Olivers bar, or "Ollies" as it's more widely known across Malvern, is located right at the top of Malvern town. It is a good location to attract an audience in Malvern as it is one of the few bars that gets visited regularly by all age groups. Having visited the bar a number of times myself, I can easily say it's one of the more popular places to go to on a night out in Malvern.
I recently watched a covers band, "The Undercovers," perform in there on a Friday night. They performed popular songs such as "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC, "Take Me Out" by Franz Ferdinand and "When The Sun Goes Down" by Arctic Monkeys. This style of music seemed to get the crowd involved towards the end, which must mean it's an appropriate style of music to perform in there. This is fairly similar to the songs I'm preparing with my current band, so it's definitely a possible venue to perform at.
At the start of the gig, the band were having a hard time getting people involved, which I initially thought was because they left such a large gap between them and the audience. I later realised when a couple got up and started dancing that this large gap was the dancefloor. (Although not very obvious to those who don't regularly visit a music night at the bar.) The dancefloor and the band performance area are pretty much the same thing, up on a slightly raised area from the rest of the room. This brings forth some potential problems that I did actually see happen during the performance.
Anybody can easily interfere and walk right up to the band members. At one point in the night a man walked right up to the lead vocalist's microphone and joined in singing a song. None of the staff were aware that this was happening so nobody attempted to stop him. He only left when the song finished.
Once enough people got onto the dancefloor, the band could no longer be seen by anybody further back in the room. (With the help of the three pillars spread across the front of the dancefloor blocking the view even more.) The band then had much less space to move about than earlier on. The guitarist, who was on the left hand side of the performance area, already had a pillar blocking much of his space. After everybody arrived on the dancefloor he was left with an even smaller area to perform in. This could also lead to people spilling drinks on equipment as there is no barrier.
Olivers is a fairly small bar so the speaker system didn't need to be that powerful. The amplifiers and PA systems easily managed to reach the back of the room without needing to be too loud, with the band facing most of the bar. The smoking area and the small seating area next to it are the only areas in Olivers that don't have speakers pointing towards them. Whoever set up the sound levels got the volume spot on in my opinion. The band's music was easily heard by everyone but it was still fairly easy to have a conversation.
The main age group that seemed to be getting involved were between 18 and 30. Bar entry is 18 and over. The capacity is somewhere between 100-150 people. The room was very nearly full towards the end of the night and most people were getting involved. The only night where this would possibly be filled up would be a Friday night in Malvern.
Olivers doesn't serve food but there are alternatives in the surrounding area including takeaways and pubs.
I asked a staff member how much a band would be paid and she said £160 for a few hours for the four piece band. The band had to supply most of the equipment. (In this case a Marshall stack, a Yamaha PA system, a drum kit etc.) The bar provided the lighting themselves. However, these were just some basic stationary colour filter lights projected onto the band and the dancefloor. I would be inclined to use some better lighting equipment for putting on a better performance. However, Olivers is primarily a bar rather than a music venue and it probably wouldn't be appropriate or necessary to use much bigger lighting systems.
I saw the band unloading their gear from their van before the gig began. They had parked directly outside the front door of the bar and set everything up themselves. I assume this means they left their van outside during the performance. This would be ideal for a band, although it was lucky for them that they managed to get a space to park. There is minimal parking space outside the bar as it is usually occupied by residents living in flats surrounding the area. If I were to perform there myself it would be well worth negotiating a space beforehand and arriving early in order to ensure minimal effort and minimal cost. (This spot being the only free public parking close enough.) Audience members would need to find another place to park if they arrived by car. There are some places to park nearby although they would need to pay. This probably wouldn't be a problem for most people as many of the people who visit Olivers live nearby in Malvern.
The bar is easy to contact via their website, www.oliversmalvern.co.uk. On the site they provide their phone number, Facebook and Twitter pages and directions to the venue. The main promotion technique I would say is word of mouth. Because the bar is popular amongst so many people living in Malvern, it isn't difficult to find out what's going on there. They also promote their events on Facebook, Twitter and inside Olivers on a TV screen behind the bar.
As it's a local bar to me and I wouldn't have to pay much for transport myself, I think this venue would be well worth performing at. I would probably aim to perform as late in the night as possible in this bar because everybody seems to stay right up until closing time, when everybody has already arrived. It also means that everybody has had a chance to have a few drinks and are much more likely to get involved. The best night to perform in this bar would be a Friday night, as this is the night when most people will be there.
The Great Malvern Hotel
The Great Malvern Hotel hosts an open mic night every Tuesday. Although this wouldn't be a paid performance, it would still be worth doing for the experience of playing in front of an audience.
