “With the beer collab stuff it’s mostly and we should do it. Yearbook ended up being John (Longbottom) who sits behind me and he’ll the first band and then it just kind of snowballed. sometimes be like ‘ah this band’s got in touch I think a year later we ended up putting on Dads about it what do you reckon?’. The Sports Team and that was our first time putting on an American beer came from me, but that’s the only one band. We just got absolutely thats happened since I’ve fucked over by an agent on been there. The Darkness it, we had to go through this happened but I had no say in mad back and forth with that one. I had a stupid idea their tour manager...and that I think we’re gonna try they’re showing us emails on and do, where we have The phones and stuff. It was like Darkness as the in-house pub maybe like 8 years ago now band and have them play at and I don’t think I had a very least two or three shows a good phone with emails easily week in the taproom for as accessible on it, but trying long as we can.” He laughs. to be like ‘The contract that “It’s slowly evolving with the I’ve signed is not the contract new pilot kit we’ve got at the you’ve signed’ was mad “Yo we’re doing this Jamie brewery. Which means for stressful and then they just kind of agreed to disagree on it.” He laughs. Lenman show, shall we do a Lemonade?... We brewed the gigs we can brew a beer that’s just for those evenings, so there’s been certain shows with From there a spark a beer with Black Peaks for that where I’ve got to be like ‘Yo for booking and promoting three shows that never got to we’re doing this Jamie Lenman bands ensued, boasting having a hand in Bring Me The happen” show, shall we do a Lemonade?’ We brewed a beer with Black Horizon’s insanely small show as part of War Peaks for three shows that never got to happen Child’s BRITs Week back in 2019, as well as Show and we were gonna brew a beer with Bossk for Me The Body, Jamie Lenman, The Get Up Kids, some shows that never got to happen. But it’s and Gouge Away. cool I get to be like ‘Hey guys we’ve got a show at “I started putting on some local shows this time do you reckon we could make a beer in Hersham on Walton at an arts centre called the for this night?’ and everyone will be like ‘Yeah fuck Riverhouse Barn. That was when I was like ‘Woah! it, that sounds fun!’” People get paid to do this as a job for someone Set with new challenges and despite an else and all I have to do is put this show together unavoidable year of uncertainty, Simmonds and and someone else will do all the hard work on it? the crew are starting to get back into the swing Like hell yeah, I’ll try and do that!’ So that was of things, with indoor shows already on the books the first time doing it regularly, but it wasn’t until and live music in full swing for drinkers outside. maybe 3 years later when Toni (Coe-Brooker) at “I hope it all gets to happen. There’s the Green Door Store offered me a job booking a lake right next to where our stage is going to the venue with her.” be so I’m hoping we can rig it so our backstage But now Simmonds has the added area is there,” he laughs. “Signature Brew’s 10th challenge of marrying craft beer with live music anniversary is also coming up so we’re working at Signature Brew, at the main taproom/brewery on 10 nights of shows and we’ll do a hell of a lot in Walthamstow as well as in their sister venues of beer stuff around it as well. The shows are all across North East London. slightly different from each other so it’s not all just “There’s a lot of similarities [working for like 10 punk shows back to back. I think with the way a brewery rather than a venue], but then there’s that previous [beer] collaborations have gone it’s not also a lot of things that are super different. The like you fit it in a certain box, like you go from Frank main difference is that essentially I’m the one Turner to Professor Green and Dynamite MC into at the brewery that has to understand how a Mogwai and Idles and everything is fairly different, venue works and how the live music side of things so we wanted to try to stick with that theme and works.” He says. “Cianne (Miller) who works on have it look a little bit more like our beer line the events team with us is absolutely amazing at up than it does an all dayer. So you’ve just got 10 running events and doing everything in person back to back shows of stuff you wouldn’t normally on the day but sitting down and doing emails and catch in the brewery and hopefully do some beers dealing with the calendar and stuff is just me.” with it. It’s gonna be mad!”