In Conversation with Down to Earth Promotions
This week we are chatting to Kayleigh Darlington, the person behind Down to Earth Promotions, a company which prioritises diversity, accessibility and safety within their events. From setting up her own events organisation to wanting to create more genre-fusing spaces in the city, this episode covers Kayleigh’s journey to creating safe and exciting gig spaces across the North West.
Hello and welcome to the Comics Youth x Where are the Girlbands Safe Spaces podcast, a space for discussions with organisations and individuals who are creating safe spaces within the North West, with a focus on Merseyside.
Ella:
We have a very exciting guest with us today which is Kayleigh Darlington who is also the person who runs Down to Earth promotions and Kayleigh’s promotion company aims to address issues of inequality, access, diversity and safety within their events. Kayleigh is also part of our Safe Spaces Reclaiming Community Spaces project here at Comics Youth in which Kayleigh is working towards creating an event which specifically platforms Queer creatives which is very exciting and you’ll hear more about that in a future podcast, so keep your ears peeled for that, very exciting. But yeah! We like to start of usually by basically asking you your origin story and how basically you got started with setting up Down to Earth.
Kayleigh:
Yeah, so basically I’ve always wanted to go into live music and sort of the pandemic when nothing’s been going on and the strangest of times to think of it that I thought I’m going to give it a go, I’m going to set it up. The equality part of it was really just seeing it in the local scene, just sort of the lack of different genders, you know Queer musicians as well, race and I know recently like a lot of it has been brought up so I thought there’s not a lot of promoters out there that focus on that, so that’s where I decided that I’m going to be that start that person who just focusses on equality as a whole.
Ella:
I think it really sets a precedent for other promoters that you’re so clear with your aims, because it’s like why wouldn’t you do that? Do you know what I mean? Like as a promotion company you know you should have a diverse group of people who are working for you in terms of genre even, let alone like to do with race, gender, all that sort of stuff, so.
Eve:
Absolutely and it makes you more approachable and your whole sort of service like just more accessible by being upfront about that.
Ella:
Yeah, definitely.
Eve:
It makes you immediately attracted to it I think.
Ella:
It’s really refreshing to see how clear you are with your intentions and how transparent you are and even recently the promotion you’ve put out around your gig at the Quarry, how you’re really clear about like Covid policies and stuff like that. I think having that, having that clarity is so important to making an accessible space so people know what they’re walking into before they go to a space, and they feel welcome and they can judge if they’re going to feel comfortable there. Do you feel like that transparency is a key thing in terms of running events?
Kayleigh:
Erm, absolutely. A lot of people and myself as well you sort of buy tickets and that’s the end of it, it’s sort of, you don’t know what’s going to happen next, and especially for people who might have social anxiety or something you know they’re just sort of turning up blind on the night and it’s like I don’t know where to go, you know I don’t know what the protocols are so to have that sort of published before it just gives them ease.
Eve:
How was it like sort of going into that for you, like organising and being the person like at the top and sort of I don’t know how did you find navigating that because you have to kind of like earn people’s trust in that role. I think it was interesting what you were saying there about appearing like open and approachable and everything and yeah how did you find going into that and you know really you do have to work quite hard to establish yourself especially as it’s you as an individual.
Kayleigh:
Yeah definitely. I mean erm as my day job I do like events erm so I sort of already had an idea going into it, I wasn’t totally, I think as being the main person especially as I have had help like you guys have been such a good sport and others as well but bring that one sort of main person in charge of it all, it is hard but I think when you have a direct focus on exactly what you want, it’s so much easier to do.
Ella:
Yeah, I guess like if your intentions are clear to yourself I guess it’s much easier to communicate those to others too. And sort of snowballing off what Eve was saying I’d be interested to know what your biggest sort of learning moments have been so far with this?
Kayleigh:
Definitely how hard it has been as such, erm. So it’s such, especially as like a promoter, everybody sort of goes to the same promoters, and someone coming in that’s totally new, nobody’s ever heard of them, it is quite hard as you said to establish yourself. I feel like that has been the biggest difficulty.
Ella:
How have you found sort of approaching venues with sort of like the intentions that you’ve got and like being so publicly like not just your typical sort of events company, but an events company that has such clear aims around access and safety and all those things.
