Music

Radio 1's Little Party - Monday 2 May - Bar Pure, Sunderland

You can’t not know by now that Radio 1’s Big Weekend is coming to Sunderland on 7th and 8th May - a huge event featuring some massive music stars. What you might be forgiven for not knowing is that Bar Pure's The Voodoo Rooms is hosting Radio 1’s ‘Little Party’. 

It’s a three-day fringe festival which started on Bank Holiday Monday and runs until Wednesday night. Over 23 bands will be showcased including The Golden Virgins, The Spheres and This Ain’t Vegas.

One third of Field Music

There’s also around 20 DJs including Radio 1’s Huw Stephens, Mary Anne Hobbs and Annie Mac, as well as the best Sunderland have to offer - FUNK:TION, Ward 10. For a Little Party, it’s pretty big news for the local music scene.

The Collective

The ‘Little Party’ is also a chance for Bar Pure to promote the Sunderland Music Collective. This group aims to actively promote music in Sunderland. And with the backing of Radio 1’s OneMusic, renowned for promoting new music, it’s got every chance of success. 

I asked Paul Mason, Bar Pure’s co-owner about the idea behind the Collective: “When Radio 1 came and said they wanted to put this three-day festival on, we realised that people were stuck out all over the place doing their own thing”. The Collective is a way of getting bands and promoters together, working to a united aim and sharing resources.

The idea is essentially, that if you are in the music industry and in Sunderland, you can be involved. “There won’t be anybody who’s not allowed [in the Collective]” says Paul. “It’s not about the genre of music, if you’re interested in pushing the music scene in any way shape or form, you can come and be part of it”. 

There’s a real push on people power, getting together promoters, DJs and bands, the hope is that this combined force will result in more music nights and even festivals in the Sunderland area. It’s all starting in Bar Pure, but the Collective is growing day on day, Paul says “you’ve got to make yourself known, that’s all”. 

Hi Met

OneMusic

This sentiment is echoed by Radio 1’s Huw Stephens. He believes getting up and coming bands heard is “all about creating a buzz” around the music. His enthusiasm is immediate and while he is carrying forward John Peel’s legacy of playing new music, he feels that Radio 1 as a whole is making more of new bands and a variety of sounds.

"To be honest, most of the Radio 1 DJs from Pete Tong to Annie Mac, myself, including Ras Kwame and Rob Da Bank are all championing new music – in a way the station itself is carrying on new music". 

The Sunderland Collective has the backing of OneMusic and Huw hopes to be playing more tracks from the North East on his show. Advice for both up and coming bands and DJs is to “show what [you’ve] got…send demo tapes to as many people as possible, listen to as much radio as possible” but, he stresses “be a bit different – don’t try and copy anybody”. 

The Line Up

The mix of bands and DJs on the Bank Holiday certainly reflected the diversity of Sunderland’s music scene. Owner, Paul Mason even admitted “we’ve got funky house DJs and rock bands – it might seem a bit weird, but we hope it’ll work”. And work it did. 

The afternoon focused on DJ sets playing tracks from the Jam and the Beatles, through to modern releases from The Kaiser Chiefs and Maximo Park. This was interspersed with acoustic sets from bands such as Hi-Met, Paul Liddell and Carnation. 

Hi-Met manage Bar Pure’s busker’s night on a Monday and recently ran a successful competition. The winner, Solomons Burden, are playing Bar Pure on Wednesday night. I spoke to Mark from Hi-Met who said that they were impressed by the quality of entrants. He felt that Sunderland musicians had benefited from there being “little to do in the city, kids pick up a guitar and start playing”. 

Hi-Met provided a polished acoustic rock set, playing a mix of their own tracks and covers. They’ve just written, produced and are distributing their first album ‘Silently Screaming’.

Paul Liddell

Next up was Paul Liddell. He’s got a lot of support around the region and beyond. His album ‘a Lighthouse-keeper's diary’ is now on general release and he is working hard to promote it. Musically, he plays strong acoustic rock, with lilting, folky melodies.

Previously working as a solo artist, he’s now in the middle of writing new material with his band for a follow up album. The hope is for it to be a “live-sounding album”, and from what I heard, this would be no bad thing!

Carnation were the last band I saw downstairs. Reminiscent of Cast and the Coral, their particular style of indie was upbeat and tuneful, a most enjoyable end to the afternoon. 

The Voodoo Rooms

And it didn’t end there! Music carried on downstairs with further DJ sets and bands. But I took the chance to adjourn upstairs and witness a rockier-style evening with some of Sunderland’s more established bands including Field Music, The Shivvers and This Ain’t Vegas.

All the bands seemed to enjoy their sets, the venue was packed out and the atmosphere was buzzing. Field Music played tracks from their recent single which went down a storm. Their fanbase is increasing tenfold each time I see them – well-deserved it is too. 

They should know too that they were the band Huw Stephens was most looking forward to seeing. I hope he was as impressed as the rest of the crowd.

Highlight for me was an energetic set from The Shivvers. The boys describe themselves as “post-punk Mersey beat” and cite influences as The Fall, Love and the Beatles. 

Darker and punkier than the rest of the music on the day, they stood out as a strong, professional band. They’re planning a single release on Bunkeruk (a Sunderland-based label) in June.

Bar Pure are fighting their way to the front of Sunderland’s music scene. With such a proactive attitude and forward-thinking management, they deserve every success. And if the Bank Holiday was anything to go by, the people and the bands of Sunderland are also up for it – the venue was packed out, it’s just hard to believe this kind of event hasn’t happened sooner.