Good news for Brighton

This:

Venue bars singer's dog; nobody seems to mind very much

Nell Bryden played Komedia in Brighton the other night. She was going to have her dog - a cockapoo, if you're making notes - backstage, but the venue has a policy of not allowing dogs. So her husband took the dog elsewhere.

Somehow, the Argus has made a story out of this, despite it even barely qualifying as an anecdote.

But fans said she did not let it spoil her performance.

Yes. Not like that time Bono's labradoodle was barred from Wembley Arena and he forgot all the words to With Or Without You, and ran offstage after four songs crying "I can't do it, not knowing that my dog isn't backstage."

Music project evicted for playing music

An project in a Brighton pub which brought together local people keen to play music is being kicked out for, erm, playing music:

Cat Duval, project leader, said the decision had been devastating for those involved.

“It is such a shame that one person can stop something that is so beneficial for so many and bring legal action against us for playing Ella Fitzgerald at 2pm in the afternoon,” she said.

The pub is the Rock Inn on Rock Street. That's right, someone living on a street called rock, next to a pub called rock, rang to complain about not even rock music coming from the place.

The project is trying to raise £4000 to soundproof the rooms, or they'll be out. You can find out how to support them on their Facebook page.

Dermot O'Leary: Battered, but still chipper

Dermot O'Leary isn't just a Radio 2 dj and ringleader at the declining X Factor circus. Oh, no. He's a fish magnate, too.

Slightly less of a fish magnate. He's had to close his fish restaurant in Poole, but he's stressing that a sister shop in Brighton is thriving:

He [said] “Sadly we decided that Fishy Fishy Poole should cease trading owing to the current financial climate.

“Fishy Fishy Brighton continues to trade as normal.”

I'm not a marketing expert, but I suspect part of your problem might have been in calling the places Fishy Fishy. It's the sort of twee name that would actual repel people as they walk down the street. It would make Captain Birdseye decide he'd rather have a kebab.

Don't stand me down: Drunken fool at a Dexys gig

There's a lively collection of tweets from @thom_dorke who spent yesterday evening at the Brighton Dome enjoying the Dexys' gig, but not enjoying the drunk bloke behind him quite so much. You really need to read the whole thing, but here's a quick taste:

The bloke behind us was very drunk, i say about 50 years old... 2nd song in he started laughing very loudly which was odd

— Tom Meadowcroft (@thom_dorke) September 20, 2012

However he then became very loud talking through songs and then shouting unfunny stuff at Kevin rowland.

— Tom Meadowcroft (@thom_dorke) September 20, 2012

Then, in the last song of the album there is a line that says "and he said..," man behind shouted "he said fuck off Kevin"

— Tom Meadowcroft (@thom_dorke) September 20, 2012

We both got involved then the man behind tried to strangle him.

— Tom Meadowcroft (@thom_dorke) September 20, 2012

The best bit, was when he was strangled his tongue came out like when homer strangles Bart!

— Tom Meadowcroft (@thom_dorke) September 20, 2012

Brighton Pride loses Burke as cops lose their temper

Alexandra Burke was supposed to play Brighton Pride yesterday; however, she didn't show up, issuing a statement instead:

“Brighton Pride, I am so sorry to disappoint. I'm really disappointed too. I wasn't taking a fee for the gig.

"I really wanted to perform for you all, however the promoter did not meet the production or technical requirements needed to make the show work.

“It was sadly out of my hands.”

Pride organisers issued a pithy statement which basically said 'nobody else seemed to have a problem making their show work':

“Pride Brighton & Hove would like to thank Fatboy Slim, the Freemasons and all of the performers who waived their fees to perform at Preston Park for their support of Pride Brighton & Hove 2012 and the LGBT community at large.”

The Argus is convinced that Pride goers would have been disappointed, but with the heavy-handed tactics which saw Sussex Police kettling Pride marchers, they might have had other things on their minds.

Goodbye, Rounder

Today is the final day of trading at Rounder Records in Brighton. A minute's silence, please, played from the runout groove of your choice.

[Earlier: Rounder Records to close]

Old Jokes' Home

Perhaps he should be a bit more careful with them, then?

