KT Tunstall backs MVT appeal: 'Without grassroots venues, there are no stars'

KT Tunstall has played one gig at a time – she would post up anywhere with a stage and door for the public. She's performed before 65,000 people, completed world tours, and rocked just about every major festival. But she is astutely aware that her success is a product of her apprenticeship.

Right now, dozens of venues across the UK are at risk of permanent closure. The pandemic lockdown saw the doors shut with some support for business in place. But the funding pot is barren, and the arts sector as a whole is on the verge of total devastation.

"If you don't have grassroots venues, then you don't have big acts – it's totally as simple as that," Tunstall tells The Weekender.

"Every single great artist in the UK who plays big stages has come through the grassroots network and can name three or four very, very dear small venues who they have played multiple times, that helped them out and supported them when they needed it."

The singer-songwriter is one the key voices backing Music Venue Trust efforts to safeguard the future of grassroots music venues. As part of the Passport: Back to our Roots campaign, Tunstall will play PJ Molloy's in Dunfermline in a unique one-off concert.

A date has not yet been scheduled for the gig as the music industry awaits confirmation of exactly when they might be allowed again. The Covid-19 pandemic has ravaged the sector, with venues such as Clarks on Lindsay Street in Dundee already having to close its doors for good.

Many others are under threat, though the likes of Tunstall – as well as Pet Shop Boys, Passenger and Russell Watson – have pledged to support iconic local venues with a money-spinning concert. The show will be unusual in that tickets are won through a raffle, with each entrant putting up £5 for the chance to win. But it will bring some of the UK's biggest acts back to the kinds of venues they started. While she is delighted to lend her support, the Dunfermline concert comes with an added benefit for Tunstall.

"I haven't played PJs before," the singer beams. "That was part of the reason I chose it. Obviously, it's Fife, so it could easily have been somewhere I had played coming up. But I really wanted to pick somewhere that I hadn't played before.

"And it's a great idea to do the raffle. Everyone puts £5 in and so it's not too much to part with at the moment, and it's really nice to know you gave a bit of money to something meaningful, even if you don't get the ticket. The fact you've put that money in means that venue might be able to stay open for a bit."

Tunstall speaks at length about the importance of grassroots venues and the place they have in her own heart. Her journey echoes that of every other star who has risen to the same heady heights.

She is clear: there is no Hydro without the Dreadnought in Bathgate; no Barrowlands without the Bungalow in Paisley; and no Usher Hall without PJs.

Tunstall adds: "For anyone starting a band, they will be looking at The Barrowlands and Brixton Academy and hoping to play there one day. But how are you going to get there? You will play your local venues first and get really good playing to an audience.

"Every single artist who gets to that big stage has come through that ecosystem of experience, unless you are in one of those really fabricated, manufactured boy bands or a Simon Cowell act or whatever.

"As someone who plays both-sized shows, I'd never want to choose. The intimacy of playing small venue and connecting so viscerally with everyone in the room and being able to have conversations with people in the crowd is just great. You can't do that at a big venue.

"Small venues are where you feel it in your nerve-endings. It's special because you are only having that experience with a small number of people. When you know you are only one of about 200 people in a small venue seeing an absolutely blinding band, it just feels so special. You feel like you are part of a private club."

Even before the coronavirus, managing a grassroots music venue would hardly be considered a day at the beach. Rising costs and eager developers looking to make a fortune from the building's ashes are just a few of the pitfalls to navigate.

Tunstall has been engaging with owners in her capacity as ambassador for Music Venue Trust – and the singer is full of admiration for the thankless task they carry out on a daily basis. They are a crucial cog in the multi-bullion music industry machine, which is at risk of falling into disrepair.

"One thing a lot of people won't know is that for these venue owners, it is a total labour of love," the singer adds. "No one opens a small venue to make money. It is an absolute nightmare, 24-hour-a-day job. Not only is it hard work keeping it running, but they are constantly battling against rising business rates to ridiculous degrees – the wolf is at the door all the time.

"Developers are always trying to buy the building and turn it into flats. Venues usually have a great location and have been around for a while.

"They also don't have the cash to do it up or anything, but then that's part of why they are great – they have character. People like going to gigs and having their feet stick to the floor because of the beer from last night. That's part of the experience of seeing a rock band; I don't want to go see a rock band and be in some spotlessly clean room that smells nice."

Tunstall's love affair with grassroots venues is deep and colourful. She earned her stripes playing all over the country – Perth, Fife, Edinburgh among the places that come to mind. It is a career that goes back three decades, but it wasn't always fireworks and VIP passes.

If asked to talk about the biggest shows and the most fantastic venues, Tunstall can regale her audience with a tale to suit. But her voice sparkles with a genuine passion when she reflects on those early concerts in dark and cramped halls from back in the day.

The singer recalls: "My first ever gig was The Vic in St Andrews, which is, amazingly still The Vic. I was 16 and they let me do a 6pm gig in the backroom so that I didn't get into trouble.