Kayleigh:
You know actually I was quite surprised at how many venues erm came back to me, because I sort of when I started it went to a load of venues saying this is me, erm, and so many of them in Liverpool and Manchester, like two big music cities came back to me and said like this is an amazing idea we really want to support it, we haven’t seen anything really like this before so that was really sort of heart-warming to me because I was thinking like they actually care, I think it’s because maybe no one’s actually done something like this before.
Ella:
You know the reason change doesn’t happen is because people don’t really know what to do. And you kind of need to go to people and be well like here are things you can do, do you know what I mean, or things like you’re doing where you’re going to a venue and saying you know I’m going to put on an event here that encapsulates these aims of accessibility and inclusivity and these sort of things and the venue can sort of learn from what you’re doing with them, and hopefully it sets a precedent with the other events that they do in the future and all that sort of stuff.
Eve:
Oh absolutely, and hopefully it will be something which catches on. We actually met Kayleigh for the first time through one of our Social Sunday, in fact it was the very first one how about that, and it was you know we were discussing Safe Spaces and you know what I think you came to both, and the first one was just discussing it was like a general chat and stuff, that was really encouraging to see someone with like similar kind of outlook on things and I think yeah that kind of connection is priceless, it’s when, you know, other people start to say yeah we really appreciate you coming forward with that because it’s something we’ve wanted to do for a long time or I do a similar thing where the more people you’ve got under your belt that’s a community to start with, so it’s a great thing to be reaching out. And regarding that, so as someone from Warrington would you say you know you tend to lean more onto the Liverpool scene or the Manchester scene, what’s that like navigating both?
Kayleigh:
Erm yeah because I am quite prime position because I’m in the middle. I think most of my stuff so far is Liverpool side, that is mainly just because of the opportunities that were raised, erm I do have some stuff coming up in Manchester, so hopefully an open mic coming up soon. That’s Manchester based, just because I wanted to sort of spill it out a bit as such, because I say equality in the North West, I don’t want to just sort of focus on one are because it’s an issue that’s everywhere really.
Ella:
Definitely. I think as well like it’s nice that you as an organisation are putting on gigs across cities, especially for the organisations you work with because I know that’s like a massive thing for musicians is trying to cross the barrier of performing outside of their city, even if that literally is like from Liverpool into Manchester. It’s an hour on the train but for some reason that seems like a massive barrier for people to move across so you, you know, being in the middle and having access to both cities and working with artists from both, the opportunities you’ve got to open doors for people there is quite amazing I think.
Eve:
Deffo, having spoken to like, there’s this really great R&B singer Kerry Feeney who we’ve done features with on YouTube before she’s from Warrington and she felt more connected to the Liverpool scene, exactly the same because she felt there were a bit more opportunities there but also because I think does Warrington have a lot going on there?
Kayleigh:
Not as much as Manchester or Liverpool. I think there is, there is quite a lot of Warrington musicians, it’s quite a big music scene but in terms of like music venues and stuff like that, very little venues that you can actually play at and that’s why I always sort of go to either Liverpool or Manchester.
Ella:
I do feel like there’s stuff coming out of Warrington at the moment, like Crawlers come to mind. You know with their wild TikTok success (laughing) it’s really interesting to see you know me and Eve have always tried to have like a Merseyside sort of approach, especially with us working with Bloom in Birkenhead, erm, and it is interesting how the sort of borders of Liverpool are so present for people within Liverpool that people just never really tend to veer past them.
Eve:
I mean equally we were having a conversation the other day on the Florrie radio with Abbey who runs Bed and Breakfast and she was talking about how even different parts of Liverpool don’t have much going on there and people kind of flock to the centre, which I think I mean it’s inevitable with things like, that’s where all the venues are do you know what I mean but like erm, you know Sophie Bernice who played our launch event is from Ormskirk you know, like, and then again you have things popping up over the Wirral like Future Yard festival to kind of like, the idea was to like put it back on the map, I think over the years it depends on all sorts I think it’s all about like the city infrastructure but it’s always interested me, erm, things like small towns and like the peripheries of cities and even like suburban parts of cities you know how South Liverpool has like Lark Lane and Smithdown Road, but North Liverpool I don’t think I can name any venues sort of thing. I think yeah it’s interesting, it’ll be interesting over the years to see how that develops and whether Warrington like will indeed rise up on the map I mean who knows. There’s like the Northern Shakespeare company is being built in Knowsley or something like that, it’s just like.
