So Many Dynamos live @ Buffalo Bar

I enter Highbury’s tiny Buffalo Bar on a freezing night expecting the venue to be crammed to the rafters with internet kids in the know, after all just a few weeks after this tiny debut London show was announced an additional night at the Borderline in central London was hastily added. I was sure that  our Capital’s scene stalwarts and savvy donwloaders would be swarming by the hundreds and that this additional date was to cope with extra demand.

As I descend the few steps into the cold little venue I find myself bemused by the lack of bodies present… a couple of support bands, an idiotic gaggle of braindead teenage girls, some industry bods propping up the bar and that’s pretty much it. Sparse.

So Many Dynamos take to the stage rather late for a Tuesday night and I’m starting to suspect that whoever is “promoting” this show is a bit of a clown, all the better for me as I stand, view unimpaired by punter’s heads and take in the fine fine show. The band are relaxed and appear happy enough as they get down to business banging out tune after tune from their impressive ‘Loud Wars‘ début album.

As the final bars ring out I leg it for the last tube, disheartened with the state of the live music scene in this fine city, it’s a shame visiting bands are faced with such a venue/promoter lottery when making their first steps this side of the Atlantic and I really worry about the damage it could cause.

I’ve heard recently of some bands starting to skip the UK all together when heading into Europe for just this reason, an ailing industry having it’s faltering breaths clubbed out of it by clueless douchebags good for nothing but ripping off naive local bands night after night to make their cash.

With that in mind I sincerely hope for my sake if nobody else’s that So Many Dynamos are good enough to make the trip at least one more time.

———-

First guest post by King Kong Bundy

———-

TRACKS:

So Many Dynamos – The Novelty Of Haunting

So Many Dynamos

Related Posts with Thumbnails

Tags: , , ,

This entry was posted on Thursday, March 18th, 2010 at 8:23 pmand is filed under Featured, Live show, Personal touch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
  • bdsyndicate

    Well said. I was at that gig and spoke to the organiser on the door before hand. I was surprised that he hadn't even heard of So Many Dynamos before or heard their music, but nonetheless booked them to headline the night. When the promoters take such little interest in the bands they are booking its no wonder they arent out there promoting and getting people through the door. Resulting in just a handful of people watching a great band that has come all the way from USA. Its an embarassment really.

    I also went to the SMD gig in Brighton and that was even worse. having started late at 10pm (through no fault of their own) and playing to just 6 people, the band were stopped short of their set when at half ten the lights were turned on and bouncers stood ready to pull the plug if they carried on playing. the priority for them was getting the bands out of the venue as quick as possible so the DJs could start! for a country that apparently has a thriving music scene this was not the kind of thing you might expect.

    The band that were on before them probably had about 20 people watching but when they finished they all left, another case of local bands with local support, but why not just stay and watch the headliner?

    It seems to me that people are happy to turn up in their droves to attend the latest “next big thing” at venues like brixton academy, but when it comes to smaller venues with lesser known bands there isnt the culture of going for a 'night out watching bands'.

    I also worry about the damage this promoter lottery is doing to the scene in general and sincerely hope it wont stop bands like SMD returning to the UK. Anyway, i think you managed to hit the nail on the head with this post.