We wandered into Union Blue (Agard Street), a student bar by the river, on a cold Sunday night to check out the open mic night. Ran by a bunch of local musicians this open mic had a very friendly feel with a mix of cover artists and originals, it had a young crowd and a fairly alternative atmosphere. They also welcomed drummers and bands doing acoustic sets and generally it seemed very cosy and fun.
Another bonus of the Union Blue is that it has some good beers (and I don't mean Coors) so with a good ol'pint of real ale to warm you up, it was easy to take to the stage and show the punters how not to play guitar.
We spoke to a few of the organisers and regulars there to get some inside info on what a 'normal' Sunday evening here consists of:
Regular Numero Uno: It's on every sunday from 8 till 11.30 ( was 10.30 but they are open later due to new drinking laws, huzzah!), lots of regulars play, but anyone can can join in and newbies are more than welcome, plus it's a student pub, so cheap drinks, and free monkey nuts everywhere you look!'
Regular Numero erm…Two: Its a great night to come to one of the best open mics in Derby! Good atmosphere in the pub and no-ones scared to join in or sing along. tonite was especially good as normally Ali one of the organisers is sometimes plays a bit too much himself, so was really nice tonight to see loads of people play, even if they could only do 3 songs and it was ace to see you Nottingham people turning up and playin!'
I certainly think this open mic had one of the most easy going atmospheres we have seen and the organisers seemed open to letting anyone play any style, if your ever in the Derby area on a Sunday night I would recommend checking Union Blue out.
LiveWire Showcase at Derby Uni
Well, a few days later and we caught the Red Arrow again, this time to go to Derby Uni and check out a Live Wire Entertainment Event with 18 bands from round The East Midlands play an afternoon gig. Live Wire is a Midlands based company who manage and promote all sorts of music from cover acts to DJs, live bands to solo acts, they hold regular events to expose up and coming talent around the country.
Todays event was originally put together as a Rag week event, aiming at getting the new Derby students interested in local bands. Live Wire has 35 Derby bands on it's roster and this event was a really excellent idea, bringing bands such as: 7Stone, Patchwork Grace, Crimson, Onion, Ejectorseat and Escobar together for a music feast for the ears.
We didn't get to stay for the whole event and were pretty pissed by this time, but what we saw was very impressive, we managed to chat with a few bands who all seemed to really enjoy the day and after a brief chat with Patchwork Grace (a full interview with PWG will be in a future issue very soon), we got a very positive feel for the whole Derby scene so I would keep an eye out for more Live Wire events and all futture gigs in Derby.
www.livewireent.co.uk
Derby Links
First Floor Club and venue – www.firstfloorclub.com
The Flowerpot (live music venue)- www.hometown.aol.com/rawpromo/rawpromohomepage.html
The Vic Inn (live music venue) – www.thevicinn.co.uk
Streesed Records (Derby Indie Label) – www.stressedrecords.co.uk
Ponce Promotions (who run the Ponce in the Park annual festival) – www.ihateponce.co.uk
We Get Lively Promotions in Derby – www.myspace.com/wegetlively
A really well ran Forum for all Derby's music fans – www.duckworthsquare.com
A Forum for all Punk Bands interested in the Derby Scene – www.derbypunkcollective.co.uk
Reveal Record Shop – www.reveal-records.com