Ella:
Yeah it’s nice to see like different cultural hotspots popping up in unconventional places, and even venues like the Quarry venue that you’re doing your gig in is quite an exciting venue in terms of it does feel like quite an alternative space. It would be quite interesting to hear a bit about that because I know you’ve worked with them and you’re one of the first people working with them aren’t you.
Kayleigh:
Yeah so basically they actually approached myself to say that they were after some promoters to work with. Erm, what their story is, it’s fellow like musicians and engineers from the local area and basically they were meant to open or I think they just opened in sort of March 2020, straight into lockdown and obviously now they’re trying to rebuild themselves. So I went down to have a look with them and they are like the nicest down to earth people which is really nice to see as well, talked me through everything. But it is just erm it’s a nice little independent venue, it is like you said a bit out of the centre but there’s trains to it so that’s not a problem, erm, another good thing about it as well is that it’s ground level, which is something that is really rare for it to not even have any stairs to it or anything. And then we got together and we were like lets set a date.
Ella:
It’s so exciting hearing about those sort of things where people are coming to you and like you were saying before about how difficult it is to sort of establish yourself and I imagine sort of establishing yourself straight out of a pandemic when everyone who’s sort of involved in music is in this really like heightened state of trying to get booked you know like venues are getting booked so far in the future and like musicians are like in a frenzy to try and get booked, it’s quite a strange way to sort of like arrive on the scene (laughing.) How has that been?
Kayleigh:
I think I suppose because obviously I didn’t know as such what it was like before because I only just came in when it was like that, so I suppose it’s setting me up for when it does calm down I’ll be like wow like it’s not that hectic (laughing)
Ella:
Really like jumping in at the deep end (laughing)
Kayleigh:
Exactly yeah! (laughing) But erm in terms of like how I’ve found it I think like I said it has been nice, people sort of approaching me. I’ve had a lot of musicians approaching me which really like as a new promoter sort of it lifts me up a bit sort of thinking like people are actually like getting involved and want to do stuff with the promotions company.
Ella:
Definitely, and it’s like forming those relationships as well which is great you know you’re sort of working collaboratively in a way by the sounds of the sort of conversations you’ve been having with sort of Quarry and things like that, you know, it’s obviously sort of a business exchange in a way but it’s also like this creative exchange with the people that you’re working with and forming these sort of new networks with people who are interested in working with you on the things that you want to create in terms of your aims and that sort of stuff.
Eve:
And especially from that level like they’ve essentially just started because of this delay and I think starting that kind of relationship from the beginning will be so sort of beneficial to you and you can always move back to that space and do you know what I mean I think that’s a really interesting space because you’re growing together if that makes sense.
Ella:
Yeah definitely and people’s sort of concepts of venues are based around the events that they go to at them and it will be really interesting how like Eve was saying like you grow together with other things that have opened up at the same time. And that it’s funny because we were saying at the start that maybe it’s strange that in the middle of a pandemic you were like I’m going to start an events company but we actually know a few people who’ve done kind of similar things, like Abbey who we interviewed at the Florrie started erm Bed and Breakfast during the pandemic which is another promotions company, erm, and it feels really tied in with like all of these different things which are popping up because people have had more time to like think and prepare and like commit themselves you know like in sort of the lonely isolated rooms of the lockdown being like do you know what I’m going to do it, do you know what I mean, I’m actually going to do it, and even for us you know we’ve been running the page for over three years now and it’s through the lockdown that we’ve suddenly started doing things in person, we’re doing events we’re doing a podcast all these things and it’s amazing how everyone’s sort of coming out and in this real like new growth together at the same time.
Eve:
There’s been a lot of speculation about calling it like a cultural renaissance or you know how with every you know new shift to modernity there has to be a catastrophe like every, following a catastrophe comes some kind of yeah revolution yeah it’s an interesting one because a lot of the agendas around all of the new sort of events company is sort of that drive towards a very progressive look at things which I think is obviously what you’re defined by if that makes sense.
