Brickwork: A Biography of The Arches

David Bratchpiece, Kirstin Innes

Description

Nightclub, theatre, creative hub, party place, and one of the most important venues in Scotland, Britain and Europe: for almost 25 years, The Arches was the beating heart of Glasgow.

In 1991, former punk-turned-theatre director Andy Arnold walked into the disused red brick Victorian railway arches underneath Glasgow’s Central Station and immediately saw the potential of the space. Not even he could have imagined its future, as simultaneously one of the biggest and most famous nightclubs in the world and a major player on the European theatre scene. Until its closure following a drug-related death in 2015, The Arches carved its own, indefinable path, playing a vital role in the lives of many Scottish artists along the way. Some of those stars of the future began their careers taking tickets, hanging coats and serving drinks there. 

For the first time, the people who made the venue get to tell their story. Piecing together accounts from directors, DJs, performers, clubbers, artists, bar tenders, actors, audiences and staff, Brickwork writes the biography of a space that was always more than its bricks and mortar.

Authors’ note

Glasgow’s Glasgow’s Glasgow

CHAPTER 1: 1990–1991 ‘Fuck it, let’s just keep going.’

CHAPTER 2: 1991–1993  ‘And then on Friday night we went through to The Arches…’

CHAPTER 3: 1993–1999 ‘Here we fucking GO!’    

CHAPTER 4: 2000–2008 Drop the Pressure

CHAPTER 5: 2008–2013 It’s All Allowed

CHAPTER 6: 2013–2015 ‘How can you have a day without a night?’

BITS AND PIECES: SOME FAVOURITE MEMORIES FROM THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE ARCHES

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

Appendix

Sujets

• Musique
• Histoire de la musique
• 20th Century
• Modern
• HISTORY
• Ben e king
• Escocia
• Benny Young
• Graham Hunter
• The Arches
• Modern history
• Performance art
• Art
• Carl Cox
• Slam
• Scotland
• Performance
• Obermodern-Zutzendorf
• Music
• Daft Punk
• Glasgow

Informations

• Publié par: Salamander Street Ltd.
• Date de parution: 04 novembre 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781913630973
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 20 Mo

Extrait

First published in 2021 by Salamander Street Ltd. ([e-mail]) Brickwork: A Biography of The Arches© David Bratchpiece and Kirstin Innes, 2021 All rights reserved. You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. Every effort has been made to trace copyright holders and to obtain their permission for the use of copyright material. The publisher apologizes for any errors or omissions and would be grateful if notified of any corrections that should be incorporated in future reprints or editions of this book.

ISBN: 9781913630980

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Dedicated to everyone who worked at The Arches, everyone who played at The Arches, and most of all to Andy Arnold

Introduction: Glasgow’s Glasgow’s Glasgow

1. Fuck It; Let’s Just Keep Going (1990–1991)

2. And Then On Friday Night, We Went Through To The Arches (1991–93)

3. Here We Fucking Go (1993–1999)

4. Drop The Pressure (1999–2008)

5. It’s All Allowed (2008–2013)

6. How Can You Have A Day Without A Night? (2013–2015)

7. Bits And Pieces

Appendix One (More Tune)

Plates

Authors’ Note

When trying to work out how to tell The Arches’ story, we kept coming back to the people who made it what it was. As former employees who had their lives changed by the venue, both of us were aware, from the moment we started our very different roles, of the many, varying things the place meant to so many. This is a ‘biography’, because we’re not just telling the story of bricks and mortar, or of an arts venue, but of an o rganisation that seemed to have its own soul. People may or may not ‘make Glasgow’, as the current city marketing slogan would have it, but they definitely made The Arches. So we’ve tried where possible to have this story told verbatim, in the words of the people who were there at the time: the founders and directors, the club impresarios and DJs, the theatre makers and performers, the clubbers, the bar, door and cloakroom staff, and the audiences. Of course, this book is really only scraping the surface. The Arches was the sort of place that almost everyone it touched has a story about: here are as many as we could cram in.

David Bratchpiece and Kirstin Innes.

