Railway memories
When I arrived in Winchester in 1976, there were few places that presented live music. At the bottom of town was the Cricketers, now a Japanese restaurant, and what is now the rather smart Bishop on the Bridge was then a down-at-heel pub called the Riverside. Not far away was the Art School Union, a real den of iniquity and a genuinely dangerous place to hang out, although they did put on some great music including the Soft Boys (which I promoted), the Blue Aeroplanes and even Throbbing Gristle. My wife and I got to work quite quickly putting on punk gigs upstairs at the Riverside, which was quite challenging because it also functioned as a hotel at the time and the clients’ bathroom doubled as the band dressing room. We had to cope with an awful lot of pogoing, scuffling and gobbing and although we had some good gigs, we didn’t pursue it.
At the other end of town we knew that The Railway was the home of folk music, which took place in the upstairs room, as well as some blues. Round about 1980 I was quite heavily involved in the Southampton music scene, which boasted some very high quality bands who played original music and attained Peel sessions etc. It seemed wrong to me that they weren’t getting the opportunity to play in Winchester, so one day I popped in to the Railway to inquire about hiring the skittle alley at the back. This is now the Railway’s main music room, but back then it had pillars all over the place and no stage. Nonetheless, we decided to put on some new wave shows featuring the best of the local bands. These included the Skavengers, Games To Avoid, The Press and a fantastic band from Gosport called The Time. I can’t remember whether we actually paid to hire the place or whether the landlord let us have it in return for us bringing in punters to buy his beer. I can’t even remember the landlord’s name but he didn’t show any interest in music. Still, it was clear that the sticky, sweaty little back room was blessed with perfect acoustics and just the right ambience for rock and roll, even though the bands were playing in front of the darts board on a carpet. We had to hire in a PA of course, and clear away the skittle alley paraphernalia before allowing the engineers to build the creaky old sound system.
I don’t think the audiences were very substantial but I was teaching at the time in the city and persuaded quite a number of my pupils and their friends to come along, although they were almost certainly under age. We felt that the shows went pretty well, but before long our family expanded and we temporarily stopped putting on shows. During this period a guy called Duncan, who ran a record shop in Stockbridge Road, started promoting regular gigs at the Railway and I think the seeds of the venue as we know it today were probably sown during that period. I can remember quite a few experiences there, including a dreadful brawl during a performance by a band called the Whisky Priests and, less frighteningly, experienced our first band from over the Atlantic who were called Spirit Of The West. I think that probably put the idea in my mind to start bringing American and Canadian bands to the Railway when we started SXSC, possibly because the Railway has the vibe of a classic US dive bar.
It wasn’t until 1987 that I personally became involved again in the activities of the Railway. I wanted to promote some friends from Dorset who were a band called Automatic Dlamini, so we put them on at the Railway on December 14 and it went so well that we got them back again on 24 March 1988. By that time they had been joined by Polly Harvey, leading to the myth that P.J Harvey has played at the Railway. Polly herself indeed was in that band, but the actual PJ Harvey Band under her name has sadly never played at the Railway.
Over following years my visits to the Railway became more frequent, checking out local artists such as Chris T-T and Black Blue Fish Very Beautiful. This was the beginning of what became known as the “Fred years”, when the Railway was run by the affable but mildly chaotic Fred Eynon and his wife Lynn, who also ran a smelly and yowly cattery from what is now the pub garden. The Railway as we know it now came into being during that period, with the removal of the pillars, the installation of a stage and a house PA and lights and a very productive concentration on multi-band bills of local college musicians, very much in the tradition of what we now know as grassroots music, nurturing future stars. My own involvement as a promoter during this phase came about because our daughter Annabel was in what might loosely be called a “girl band” called The Sense. As they and their indie backing band Vacant were all attending Peter Symonds College, their Railway shows were invariably packed and intense affairs that gave me the bug. Seeing Peter Bruntnell perform at the Tower Arts Centre gave me and Richard Williams the incentive to start promoting Americana gigs at the Railway because it was such an ideal venue. The rest is history really, because I’m still doing it now.
