Cafe Drummonds

[Mojo Workin]

mmm, despite avoiding this on the basis that I work there, I have given in!

Firstly with regards professionalism at Drummonds, I would say Hen & all staff do their best to make gigs run smoothly especially for outside promoters. Drummonds and Tunnels are the cheapest places to hire and in my opinion (as a promoter, not bar manager) are the best for the size of gigs they do. Would far rather use them than Snafu, Warehouse for both cost and general running of shows.

There is pretty much always a running order for gigs organised by Hen, which Calum generally always gets, unfortuantely a lot of time the first band due to soundcheck is late or whatever and that of course leaves Calum in the shit through no fault of his own.

With regards the sound "being awful" - I would point you towards any touring band who always sound great due to the fact that they also have a good set up and know what they are doing sound wise too. I dont mean this against your band in particular, but again some local bands turn up not having a clue what levels they want or sometimes not even how to tune a guitar. That will ineviatbly lead to shit sound regardless of what Calum or any other sound engineer does. The bands who know what they are doing/want and are generally professional always manage to sound good - i.e Deportees.

Having dealt with hundreds of touring bands, they are pretty impressed by the sound they get in Drummonds compared to both Tunnels and a lot of the venues they have played on tour.

The soundcheck issue is one that does cause problems. We cannot make noise until 6pm weekdays/8pm Thursdays due to the shops upstairs so that does indeed leave very little time at 6 for Calum to set up the stage and soundcheck on time. There is very little we can do about that to be honest and we all know its not ideal.

On the note of leaving equipment, we dont allow it to be left downstairs a) because the kitchen, new bar area is down there and storage is mainly for that now and b) because we end up with shitloads of unclaimed stuff after a few weeks which is not ours and there is no room for. Most venues Ive been at on tours are strictly against leaving equipment over night so at least we allow it to be left on stage where at least staff and door staff can monitor it.

Whilst I may sound like Im just defending the place because I work there, I really do mean this from that side and from my promoter side.

The last point re the undesirable elements in the bar is possibly fair. As bar manager I hate neds etc as much as the next man, to the point I actually want to kill them. I dont want them in the pub or in fact anywhere near the pub. I personally try very hard, as do all the staff who work there, to stop these people. Unfortunately you cant just stop someone coming into the bar because they look "hard" or that they MIGHT cause trouble. There is no security until 11pm midweek, however I do not tolerate excessively drunk people or any behaviour that will ruin anyone elses night. I feel very strongly that anyone being a cunt should be thrown out. I am aware that its not always the case. In a busy bar, people will sneak through/get their more normal mate to buy them a drink etc but I assure you that we will all do whatever we can if alerted to a situation.

The guy that went on stage and stole the mic was definitely ejected from the premises (I have the bruises to prove it) as is anyone who goes on the stage in that manner.

Phew, that wasnt meant to sound like a rant. Just putting our side out there!

Oh and I dont think Priory is a great example of a place that wouldnt tolerate knobs.

We used to play Drummonds a lot and never had a gripe with the sound quality, Callum is the biz as far as we were concerned. Our own soundman used to work along with him at our gigs, and sometimes go along at weekends for the craic and a beverage or two. He said that often, with the young bands that were playing, all he could hear was bass and drums, or everything was just one roar. Maybe you make a good point there.

As for undesireables being in Drummonds of an evening, they used to let us in no problem! Seriously, we played there regularly for a couple of years and never really had any problem, sure, there were drunks, but it IS a bar after all.

[Moar1]

I think it's safe to say that none of us play for the money; it's not like I'm raking in a fortune from the one gig Point of Origin are playing each month, but the "I'm not really fussed" attitude is a bit amateurish in any aspect of your music whether you're talking about your material, your promotion, rehearsals, recording, gigs or the money you get paid for doing them.

Do you realise how pretentious you sound?

[Lemonade]

Do you realise how pretentious you sound?

What's pretentious about that? All he's saying is that just because you aren't selling out Wembley Arena doesn't mean you shouldn't be taking it seriously and trying to do it as well as you can. Or is it "not cool" to try and actually be good and build up a following for yourself?

[Guest]

Do you realise how pretentious you sound?

I do sometimes think this guy can occasionally come off as pretentious, but there was nothing that suggested that in that particular post.

[Sam 45]

The sound in Drummonds is great, it can be pretty dam loud at times, but that is not really an issue. Calum is a good engineer, if you hear a band sounding bad in there it won't be his fault, it'll be the bands fault. Not enough bands work hard enough/understand how to get to know their own sound right. It really shows when you get a band that do. For example, a band like Stapleton will sound good anywhere.

[stuartmaxwell]

For example, a band like Stapleton will sound good anywhere.

except for al and andys vocals at times

do agree though, cal is a good engineer and generally gets the best sound possible for bands in drummonds but you generally can't polish a turd much.