Yeah I think as well as we were saying making change is important to do at an early level. Ella obviously, Kayleigh comes here doesn’t she to Comics Youth.
Ella:
Yeah and I was talking to Eve about this before about how as someone who does have experience in events it’s been lovely seeing you sort of share that experience with erm some of the younger members of the group and erm I thought you know it might be nice to talk about that in terms of like skill sharing around things like events and inviting people in and showing that it is something that you can set up yourself.
Kayleigh:
Yeah absolutely I mean it has been nice as well with the Safe Spaces at Comics Youth just because I myself in my job I do events but I’m not sort of the top person in my job, so to be that person who gets to share my experience and let people you know mentor them as such it’s been really nice and it gives me a bit of a boost as well because sometimes you know I think am I that experienced but when I speak to others it sort of clicks and I’m like actually I do have quite a bit of experience that I can share with others. Erm and I just enjoy it, I just enjoy helping others to be honest.
Ella:
Definitely, and that’s evident in the fact that the aims of your promotion company are basically to help others and it’s been really exciting to see the line-ups that you’ve got so far. Is there a particular gig that you feel most excited about yourself?
Kayleigh:
I don’t know. I mean I think I just get so wound up in actual planning of it and everything to think. Each one is like my little baby really (laughing) I just absolutely put my heart into it and just hope for the best (laughing.)
Ella:
On those lines of sort of getting caught up in it, something which I think is interesting for us from the perspective of you know we come from a musician background and now I guess from a content production background? (Laughing) erm, but I think something which is interesting is to hear you know the challenges that events organisers face because often there is like a butting of heads almost of events organisers and musicians and promoters where if things aren’t right then someone’s to blame, and I think hearing the challenges and the things which events organisers have to push you know and you were saying you know it’s a lot of work and it’s a lot of stuff that goes into it, I think it would be helpful for people to hear those things.
Kayleigh:
Yeah of course. Probably one of the main things is getting line-ups that you know will go together. So sometimes if you have someone that’s like totally different to someone else they’ll butt heads and that is something that’s just like, well not horrible but hard to work with. Erm, but also as well which I never really thought before I started is just like the amount of people involved because obviously some of them you’re dealing with direct artists, some of them you’re dealing with the managers, and then obviously it’s that communication where I’m passing it on to the manager, the manager is passing it onto the musician themselves and then she’s passing it on to or he’s passing it on to their band and it’s just like communication is a massive struggle.
Eve:
Yeah. And so difficult I imagine when you must really want to directly address these people and be as personable as possible if that makes sense especially as it’s your event and as you were saying your baby and that kind of thing and it must be hard to not be able to just reach those band members when you want to completely reassure them.
Kayleigh:
It is yeah. I mean the few managers that I do work with so far they’ve all been really you know good and understanding, they have been quite great with communication to be honest. But it’s like my headliner for my gig at Quarry, she has a manager, erm, called Jake but he’s been absolutely perfect throughout all this so I know whatever I say you know how I come across in being personable will get put back to her and her band so I know that sort of follows through.
Ella:
It’s interesting hearing about those sort of chains of communication because I think as a gig goer you don’t think about those things at all, it just feels like this thing that’s just like happening. Do you know what I mean? It’s strange it’s sort of like you don’t think about all of the planning and sort of how far in advance these things get planned as well and like you were saying it’s like the time in that communication as well like waiting for each person to confirm and get a response and you know when you’ve got multiple artists and they’ve got multiple people connected to them and the venue and there’s other things like security you know which you’re waiting to be confirmed and like it really is like a big commitment isn’t it. For one event it’s like months of planning basically.
Eve:
Yeah. is precisely why Covid’s made it so difficult.
Kayleigh:
Yeah definitely. I mean with my one at Quarry, it was, I probably didn’t give myself enough time to be honest because I was just like oh this is a massive venue and they’re opening so I wanted to you know, there’s been one last weekend or two last weekend and there’s some this weekend as well at Quarry and then it’s mine the week, the Saturday after and I was just sort of like let’s get it booked let’s get it going. But then sort of like you said then sort of, I got the venue booked first and then like the artists, then sort of waiting for the artists to confirm but they all got back at different times and I couldn’t start anything until it was all confirmed so I was just sort of on the ledge waiting.
