I lost my heart in Paris Motel
Oct. 10th, 2006 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ventaTo anyone who's never been, I highly commend the Kilburn Luminaire. It is possibly the only venue in London which I regularly go to which isn't - note isn't - a complete dive.
If you want live music venues in London, you've got your big players: Brixton Academy, Shepherds Bush Empire, etc. Down a level you've got places like the Astoria and Koko, and then a long, slippery slither down through the likes of Lock17 to the Barfly. Despite having been to some fastatic gigs in many of these, they do all tend to be actually pretty grotty places. Even Koko (née Camden Palace), recently refurbished, manages still to look grubby and unkempt and has a floor you wouldn't quite feel comfortable sitting on.
The Luminaire has now been open for 18 months and it's still, broadly speaking, nice inside. I'd sit on the dancefloor (except I'd get in people's way). Hell, I'd even sit on the carpeted bit by the side of the bar. I'd certainly sit (in fact, do sit) on the fake-leather sofas among the tealights in amber lamps. The paintwork is intact, the glitter ball is shiny and if you buy wine at the bar you get it in a wine glass. Made of real glass. Largely, people take their empty glasses and bottles back to the bar instead of chucking them on the floor. The venue's small enough to see the stage easily (and also has a TV screen or two for crowded nights). Posters remind people that this is a music venue, and would they not talk while the bands are on. The toilets are clean and have entertaining graffiti (which the management encourage). The burly bouncer is friendly and smiles.
And, contrary to popular belief, Kilburn isn't miles from anywhere. Read the Luminaire's somewhat sarcastic FAQ for how to get there.
In fact, the only possible downside to the Luminaire is its immediate surroundings - people who want a nice meal out beforehand are advised to go to West Hampstead, eat there, and walk over. The bar below the venue does have a reputedly good Thai kitchen, but I've not yet tried it. Oh, and Pintwatch wishes to register the strongest of objections that the Luminaire doesn't actually serve any kind of bitter, let alone a decent one.
Convinced ? So, you look at the listings for this month and think... hang on a moment, this venue is full of bands I have never heard of. Well, yes, that is a fair cop (though anyone who, unlike me, is not on holiday next week is strongly advised to get a ticket to see Luke Haines there). It's only a little venue - correspondingly it mostly shows little bands.
On the other hand, the door price is usually of the order of £6-£7 quid. You could pay that, if you went to that sort of bar, as a cover charge. Break out wildly one evening and go and see bands you've never heard of. Or search about online to find some clips and locate bands you might be interested in. The actual paper fliers for the Luminaire give teasing one-line summaries of the bands; disappointingly their online listings don't seem to do this (though their "news" section sometimes has details).
On Saturday night, I paid six quid on the door to see Paris Motel, on the strength of a demo album I'd ordered online for a few quid. I arrived partway though the second support, Newton Faulkner, who'd managed to get the somewhat slim audience of twenty or so people to carry two different vocal parts against him. (Admittedly, he followed that up with what I infer to be the theme tune from Spongebob Squarepants before launching into a "sensible" song with some very funky guitar). His website will play audio at you, should you wish to investigate (though I can't get the sampler thingy there to work in Firefox).
The first support was James Apollo, a slightly affected NY country singer whose clichéd stage manner sat slightly oddly with his Bad-Seeds-alike backing band. They varied from good to stunning, and I came out clutching a CD of theirs bought from the strange little booth in the side of the venue. Although the CD isn't anywhere as good as the live performance, the nice man will let you stream it from his website.
Paris Motel had a cor anglais on stage. All the time they were setting up I was busy bouncing around saying "they've got a cor anglais! on stage!" and generally being more excited than I've been since I realised DeVotchKa had a sousaphone. They've also got a much bigger, fatter, more menacing sound then when the demo CD I've got was recorded. Go to their music page and listen to the clip of Mr Splitfoot for a good indication of what they sound like now.
According to a slightly peculiar interview on their website, Paris Motel can be up to fifty people at times - on Saturday it was "just" eight. In addition to the violin-playing main singer, Amy, there was guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, a violin, a viola and (of course) a cor anglais. Now that's a proper rock band line up.
It is my stated intention, now, to wander along to the Luminaire if I'm ever looking for entertainment in the big wicked city in the future. I've not yet seen a bad band there - their choice of supports for the acts I've deliberately seen has been varied and interesting - and I feel that if a venue can mange to keep its carpet gum-free and unsticky for a year and a half the least I can do is patronise it in return.