This open mic night is a popular event in Malvern and is situated in an ideal place. It is right in the centre of town where many people are likely to be passing by. The age of people who attend is anybody over 18 years old. As it is an open mic night and not just one specific gig, there would be music for all kinds of people. There wouldn't be much need to promote the performance.
The hotel has a friendly, lively atmosphere on the open mic nights so there would be many people watching the performances. However the main performance room does get overcrowded during the night, with a capacity of about 50-60 people. Gear would have to be brought in ideally before people start arriving as it would be impossible to bring it all in later without everybody leaving the room.
Accommodation and transport would not be a problem for me as I already live at walking distance from the hotel. I would be able to walk to and from the event carrying my guitar and other equipment with ease.
Eating would not be a problem as there are many choices for food just over the road, including a chip shop and a pizzeria.
There is plenty of parking space outside and near the hotel so if I were to arrive by car, there should be no problem finding a space to park if I arrived early. Audience members could also find parking spaces easily as there is an even bigger car park a few metres down the road.
Room 310 - Kidderminster College
Having performed in this room myself I can say that the equipment isn't fantastic. The Laney guitar amplifiers are unreliable and the tones produced from them, both clean and distorted, don't sound that great. For example, the input in what I would consider to be the best amplifier in the room is constantly breaking no matter how many times somebody attempts to fix it. I've also heard comments from both drummers in my class that the drum kit isn't good either. Equipment from another room in the college or from home would be preferable in a performance situation. On the other hand, there is plenty of performance space and that space could even be extended if it was needed as there is no raised stage.
The room holds an audience capacity of roughly 40-50 people, which could easily be filled up by putting posters up around college to attract students to a performance. With a room of this size, music can easily be heard right at the back, with the PA system and amplifiers pointing at everyone. There are no areas in the room where the view or sound is blocked by obstacles.
If I was arriving from home then it wouldn't be difficult to walk from the station with all my gear as it is just a 10 minute walk. However, if a drummer was bringing a kit with them then they would need to arrange a lift. There would most likely be a place to park outside the college but if not then there definitely would be one nearby.
The Great Malvern Hotel
The Great Malvern Hotel hosts an open mic night every Tuesday. Although this wouldn't be a paid performance, it would still be worth doing for the experience of playing in front of an audience.
This open mic night is a popular event in Malvern and is situated in an ideal place. It is right in the centre of town where many people are likely to be passing by. The age of people who attend is anybody over 18 years old. As it is an open mic night and not just one specific gig, there would be music for all kinds of people. There wouldn't be much need to promote the performance.
The hotel has a friendly, lively atmosphere on the open mic nights so there would be many people watching the performances. However the main performance room does get overcrowded during the night, with a capacity of about 50-60 people. Gear would have to be brought in ideally before people start arriving as it would be impossible to bring it all in later without everybody leaving the room.
Although the performance area is fairly small there is still room for a drum kit, however this would not be provided by the hotel and would need to be brought along. The performance would need to be arranged beforehand, so using somebody else's drum kit that is already there would be a possibility.
Accommodation and transport would not be a problem for me as I already live at walking distance from the hotel. I would be able to walk to and from the event carrying my guitar and other equipment with ease.
Eating would not be a problem as there are many choices for food just over the road, including a chip shop and a pizzeria.
There is plenty of parking space outside and near the hotel so if I were to arrive by car, there should be no problem finding a space to park if I arrived early. Audience members could also find parking spaces easily as there is an even bigger car park a few metres down the road.
Room 310 - Kidderminster College
Having performed in this room myself I can say that the equipment isn't fantastic. The Laney guitar amplifiers are unreliable and the tones produced from them, both clean and distorted, don't sound that great. For example, the input in what I would consider to be the best amplifier in the room is constantly breaking no matter how many times somebody attempts to fix it. I've also heard comments from both drummers in my class that the drum kit isn't good either. Equipment from another room in the college or from home would be preferable in a performance situation. On the other hand, there is plenty of performance space and that space could even be extended if it was needed as there is no raised stage.
The room holds an audience capacity of roughly 40-50 people, which could easily be filled up by putting posters up around college to attract students to a performance. With a room of this size, music can easily be heard right at the back, with the PA system and amplifiers pointing at everyone. There are no areas in the room where the view or sound is blocked by obstacles.
If I was arriving from home then it wouldn't be difficult to walk from the station with all my gear as it is just a 10 minute walk. However, if a drummer was bringing a kit with them then they would need to arrange a lift. There would most likely be a place to park outside the college but if not then there definitely would be one nearby.
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