Kevin Meehan helped to found Mainly Acoustic over 35 years ago, and despite many changes in the music industry over that time, it has trundled along with an active audience, membership and committee. As he prepares to retire as President, Kevin reflects on his 35 years of involvement with the club.
Balance Transfers: This is a funny question, it’s a question I ask everybody I interview, but particularly with reference to Mainly Acoustic, what does Mainly Acoustic do?
Kevin: Mainly Acoustic is a live music club, that provides a stage, support and encouragement to musicians of all ages to use it to play music that’s close to their heart. It is also a club that provides entertainment for the community by presenting concerts, usually on a monthly basis (2nd Tuesday of every month) and some additional concerts throughout the year.
The club runs monthly club-nights which start at 7.30pm with local musicians and finish with an invited main guest/s playing from 9 – 10pm. The guests could be someone of note from the local area or an international performer on tour. We just ask them to play within their allotted 60 minutes, the songs that rock their soul. Apart from our usual calendar of stuff, the club has also presented free outdoor concerts and workshops of various sorts, guitar tuition, and held camp-out festivals.
Balance Transfers: Who are some of the people you’ve brought in over the time?
Kevin: So many terrific musicians have come through our doors over the years. A very rich and exotic mix of New Zealanders and overseas performers. From country & folk artists to blues and jugbands. Names that spring to mind are Martin Carthy (UK), Anthony John Clarke (Uk), Barry Saunders (NZ), Joel Fafard from Canada, Marcus Turner(NZ), Habadam (Swedish trio), Taranaki’s Gumboot Tango and Dunedin’s wonderful band “The Chaps.” Other names – German Harpist -Thomas Loefke was a recent guest, as was The Raven Mavens (Marion Carter & Cindy Muggeridge) and Irish songwriter Colum Sands. Over the years, I guess we must have presented 500 concerts or more. I like to think that each one has left a nice little vibe in our lovely town.
Balance Transfers: Is there any particular theme or common strand between the musicians you select to play for the club?
Kevin: The club started off as Upper Hutt Folk Music Club. It still retains much of that. In fact apart from “wiring up” and using a PA, we haven’t changed at all. We go for blues, folk, country, and occasionally, the lighter side of jazz. But no-matter the type of music presented, what we look for above all else is the performer’s ability to engage our audience and entertain. We’ve never had rap, and I have no sorrow about that at all. It doesn’t rock our soul. For me, I like music with a melody. Something universal to touch hearts and lift spirits on a cold wet night.
Balance Transfers: Could you tell us a bit about your history and the club’s history, how it all got started?
Kevin: From what I can remember now, it was 1981 or 82 when we started. To go back a bit… a friend of mine, Mike Dawson and I were printers together, working in a general printing company. He’d just come over from South Africa, but was originally from Yorkshire. I’m a Lancastrian, and apart from the War of the Roses we had much in common. Our families enjoyed camping holidays together, we both enjoyed an occasional beer and had a love of folk music. Mike, his wife Jean and my wife Sue along with me formed a folk music group and played at a few clubs and cafés. Somehow, just by chance we discovered and started visiting Wellington folk Music Club which at the time was in Holland St off Tory Street. Paying entrance at the door, we often light heartedly complained about the cost of entry, given the cost of half a tank of petrol, just to get to the venue from Upper Hutt.
We suggested (often) we should get a discount, on account of the thirsty Holden we drove. Marg Pullar who was inevitably the keeper of the door and bouncer was as usual unmoved by our bleating and said, “Here’s a thought. How about you start your own club.” Well we drove home after the concert, chewed the suggestion over with our wives and within a few weeks, that’s what we did. Upper Hutt Folk Music Club was born. And fair to say that Marg Pullar in return, visited our club regularly and gave us much support along with many other generous Wellington folkies. She happily paid full entrance fee too. Probably about $3 in those days.
So the club started off in a place called the Attic. It was essentially a youth centre, located in an upstairs apartment In Geange St. Decorated just like its name suggested with white cobwebs painted on black walls. The youngsters had done it all themselves. Funnily enough, for all the black, the main room had a real good feel to it.
