The Old Bakery, Gigs and OBTV – A Sound Perspective

It’s very exciting to still be involved in Truro’s well supported venue The Old Bakery Studios.

Having been involved since the inception, subsequently helping with the interior acoustics and sound measurements, gigging at this stunningly arty, post industrial, grungy venue has been amazing. For those who don’t know (and that won’t be many!) It’s a ground floor, riotously hot and sweaty grass roots venue, where audiences rock out until bedtime. Not only used for music, but a multi functional space for comedy, theatre, talks and events as well. It has a capacity of approximately 250 people and is perfectly placed in a beautiful riverside location, yet central in Truro. Upstairs from the venue is home to many artists studio’s adding a wonderful network of creatives to the place.

The Old Bakery started really ramping up its efforts by 2018 with over 7 gigs in November alone, gathering bigger and more well known artists along the way. Considering it’s fantastic local support and footfall, the venue has been able to make itself an interesting and lucrative proposal for touring bands, putting Truro firmly on the touring map again. Many positive experiences and high praise have been received from bands playing at the venue and the word has soon spread amongst both local and touring artists alike. One of the pleasures of working at the OB is being able to meet and network with many professional touring musician friends from around the UK.

The programming at the Old Bakery has been fantastic with something for everyone, whether you’re into rock, blues, bluegrass, reggae, or folk, pretty much everything is catered for. Some of our great gigs have been around the Independent Venue Week, with local bands The Velvet Hands and the Rezner, really rousing the rabble! When it goes off there, it goes off! Bigger names like Finley Quaye, Mad Dog Mcrea, BackBeat Sound System and King Creature have also graced the stage. In fact, the Old Bakery has provided a run of quality music throughout the gigging calendar, offering Truro, if not Cornwall a top new ‘place to be seen’ venue. It’s going from strength to strength, even when the massive downer Covid-19 has hit us!

It was all going so well until….lockdown….A respectable list of bands were booked to play, having to be cancelled and rescheduled again for a later date. Though like all who have been surviving to still make music during the pandemic, the Old Bakery has continued to stay active and forward thinking. Currently the venue is holding cabaret style, socially distanced, low numbers gigs with front men from bigger bands doing solo intimate shows to a smaller audience. I must say that with just 50 people in the audience they still feel safe, with the tremendous joy and experience of a live gig. I’ve even had the opportunity to record sessions in the venue during lockdown for two separate artists, Kerensa Dulcimer (solo album) and The Velvet Hands, with the first having its release just before Xmas ‘20 and the latter making it onto BBC Radio shortly after its completion.

With things looking bleak, winter looming in Cornwall, yet another great opportunity has arisen at the Old Bakery, in the way of Old Bakery Television (OBTV). Through the help of the Arts Council, England a cool project has meant gainful employment for many of the freelancers supporting the venue. Starting in November ‘20 and continuing into March ‘21 we have the prospect of OBTV, a music, chat and review show going out bi-weekly on the venue’s Facebook and YouTube pages. Skilled camera work, audio, lighting and the aforementioned great programming has put this show together succinctly. Having released 2 shows to date, with another 10 or so shows to follow, OBTV can bring the best of Cornish talent to the home viewer, supporting those who are crying out for live music!

The Old Bakery continues to be a rock in these unsteady times and looks likely to still be around to keep the live music flowing when we can all gather safely again. The biggest thing I look forward to is pushing up those faders on a rowdy live gig, with a sweaty audience, spilt beer, spilt dreams and crowd surfing, now does that sound like the promise of a future? See you at that gig!

Brendan McGreal

Sound Engineer
31/12/20