Ella:
It’s like you were saying as well about pairing people up like if one person drops out it’s like you have to wait for all of them to come back to know like what the feel is of the event almost that you’re working with for like promotion, like you have to wait really until that last minute when everything’s ready to go before you can properly launch and get people excited and yeah it’s a lot basically! (laughing) Basically yeah. How, have, is it just you doing the promotion company or are there other people involved?
Kayleigh:
Erm, it is mainly me, erm I do have erm, well, I have one friend who has helped me out quite a lot from the start, erm he’s just been really helpful like the first gig I announced was doing a gig at Jimmy’s on October 24th and it’s quite a big event and that’s why I did it so far and advance and throughout that he’s been like my little helper, and that’s been really really like amazing to be honest, I don’t think I could have started it by myself. Erm but apart from that it is mainly just me (laughing).
Eve:
That’s amazing. Yeah. Because it’s a lot, I mean, yeah, I’ve, I guess our experience together is that, I mean we’ve talked about this before but there’s always someone to pick up something that you might have missed or to double check or take over or like you can split the tasks like I really yeah do underestimate what has to go into it and even the gigs that I’ve put on by myself was in a student environment which I think is fairly easy to navigate because you’re guaranteed an audience and I didn’t have to do too much promotion I’ve had to do more for these gigs if that makes sense because you know the audience is kind of like, and I guess because it’s your first gig your audience is kind of unknown to you which is an interesting one because who are you promoting at if that makes sense.
Kayleigh:
Erm, yeah. To be honest quite a few of like the networks that I have, like I’m quite friendly with Bread Records erm that’s based in Manchester so they’re coming along. I’ve never wanted the promote it just to one group of people as such, I wanted it to be sort of like this event is on, it’s not just for women to come, or it’s not just for one specific genre to come, I want it to be as open as possible, especially because I like to mix the artists as well so for the Quarry one I’ve got on Tate Temple who’s a bit like folk rock and then I’ve got Evie whose a bit more slow folk and then I’ve got Tom Brooks whose a bit more up-beat indie but they all sort of go together, but they’re all slightly different as well, and I think that’s so nice to see because a lot of the time it’s just indie bands.
Ella:
Yeah I mean it’s really interesting you say that because it’s a nice, it’s like I think something people have a problem with sometimes is if a promotion company has sort of like a standardised thing that they put on or maybe they have their niche and their artists that they stick to even and the same goes for venues and every now and again they’ll lump someone on the end of a line-up do you know what I mean? And it’s me and Eve on the line-up (laughing) but it’s really interesting how you describe like the line-up which you’ve made eclectic, and making it interesting, and not just putting together like really like safe line-ups if that makes sense like really like thinking how to like curate something that will be an engaging experience for the audience.
Kayleigh:
Yeah absolutely I think as well people do forget that you know if you put say a folk night on, a lot of other genres go with folk, erm, but a lot of promoters just sort of go oh the headliners rock or the headliners jazz we have to have all. And then they’re like we have to have all jazz line-up but it’s not the case, you can mix them up. And then as well on the night it mixes like the creative communities as well.
Eve:
Well and I think it’s a perfect kind of analogy that because erm obviously with diversity in all of those different demographics that you want to represent be it gender, sexuality etc. you inevitably get diversified genre which is precisely what the scene needs. It needs representation both of you know cultural factors and background factors and social factors as well as like the genre of the music and yeah those go hand it hand really.
Ella:
Definitely, it’s very exciting to hear like you know there’s been I think honestly since the pandemic so many conversations going on about how should we format gigs basically and it’s something we’re obviously really interested in and you’re obviously really interested in because it’s what you do, erm, and yeah that, that idea of sort of pushing boundaries of almost what people would expect when you go to a gig and if you have a headliner perhaps that headliner often comes with people who support them, and I know we’ve had that experience of sort of working with a venue that’s like well you want this artist so we’ll put on these three other people who are the sort of standard safe list to go with that artist. And like you said what’s sort of great about mixing it up is you allow the musicians to form those collaborative connections and you bring people into the same space where it’s like well actually there is something between our work that’s so different put actually holds together and it has this sort of connection and that’s how so many genres are formed aren’t they it’s by merging two things that are very different. So yeah like you said there’s no reason why you have to put people in categorical safe boxes, why not push people together and see what happens.
