A GLASGOW day care centre for older people has begun a double life as a live music venue. In recent weeks city-based promoters Synergy Concerts have started presenting shows at the Fred Paton Day Centre at St George’s Cross, a place for older people to take part in activities and socialise.
On the evening of Friday November 2, dream-pop duo Her’s play live at the venue, which Synergy have named The Great Eastern, a nod to Chemikal Underground founders The Delgados, pictured, and the centre’s Carrington Street location, which is just off Great Western Road.
It was a gig there a few years ago by Chemikal Underground heavy-riffers Holy Mountain that helped inspire Synergy’s move, says Colin Campbell, operations manager and co-founder of nearby bar The Hug and Pint.
“That room always stuck with me,” Campbell says. “It made me think about how I would have done things in a small town and how we could do things in a different way to what we’re used to.”
Synergy had been looking at putting on gigs in mid-sized venues but found they were few and far between in Glasgow. The proximity of The Hug and Pint meant building a face-to-face relationship with the day centre was easy, says Campbell.
“We talked to the venue manager and got to the stage where we were happy enough to buy a PA with a view to start doing shows,” he says. “They wanted this to be very separate from what they do during the day, so we had to find a new way of working – we didn’t want them receiving lots of phone calls from people wanting to know when the band was on, which happens all the time at a place like The Hug and Pint.”
A solution was that The Great Eastern would exist physically only on gig nights. Synergy came up with the idea of a double-sided sign to reflect the two identities of the building, which was built on the suggestion of Fred Paton, appointed as director of the Glasgow Old People’s Welfare Committee in 1963. Last year the charity changed its name to Glasgow’s Golden Generation to celebrate 70 years of serving older adults in the city.
“They were rebranding all their buses and we said: ‘why don’t we buy a new sign for you that we can just flip over when there’s a gig on?’” says Campbell. “That’s why if you walk past the building, you won’t see that it’s also The Great Eastern. The Great Eastern only exists when it needs to exist.”
Campbell says the unusual set-up has its advantages.
“Though we have to think: ‘Will they get over the idea that this is a centre for older people during the day?’, on the other hand, if it’s an artist which is a bit more unusual, often they love the idea. It brings people back to their childhood, especially if they’re from a smaller town as there’s something of the town hall gig about it – and the sight-lines are great, which is good for the audience and artist.”
The Great Eastern is a perfect fit for Her’s, pictured, a psychedelic pop outfit founded by Stephen Fitzpatrick from Barrow-in-Furness and Norwegian Audun Laading. The pair, who met in Liverpool as students, describe themselves as “outsiders from sleepy coastal towns several countries apart”.
The Great Eastern is just one of two venues the promoters have got behind in recent months. At the beginning of October, Synergy had a launch night at The Blue Arrow, a recently established jazz club on the city’s Sauchiehall Street.
On Friday, Mutual Benefit AKA Brooklyn multi-instrumentalist Jordan Lee brings his distinct baroque folk to the venue, with gigs from the likes of MacFarlane/McNeil Quintet (Nov 8) and Graham Costello’s STRATA (Nov 16) following the launch of the new album by Talisk, a trio named 2017 MG Alba Scots Trad Music Awards’ Folk Band Of The Year (Nov 2).
Campbell and his Synergy booker Brian Reynolds went into business with The Blue Arrow’s Iain Maclean and Willie Knox when co-founder Cheryl Chanda wanted a change.
“We bought her out,” says Campbell, explaining that Synergy have a long relationship with Maclean and Knox.
“They run a pro audio company, and they do production for our bigger shows, like our Kelvingrove Bandstand shows. We did John Carpenter at the Barrowland recently with them. We used to rent an office from them too – we went into business with our friends, basically.”
Currently The Blue Arrow, pictured, has a 3am drinks licence on Friday and Saturdays, and Synergy hopes to soon expand that to Sunday nights too. A stipulation of the license is that there must be live music after midnight.
“It means we can’t just put on a DJ, which is good,” Campbell says. “Instead, we have to find great performers. It’s a place after midnight where you can go and see live music from around the jazz world: A new thing for Glasgow.”
Campbell adds: “For us and other people we know in their late 20s and older, there’s nowhere really to go that you can really enjoy a night out after midnight – or at least, there’s nowhere that we like.”
“This is a sort of late-night bar with music you can watch, or sit at the back and not watch, and have a nice drink and a chat with your friends.”
Mutual Benefit: Oct 26, The Blue Arrow Jazz Club, Glasgow, 7pm, £11.
Her’s: Nov 2, The Great Eastern, Glasgow, 7.30pm, £9. For full listings and tickets, see www.synergyconcerts.com
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here