Right Said what now?

There is a serious point in the Evening Argus piece about going deaf at gigs, but there's also something a bit puzzling about it:

A music fan has warned fellow rockers too many concerts could make them deaf like her.

Sue Burgess said years of going to performances by the likes of Right Said Fred had contributed to the severe hearing problems she and husband Tony have both developed.

Now, it's true that the Burgesses have seen Right Said Fred, but later on there's a bit more depth to their musical tastes:

Mr and Mrs Burgess have been to see everyone from Metallica to Madonna.

They have seen Cilla Black twice, Lionel Richie, The Spice Girls and Bruce Springsteen.

They have also watched Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motörhead, The Rolling Stones, The Who and many more.

She was also at the Brighton Dome gig 40 years ago when Pink Floyd previewed The Dark Side of the Moon.

She added: “My favourites are Metallica, Black Sabbath plus Iron Maiden. But I have a soft spot for Will Young.”

Why with that range of mainly-rockist acts would you describe the gigs as being by the "likes of Right Said Fred"? It's like writing about an Olympic athlete, noticing something he did during his schooldays and describing him as competing in contests like the egg-and-spoon race.

By the way - putting on a serious face - one of my favourite charities, Denver's CHSL, does a lot of good work with people who experience hearing loss. If you've got a little to spare, you could help their work.

Venuewatch: Brighton Hippodrome

Some good-ish venue-related news for a change: The Academy Group are considering converting the Brighton Hippodrome back into a theatre. Although, as it'll cost £9million, it's not clear if they can do it. The Evening Argus says they're hopeful:

Terry Carnes, UK property services director for Live Nation, which is working with AMG on the Hippodrome, said that so far £500,000 had been spent investigating howit could be turned into a music venue.

He said: “Simply making it soundproofed would cost an estimated £3 million and in total we would expect the project to cost around £9.5 million.

“We are only in the early stages at the moment but we would like to be the company that pulls it off.”

I guess you wouldn't sink half a million in unless you had a certain commitment. Before it fell to the bingo craze in 1967, it had hosted The Beatles and The Stones, so it's got some heritage heft to the case. Strictly speaking, though, it was built as an ice rink, so it's not quite going back to its original purpose.

Popguns weekend: Live in Brighton

Another live Popguns track, Gone - this time live on homeground, at the Brighton Free Butt. These date from a mini-reunion in 2003:



[Part of

Freebutt weekend: Nina Nastasia

More delights from the under-threat Brighton venue:



[Buy: Nina Nastasia - Outlaster]

[Part of The Freebutt weekend]

Freebutt weekend: On Histories Of Rosenberg

Just to stress once more: I like this band. Other people might not. Sure, the band might look like they're having a good time, but I suspect they could be biased.

From February this year, On Histories Of Rosenberg playing an as-yet-untitled song at the Freebutt:



[Buy: On Histories Of Rosenberg]

[Part of the Freebutt weekend]

Freebutt: The council statement

An anonymous commenter on the Freebutt story seems quite upset that No Rock's coverage of the Save The Freebutt campaign hasn't been balanced enough for their liking and demanded to know why we hadn't put the other side of the story. Apparently, only quoting Brighton And Hove Council on the original post somehow doesn't count.

Still, to avoid the Glasgow Media Group being alerted and heading down to investigate the shoddy quality of reporting on a sarcastic music blog, here is the council's most recent press release:

The council has made plain it has no interest in closing down a Brighton music venue over noise problems.

Officials say that while the Freebutt pub near The Level is causing a nuisance to local residents, it feels the situation can be resolved.

In a statement the council said:

“The council doesn’t want the Freebutt closed, isn’t trying to close it and does not believe it needs to close because of noise.

“We have written to the pub asking for a convenient time to visit so that their electronic noise limiter can be reset. We feel that if it was working as expected they could still run excellent gigs without bothering local residents.

“While the council feels live music is very important to the city, people’s right to peace in their own home is sacrosanct. The family home was there when the current management took over the Freebutt so they would have known noise was an issue.

“Their campaign material appears misleading and we have concerns for the feelings of residents. The council has a duty to investigate and remedy complaints on noise and can not be diverted by campaigns such as this.

