In the week of the Save Our Scottish Venues Festival, Music Venue Trust have added three new Scottish artists to its existing patrons. Joining KT Tunstall and Be Charlotte are Luke La Volpe, Honeyblood and The Jellyman’s Daughter. All five Scottish patrons are performing on Friday in support of over 60 venues across Scotland – tickets available from https://www.universe.com/events/save-our-scottish-venues-tickets-edinburgh-307Q9X
Stina Tweeddale aka. Honeyblood said,
“I honestly don’t know where I would be without the grassroots venue touring circuit in the UK. Not only as an artist but as a music lover, these places are the building blocks of the musical community. A venue is so much more than a room where gigs take place – it’s walls soak up every show that goes on within it, creating a history of live music right before our eyes and ears.”
Emily Kelly and Graham Coe of The Jellyman’s Daughter said,
“When we first formed The Jellyman’s Daughter we cut our teeth gigging in a wide array of Edinburgh’s amazing venues. Getting these first few gigs under our belt was essential in the development of our sound and learning how to perform live. Sadly so many of those venues have had to shut their doors. In the last few years alone we’ve lost The Electric Circus, Studio 24 and The Picture House (which turned into a Spoons) to name just a few that were once the heart and soul of our wee music scene. Also, when touring internationally, approachable independent venues are vital in providing a platform for us to reach new audiences. If we don’t save these venues, where are up-and-coming bands going to get their start, and how can we nourish and promote fresh new talent? It is really important to us that we do all we can to help grassroots venues thrive in what is now a really tough climate.”
Luke La Volpe, who has already organised two successful fundraising events for Music Venue Trust’s #saveourvenues campaign said,
“It’s an absolute surprise and honour to be invited to be a Patron for the Music Venue Trust. When I looked at who else they have as patrons I was in shock. The past few weeks have been difficult for absolutely everyone on the planet and I was thinking of ways I could do something positive and all I really have to do that with is music. When I came across the MVT and found out what they do for Grassroots venues it was a no brainer to put something together to help them and spread awareness.
Every artist starts off in these grassroots venues, including all the other MVT patrons, however big they’ve got, and without them you have no music business. I’m glad to be part of such a great initiative and will do my bit to ensure that the venues survive and can have us all back playing in front of people before too long.”
Save Our Scottish Venues kicks off tonight at 8pm on Thursday 18 June with an exclusive set from Fran Healy (Travis) free to view at https://www.facebook.com/musicvenuetrust/. The main festival starts at 8pm on Friday 19 June with three stages of music and chat. Line-up and ticket details here: http://musicvenuetrust.com
See MVT website http://musicvenuetrust.com/patrons/ for details of all patrons
The Scottish grassroots music venues that will benefit from ticket sales and donations include:
Sneaky Pete’s, Edinburgh
The Tooth & Claw, Inverness
The View, Oban
PJ Molloys, Dunfermline
Temple Falkirk, Falkirk
The Bungalow, Paisley
The Glad Cafe, Glasgow
Church Dundee, Dundee
Audio, Glasgow
Slay, Glasgow
Ivory Blacks, Glasgow
Leith Depot, Edinburgh
Henry’s Cellar Bar, Edinburgh
Summerhall, Edinburgh
Bannermans, Edinburgh
The Bongo Club, Edinburgh
Mac Arts, Galashiels