Being A Musician In Bath: Act One

My plan has always been that once I had moved to Bath - the big city - that I would step the music thing up a notch. I would put more effort in getting gigs and maintaining a busy schedule of gigs. I would devote more time to writing, more time to marketing etc, maybe even gather a small cluster of musicians together to form some sort of ensemble. I would no longer be a simple clerical worker, dreaming of hitting the big time while playing crappy open mic nights with zero return. I would be a full blown musician, collaborating with others to produce ground breaking work and showcasing this to packed bars full of fans who will leave amazed and in love with the hottest new act in town.

I guess I had some naive notion that Bath would be overflowing with creative musicians, venues hosting live music and people willing to pay to see music. I thought that in no time at all I would be playing gigs and meeting other serious musicians. But in actual fact, I can't really say that things, so far, are that much better than in Taunton.

This is only going by my first impressions mind you. I have only been here for about three weeks so I mustn't jump to any big conclusions just yet but from what I have seen so far, on the surface, there doesn't appear to be the booming music scene that some other city's appear to boast.

My only proper exposure to Bath's music scene so far is through the attendance of a few open mic nights, which, as was the case in Taunton, are the stomping ground for very nervous newbies and seasoned cover artists and sound a-likes. And even these seem thin on the ground.

It would also appear that what music scene there is swarms around Moles Club and adjoining Porters Bar, mirrored by Tauntons singular music venue being The Perfect 5th. There are a few other pubs advertising live music but that nature of this remains to be investigated. My fear is that this, as was the case back in Taunton, will consist of pub rock cover acts assured of bringing in the punters.

The initial findings possibly could leave me slightly disheartened if it not for the fact that I am positive that once September draws near and the students return, and once this banal festival period of summer has finished, things will pick up and I shall be reporting an entirely different story.