A once thriving music venue has been given a complete overhaul in a bid to breathe a new lease of life into the city centre’s gig scene.
The Head Of Steam has been a favourite among locals and visitors alike who appreciate music, arts and a good selection of beers and ales.
But in recent years the pub, which sits opposite Newcastle’s Central Station, has seen a decline in the number of bands lining up to play in the basement venue.
However, all that is set to change thanks to the efforts of bosses at the chain who brought in Joel Thomson as venue manager.
Joel, who has years of experience as a gig promoter, musician and bar worker in the city, has worked tirelessly over the past month to oversee a massive revamp of the space and to set about attracting the best live bands and DJs back to The Head Of Steam.
“There have been a couple of changes of management over the years and the managers didn’t really care as much for the live music side of things and it had fallen off the map a bit in terms of gigs,” Joel explained.
“Tony Brookes, who’s the manager of The Head Of Steam and The Cluny, recognised it wasn’t what it used to be and asked me if I would be interested in putting some gigs on there and I said ‘I could do that but if you give me a bit of backing we could do much more’.
“He’s been really supportive all the way along.”
He added: “There isn’t really anywhere of this size in Newcastle at the minute and I wanted to make it a proper professionally run venue.”
As of October the all-new 90 capacity basement venue will be re-launching with a brand new in-house PA and lighting system, new welcoming décor, and a promotions team made up of some of the best live and club promoters in the North East.
Local DJ heroes and former Head Of Steam staples Smoove and Tim Shaw return every Saturday night playing a selection of funk, soul, hip-hop, electro and R&B, with Friday night duties taken care of by new residents Ciaran, Funsize Jonny & Silvah Fox and No Fun.
The venue is free to get in and will be open until 3am every weekend. Thursday nights see the return of local promoting legends and former NME club of the week ‘Rattled By The Rush’.
The official grand re-launch of The Head Of Steam venue takes place tonight at 7.30pm and features a live performance from Newcastle’s one-man electro party Razmataz Lorry Excitement followed by resident DJs until 3am.
The venue is currently available to hire for free afternoon matinee shows, evening gigs, private parties or club nights. Please direct all booking enquiries to Joel at: gigsTHOS@theheadofsteam.co.uk