Kayleigh:
I think as well quite a lot of the time because that’s just been like set in stone the artist themselves are just used to that and have to stay with that and they thing so if you’re R&B you have to be with R&B people when really there’s so many more people they could meet and connect with.
Ella:
Deffo. It puts the musician in a box then as well because you’re only going to get booked for like R&B nights or I don’t know if you’re an indie singer, maybe you want to branch out into some synth pop but you can’t because you’ve got this sort of established thing of oh you go on these line-ups and you know how’s that going to progress musically on the scene if people are stuck in these sort of boxes of I don’t know line-ups and stuff.
Eve:
And I think sometimes being encouraged or you know even just as an exercise to like explore something different, that limitation in itself breeds creativity I think yeah. The moment you sort of take the barrier down and stop boxing yourself into genre you’d be more sort of open to developing your sound which I think even developing in a “music industry” sense, there’s inverted commas there, erm, is just why obviously your sounds got to develop anyway and I agree it does like avoid a samey-ness and I think what you’re doing is really important to be encouraging at like a grass roots level which will then make people more just open and reach further and perhaps if they move away they’ll take all that with them from the place that it starts.
Ella:
I’m sure that will be really beneficial for venues too because venues tend to have a set audience, so if you bring a new artist with a different audience into that venue then you’re just going to open up that venue for a new set of people which is really exciting.
Kayleigh:
It’s quite like erm at Jimmy’s, which I’ve got a show at in October, their set is sort of like rock or like indie-nights and I’m bringing sort of like IamKyami whose sort of like a bit more pop-y a bit jazzified and it’s sort of something that when you look at all their events that is different because all the rest tend to be rock and indie nights.
Ella:
It’s like why not? Throw a bit of spice in the mix. And like you were saying just because someone doesn’t fit into a box of like a sort of indie like rock event doesn’t mean that they can’t hold the same sort of like energy in that space you know like people go to Jimmy’s for a certain vibe or a certain type of evening you know having that sort of liveliness for that event and that can come from a multitude of different genres you know it’s not limited to like rock.
Eve:
You know even like they put rock concerts on at the Philharmonic and stuff, even though you’re seated it’s like a completely different gig going experience isn’t it so, it’s interesting that about sort of breaking the mould of venues themselves. It’s so encouraging. I mean it’s beneficial for both parties then because they get a fresh audience.
Ella:
Yeah definitely I mean it’s something I wanted to ask you about was how much like the venue and their collaboration impacts how sort of successful or achievable your aims are.
Kayleigh:
Well first off I always no matter what I do explain what I’m about and my objectives erm and like I said to this day I’ve never had a venue turn round and say oh we don’t want this, yeah this isn’t our thing. To be honest they have all been quite supportive. Erm I mean and then from there it is probably how they are supporting grassroots and individual artists and communities as well, it is mainly do they sort of coincide with what I do as an organisation.
Ella:
The fact you’re finding relationships as an organisation with venues that are starting out at the same time as you are is really amazing and really interesting in a sense that you can start them off with that as a precedent of these like safety intentions to go back from that is like why, why would you sort of remove those progressive ideals that you’ve opened yourself up with. So that’s really exciting from our perspective and it makes me excited to see what else those venues will do and with the legacy basically of what you’ve put forward to them.
Along the lines of these sort of things, since this is sort of an audio platform we’d be interested to hear maybe like some of your favourite tunes at the moment or some of the artists you’re working with who you’d maybe want to play on the show.
Kayleigh:
Absolutely so I absolutely love Jessica Luise, she’s a friend of mine and I love her new little EP that came out. Tay Temple, my headliner at Quarry, so I actually contacted her because I just actually love her vibe.
Ella:
I absolutely love Jessica Luise’s like EP, like I wrote an absolutely like massive review, I was like every single song is getting a page.