So we paid a small fee to use the “Attic”once a month. Some spare beer crates were found and utilised, we nailed planks to the crates to make some extra seats, and constructed tables in a similar manner. We finished the tables by stretching a length of unused newsprint over the top, courtesy of our print employer. A few candles were spread here and there and we were ready to roll.
A lot of folks from Wellington in those early days would come up the line and contribute to the sing-round. A sing-round is an invitation to anyone in the room to contribute to the evening’s entertainment by way of a song, story or poem. Some people had much to offer, and in the quietness of their songs you could hear a pin drop. Other folks, happy just to be there declined the invitation. A variety of music was played, from tunes on concertina, mandolin, and penny whistle to songs with guitar. An interesting mix of traditional British and NZ compositions were aired with some modern songs in the mix too.
The last hour was devoted to an invited special guest. Our very first guests were a Bush Band called the Mugwumps. The word I think is Australian, a term to describe certain people who politically speaking keep their mug on one side of the fence and their rump on the other. I first saw the Mugwumps (Col Wright on concertina, Jeff Harper on guitar, Trevor on flute and some other dude on lagerphone and tea chest bass) when I walked into Wellington Folk Music Club for the first time. I loved their songs, their intensity and fire. They were raw, full of fun, unpretentious and welcoming. The music was for me, quite wonderful. And I was hooked.
Balance Transfers: If you can remember all the way back to the start of the club, what were your ambitions in actually starting it? What was your ambition for what you were trying to build?
Kevin: What we had in mind was to create a similar music club to Wellington, but a little closer to home.
I wanted to meet people with a similar bent in music.
We didn’t know if it would last more than a couple o’ months really. We didn’t know who else was out there strumming a guitar in a kitchen/lounge. Would it appeal to the locals? All I know is I got a real buzz out of the club’s existence and there was an air of excitement between all four of us every clubnight. It was unknown territory. We made and stuck posters up wherever we could and learned a new song every month just to fill in any potential gaps in the evening.
Balance Transfers: What do you think the effect is that Mainly Acoustic has had on the culture of Upper Hutt?
Kevin: 35 years on and over 500 concerts later, from an array of often scorching international and New Zealand artists, I think we have led the way in creating an interest in acoustic live music in our town. There can’t be many outgoing Upper Hutt people who haven’t attended at least one of our shows. We’ve brought wonderful acts from Invercargill, Dunedin, Christchurch & Nelson, and all the way up Taranaki way, Auckland and beyond. We’ve presented some astonishingly gifted artists in the packed-out intimate Mayfair Café setting. Glorious and magical nights they have been. I think we’ve certainly helped to create the general public’s appetite for “intimate Live Acoustic Music Concerts” From country and folk to blues, jazz and the other fusions along the way. Glad to say after all these years that we still garner an enthusiastic discerning audience, some come on trust, happy to see what unfolds, regardless of who the main guest is. They meet friends and enjoy the show. Others come to see specific concerts and somehow it all seems to work out.
Balance Transfers: Have there been any tough times for the club?
Apart from negotiating changes of venue due to either disappointment in sales from expectant café owners or rowdy clientele (bar flies) from pubs, the club has been blessed with a relatively smooth ride. We’ve been at The Mayfair for around 10 years now and worked with 3 different owners, each has been very generous and hospitable.
Balance Transfers: It seems interesting to me because the music industry has changed so much over the past 20 years. It amazes me that you’ve just been sailing through. Have you always been achieving critical mass over that time?
Kevin: Thinking back, we’ve had our share of ups and downs. One night our club-night attendance tumbled to something under 20 people, the committee included. We were working from an out of the way Tennis clubroom at the time and clearly wasn’t working. But numbers picked up again quickly when we moved to a central café. That was later sold and became part of a cinema complex.
As a club we still wanted to operate simply, without a PA. It gave us the freedom to perform without being restricted by microphones and cables but for that we needed a quiet room. Fridges, air conditioners, dish washers and coffee machines were becoming something we had to live with. The Mayfair had all of these things and when we decided to try the café out, Lord Of The Rings sound engineer Mike Hedges generously offered us his sound gear and expertise. Mike lives in Upper Hutt, lucky us, and he did a fantastic job. Deirdre Starr was our main guest that night, a lass with a beautiful rich voice. Both she and her keyboard never sounded sweeter. The Mayfair was full with around 70 people. We realised from that moment the magic of a PA. We hired one each month until we got our own. Many years on, through much practise, we have I think the quickest assemblers of a PA in the country. They set it all up including the stage sections in an incredibly short space of time and they do it well.
