Requiem for a scene

As two more music venues face closure, what becomes of our local culture?

The music scene, or lack thereof, in Medway has always been a baffling one to me.

To be clear, there is certainly a scene here. But there should be so much more for an area the size of Medway. Medway has a similar population to a city like Brighton but a fraction of the cultural activity.

That isn’t to say people don’t try to do things here. I speak from experience on that one. Many years ago, long before I was your friendly neighbourhood newsletter writer, I was a gig promoter in these towns. In a heady period between 2011 and 2013, I (and my Tea Concerts comrades Matt and Louise) put on some incredible shows in these towns.

Ultimately, we stopped because we were running out of suitable venues to put shows on in. Sadly, that isn’t a problem that has changed much in ten years.

And now we face losing one of our most established venues and much more.

News broke this week that the Royal Function Rooms and the associated Billabong Club have been given until the end of the year to vacate the building they operate out of.

It’s another crushing blow for a music scene that was already not in a great place.

Medway has a long and storied music history. I’m not the person to tell that story, and Stephen Morris has literally written the book on it. I came fairly late to the music scene here.

The local music I was excited about wasn’t the great bands of the past like The Dentists or The Claim or Billy Childish, not that those bands don’t hold an important part in our shared culture. For me, it was the scene that was around a decade ago. Frau Pouch, Pity Party, Balance Lost, Stuart Turner, Bear vs Manero, Punching Swans, Brigadier Ambrose, Theatre Royal, UpCDownC, Hand of Stabs, and a whole bunch of others.

When I got involved in local music back then, there was an exciting if scrappy scene. Regular gigs in whatever venues would have them, and a good mix between the elders of the scene still kicking around and new bands doing interesting things.