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Pete Doherty on stage at the Dublin Castle. |
Revealed: Secrets of Pete’s secret gig
INTERVIEW:TONY GLEED
TONY Gleed is one half of the music promotions team Bugbear, based in Holloway. Last week on both Thursday and again on Sunday, the Dublin Castle was the setting for impromptu gigs by ‘wildmen of rock’ Babyshambles. Charlotte Chambers talked to Tony afterwards.
CC: How did the Babyshambles ‘secret gig’ come about?
TG: They contacted us. It had been in the offing for a couple of months.
Their manager Adrian has been a Camden character for a while. He’s always been around and now DJs at the Dublin Castle.
CC: Why do people have secret gigs?
TG: For a variety of reasons. It gets you some street cred and authenticity with the original fanbase. You’re all in it together and can crowd surf.
It’s also good preparation for bigger gigs – you can iron out a few wrinkles and play some new songs.
It is about the artist getting authenticity back into the fan-artist relationship – you should be able to look down the singers throat, although the notion ‘secret gig’ has become a bit of a cliché.
CC: How did secret gigs start out?
TG: The Stones did one at the Marquee (in Wardour Street), Pink did that one at Dingwalls, and obviously the Beatles.
But they can backfire though. Robyn Hitchcock, an 80s singer with the Soft Boys, his backing band were down to do a gig, but we then heard Robyn had decided to do it. But no one was told and no one was there.
It’s like when Blur did it in ’95. They announced it the day before to people in the industry and very few actual punters got in and that’s not the way.
But with Babyshambles they got paid the same as the other bands – they even said we just want £100. They were doing it for the right reasons, there was no primadona. That’s a proper secret gig.
CC: So Doherty wasn’t just doing it to make some drug-money?
TG: That was the case a few years ago when he was solo and in prison – we had him in the Hope and Anchor. He was really good.
CC: What do you think of Babyshambles?
TG: I think they’re a good band. They fitted the bill and they’ve got good songs.
He’s a good songwriter. They’ve got an electricity about them and a rough edge. Same charm as Velvet Underground.
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