Fred was succeeded by another manager called Ben Ward who had engineered at the venue before moving to the Tower and then eventually returning to take over the reins at the Railway, where he spent a number of years before becoming director of Winchester Science Centre, a post that he holds to this day. The Railway seemed to be doomed to closure at that stage but was rescued by Dan Lloyd and his partner Lucy Knight, who are still running it today.
What I’d like to do now is have a self-indulgent reminiscing session about some of the tales that have accumulated during my numerous visits to my favourite small venue.
June 13, 2002, Stag
This was one of the earliest bands of future star Andy Burrows, who only lived a couple of hundred metres up the road. In true showbiz tradition, it was a showcase to present the band to some influential London business people, so somehow I blagged The Sense on as support. Sadly, the industry bods turned up after they’d finished and also failed to sign Stag. But this was a story that would be continued.
October 16, 2002, The Soft Boys
Becoming increasingly bold in promotion terms, I risked a lot of money by booking the Soft Boys for a reunion show. The place was packed to a dangerous extent and of course Robyn Hitchcock disappeared into town and got lost, meaning that by the time he eventually located the venue, the crowd had become extremely restless and we had to do some quite brave policing to keep things calm.
October 30, 2002, Nizlopi
This was exciting because it was probably the first time what you might call a famous band turned up at the Railway. They had some kind of local connection and eventually had a huge hit with a song about a JCB before disappearing again.
June 24, 2003, Sarah Sharp
This was the gig that gave us the confidence to start booking more and more American artists. Sarah Sharp came from Austin, Texas and the support was The Sense with Rachael Dadd and Kate Stables. Both the latter maintained strong relationships with the venue and went on to much bigger things.
21 April, 2004, Wreckless Eric
Probably the most shameful thing I’ve done in my life. I went to see Wreckless Eric at the Railway on the day of my mother’s funeral. I justified it by saying to myself “It’s what she would have wanted”, but she most definitely wouldn’t have wanted it. The worst thing about it was a load of drunks who talked all the way through Eric’s set. Eric was not impressed and the atmosphere was less than convivial.
September 16, 2004, Richmond Fontaine
By some strange serendipity we were able to book the legendary Richmond Fontaine from Portland, Oregon and it was covered enthusiastically by Uncut magazine. All of a sudden, the Winchester Americana shows had taken off and we were in the position to book more prominent acts such as Laura Veirs, The Deadstring Brothers and eventually, years later, big names such as the Felice Brothers, the Delines and Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express.
December 8, 2005, Razorlight
In my diary I wrote “Imagine how exciting this was. Now quadruple it. You’re still not there”. The Railway at its absolute best with a rammed crowd exploding with goodwill.
December 19, 2006, Mark Eitzel
The mercurial Eitzel had specified that he didn’t do encores, so at the end of his set we put on the house lights and the background music. He marched off the stage, out through the front door of the Railway and disappeared into town, not to be seen until hours later. The following day I got a message from his management complaining that he was furious because he hadn’t been allowed to do an encore.
April 2, 2008, Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express
This took the prize for the fullest I’ve ever seen the Railway. The capacity in the back room is officially 100 but I inadvertently sold 150 tickets. Literally every audience member was glued to their neighbour as sweat poured down the walls and the evening was marked by a complete maniac in the front row who had to be ejected by security. Other similarly overfilled shows included some ska events. I remember particularly Neville Staple, The Beat and The Selecter, where the entire venue appeared to be bouncing up and down. On the topic of security, the Railer has had the happy knack of always having friendly and highly professional security people, as well as very confident and friendly bar staff, often impressively youthful. I won’t name any specific names because they have all been excellent and know who they are. The same goes for the succession of faithful and talented sound engineers who have consistently maintained the high quality sound that the semi-underground venue is famed for. And by the way, nowadays the capacity limits are strictly adhered to.
May 1, 2008, Jesse Sykes
This was a notable evening for a couple of reasons. First Jesse and her musical partner Phil Wandscher had a massive barney during sound check which led to a superbly tense and exciting performance. Possibly more notable was the fact that the support act J Tillman, now better known as Father John Misty, was completely off his face on some kind of substances and on the way back to Twyford, where he was spending the night, was shouting and swearing and abusing everyone around him before crashing around the house knocking over ornaments and being a general ass. I’m sure he’s a delightful person but I was pissed off at the time.
