We Love A Common Goal

#WELOVEACOMMONGOAL #SAVEOURVENUES #SAVEOURVENUESNZ

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Common Room & The Sitting Room Sessions share the same goals; to bring people together, to create the best possible environment to experience live music in, and to nurture and uplift our visiting and local musicians.

Gerard Barron & Jamie Macphail are mates. They recognised that they were kindred spirits on the day they met. They are regular attendees at each other’s venues, and there has never been any sense of rivalry between them. They have shared many an evening dreaming of all the ways to invigorate the local live music scene.

Common Room opened in Hastings in 2014, and since then have hosted about 150 live gigs a year, untold quizzes, birthdays, charity events, private functions, pop-up restaurants, fringe festival events and crazy avant garde happenings.

It’s seen three sell out night’s in a row with Tiki Taane, Albi & his Wolves now have a seriously dedicated Hawke's Bay following, the big bold brass of The Richter City Rebels pack the Bar out, we're famous for pulsing Dj nights, Adam MacGrath lifting the roof in his inimitable revivalist style and thoughtful folk singers holding audiences spellbound.

At heart it’s a neighbourhood bar, a gathering place, a meeting point, a refuge. It was the instigator of a revitalisation of a whole block of Hastings that now has a bohemian, creative pulse in the centre of Hastings.

The Sitting Room Sessions began in 2013 quite literally in the sitting room of an old rented villa on Napier Hill. Since then it has morphed and grown and shapeshifted through a variety of garages, rooms, shops and halls from Wairoa to the coast of Central Hawke’s Bay.

Essentially it’s a listening room, a space that brings musicians and audiences together in an environment that is all about mutual respect and recognition. A silent audience, no distractions. Some artists respond by talking as much as singing, others play songs that they wouldn’t normally perform to an audience. Often tears well up.

Among the more than 130 artists that have performed a Session are Tiny Ruins, Delaney Davidson, Julia Deans, Mary Coughlan, Marlon Williams, Steve Gunn, Nadia Reid, C.W.Stoneking, Bernie Griffin, Fane Flaws, Eb & Sparrow, Tami Neilson & Reb Fountain.

The Rahui has allowed us time to evaluate what we do, what we love, and what future directions we might head in.

Musicians will be eager to play, and folk will be eager to gather and listen. Many of us will have less to spend. With this in mind we see the primary purpose of this campaign being to provide a fund to meet the shortfall between what artists need to earn and what smaller, less financially stable audiences are able to contribute to seeing and hearing them.

Some funds will simply assist with covering fixed costs during closure, and some toward forging into new, unexplored directions.

We appreciate that our goal is high, and this will be met if you feel comfortable about contributing as little as the price of a drink, or as much as you might pay for a Platinum seat for a major rock concert!

Asking for help is never easy, but assisting us to be able to bring you together in an environment that you cherish benefits us all.

We are so full of admiration for the team of tireless individuals that have created the #saveourvenues initiative, not only has it been of massive and timely financial support, it has also created a unity amongst the venues across the country.

With love, encouragement and pride we nominate The Mussel Inn & Roots Bar to be next in line. Two venues run by such passionate people, show your love!

Run by a dedicated committee of music lovers - including Reb Fountain, Matthew Crawley (Golden Dawn / Strange News), Lucy Macrae & Tom Anderson (Whammy Bar), Rohan Evans (The Wine Cellar) and Reuben Bonner (Banished Music) - the #SAVEOURVENUES team seek to unite in support of Aotearoa's live music venues and music scene. #SAVEOURVENUES aim is to help generate support for crucial, original, small live music venues right across New Zealand, in cities and towns. And they are calling on everyone to help to raise awareness and funds, and trigger a national response strategy in support of a thriving musical culture in New Zealand.