If you want live music venues in London, you've got your big players: Brixton Academy, Shepherds Bush Empire, etc. Down a level you've got places like the Astoria and Koko, and then a long, slippery slither down through the likes of Lock17 to the Barfly. Despite having been to some fastatic gigs in many of these, they do all tend to be actually pretty grotty places. Even Koko (née Camden Palace), recently refurbished, manages still to look grubby and unkempt and has a floor you wouldn't quite feel comfortable sitting on.
The Luminaire has now been open for 18 months and it's still, broadly speaking, nice inside. I'd sit on the dancefloor (except I'd get in people's way). Hell, I'd even sit on the carpeted bit by the side of the bar. I'd certainly sit (in fact, do sit) on the fake-leather sofas among the tealights in amber lamps. The paintwork is intact, the glitter ball is shiny and if you buy wine at the bar you get it in a wine glass. Made of real glass. Largely, people take their empty glasses and bottles back to the bar instead of chucking them on the floor. The venue's small enough to see the stage easily (and also has a TV screen or two for crowded nights). Posters remind people that this is a music venue, and would they not talk while the bands are on. The toilets are clean and have entertaining graffiti (which the management encourage). The burly bouncer is friendly and smiles.
And, contrary to popular belief, Kilburn isn't miles from anywhere. Read the Luminaire's somewhat sarcastic FAQ for how to get there.
In fact, the only possible downside to the Luminaire is its immediate surroundings - people who want a nice meal out beforehand are advised to go to West Hampstead, eat there, and walk over. The bar below the venue does have a reputedly good Thai kitchen, but I've not yet tried it. Oh, and Pintwatch wishes to register the strongest of objections that the Luminaire doesn't actually serve any kind of bitter, let alone a decent one.
Convinced ? So, you look at the listings for this month and think... hang on a moment, this venue is full of bands I have never heard of. Well, yes, that is a fair cop (though anyone who, unlike me, is not on holiday next week is strongly advised to get a ticket to see Luke Haines there). It's only a little venue - correspondingly it mostly shows little bands.
On the other hand, the door price is usually of the order of £6-£7 quid. You could pay that, if you went to that sort of bar, as a cover charge. Break out wildly one evening and go and see bands you've never heard of. Or search about online to find some clips and locate bands you might be interested in. The actual paper fliers for the Luminaire give teasing one-line summaries of the bands; disappointingly their online listings don't seem to do this (though their "news" section sometimes has details).
On Saturday night, I paid six quid on the door to see Paris Motel, on the strength of a demo album I'd ordered online for a few quid. I arrived partway though the second support, Newton Faulkner, who'd managed to get the somewhat slim audience of twenty or so people to carry two different vocal parts against him. (Admittedly, he followed that up with what I infer to be the theme tune from Spongebob Squarepants before launching into a "sensible" song with some very funky guitar). His website will play audio at you, should you wish to investigate (though I can't get the sampler thingy there to work in Firefox).
The first support was James Apollo, a slightly affected NY country singer whose clichéd stage manner sat slightly oddly with his Bad-Seeds-alike backing band. They varied from good to stunning, and I came out clutching a CD of theirs bought from the strange little booth in the side of the venue. Although the CD isn't anywhere as good as the live performance, the nice man will let you stream it from his website.
Paris Motel had a cor anglais on stage. All the time they were setting up I was busy bouncing around saying "they've got a cor anglais! on stage!" and generally being more excited than I've been since I realised DeVotchKa had a sousaphone. They've also got a much bigger, fatter, more menacing sound then when the demo CD I've got was recorded. Go to their music page and listen to the clip of Mr Splitfoot for a good indication of what they sound like now.
According to a slightly peculiar interview on their website, Paris Motel can be up to fifty people at times - on Saturday it was "just" eight. In addition to the violin-playing main singer, Amy, there was guitar, bass, drums, keyboard, a violin, a viola and (of course) a cor anglais. Now that's a proper rock band line up.
It is my stated intention, now, to wander along to the Luminaire if I'm ever looking for entertainment in the big wicked city in the future. I've not yet seen a bad band there - their choice of supports for the acts I've deliberately seen has been varied and interesting - and I feel that if a venue can mange to keep its carpet gum-free and unsticky for a year and a half the least I can do is patronise it in return.
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-10 10:36 pm (UTC)I was half expecting this post to be about the giant slides at the tate modern for some reason!
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Date: 2006-10-11 07:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-10-11 09:59 pm (UTC)Mind you, if you take Ryan to see this exhibition (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6034123.stm) it will pretty much doom him to a lifetime of art-gallery related disappointment thereafter. In my opinion :)