“It has now been four months since the pub received a noise abatement notice and although the council acknowledges that some works have been carried out to manage the noise, further action is still required.”

The council doesn't actually say why it feels the campaign material "appears to be misleading" - to be honest, the Council and the Freebutt seem to be the same on details; the question is whether the noise limiter could be taken down further without ruining the point of having an event which relies on amplified noise.

So, just in case anyone was under the impression that the Freebutt were in disagreement with another party without, somehow, the other side having a different view of the matter, hopefully that's clearer now.

Freebutt weekend: The Strange Death Of Liberal England

From June 2008, and a launch party for Angelou:



[Buy: Forward March]

[Part of the The Freebutt weekend]

Venuewatch: Save the Freebutt

Thanks to @electroweb for pointing me in the direction of the Save The Freebutt campaign site, which has a full explanation of what's going on behind the headline of the story.

According to the venue, the resident complaining about the noise - just the one resident - is refusing to allow anyone in to their building to verify their claims, and the Environmental Health Offices of Brighton And Hove Council have not exactly handled the case well.

The Butt's statement in full:

Internationally renowned and locally loved music venue and cultural hub, The Freebutt, is under threat of closure for apparent “audio nuisance”.

The owners have instigated a campaign to save the Brighton institution and save the South Coast from loosing one of it's main musical attractions, after Brighton and Hove City Council warned that they could enforce a current noise abatement order on the venue any day now; ending the hope of ever putting on any live music in the venue again.

Despite constant attempts to fix the problems and come to an agreement on how to move forward, owners now appear to have reached a dead end with council officials, after asking for some reasonable time to sort out the alleged sound issues which they had previously been told to do nothing about. This could lead not only to the closing of a historic venue but the loss of 15 creative jobs in the city and a dent in tourism figures after what owners believe to be a series of Environmental Health Department blunders.

When the music venue was taken over in 2009 by four young Brighton entrepreneurs, they were aware of the historic problems with sound bleed that the venue had previously suffered but were also very aware of the vast amount of sound proofing work that the previous tenants had undertaken. Prior to take over they had contacted the Environment Health Department of Brighton and Hove Council (herein referred to as EHO) who informed them that not only did The Freebutt have no currently outstanding noise abatement notices, it had also not suffered from any sound complaints for over 6 months.

In good faith their first key job as new owners was to re-instigate the volume limiter (which is a device that will cut off mains electricity to the plugs on the stage should the volume sustain above the maximum set level for 15 seconds) at a self imposed yet council agreed level of 105dBA. Unfortunately in February 2010, even
though nothing had changed to either the volume limiter or the physical construction of the building, the Freebutt were served a noise abatement notice upon them requesting them to cease causing a public audio nuisance by 10th May 2010.

Upon advice from EHO and their recommended audio consultant they undertook works within the first seven days of their notice period in attempts to eradicate the sound frequencies bleeding out into the complainant’s home. Upon completion of these works the Freebutt requested that EHO make a further site visit to the complainant’s during operating hours to establish if the volume of music being performed in the Freebutt was still causing a problem. Unfortunately at no point during this process would the complainants personally allow Freebutt managers access to their home, even under the supervision of EHO.

Despite constant chasing of EHO to visit the complainant's home and assess the works that had been carried out, it took them until 29th April 2010 to arrange a site visit, during that time EHO directly recommended that the Freebutt do not waste money on any further works as they had received no further complaints for a number of weeks, it was even said that the case may be dropped altogether.

When EHO did finally visit the complainants on 29th April 2010 it was decided that there was still a continuing problem of sound bleed from The Freebutt into the complainants home. Yet again the owners were told to cease causing an audio nuisance before 10th May 2010, which was by that point just 10 days away. By now, EHO and the complainants had sat on this case for over two months yet the Freebutt had just ten days to solve a problem which they still knew practically nothing about or how to fix.

Incorrectly believing that the sound issue was caused by a fault within the Freebutt volume limiter, EHO then incorrectly reduced the venue's set level to 105dBL (approximately 95dBA), effectively shutting all business down due to it's completely inappropriate and unworkably low volume for live music in a venue of the Freebutt's size. Fortunately this problem was resolved the following Monday, with the limiter returned to the jointly agreed level of 105dBA. EHO requested that the Freebutt remove a number of electrical sockets that could in theory bypass the volume limiter, these were isolated and removed within four working days of their request.

