Issue 53 / March 2015

pass
the
Illustration: Nick Booton
Words: Richard Lewis
/ bruisedstudio.com
Photography:
Keith Ainsworth
/ arkimages.co.uk
Bido Lito! March 2015
23
rediscovering
open mic culture
in liverpool
While a plethora of new technology has provided fledgling
musicians with the opportunity to get their material out into
the world over the past decade, what has this meant for the
grass roots mainstay of the humble Open Mic night? In times
gone by, these simple but celebratory affairs would be the
first platform on which embryonic artists shared their creative
labours; they provided an invaluable role in celebrating and
nurturing new talent. It seems that Liverpool, thankfully, still
has a particular fondness and insatiable appetite for the
form, as on any given weeknight scores of events take place
in venues scattered across the city centre and out into the
suburbs.
The movement today builds on the tradition immortalised
at cult New York hangouts The Bitter End, Cafe Wha?, Gerde's
Folk City and, perhaps most famously, The Gaslight Cafe, and
is the world depicted in the Cohen Brothers’ 2013 film Inside
Llewyn Davis. Liverpool is no different; our music culture
is rooted in coffee houses and jazz clubs and their open,
collaborative, silo-like nature has helped create the music
scene we love today. Contrary to popular belief, Open Mics
are not synonymous with endless off-key renditions of Stuck
In The Middle With You and ill-advised Ed Sheeran warbling;
this is a dynamic, creative subculture and one which has
flourished over recent years in Liverpool.
Longest serving of the current nights, Out Of The Bedroom,
hosted by Johnny Sands at Leaf, has run on Tuesday evenings
for the past half-decade (Rufus Wainwright famously attended
the evening following his performance at the Philharmonic a
few years ago). The night has flourished in to a stalwart of
the Open Mic scene, and Johnny, with his inimitable hosting,
has become somewhat of a flame-bearer for the form. Out Of
The Bedroom is now joined by his weekly Saturday afternoon
session at Heebie Jeebies Courtyard. “There was a bit of a
stigma with Open Mic, the kind of ‘It’s a gig for a musician
who can’t get a gig’ attitude,” Johnny states. “I wanted to take
Open Mic out of what was a pub – covers, kinda anything goes
– and make it into a more London-type setup. The first thing
was to set out a load of rules of how I’d run the night: original
material, make sure the PA was the equivalent of any good
gig. In London it was the same principal but it was far more
high profile, people were getting up and singing their songs
and record industry people were watching them.” The singer
also curates a sister event to Out Of The Bedroom, which is
held every couple of months and is more of a showcase.
“The performers at Maison Johnny are cherry picked.
Everyone who’s either played at the Heebies Acoustic Club
on a Saturday afternoon, or Leaf on a Tuesday, they go on
hat
there.”
“Over the years of doing it you see people progress from
being an aspiring musician to an accomplished player; you
can see them get that feeling of ‘this is what I want to do’,”
he continues. “Because not nearly as many acts are getting
signed and lower-level musicians aren’t given a chance, the
local scene has become even stronger. Liverpool’s probably
the best city in the country for this kind of scene, the way
all the venues are close together. When I lived in Newcastle
there were tonnes of bands in practice rooms but there were
“Liverpool’s probably the best
city in the country for this
kind of scene, the way all the
venues are close together.”
johnny sands
no venues. Nowhere to play and only one open mic while I
was there.”
Over at The Brink, as part of the organisation’s
accompanying events programme an Open Mic night has
been run in-house by David Barnicle for the past two years.
“It’s an integral part of the musical landscape,” David states,
not just of the Brink’s Thursday night sessions, but of Open
Mic culture in general. “When you have songs coming out of
their initial conception and you just want to go somewhere
and get a bit of stage time and perform it, you use the stage
as a means of practising. It’s essential to have that means
of performing. Not everyone who plays at an Open Mic is
gonna get to a great level, but it can be important for people
who start there to learn basic skills. It’s not as if the music
scene wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for Open Mics, but it’s
part of that organism.”
“The Open Mic is a reflection of the way the whole place
works, it’s not just people in recovery,” David emphasises
of The Brink, which is a recovery social enterprise, meaning
that all profits go directly back into the community to fund
support for those who have suffered through alcoholism and
addiction. “Out of all the people who come to our Open Mic,
there are probably more people who aren’t in recovery that
those in it. People who may be in short-term or long-term
recovery who don’t want to play anywhere else, they only
come and play here. Because we do the young musicians
showcase here for under-eighteens, and because we’re a
dry bar, they find their way to the Open Mic as well. To be in
people’s minds you only get that through continuity, that’s
what gives it the profile.”
Newly revived Slater Street landmark The Jacaranda,
meanwhile, has recently inaugurated a night dedicated to
Open Mic in the basement of the pub. “Some of the acts
who get invited down to play will play a half-hour set,” Thom
Morecroft – who hosts and runs the event alongside Joe
Maryanji on Thursdays and Sundays – explains. “No-one’s
got up and played Wonderwall so far, and it’s not like we’re
going to say to people ‘Can you only play stuff from this really
cool list of tracks’, because that would defeat the object of
an Open Mic. Some nights will be in very hushed tones with
people sat round sipping pints listening to music; others
are more frenetic and everyone will get up and play three
songs. Some of them go on until half-one in the morning.”
Thom also believes that musicians raised in the digital age
aren’t afraid of descending in to these basement venues,
even when it might be outside their natural comfort zone.
“SoundCloud – and the internet generally – has given a lot
more confidence to the bedroom musician and has made it
more likely for them to emerge from the house. However, the
internet, in its infinite wisdom, hasn’t been that kind to the
bar scene. You’ve got to be a bit more creative – not just for
Open Mics, but if you’re putting on gigs. I think SoundCloud
culture and Open Mics are natural allies.”
An accompanying venture to the Jacaranda session is held
at Parr Street Studio 2. “The Parr Street Acoustic Sessions is
held once a month on a Wednesday. It’s a lot more formal
than The Jacaranda; it’s free entry but it’s always the case
that we’ll have eight acts on who’ll play twenty minutes
each and the audience has to be silent. It’s more of a
showcase.” Warming to the theme, Thom goes to say: “There
are now way more Open Mics in Liverpool than there were
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