So my next question is basically what your long term aims are for the promotion company. So I know you were talking about your work in Liverpool and Manchester but would you ever want to go past that and do work in other cities as well?
Kayleigh:
Absolutely I mean I’ve been looking at Leeds, sort of another massive music place. And like you said before, people from, or musicians from Leeds wouldn’t necessarily get a gig in Liverpool or Manchester or the other way around, erm, and to sort of mix it up between the three main music cities in the North West would be amazing I mean it is a little bit more difficult because it’s further away, but maybe sort of towards the end of this year or the start of next year I’d really like to go into Leeds area.
Ella:
Yeah, and even if you’re just putting the events on in Liverpool but you’re bringing musicians from other cities I think that’s like a massive achievement. Like for those artists it will be a massive deal, it’s such an aim for musicians I think to break out of their home town or the town that they’re living in, but, even just for the Liverpool scene you know we’re not much of a touring city even for you know big concerts, it’s often we’ll get skipped and people will go to Manchester and that will be the North West venue, erm, so like inviting people to come and like integrate in the scene is like a really exciting, a really great thing especially for a city that is so like insular in a lot of ways, like inviting people and that sort of crossing over is like a really exciting prospect.
Kayleigh:
Yeah and my headliner for Quarry, erm, Tay Temple and she’s from Manchester, she was actually looking to make that cross-over to Liverpool and when obviously I approached her with the idea of being on the line-up she was absolutely over the moon and her manager was as well saying they have been trying to sort of make that cross into Liverpool, and you don’t realise how hard it must be for artists.
Ella:
Yeah it really is a barrier and it’s one of them where it’s like…why, like it shouldn’t be. And I guess you know it feels like there limited opportunities and it’s that thing again where like we’re so conscious of the fact that we really want venues and organisations to push for more exciting things but financial barriers are a really clear thing where people can’t really push too far where it might cause them a loss or might not sell tickets and people from Liverpool should surely have an audience in Liverpool who will come see them, so I understand from that prospect but at the same time like we were saying before it really does open things up not just for musicians but for gig-goers here and other musicians on the line-up and if you’re supporting a headliner from Manchester, maybe you can go and do a gig with the artist from Manchester who you’ve already done a show with and you’ve already made that connection with.
Eve:
It’s what the scene needs I think is like that bridge, that gap to bridged and you’re someone who can do that perfectly because you’re someone who knows those scenes on a grassroots level and perhaps that manager was looking at big name venues but they might not know to look at a place like Quarry that you would know on a more like you know intimate level.
Kayleigh:
Absolutely. I think as well just because I tend to look outside of the box, so a lot of the time erm when people are coming to Liverpool they’re looking at the Jacaranda or EBGBs but I think sort of outside of that there are sort of other music venues that don’t get as many shows because they’re just sort of seen as the generic ones, oh I’m doing a gig in Manchester I’ll just sort of go to the Jacaranda or Phase One, they’re beautiful venues I’m not like saying anything but just having those venues slightly more different it just opens up so many more opportunities.
Ella:
Definitely, and it changes the atmosphere of the event as well like I love, Phase One I think has a really nice vibe like it’s a really lovely space but that would be so different to like an alternative space, do you know what I mean. Like say, for example, me and Eve bring this up all the time, but like there’s a video of Sophie Bernice whose a musician that we’re both like absolutely infatuated with (laughing) erm performing some of her EP in the Williamson Tunnels and that is so interesting you know musically and in terms of spaces and how that elevates the experience in some ways and it’s not to reduce how lovely and nice Phase One or going to the Jac you know you’re going to have a good time but imagine like a gig in a church and the feeling of that or a historic site like we were talking today there are so many grade listed buildings in Liverpool that aren’t utilised in the way they could be for these sort of alternative music spaces.
Kayleigh:
Absolutely. It’s like Quarry is quite an unusual venue it’s actually sort of under railway arches so inside is just like one big dome sort of, it’s quite nice and different.
Ella:
It feels really connected to like the city as well I guess in that sense of like the architecture of the city for someone coming in from Manchester even, you know like having that sort of less super commercial integration into the city and going into these like alternative sort of sub-culture spaces is like quite an authentic introduction, it feels less like this is my sort of career goals step, step by step, I’ll apply for this venue, they’ll say yes and I’ll have sort of broken into Liverpool like rather than that having these experiences where you have quite a niche audience or you know you’re playing in this venue where maybe even artists from Liverpool haven’t had a chance to play in because they didn’t know it exists. It’s really exciting definitely.
