A venue profile in West Lothian

A lot has been said about the offering of venues in West Lothian – both back in the day and now. The Dreadnought has always been there, in fact, the bar is heading for its 50th year in Bathgate, while the Midnight Breakfast Club and Purple Orange are carving a name for themselves as tremendous breakthrough venues.

Few towns of similar size can boast the same infrastructure, and with pubs in Bathgate also offering regular live music, the town is not only catering to those in search of gig, but they are feeding the scene in general.

Alan Russell, operations manager for DreadnoughtRocks, has lived through the emergence of the scene over the last ten years or so and looks on with a huge slice of pride.

Born and bred in West Lothian, he has been blown away by the talent that has come through and hopes to continue his efforts to develop bands further.

He tells The Weekender: "There have always been bands coming through in the area but certainly in the last few years it has grown ten-fold. In the past, we have the likes of Goodbye Mr McKenzie, etc., but now we have Mark Sharp, Luke La Volpe all coming along now.

"It has exploded over the last ten years, but the potential has always been there. We see it every week, so many good bands just looking for that wee step up that can take them all the way.

"Obviously, Lewis got a break but he didn't forget those he came up with and Mark and Luke were both there playing with him at Princes Street Gardens, etc.

"West Lothian always has that community feel and we want to be a part of that. We want to give folks the platform to play and we always ask them when they come in here if they have any bands they want to bring with them.

"The same goes for when bands from other parts of the UK come in and don't bring a support. We know we have a huge talent pool here and we can suggest bands from just about any genre to come and play."

DreadnoughtRocks in Bathgate

DreadnoughtRocks is the biggest venue Bathgate and can accommodate a couple hundred for each gig. The venue is currently undergoing some improvements, something of a constant theme over the last decade. Alan and co and hoping to attract bigger and bigger acts to the area going forward.

"We've always had gigs," he says. "In the past it was a little more few and far between, but over the last decade or so we have had a vision of having constant live music every weekend. We've invested heavily and, more recently, we have moved the ladies bathrooms away from the stage area.

"It's been an evolution, but the way we have gone about the whole thing has helped us to attract some really good bands – really big names, and international artists. We had Marco Mendoza playing here on one day before jetting off to the States the next day to join up with Journey.

"Still pinching myself over that. It can be hard to take in sometimes that guys of that stature want to come in a play here."

He continues: "We want to give everyone the chance to play. Performing on a stage is the only way for bands to perfect their craft. And there's no better place to do that than in your hometown.

"If venues were to take the view that everything has to be about money in the till – something that will stifle the progression of bands – then they'll go nowhere. I would rather have 50 people having a ball than 400 people in a room wishing they hadn't bothered. Those 50 will go tell their friends how good that gig was and they'll come back here for me and go see that band again.

"We know that, as a business, we can't have gigs with 30 people all the time. We do have to balance it out. There are those nights where we are kickstarting a band – we take the pain – but we look further down the line at these bands coming back to repay that support when they are big."

Round the corner from the Dreadnought is Purple Orange – an intimate venue established inside the AMP Music store on Union Road.

Purple Orange

Mike Mathieson, who runs the arts venue with Scott Horsburgh, is a Bathgate native and the cause of developing more artists in the area is one dear to his heart.

He says: "Bathgate and the surrounding areas have always had loads of artists who were writing their songs but couldn't get gigs.

"We opened in 2013 and back then we had the likes of Luke La Volpe performing, or bands like The Fire and I. All local artists. We just wanted to give people a platform – a lot of artists we have in here are playing their very first gig.

"It's amazing what you could discover. Lewis Capaldi was a regular; was in here in 2015 and we've got footage of him performing here. All the songs you've heard of his on the radio – #1 songs – well, he was here playing them live five years ago."

Another relative newcomer to the West Lothian live music scene is Midnight Breakfast Club, situated on Gardners Lane.

Midnight Breakfast Club

Speaking on behalf of the venue, Martin Boyle adds: "There is about ten of us that took it over from the previous owners and the live music is a big part of what we do here.

"This is our second year and we've had a few decent bands in already. They've said they're all coming back as well so it is working out for us. Mucky Scoundrel were in recently and they were really good, along with Petty Cassettes and Megan Black.

"Cutchy Cash is booked again as well, so that'll be another cracking night. Static Satellites are on in a couple of weeks as well with a couple of support bands, including The Volts."