As far as small venues go, the sound system in King Tuts is capable of helping a band put its best foot forward. That alone makes #KTNYR14 attention worthy.
Venturing out into the cold, dark January evenings to buy alcohol or grossly overpriced fizzy pop is not top of anyone’s to-do list. With touring bands more inclined to return to active duty from February onwards, venues who normally don’t have a free date in their diary to save their lives are faced with the prospect of filling up dead space. Sticking on a series of local bands and labelling it as ‘King Tut’s New Year’s Revolution’ makes it sound a lot sexier than ‘alcohol-sales-in-need-of-january-boost-exercise’.
None of that matters if you’re in a band and perceive getting a gig at King Tuts as part of your validation process. It’s definitely easier to get gigs elsewhere if you can say you’ve played at KT. Other venues then presume that you can either play your instruments or pull a crowd. If by some miracle you manage both you may even be asked back.
Given that DF Concerts & King Tuts already pay people to do their marketing and promotion for them, you could ask why I’m writing this. The answer is simple. Most small venues have terrible sound systems, battered mics and sound engineers who would rather give themselves a lobotomy than endure another local act’s attempts at performing music live. Yet at KT, it’s often one of the best places to hear unsigned bands on a purely audiophile level. OK, actual audiophiles might wince at that statement but as far as the average punter’s ears are concerned, bands have the opportunity to sound great on St. Vincent Street.
There are many bands that I’ve heard and listened to over the years through crappy PA systems. Hearing the same bands play at KT for the first time was akin to hearing them in colour to having previously only heard them in black in white. Yup, some pub venues in Scotland are that awful. There’s never much money invested in gear in tiny venues and if you’re a new music fan then you have to put up with a lot of dodgy acoustics. And that’s providing the bands themselves have learned enough to get their own sound right which often they won’t have.
Before Biffy signed to a major label I watched them play King Tuts four nights in a row (album per night plus night of other stuff) mainly because I’ve always preferred hearing them live. Hearing the records in that type of environment sounded like nothing else. In 2007 I heard R.E.M. play Dublin’s Olympia Theatre as part of their live rehearsal series that preceded Accelerate and that had a similar sounds-ace-somewhere-this-small thing going on. That said, a small venue that’s capable of making you sound incredible means there’s nowhere to hide. If you’re rubbish, there’s no excuses.
This January, if you want to hear what up and coming bands really sound like, there’s one place to be.
KING TUT’S NEW YEAR REVOLUTION LINE UP
3rd: the begbies + Soldier On + The Virginia Dons + Lemonhaze
4th: The Banter Thiefs + The Moon Kids + Black Balloons + The Masses
5th: Have Mercy Las Vegas + Rose Parade + King Eider
6th: Harry & The Hendersons (Band) + Quinny + The Van The Van T’s + Kith & Kin
7th: AlteredSky + Dancing With Dakota *Over 14’s. Doors 8pm*
8th: Campfires In Winter + Book Group + The Lonely Together
9th: Chloé Latimer + Becca Fox + Dougie Crosbie + Chelsey Cornelius *Over 14’s. Doors 8pm*
10th: Cherri Fosphate + Model Jet Pilot + This Silent Forest
11th: The Holy Ghosts + Colonel Mustard & The Dijon 5 + A New International + Saint Max and the Fanatics
12th: Tijuana Bibles + Dirty Diamond And The Gunslinger + Kirsten Adamson + The Dead Raven
13th: Deathcats + Garden of Elks + Kill Surrrf + Secret Motorbikes
14th: Life On Standby + Mono Six + Penguins Kill Polar Bears *Over 14’s. Doors 8pm*
15th: Minor Delilah + The Detours + One Last Secret + Waiting On Jack
16th: Sonny and The Lost Soul Train + Perpetual Motion + Touring Barcelona+ Team Solripe
*All gigs are over 18s only with doors opening at 8.30pm unless stated otherwise on the listing*