Kayleigh:
Absolutely, and I think the guys at Quarry do an amazing job the last two weekend they’ve put gigs on they’ve gotten quite good crowds but like as you said nobody really knows about it unless you do know about it, so for them to get an array of artists which they are doing at the weekend, they have some jazz, they have some folk and they have alternative as well, what they’re doing starting out is just really setting it out for the future, them as a venue having so many different alleyways that they can go down.
Ella:
So exciting, and that’s how sub-cultures sort of start isn’t it, with one venue or like one area and then the culture sort of fluctuates around that space and it sort of grows and evolves.
Eve:
And it’s something to anticipate as well because it’s situated in the sort of like the North Docks like where Costco is and that and then you go down to like the Invisible Wind Factory erm and that’s a space that is being developed and you know is being likened for like being a new Baltic or a new alternative spot around town and obviously Everton are having their stadium there and so it will be probably more frequented than it currently is, but I feel like that’s what makes it kind of special is it being like one of the new sort of spaces.
Ella:
And it will feel like, it will feel like an authentic space there because of how it started, and that it’s there before the crowds were there and it’s really exciting that you’re a part of it at that stage in its journey definitely.
Eve:
Yeah so thanks so much for coming on (laughing) yeah thanks so much for coming on and chatting to us and so exciting about all of these projects, erm, all these future gigs and what this is going to become because I feel like yeah we’re on the precipice of it all happening, so I’m sure, together we can wholeheartedly wish you the best of luck (laughing) and yeah we’ll be getting down and you should all be getting down as well, I’m pointing at the microphone now. You should all get down as well because they’re set to be some really fantastic gigs. And where can people find out more, either about your gigs or maybe even participating themselves.
Kayleigh:
Er yeah absolutely so we have an Instagram page which is sort of my main social platform that I use it’s so called @down2earthpromo and that’s two with a number 2. I like to be as sort of, down to earth as possible.
All:
Ahhhhhh
Ella:
THAT’S why it’s called that (laughing)
Eve:
I see, I see now (laughing)
Kayleigh:
So either dropping me a message on their or via our email.
A massive thank you to Kayleigh for talking with us! We pre-recorded this interview back in the summer, and can report that all of the ventures we chatted about in this episode were a real success! Kayleigh’s quarry gig was wonderful, and you can find a full review of it on our Instagram page @wherearethegirlbands – the down to earth takeover gig as part of our residency at Bloom Building Birkenhead was also a gorgeous night, full of dancing and incredible music.
Our song of the week is ‘No one will hear you’ by Lazygirl, who were the headline of the Down to Earth takeover gig. This song is part of a Halloween EP written by Lazygirl and Audrey Tunes, and was a crowd favourite at the November gig, as well as our Halloween Party gig with Bitch Palace which Lazygirl also performed at! Lazygirl has recently been chosen as one of LIMF academy’s ‘Most Ready’ artists, so there is tonnes of cool content coming out about Lazygirl which you can check out on places like @limfacademy on Instagram, @culturedeck and of course @lazygirlmusic. We hope you enjoy this heavenly tune!
Play ‘No one will hear you’
We are Ella and Eve from Where are the Girlbands working in collaboration with Comics Youth to bring you interviews with local organisations and individuals who create safe spaces. You can find us on Instagram as @wherearethegirlbands where we celebrate women in music and discuss how to make local music scenes more accessible for everyone through reviews, video series, interviews and events! You can find more about Comics Youth on Instagram at @comicsyouth or via the website comicsyouth.co.uk. Comics Youth is a youth led organisation that aims to empower youth across the Liverpool City Region to flourish from the margins of society, creating safe spaces where young people can harness their own narratives and find confidence within a creative community. Comics Youth provide a range of creative services designed to support and amplify the often diminished voices of young people, from zine creation to youth led publishing hubs and projects such as this podcast which highlights the voices of those working within our community to create safe spaces! Thanks for listening.
