Hot Music Live talks to Rob Low at Enterlude
Interview
It may be a chilly November afternoon but here in Rugby's lively Bacco bar I'm getting warmed up by a lively discussion with Robert Low. Many of you will know Rob not only from his dynamic vocals with the popular Record Covers, but also from his work organising Hamplified for the Matt Hampson foundation and co-hosting the PM Music Café on Radio Plus.
It turns out that he's making new plans to invigorate the live entertainment scene in his home town bringing "a fresh calendar of events to Rugby, Warwickshire and Coventry."
The big idea is to bring together entertaining but thought-provoking performers with beautiful spaces in creative ways. It's great that lively covers bands can fill up town pubs on a Saturday night but there are many creative performers who deserve a venue where they can be seen, heard and appreciated. That might be the Killerz and the Rushmore at the Benn Hall, but could equally well be poets in the airy St. Andrew's church, comedians in cocktail bars or DJs at a pop-up festival but with fabulous street food and an amazing urban vibe. To bring this vision to life, Rob and his wife Julie, ("My wife is definitely the brains behind the outfit"), have set up Enterlude, an independent promotion group. The plan is not only to enhance the cultural vitality of the local scene but also to demonstrate that a commercially viable model allows promoters to be bold and independent.
In his own words, "The great thing about what we do and what we plan to do is that we are not beholden to anyone – that's the important thing. We're not looking for council funding, not looking for permissions, all in private spaces. We'll organize events for anybody. But our main drive and focus is to be organizing these events ourselves. Events we feel there is a space for, events we feel there is a need for locally. We want them to be culturally diverse, thought provoking and entertaining – that's what excites us so much about it."
Two important goals are to work with Rugby's festival of culture and then to be a key supporter of Coventry's 2021 city of culture bid. However Rob's concern for the cultural vitality of Rugby remains central to his plans, "Rugby town centre is our heart, were we build from."
So diaries ready, folks! Rob's already announced the Hamplified Comedy Night on 24th November at St. Andrews RFC, Killerz and the Rushmore on the 9th December at the Benn Hall, Antarctic Monkeys and Stupid Boots at Lawrence Sheriff School on 3rd February next year. You can get tickets from Ticket Source .Get yourselves along to these gigs and keep it live and lively in Rugby.
