Somebody has to take the risk. In Hastings, about eighty people do.
A promoter is the person who books a room, books a band, puts money down before a single ticket is sold, and then stands at the back hoping enough people walk through the door. Nobody in this town is getting rich on it. What they are doing is the thing that makes a music scene a scene rather than a set of pubs with a PA.
The names change, the rooms change, but the job is the same: back an act before an audience has agreed it is any good.
The independents
The largest group by some way — people and collectives with no venue of their own, booking wherever the show fits. Music’s Not Dead, Loud Women, Black Rabbit Promotions, Bring Your Nan, Mad Ferret, The Fratcave, Punk Rock at The Carlisle, Jazz Hastings, Sonics, Adventures in Pop, A Sharp Promotions, Wayside, See Ya There. Some run one night a month in a back room. Some fill the White Rock.
Between them they cover more ground than any single venue could: punk, jazz, folk, experimental, dub, drum and bass, sixties garage.
Venues that book their own
Plenty of rooms don’t wait to be approached. The Piper, The Carlisle, The Jenny Lind, The Albion, The Dolphin, The Old King John, Barnaby’s Lounge, Porters, French’s, The Nelson, The Crypt, The Royal Standard, Pissarro’s and the White Rock Theatre all programme themselves, and several of them put on more nights a month than most promoters manage in a year.
Two record shops belong here as much as anywhere: Dark Circles and Tough Love Records, both of which put bands on among the racks.
Club nights
The other tradition, and an older one than the guitar bands like to admit. Hastings Northern Soul Club, Wendy May’s LocoMotion, Klub Klang, Laundry Day, Aquarius International, ReBerth of the Cool, The Coven Club, Freakz, OFFSET, Total Khaos, Tabby The Cat. Later finishes, different crowd, same economics.
Festivals
Fat Tuesday, Hidden Beach, Hastings Jazz Festival, the Chamber Music Festival, the Easter Festival and Rockfest are promoters too — the same job, done once a year at ten times the scale. The full annual calendar is on our festivals page.
The full list
We keep a live directory rather than a page that goes out of date. Every promoter, club night and venue we know of is there, with their upcoming dates attached — so you can see who is actually active this month rather than who was active when the page was written.
Missing? Send us your details and you go in. If you’re already listed, you can claim your page from it and keep your own dates, photos and links up to date.
Also worth a look: every venue in Hastings and St Leonards, and what’s on this week.