During the following week the owners discussed further with EHO and their contracted audio consultant on how the Freebutt could move forward to resolve this continued problem. The first step to be undertaken by the Freebutt management was to self impose a further limit of 1dBA upon the volume limiter, making the audio levels in the Freebutt quieter than they have been for a number of years, if not ever. Unfortunately EHO’s recommended audio consultant did not feel that he himself had enough audio expertise to provide any form of educated analysis of the frequencies bleeding through or where exactly in the building the Freebutt would require further sound proofing. In fact EHO informed the Freebutt owners that not only was the noise bleed still a problem but that it was worse than ever before.

The Freebutt made the decision to contact the audio specialist company ‘24 Acoustics’ on 11th May 2010 who recently and successfully tackled the audio bleed problems and sound proofing of the Boileroom venue in Guildford. Their audio expertise does not come cheap by any means but the Freebutt agreed with EHO that the Freebutt would hire them as to provide a much more detailed analysis of the problem and would undertake
any work that they recommended to rectify this issue once and for all.

The Freebutt forwarded a proposal to EHO as the owners believe that to truly solve this problem the Freebutt need to finally establish where exactly in the buildings structure the sound was bleeding from and at what frequencies. Unfortunately EHO do not have the technical expertise to provide this crucial information, the only
audio analysis received to date is a series of noise diaries from the complainants which simply say "sound heard: drums" as well as an EHO provided single set of dBA levels recorded on one single night which no members of the Freebutt management or third party impartial audio specialists were allowed to attend the recording of.

EHO contacted the complainants to arrange a time which they would be available to allow access for ‘24 Acoustics’ to establish the sound bleed on their side, the Freebutt accepted a long time ago that the complainants will not allow the Freebutt management access to their property but hoped that they would allow inside impartial audio specialists who would have been chaperoned at all times by council officials.

Unfortunately this wasn’t the case and the complainants refused access to not only ‘24 Acoustics’ but also anybody at all that wasn’t a council official. This obviously very quickly rendered any possibility the Freebutt may have had of sound proofing the building completely redundant. However, EHO still demand that the sound bleed problem be eradicated, with their next step being to reduce the volume limiter to a level that their untrained ears deem appropriate and thus undoubtedly crippling and shutting the independent business all together.

From day one, the Freebutt have worked openly in conjunction with EHO to try and locate and remove any and all sound bleed issues, unfortunately due to a lack of support from both the complainants and EHO, the Freebutt have no remaining avenues to pursue in sound proofing the building. If EHO do reduce the venue's volume limiter by even just 1 or 2 more dBA the Freebutt will be unable to function as a live music venue as nearly all amplified instruments as well as un-amplified drums will ‘trip’ the limiter, thus cutting the performance. The business would obviously have to close, causing the unemployment of 15 people, all but 2 of whom are under the age of 30.

The four managers of the Freebutt are key pillars Brighton's music scene and local community, two having spoken at an open discussion on Noise Abatement issues at this year’s Great Escape music festival and conference and regularly attending local resident meetings to discuss ways that the Freebutt can help improve the local community. The Freebutt are also in discussion with local residents to have ‘open days’ where the local children can learn new skills such as how to play an instrument and the basic workings of how a music venue works. The Freebutt certainly does more for Brighton than just pay its rates.

Co-owner Tom Denney said, “The Freebutt is without a doubt a Brighton institution, having played host to some of the most important local, national and international acts of the past two decades. The Freebutt puts on upwards of 800 local musicians every year, giving them the opportunity to perform for an increasingly growing local community of music lovers, as well as putting on international touring artists and bringing in tourism trade from places as far away as Israel.”

Co-owner John Fisher said, “Our venue is a key part of the fabric of the Brighton creative community, not only does it provide a creative outlet for Brighton’s local musicians but has also served as a learning space putting for drum classes, art exhibitions, live performance art, and even University lectures.”