"In fact, that was the gig that King Creosote [Kenny Anderson] came to because he fancied one of my friends. I ended up joining one of his bands, which at the time was called the Skuobhie Dubh Orchestra.

"One of the other venues I really remember was the Twa Tams in Perth – and we used to play that pretty regularly with Kenny's band and I remember going back and playing it on my own Highlands and Islands tour.

"We had this really funny sound engineer, Parker. And were playing Twa Tams and there was this girl in the back with this stookie on her leg and a pair of crutches but ended up on Parker's shoulders during the gig! – With a broken leg! I just remember thinking: 'I don't know what's happening, but I love it'.

"But another place we played a lot was Bannerman's in Edinburgh. It was actually a frustrating time in Edinburgh. I lived there for a year in 1999 but it was all about indie boy bands and no one was interested in putting me on. But I did do regular spots at Bannerman's."

Perhaps one reason that Tunstall has such an affinity for the work local venues do to create safe and regular spaces for acts to perform is that she dabbled in such enterprise herself.

She continued: "I actually then started my own music night in Edinburgh and called it the Acoustic Extravaganza. I had gone into the Gilded Balloon bar on the Cowgate and there were these two Kiwi girls running this bar with a glass-fronted room. It was New Year's Eve and I was absolutely hammered and asked them if they did live music. They said no and I asked if I could put one on.

"I ended up putting on a bi-monthly music night in that bar. It was free to get in, but, the ticket price was that you couldn't speak during performances. It was an idea I had from a friend of mine Tony Moore, who used to run nights at the Cashmere Club in London.

"It was so great. It meant that I had a regular gig, but I could get some more friends in there to play and people really listened. The bar made money; everyone knew they weren't going to get paid, but they could sell their CDs and, most importantly, you had an audience that was going to listen to your music."

The lockdown of indoor live music events has been devastating for the scene and for the venues themselves. All over the world, independent owners are finding it harder to keep the doors open. With no formal and steady financial lifeline, there is a real possibility that many will not be around when gigs return. The result may well be a lost generation of talent.

Tunstall laments: "You are talking about more than 200,000 people in the UK who are employed by the music industry. Most of them are freelance so are not eligible for some of these benefits the government are claiming to be giving out to people.

"And it's devastating – you can never learn to do anything in live music better than being on the job.

"Tour managers, production managers, venue managers – this is all really highly-skilled, hard-earned work. And with no support for those people, they have just had to get other jobs. So, even if venues actually, miraculously manage to stay open then there is a good chance there is not going to be anyone working there anymore."

She adds: "The small venue community are proud of what they have achieved. They are not a group of people looking for a handout. They never made a big stink about not getting funding.

"I remember being involved in a Sky interview about the Arts Council funding for the UK and the vast majority of it was going to classical music and so little going to any assistance for the small venue sector. It's just so frustrating.

"These venues would not reach out and ask for help if it wasn't an emergency and I for one will definitely continue to campaign for the arts council of the UK, Scotland and England to change their stance on the importance of these venues, because they are training grounds and community centres."

An important point to note is that grassroots venues are not solely for music development; indeed, these places have long-been a focal point for their local areas.

Tunstall adds: "These venues are not just places that put on bands – they nurture the talent that brings in over £5billion into the economy every year. They are for the community as well – it's not just about the next big artist. There are people who will play these places once a month and that's what they do. There are choirs and theatre groups and kids' clubs – there are tons of stuff going on with these buildings.

"Also, these places are really important community hubs for young people – both in urban and rural areas. What do you think young people are going to do if they don't have somewhere exciting to go and spend their time? It's not good for anyone to not have these places where kids can go to express themselves, to have great nights out, to be creative and expressive and to just let their hair down."

Final decisions on funding for grassroots music venues in England, Scotland and Wales will be announced by October 16, with the government's much-touted £ 1.57bn Cultural Recovery being distributed in some form this week. Concerns have been raised that venues will not get the funding they need.

Scotland's vibrant grassroots venues have given the country a wonderful source of pride over the last few decades – the prospect of losing them is immediate and likely. Tunstall is among those determined to prevent that but public support may well be needed, if the government fails to step in. The alternative is a bleak scenario and a betrayal of those who endeavour to oil Scotland's cultural machine.

"Gigs are where you go to be transformed and you come feeling invincible after finding the band you are going to love for the rest of your life," Tunstall concludes. "These venues are the teams of people who understand that. It is a really frightening future without them and very, very dull. We need these independent venues to survive. I mean, I don't want to see a band in a f***ing Wetherspoons or something like that."

To support the Passport: Back to our Roots campaign, visit crowdfunder.co.uk/passport-back-to-our-roots to enter the prize draws for gigs across the UK, including KT Tunstall's show at PJ Molloy's in Dunfermline in the near future.