AGE NO BARRIER
You don’t have to be over 18 to buy a new 12”. Nor do you need an iD to download a 320 from iTunes. But you’ll need a fake one if you’re under 18 and want to see up close and personal the musicians whose careers you religiously help to fund. Venues have responsibilities that make it difficult to cater for an underage audience. While some have experimented with lowering the entrance age to 16 and handing out wristbands to those not old enough to drink alcohol, problems invariably arise when those permitted to purchase the booze do so on behalf of their younger colleagues, and so the principal dilemma for young music fans remains: how to get in.
It’s a dilemma that Sam Killcoyne, still only 15, knows well. Or rather, knew well. Aged 14, he did everything he could to get into a Buzzcocks gig but to no avail. The bouncers didn’t budge and he was turned away, sad and dejected. It was a similar situation whenever he and his friends wanted to see The Horrors, a “wild, intense and psychotic” (their own words) punk band from London: "I tried to see them seven or eight times — once in a strip club in Soho,” Sam says, “and I couldn't get in. Because they sell alcohol, you have to be 18, and I look really young." He didn’t want to go to some seedy teenage night where forty year old promoters throw together a Spice Girls look-a-like act and a few thousand hormonal thirteen year olds hellbent on sharing saliva with as many people as possible. He wanted a place where he could enjoy the music he loved. So he did something about it.
The Underage Club was born. Its premise was, and still is, simple: real music for real music fans under the age of 18. It used to run on a monthly basis at The Coronet, Elephant and Castle (check out the video below of The Horrors performing there in 2006), but now it seems future locations are more closely guarded. If you can’t be bothered to find out where and when it’s happening then you’re probably not the right type. They have a myspace page (check it out here), but even that doesn’t give much away. As far as they’re concerned, the music can do the talking.
August 2007 witnessed the biggest Underage Event yet, a festival in Victoria Park, London (see below), featuring the likes of Patrick Wolf, Mystery Jets, I Was A Club Scout and Pull Tiger Tail. It was a huge success, but then it was only ever going to be. With so many disgruntled teenagers around the country it was only a matter of time before someone got on and did something about it. It works so well because it’s run by the kind of people the events are actually aimed at. For this reason, and despite corporate sponsorship from the likes of Converse - which has helped enormously with things like staging and logistics - Underage Club events are authentic and honest. That’s exactly why Sam wants to hand over his baby to someone else when he feels the time is right. He believes that when he’s no longer under 18 he won’t be well placed to lead things forward. It’ll just bee “too weird”. And besides, being so involved with something like that can take its toll: “What you don't realize when you organise these things is that it can suck all the fun out of it. I'd rather be a punter. I'd like to take Underage as far as it can go and then give it to someone who really appreciates it. Someone who's 13 or 14 and can take it to a different place.” Again, the love of the music and the quality of the offering comes first. Nothing else matters.
Beyond London, similar events are popping up. There’s Teen Culture in Birmingham and Generation in Wolverhampton. And where the Underage Club caters for a more punk-oriented audience in London, along with the currently booming All Age Concerts (myspace), Subverse at Underworld is aimed at young rockers. It was started by Julie Weir, founder of the Visible Noise label, for the same kind of reasons: "It seemed ridiculous that venue restrictions should stop a huge number of the band's supporters from seeing them. Not all kids want to go to a Steps concert at Wembley Arena with their mum." We couldn’t agree more.
So, if like Sam Killcoyne you’re a young music lover who’s tried everything from flirting with bouncers to hiding in the overcoats of bigger brothers to get into clubs, then perhaps you should check out one of these events instead. And, if you do, then let me know what it’s like - ‘cos I can’t get in.
It’s a dilemma that Sam Killcoyne, still only 15, knows well. Or rather, knew well. Aged 14, he did everything he could to get into a Buzzcocks gig but to no avail. The bouncers didn’t budge and he was turned away, sad and dejected. It was a similar situation whenever he and his friends wanted to see The Horrors, a “wild, intense and psychotic” (their own words) punk band from London: "I tried to see them seven or eight times — once in a strip club in Soho,” Sam says, “and I couldn't get in. Because they sell alcohol, you have to be 18, and I look really young." He didn’t want to go to some seedy teenage night where forty year old promoters throw together a Spice Girls look-a-like act and a few thousand hormonal thirteen year olds hellbent on sharing saliva with as many people as possible. He wanted a place where he could enjoy the music he loved. So he did something about it.
The Underage Club was born. Its premise was, and still is, simple: real music for real music fans under the age of 18. It used to run on a monthly basis at The Coronet, Elephant and Castle (check out the video below of The Horrors performing there in 2006), but now it seems future locations are more closely guarded. If you can’t be bothered to find out where and when it’s happening then you’re probably not the right type. They have a myspace page (check it out here), but even that doesn’t give much away. As far as they’re concerned, the music can do the talking.
August 2007 witnessed the biggest Underage Event yet, a festival in Victoria Park, London (see below), featuring the likes of Patrick Wolf, Mystery Jets, I Was A Club Scout and Pull Tiger Tail. It was a huge success, but then it was only ever going to be. With so many disgruntled teenagers around the country it was only a matter of time before someone got on and did something about it. It works so well because it’s run by the kind of people the events are actually aimed at. For this reason, and despite corporate sponsorship from the likes of Converse - which has helped enormously with things like staging and logistics - Underage Club events are authentic and honest. That’s exactly why Sam wants to hand over his baby to someone else when he feels the time is right. He believes that when he’s no longer under 18 he won’t be well placed to lead things forward. It’ll just bee “too weird”. And besides, being so involved with something like that can take its toll: “What you don't realize when you organise these things is that it can suck all the fun out of it. I'd rather be a punter. I'd like to take Underage as far as it can go and then give it to someone who really appreciates it. Someone who's 13 or 14 and can take it to a different place.” Again, the love of the music and the quality of the offering comes first. Nothing else matters.
Beyond London, similar events are popping up. There’s Teen Culture in Birmingham and Generation in Wolverhampton. And where the Underage Club caters for a more punk-oriented audience in London, along with the currently booming All Age Concerts (myspace), Subverse at Underworld is aimed at young rockers. It was started by Julie Weir, founder of the Visible Noise label, for the same kind of reasons: "It seemed ridiculous that venue restrictions should stop a huge number of the band's supporters from seeing them. Not all kids want to go to a Steps concert at Wembley Arena with their mum." We couldn’t agree more.
So, if like Sam Killcoyne you’re a young music lover who’s tried everything from flirting with bouncers to hiding in the overcoats of bigger brothers to get into clubs, then perhaps you should check out one of these events instead. And, if you do, then let me know what it’s like - ‘cos I can’t get in.
Ha. The Horrors were in Battersea halls with the Saint Martins/Chelsea art school lot.
Good on you Sam. Always love seeing young guns doing something in the face of adults.