Show Must Go On: Lights Out By Nine turn to archives to keep band's name alive

Blow the dust off the faded poster outside Stramash in Edinburgh’s Cowgate and you can just about make out the name of Lights Out By Nine among the gigs scheduled for March.

The billboard is still there, but the dozen or so gigs listed never took place. Lockdown stopped the bands playing.

Five months on, Stramash, and all live music venues, remain closed as the industry fights for survival.

It could be March 2021 before the doors open, and gigs become the norm once more.

And, until then, musicians, promoters, tech teams, venue staff and road crew are left in limbo, and staring at worryingly empty diaries. The scale of the loss, if things don’t re-start soon, could be immense.

Lights Out By Nine have written off a huge chunk of their 2020 schedule.

“Our normal schedule, and our ability to play anywhere or anything, has been decimated,” said Dougie Hunter, bass player, and original member of the band which has been together for 30 years.

The band has lost gigs at the Voodoo Rooms, just off Princes Street, and the city’s famous Jazz Bar as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as well as dates planned for the Kings Live Lounge in Kirkcaldy.

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Their schedule still has a trip to Callander’s Jazz and Blues Festival pencilled in for October, and a sold out gig with Dr Feelgood at King Tut’s in Glasgow - but nothing is being taken for granted.

“A packed King Tut’s has 350 people packed in,” said Dougie. “With with social distancing of one metre you are looking at telling about one third of ticket holders not to show up. I’ve no idea how you do that …”

The prospect of socially distanced live gigs - with restricted numbers in the audience all spaced out - is also one which doesn’t appeal to many musicians.

“It’d be like going to a gig you were expecting it to be sold out and then only one third turning up,” said Dougie. “It feels dreadful.

“It also impacts on finances. If you can only have that number in the building, how do you cover production costs?

“Some bands won’t come back from this, but we fully intend to and will be playing again just as soon as we can.

“We have to keep the impetus going. We’re an eight piece band which makes meeting up very difficult right now. Studios aren’t open and we can’t hire a hall.”

The band turned to online and stepped into their own rich archives to keep their music, and name, alive - and it went down a treat with music fans.

Thousands have watched video clips from the past, browsed the band’s past gigs and read the back story of a band which has performed across the globe and shareds a stage with countless big names in the business.

The archives held by band member Alan Kyle gave them the impetus to go back to the very beginning and celebrate their own story.Around ten years worth are online … and there’s still another 23 to be archived!

Dougie explained: “It has been hugely enjoyable going back to how it all started. It’s the story of everyone who has been involved with the band, and it keeps our name alive, and people interested.

“It has kept something alive and active for the band, when otherwise this could have been, literally, dead time. This has been particularly cathartic and surprisingly enjoyable, as it is too easy to dismiss the past, particularly over a longer period of time, and it is only when you go back and delve into it again that you realise all the great experiences you were lucky enough to have had, and how that felt at the time!”

That also co-incided with Dougie working on another project with K107, Kirkcaldy’s community radio station which looks back on a life in music.

“From Ozzie to Onnie” takes its title from meetings with two legends - Ozzy Osbourne who played the YM in Kirkcaldy decades ago, and Onnie McIntyre from the Average White Band which has had a long association with LOBN.

A pilot has been recorded, and it could spark a series of shows packed with anecdotes and insights into the world of music - one that goes from the days when Kirkcaldy hosted the biggest touring bands of the days to hanging out with UB40 and Nazareth, playing major festivals galore and working with a host of great names.

Said Dougie: “It’s like nothing I’ve ever done before. The pilot runs for an hour and is just about ready to roll.”

Dougie has also returned to songwriting during lockdown, penning five tracks, and two of them have been demoed by long-time friend, acclaimed singer-songwriter Martin Stephenson.

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All of that has helped to keep the creative flame burning.

But it’s a long road back for the live music industry, and Dougie fears not everyone will make it through to March 2021 - the date most promoters and bands are looking towards as return to gigging.

“The general feeling is bands are writing this year off, and starting again in the hope things are okay by March,” said Dougie.

“The people I feel for most are the crews. They live for the road and depend on tours for an income. That is their way of life, so this is having a huge effect on them.

“For the first time in their lives, these guys will be off the road with nothing coming up.”

https://www.facebook.com/lightsoutbynine

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