Of course the main guest is only half of the show. Having local people play competently and wired up is something we all get used to. Our sound crew are really helpful, positioning mics and cables for every performer. The exciting thing about a live music club is that what you see is what you get. No electronic backing tracks or beat machines, we tell musicians if you want some brass, invite a brass band to play along. Want a backing beat – find a percussionist. It’s great to see it all come together.
Balance Transfers: Wow.
Kevin: It’s the live, the raw sound that kind of appeals to people who come to the club. We look for perfection but we’ll settle for something a little less. We like to hear you, we’d love to hear you play, but if you put a seat behind you, bring your drummer. I think it brings in a degree of spontaneity in there, you know?
Balance Transfers: 35 years is a long time to keep going as a club. Do you have any advice for young people going into promotion, music management, or for musicians themselves?
Kevin: The Mainly Acoustic club is a great place for performers to learn their stagecraft and hone their skills. From feeling your way as a newie to playing as a main guest, there is a wide gulf and much to learn. We are a large stepping stone for a career in music performance. What we create is a concert atmosphere and to be fair, we’ve had professional musicians unnerved by the attention given by our audience. If you can hold, relate to and engage an audience for an hour you’ve done pretty well.
Our first half is usually a mix of both new and experienced performers. The audience is kind and empathetic and love to see a song performed well.
Regarding furthering your career, we’re just one of many independent clubs, closely connected to a string of folk music clubs up and down the country who offer something similar in format. Performers can get experience here and visit other clubs too. They are always hospitable. There’s probably 20 other clubs around the country doing similar to what we do. Most of them meeting once or twice a month. The clubs are good building blocks for anyone wanting to start out and promote music on a wider scale. They involve much hands-on work experience and there’s a whole network of very savvy people to talk to.
Balance Transfers: Is that a part of how you find talent or find people who are visiting New Zealand?
Kevin: Yes. many performers visiting NZ search out acoustic music venues to play at. Googling NZ folk music clubs will give them many venues and contacts. We’re in there somewhere – we get probably half a dozen enquiries every month from performers both here and overseas wanting to play on our stage. We’re now making bookings up to 18 months in advance for main guests.
Balance Transfers: It sounds like Mainly Acoustic has got a little bit of an international reputation going on.
Kevin: Yes. Fair to say, We have developed a reputation among some overseas performers. Some have become firm favourites with the club.
Anthony John Clarke (UK) is one of those, also Colum Sands (Ire), they make wonderful guests. A duo called Winter Wilson (UK) opened our 2017 year and they were fantastic.
We book about four overseas acts every year. We look closely at what they do before booking them. We look at their reviews, and where they have performed. Do they get regular bookings? YouTube is a good tool for seeing how well they engage audiences.
More than the singing and the songs, as a rule, they tend to bring a little more humour into the show.
Hospitality is very important. We make a point of looking after all of our guests. Overseas artists especially, as sometimes it’s 4 or 5 days between gigs and it can be an unsettling time for some. Maybe more so for solo performers. We feed them, maybe try a meal at any one of our world famous Upper Hutt curry houses. Perhaps a beer and a game of pool at our local Cossie Club. And a visit to Kaitoke Park is a must. Overall, we work towards all of our performers having an enjoyable and memorable experience.
Balance Transfers: What’s next for you? Will you still be involved in the club that you started?
Kevin: I will certainly be going in to see the show on a normal club night. It’ll be nice to focus on what’s happening on stage rather than around it.
Presently, When problems arise, I’m there to clarify things. If people are having difficulty finding a seat, I find them one. Folks are more tolerant if it’s me shuffling chairs about. But because of these distractions, I tend to miss 30% of the show.
I’m looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the show in its entirety. It may take a little while to lose the distractions but overall I intend to immerse myself in the crowd and perform a few songs when asked. The present committee are a very enthusiastic and resourceful bunch. I know the club is in very safe and loving hands. It’s kind of exciting, you know?
Overall, the clubs aims haven’t changed. We want people visiting our club, to see a great show unfold live, close to where they are sitting. We work to make it an experience second to none.