Dramatis Personae

ANDY ARNOLD: Arches founder and artistic director, 1991–2008 LORI FRATER: First Arches general manager, 1991–1996 KEITH BRUCE: Former arts editor,The Herald DAVE CLARKE: Director of Soma Records and promoter of Slam and Pressure (active in The Arches 1992–2015) COLIN McCREDIE: Actor STEPHEN McCOLE: Actor/DJ GARY GILLIES: Co-founder,Ālien War(active in The Arches 1992, 2008, 2012) AL SEED: First Arches artist-in-residence, 2005–2008 DAVID BRATCHPIECE: Co-author ofBrickwork. Arches cloakroom and usher (1998–1999), box office assistant (1999–2006), duty manager (2006–2010), front of house manager (2010–2013) BLAIR SUTHERLAND: Longest serving Arches employee (1992–2015: bar staff, bar supervisor, bars and catering manager, director of operations) STUART McMILLAN: DJ & producer, Slam ANGIE DIGHT: Co-founder, Mischief La-Bas ORDE MEIKLE: DJ & producer, Slam FIONA SHEPHERD: Arts journalist JULIE WARDLAW: Work placement (1994), front of house staff, press and publicity manager (1994–2000) JOYCE McMILLAN: Theatre critic CORA BISSETT: Actor, writer, director NIKKI MILICAN: Artistic director, National Review of Live Art GRAEME THOMPSON: Promoter, Love Boutique (active in The Arches 1993–1999) NIALL WALKER: Designer, then marketing and design manager, 2000–2014 GERI O’DONOHOE: Television producer. Arches box office assistant 1998–1999, box office manager 1999–2001 RICKY MAGOWAN: Promoter, Streetrave and Colours (active in The Arches 1995–2015) IAIN ‘BONEY’ CLARK: DJ, Streetrave and Colours (active in The Arches 1995–2015) JULIE McEWAN: Promoter, Streetrave and Colours (active in The Arches 1995–2015) DUNCAN REID: Founder of Breastfed Records, promoter of Inside Out and Freefall (active in The Arches 1995–2011) SIMON FOY: DJ and promoter, Inside Out and Freefall (active in The Arches 1995–2011) ANDY MACKENZIE: Arches staff 1999–2006 (bar staff, duty manager, front of house manager, operations manager) CARL COX: DJ/producer, Arches patron 2006–2015 JUDGE JULES: DJ/producer SARAH WELLS: General manager then executive director, 1996–2002 ANDREW O’HAGAN: Journalist and novelist WILLIAM DANIEL: DJ, Inside Out and Freefall (active in The Arches 2000–2015)

ROB WATSON: Technician, then technical manager, 1997–2015 TAMSIN AUSTIN: Music programmer, 1999–2003 BARRY ESSON: Arches refurbishment project assistant (1999–2000), then curator of Instal Festival (active in The Arches 2001–2009) LYNDA FORBES: Commercial and corporate events manager, 2000–2006 LJ FINDLAY-WALSH: Arts administrator then arts programmer, 2005–2015 NINA MILLER: Steward then joint head of security, 2000–2015 KIRSTIN INNES: Co-author ofBrickwork. Arches press and publicity manager, 2004–2006 NIC GREEN: Actor and theatre-maker JACQUI REID: Death Disco PR staff 2004–2011, arts intern 2006, co-promoter of Nightwalk 2010 JACKIE WYLIE: Fundraising officer 2004–2005, arts programmer 2005–2008, artistic director and co-chief executive officer 2008–2015 MARK ANDERSON: Executive director 2003–2015 MARK FISHER: Journalist KIERAN HURLEY: Playwright, Arches front of house staff 2006–2009 TIM CROUCH: Playwright, theatre director, actor ROBERT SOFTLEY-GALE: Artistic director, Birds of Paradise Theatre Company RICHARD GADD: Actor, writer, director KIRSTIN McLEAN: Actor, Arches Award for Stage Directors winner 2004 NESHLA CAPLAN: Actor, Arches box office assistant then manager, 2006–2009 GEORGE MACKENNEY: Front of house staff, duty manager, operations manager 2005–2015 BRIAN REYNOLDS: Music programme manager, 2008–2012 KIRSTIN BAILLIE: Front of house staff, 2009–2015 LYN GARDNER: Theatre critic LISA DUNIGAN: Steward, then joint head of security, 2003–2015 JOSEPH BLYTHE: Press officer, 2013–2014 NATALIE O’DONOGHUE: Writer, theatre critic, Arches events bar staff 2008–2015 NEIL BRATCHPIECE: Comedian, actor, writer, Arches events bar staff 2000–2007 MIRANDA RALSTON: Arches PR 2005, finance assistant 2005–2011 EDDIE CASSIDY: Comedian, Arches clubber RONA PROUDFOOT: Arches clubber LOUISE STEWART: Actor, writer, director, Arches box office and front of house staff, 2008–2015 CAT HEPBURN: Poet/writer, Arches box office and cafe bar staff, 2010–2015 ANGIE KOORBANALLY: Arches bar, front of house and box office staff, 2004–2009, founder of Nightwalk 2010 SCOTT McDONALD: Lighting and visuals freelancer (active in the Arches 1991–2015 IAN SMITH: Co-founder, Mischief La-Bas