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Bobby Gillespie joins campaign to save 100 Club
By CMU Editorial | Published on Friday 29 October 2010
Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has added his name to the long string of musicians who have come out in support of the 100 Club, issuing a heartfelt statement on his love of the London venue.
As previously reported, the Oxford Street venue is facing closure as running costs spiral out of control. The club, which has occupied its current site in various forms since 1942, is noted for putting on early gigs by bands who have gone on to fame and fortune, and was a focus of the late seventies punk scene. But in recent years it has reportedly seen rents rise to more than £13,800 per month, not to mention another £4000 per month in business rates.
Gillespie wrote: “When it comes to rock n roll, The 100 Club is the best room in London. No contest. No other venue comes close. Rock n roll was created in small, sweaty clubs, that’s where the music sounds best, it doesn’t translate well to the big arenas as the band and audience are too distant from each other. It’s all smoke and mirrors, any fool can put on a spectacular show to hide behind. And many do. At The 100 Club there is nowhere to hide, you’ve got to have the chops to deliver, you’ve got to mean it, there’s no room for fakes, You’ve got to be good to play there and carry it off. Trial by fire”.
He continued: “Music is no longer underground anymore. Everything is bought and sold over and over again. Commoditised. Dead. It’s all Carling Academys and HMV Apollos and O2 Arenas; corporate, unfeeling, distant. Places as void of atmosphere and rock n roll history as shopping malls or airports. There’s less and less independently run clubs where young bands and new music can grow and become a life changing cultural force like The Rolling Stones and The Sex Pistols did, both bands having started out playing at The 100 Club”.
Finally, he said: “It would be a tragedy for British music if [The 100 Club] disappears. It has as much cultural value as any art gallery or museum. It’s a living place of history. Don’t let it die”.
Full details of the campaign to save the venue can be found at www.savethe100club.co.uk.
