Anything involving kids is extra-sensitive, of course, and several venues promptly stopped hosting 14-18 promotions. Hence the 14-18 market rubbing shoulders with ‘70s punk-rockers and early-noughties UK garage heads in that small but nefarious group of audiences who have been banned from British venues. Then again, persuading venues to stage under-18 events in the first place had been difficult enough, explains Artrocker Magazine’s Paul Cox:“Most venues are reliant on their bar take so are not interested in hosting all-ages gigs. So until recently I’ve not been able to promote them.” Cox now runs the aforementioned shows at the legendary Roundhouse Theatre, which has been more than happy to get involved as it’s a government-funded arts centre, and thus has a requirement to service a varied age of punter. It’s a good collaboration for all concerned.
Cox also helped promote the Underage Festival, although generally speaking there’s a difference of opinion between the all-ages and Underage ideologies, like rival rebel factions fighting the power with varying degrees of fundamentalism. Well, kind of. Cox admits that the strictly anti-adult Underage Club policy “is not a scene I will promote, because it excludes an older audience,” but can understand Kilcoyne’s position, given that “he himself is under-18, so it made sense.”
For Kilcoyne, who’s the son of experimental musician/DJ Barry 7, the unwanted interest in his events over the last few months has him keeping a low profile, media-wise. He’s considering giving it all up and handing the reigns to an even younger promoter in the near future. Writing in the UK’s Observer newspaper over the summer, he sounded thoroughly jaded already: “I’ve been suffering my first experiences with the industry and the people who pull the strings, and I can tell you, it’s frightening,” he said. “The more clued-up young music lovers that can breathe life into it, the better, as it’s currently full of aging suits without a clue and with misguided priorities.”
The music business may still be coming to grips with the under-18 scene, but the bands themselves seem to get it just fine. Bombarded with MySpace messages, the new wave of Klaxons and Hadoukens have an unprecedented insight into their audience demographic, and keep on doing it for the kids. If the concert halls don’t like it, they’ll find others.
“Many bands are only playing venues which will allow an all-ages audience,” says Cox, who reckons the all-ages market can exist “side by side” with the existing rock scene. “It’s valuable to give under-18s a taste of live music, to draw them into its particular virtues. The AA scene is helping to keep the ‘new band’ scene vibrant both because there’s a new extra audience for bands, and because there are a number of new bands who are very young starting up. With so many other interests and distractions for the teenage audience, I’m pleased to have them interested in live music because it means there’s a new generation of live music fans coming.”
Which is good for magazines, promoters and the music makers themselves. As New Cassettes’ Owen Reed explains, “generally we find that the older the audience, the quieter the gig,” and new bands need to feel loved. They’d probably play to pre-teens if they could.
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