R1

Well it’s all happening. I write this straight after another great tribute steps up to the mark in the shape of Queen on Fire. Next week Aynt Sykynyrd followed by Guns 2 Roses. And all that stuff on the old Forum about us selling out? Eh? OK without getting all sniffy about it, rock is not just about long hair and singing about partying. If that’s all it was, it would have been wiped out in the 80’s after Motley Crue called it a day.

The icons of rock come in different colours (not only black). Pink Floyd for example influenced a whole plethora of bands who preferred their music weird and wonderful. Echo and the Bunnymen, Orbital who came later cite the early Floyd as and influence. Pendulum and Faithless can be traced back to On the Run and One of These Days and Hawkwind’s early stuff like Space Ritual. Similarly Sabbath, Purple, Zeppelin and the usual suspects each have their nieces and nephews adding new flavours into the original recipes.

And so we get to Britpop. Make no mistake it was The Who and The Kinks who started all that off. Yet their wayward sons such as Oasis, Blur, Kaiser Chiefs and the like are not seen as rock. Puzzling! yet presumably Townsend, Daltrey and co. are. But nobody complains if we put Who’s Next on.

Here at Revolver, it’s a case of picking the acts which suit our audience profile. People go on and on about others not wearing the uniform of black  t shirt, combats, jeans. Nobody wants the so called “chavs” in but who said bands like Blondie, Kaiser Chiefs would attract conflict? And there’s always DJ Camo next door. It’s not a case of (insert your enemy tribe here) taking over. It’s more a case of living and let live.

Having said which we apologise unreservedly to those who witnessed the Kaiser Thiefs set a couple of weeks ago. While it’s not our policy to slag off bands we hire – after all that reflects on us too – but we fully admit we were duped by this lot. Bar staff, punters alike were complaining about the lack of  quality up there. It seems that said band have taken it upon themselves to diss this venue. While we do not want to get into a public slanging match, bands at Glastonbudget where the Kaiser Thiefs next perform should witness their performance before believing their nasty comments. Make no mistake that was the worst tribute band we have ever had the misfortune to hire.

Ending on a positive note, our Download weekend should put us up on the map with the Glastonbudgets of this world. It’s out niche market. We’ve advertised in Metal Hammer, so that should bring a few more from far and wide to appreciate what we are doing here. It’s a bold decision, so I hope you will continue to support us and understand that we are running a live music venue and cannot survive with just one genre dictated by a minority. You can sustain amall pub that way but not a live music venue open seven nights a week until 2

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