August 1, 2008, Ian McLagan and the Bump Band
One of the biggest stars ever to grace the stage of the Railway was Ian McLagan of the Small Faces, backed by a crack band of Texan musos. People spotting the diminutive musician in the area were gobsmacked to see such a superstar, who played with the Stones and Dylan among many others, attempting, with his road crew, to manoeuvre his enormous Hammond organ through the side door of the Railway. Eventually the door had to come off his hinges in order to get it through.
November 3, 2010, Chesney Hawkes
Chesney visits occasionally and invariably the venue is suddenly populated by swooning middle-aged ladies. Chesney became a Railway fan and like Mark Morriss of the Bluetones, returns regularly. Others in this category include James Walsh of Starsailor and Ben Ottewell of Gomez. The audiences of non-regulars that come to these shows are always impressed to find that the Railway is not the rough corner pub that it may appear to be from the outside. The main venue can be fully seated with comfortable chairs and air conditioning. One wonders what stars like Chesney make of the fact that they have no backstage loos? As a male punter, you often find yourself peeing next to a star, discussing whether anyone has ever actually bought a vibrator from the Stix machine.
July 26, 2011, Ed Sheeran
Sheeran was number three in the charts at the time and it was a serendipitous booking because it was shortly before his career went stratospheric. He rather sweetly upended a beer crate and played acoustically in the middle of the room, but the excitable young audience was annoyingly chatty and the momentous occasion wasn’t actually as brilliant as it could have been. That year also saw Ghostpoet, who had just been nominated for the Mercury Prize.
October 18, 2012, The Deep Dark Woods
This was a show that I had arranged on the understanding that it was a quiet acoustic band, so they had been booked to play in the upstairs room. For years and years there had been problems with the neighbours complaining about noise, so there are strict rules about drums and amplifiers in that room. Imagine my horror when the band turned up in a van with full amplification gear including a vast Hammond organ and large drum kit. They set it all up, leaving little room for an audience and very professionally played at extremely low volume, causing no issues with the neighbours.
February 18, 2012, Malcolm Holcombe
One of the most memorable Railway shows ever, for a bizarre reason. Malcolm Holcombe was a very endearing but extremely eccentric American musician who had a frightening habit of rocking to and fro on his chair, looking as if he was going to tumble offstage at any moment. He also had an unusual sartorial style, dressing pretty much as a hobo. On this occasion, a lady noticed that he was for some reason looking into the dustbins in the car park and came into the pub to report a down-and-out misbehaving. She then proceeded into the room and was astonished to find that Malcolm was the featured artist. This story gave me the germ of an idea that was eventually to develop into my crime novel Zander, which was set almost entirely in the Railway, although I gave it a different name in order to be discreet.
July 11, 2013, Andy Fraser
The bassist from Free performed with an all-star band including Jack Bruce’s son Malcolm and Chris Spedding. Andy had become quite eccentric in his latter years and most of the audience were disappointed that he only featured a couple of Free numbers, leaving the bulk of the show in the hands of his young protégé Tobi. Other such veterans included Terry Reid, who performed twice, and, most memorably, Ginger Baker, who insisted on smoking throughout his set despite the strict ban. After consuming his cheese and pickle sandwiches upstairs, Ginger came on stage, not realising that his band was still in a nearby restaurant having dinner. It did feel incredible to think that such a legend was playing our humble local venue.
Some of my favourite memories have been double shows from US artists who prefer to come to the Railway and do two shows in one day rather than play a bigger venue elsewhere. Those who have done that have been Richmond Fontaine, The Delines, Laura Veirs, Chuck Prophet and the Felice Brothers. Canadian act The Barr Brothers had so much equipment that the stage was barely visible beneath the acres of effects pedals and a huge full-size concert harp that had to be manoeuvred through the side door.
If this article has been a bit Americana-heavy, it’s because I’ve promoted most of the shows mentioned myself. Therefore it’s always a relief when attending other people’s shows. I missed the legendary Dua Lipa performance but loved joining in the general mobbing of Anais Mitchell and Imelda May during their shows at the Railway. Plus, of course, like anyone else, I can just pop in for a pint and a pizza, because, apart from all its other lovable characteristics, it’s a proper boozer.
