Now that’s what I call house music

It’s an interesting proposition: market a new music venue whilst keeping it’s exact whereabouts a secret. For the past few months I’ve been working with Douglas Robertson, photographer of this parish, who opens his house up almost every week to local and travelling musicians.

In that time we’ve entertained (amongst others)Truckstop Honeymoon, a couple of blue grass punk rockers from Kansas with their four kids and nanny in tow, Kan, a dazzling Celtic supergroup (pictured above), The Bevvy Sisters, a trio of vocal delights that defy categorisation, Walter Strauss, a fingerpicking guitar virtuoso from California, and Brigid Kaelin, a multi-instrumentalist from Kentucky.

Douglas first started hosting the house concerts four years ago. His house is a converted co-op shop that doubles as a photographic studio and has long standing connections with local musicians. Before it was converted into a dwelling space the basement was a popular, if vertically challenged, rehearsal space for bands such as Salsa Celtica, Shooglenifty and The Felsons.

The idea for letting bands perform in the upstairs space came together when Dean Owens of The Felsons asked if he could play an informal solo gig one Friday night. Though the space is large, it really feels as though the musicians are playing in someone’s front room. The crowd, which can number anything up to 60, make a donation (usually £10 each) to the artists and bring their own liquid refreshment. It’s a reasonably priced night out for the punters, and a nice little earner for the musicians who go home with all the takings.

After Dean’s gig, other local musicians started to ask if they could play and it became an almost monthly fixture, but in the past year the house’s popularity has snowballed with musicians from overseas picking up the phone and asking if they can book it for a properly scheduled stop on a UK tour. Now it is not unusual to be hosting gigs every week. The mailing list has expanded as happy music lovers leave their details with us after a gig or press their business cards into our hands, and we are taking delivery of CDs from hopeful artists almost every day.

So given that the demand for gigs from musicians and music lovers alike is growing organically, why the need to market? The fact is that having concerts in your home every week is not a sustainable way to run a venue. The patience of the neighbours, we suspect, may be wearing thin, and with all this amazing music on offer we feel that the time is right to start investigating options for a permanent venue  in Edinburgh with the same welcoming vibe for artists and audience alike.

We’ll keep you posted on developments in that direction. In the meantime, if you are interested in great live music in a venue with a vibrant but homely atmosphere, where you can meet and interact with the musicians, drop me a line to intouch@geordiemac.co.uk, I’ll add you to the mailing list and let you in on Edinburgh’s best kept musical secret.

Follow the house concerts at twitter.com/houseconcerts42