Paul Nicholls Stuff

Bursting Bubbles

Since being in Durham I have come to understand it as a bit of a bubble when it comes to music; a safehaven for 90's bubblegum pop, a place where Chesney Hawkes never grows old and Queen is the only way to end a night in style. Only Durham could sustain a club like Klute, where the overuse of Stock Aitken Waterman cheese is almost nauseating, a club which takes pride in the fact it holds the position of the 'Worst Nightclub in Europe" (albeit as a de facto title, since the club actually voted worst - in Sarajevo - burnt down).

There are some havens for the more alternative music taste, but they are few and far between. Fishtank is the only place that can really call itself an alternative venue, but with a capacity of only about 70 people, it just can't get enough people through the door to make bigger acts affordable. Revolver, Twisted and Planet of Sound at the DSU are about as good as it gets, but even they compromise on music in order to pull more mainstream crowds, and rarely have live acts or guest DJs. Colleges do their best to put on the odd event, and Jam By The Lake at Mildert even managed to secure Frank Turner this year - but these sort of names should be possible regularly, all year round, not as an annual one off.

So What? Well after a year of complaining about alternative music in Durham, I've decided to do something about it! Teaming up with other likeminded individuals we've formed "Bursting The Bubble"; a music promotions group aimed at advertising and organising alternative music events in Durham. We're working with both local and student bands, local promoters, Fishtank and DSU to try and straighten things out a bit in Durham! We've launched a website, www.weburstbubbles.com which we'll use to profile Durham based bands and advertise forthcoming alternative music events. We're also on Facebook and Myspace so check those out and add us there too! If you're in a band and looking for gigs in Durham give us a shout.

Our debut event (get tickets here) is headlined by the Karoshi Brothers; billed as Newcastle's answer to Justice these guys are rapidly growing on the electro scene at the moment, and are tipped to tour with the likes of Pete Tong and Goldfrapp next year. We're starting off with relatively small scale events, primarily at Van Mildert College and some club nights at Fishtank, but we've also got plans in the pipeline to throw some seriously big acts at the DSU which is very, very exciting. Look out for more on that once term kicks off in October...