Co-owner Andy Rossiter said, “We are in no way saying that the Freebutt is a perfectly sound proofed building but as section 7.1 of the Brighton and Hove licensing policy 2008 states, not only should the council recognise the need to encourage live music, dancing and theatre for the wider cultural benefits of the community generally it should also be aware of the need to avoid measures which deter live music, dancing
and theatre – such as imposing indirect costs out of proportion to the income of the licence holder and to the risks presented. Only necessary, proportionate and reasonable licensing conditions should impose any restrictions on such events.”

Co-owner Alex Murray said, “What we want is the opportunity for not only a reasonable period of time in which to carry out any necessary work but also the cooperation of both EHO and the complainants in helping establish where exactly the sound bleed problem is originating from. Without some educated analysis of the frequencies bleeding and the structure of both buildings there is absolutely no way that we will ever be able to eradicate this sound issue and will thus force the closure of a historic Brighton music venue and loss of a huge number of music industry jobs."

Obviously, having peace and quiet in your own home is important, and nobody would deny that. But the resident's refusal to help solve the problem suggests that this isn't about sound or noise at all, but more about trying to close down the Freebutt by other means.

There are petitions circulating in Brighton - Resident Records and Rounder Records have both got copies for local people to drop by and sign.

Venuewatch: No Butt? Yeah, but, no but...

Brighton's Freebutt, which was taken into fan-ownership a year ago, is locked in what might prove to be a battle to the death.

Despite having fitted a noise limiter, the venue is still upsetting its neighbours; they have complained to the council and now Brighton And Hove are telling the 'butt to keep things more quiet, or lose their licence.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said it did not want the venue to shut but that residents' right to peace was "sacrosanct".

Sacrosanct, eh? That's an interesting principle the good people at the council have introduced there, and one which might make any activity which disturbs a single person impossible in the city. They're going to have a hell of a time digging up the roads in future, for a start, aren't they?

Deeper and the Downs: Brighton says sorry to the Quo

Brighton and Hove council thought it would be nice to have a bit of gentle fun in the job advert for a strategic director position:

The ad men went so far as to state "Status Quo fans need not apply."

The council forgot that Status Quo don't actually have a sense of humour. Or perspective.

Quo's publicist Simon Porter says, "This is a direct insult to the capabilities of millions of Quo fans, many of whom are probably totally overqualified for these jobs."

Erm... if they're overqualified for the jobs, then they shouldn't bother applying, should they?

Anyway, Brighton and Hove have responded by rolling their eyes and carrying on.

Oh, sorry, no: they've issued a fawning apology:

A statement from the council's CEO John Bardell reads, "I'm sorry if any offence has been caused by our advert slogan 'Status Quo fans need not apply' - none was intended.

"I accept that it was a little insensitive. My wife did say when she saw it that it might upset Quo fans. I hoped it would make us stand out from the crowd and would get people interested. Clearly she was right."

The one piece of soothing balm is that it's hugely unlikely any Status Quo fan would have even had the advert read out to them.

The smaller Pink: set cut back in Brighton

Running order troubles at Brighton's Great Escape Festival, with headliners The Big Pink only getting thirty minutes by the time they got on stage.

It's lucky that Groove Armada weren't playing there; they came on stage across town thirty minutes late, so they'd have only had time for a quick "Brighton - are you ready to noodle for a bit?" before the "goodnight, Corn Exchange."

Over at the Concorde2, Sleigh Bells invited fans onto the stage, which the NME reports as being some sort of a problem:

With minimal security at the venue, staff were forced to chase those members of the audience who did make it past them around the stage, while the Brooklyn duo carried on playing the track regardless.

I've never been entirely sure why security throw people off stage when they've been explicitly invited on by the artists. It just seems rude. You'd have to hope they don't go on to work on The Price Is Right - "I don't care if Mr Carrey told you to come on down, my boss says you're to stay in your seat."

Broken Social Scene: New album, extra date

Most of the UK dates Brokey Social Scene have announced to support their May new album have sold out already, so rather than getting all Jim Bowen on your ass, let's just note that they've booked themselves in to the Brighton Corn Exchange for May 15th. Rush, rush, and you might just get tickets.