Feargal Sharkey: 'If it wasn't for pubs the Undertones would never have existed'
Former Undertones frontman and UK Music chief Feargal Sharkey says his band would not have had a career without pubs. He tells James Wilmore that he believes the government is now depriving bands of this chance...
How integral are pubs to the live music scene?
"Pubs are not only the foundations of the live music scene, but of the music industry. The British music industry is, when you think about it, founded on little rooms in the backs of pubs. People like myself get the opportunity for the first time in our lives to stand up on a wet Tuesday night in front of three people and proclaim 'I'm a songwriter and I'm going to be famous'.
"It's very easy to assume the music industry is all about the Madonnas of this world, when actually for a huge section it's about playing in the local pub."
So how did The Undertones start?
"Our third ever gig was in a little pub called the Casbah in Derry - actually a portakabin sitting over a hole in the ground. Early on there were more people in the band than in the audience, but if it wasn't for the Casbah the Undertones would probably have never existed. It made us better, because as a musician you learn more playing in front of 20 people than you ever will in four days in a rehearsal room.
"We got into a routine creatively where we aimed to write one new song a week that we could play every Friday night at the Casbah.
"Then every pub in the town started to notice that 150 people were trying to squeeze into this portakabin, so they then started trying to book us."
Why do you think the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) did not follow the committee's recommendations on live music?
"The simple answer is they didn't have the bottle. Occasionally you have to put your hands up and say, OK, we didn't get this right and we need to go back and look at this. I find it saddening that the DCMS keeps trying to throw up this link between live music and crime and disorder. As we all know, and there's enough evidence out there, it's simply not true."
Do you recognise the DCMS's figures suggesting the Licensing Act has not affected live music in pubs?
"Well, as the saying goes, there are lies, damned lies and statistics. If you take an overall approach, has live music grown in the past five years? You betcha!
"Has it had anything to do with the Licensing Act? Not a bloody thing. Our big concern has always been the micro venues, the little rooms with a capacity of 200 or less - and the DCMS' own research tells them there has actually been a reduction in the number of little rooms in the backs of pubs providing live music."
What about the new minor variations process? Will this help?
"It's a fudge and always was a fudge. The incidental music variation has been there for five years and it's failed miserably, so why do they think it's going to work this time around?"
Are you hopeful Form 696 will be scrapped?
"There are discussions going on in the background, but again to me it reeks of the word 'fudge'. Why are we even discussing this?
"We used to live in age where the arts were considered to be something that made society better. Hillingdon Council's policy document actually draws a direct correlation between the use of Form 696, live music and the prevention of terrorism. To me it's indicative of a mindset that has to go.
"And particularly in London, because if you have anybody out there trying to make a professional assessment about the ethnic make-up of an audience at a live music event, I think that is abhorrent."
Any advice for licensees staging live music?
"Be patient, I would say. If you think you are getting into difficulty, please let us at UK Music know and we will do whatever we possibly can to help. And you may want to go and download a copy of the Live Music Forum's report from the DCMS website."
UK Music
