Interview: Unsung Heroes Of 2010, No.3 - Bird On The Wire

It's hardly surprising that London should have its fair share of quality independent promoters on the go. Eat Your Own Ears have grown considerably in recent years, and now run both the Field Day and Underage festivals. Upset The Rhythm, meanwhile, never seem to miss a good noise pop band worth putting on (or releasing, for that matter); and Ragged Words has enjoyed many a night hosted by RockFeedback, so we've naturally been thrilled to see their gigs happening more frequently during 2010.

This being said, a new name arrived on the capital's live scene last year, and their shows have somewhat dominated Ragged Words’ gig-going diary ever since. Not to be confused with the similarly-titled (and predictably dodgy) Mel Gibson & Goldie Hawn movie, Bird On The Wire was set up by Clémence Godard and Tim Palmer a little over eighteen months ago. In these twelve alone, they've brought the likes of Max Richter, Merzbow, Hauschka and The Tallest Man On Earth to some of the city’s most interesting bespoke venues - not to mention stretching the BOTW footprint beyond The UK to Berlin and Paris. As the year winds down, we thought we'd ask the guys to share some of their thoughts with us. You can read what they had to say below - the latest installment in our Unsung Heroes Of 2010 series.

Hi, guys. Thanks a lot for taking the time to chat to us. By our reckoning, 2010 has been Bird On The Wire's first full year in operation. How has it gone for you?

Well, we started Bird On The Wire with a small festival over Easter Weekend 2009. It was at Bardens Boudoir - which sadly no longer exists - and was a bit of a crazy idea: who wants to spend three nights in-a-row in a Dalston basement on a Bank Holiday weekend? But it actually went down really well, and we started promoting shows on a regular basis during the summer of last year. But 2010 has definitely been the year things got serious; it's been great!

I've no doubt there must be many highlights, but if you can trim them down, what were your three best shows of the year?

The Tallest Man On Earth at Bush Hall; Bear In Heaven at The Lexington; Titus Andronicus at CAMP Basement; Max Richter at Cadogan Hall; Small Black in Berlin.... Yeah, that's five, and we could easily carry on!

You put on your biggest show to date last week - The Tallest Man On Earth at The Electric Ballroom. I'm sure there was no shortage of rivel promoters keen to put Kristian (Matsson, aka TTMOE) on this time around, but do artists like that respond well to the fact that you put them on before, and therefore keep coming back to you? I guess Small Black would be another good example...

We've worked with Kristian since his first London show, and have a very good relationship with him and all his team. The same goes for Small Black. I guess they keep coming back to us because we're quite nice and give them lots of drinks! It's hard to tell, it's all about human contact.

What made you decide to start putting on shows in the first place? Had you any experience in promoting?

We both had a bit of experience with venues in London and Paris, and we've always been passionate about music. We met at a Unicorns show in London years ago and quickly had the idea to do something together, as we had similar but complementary tastes in music.

Was it a steep learning curve then? Because Ragged Words has dipped its toes into the promoting game this year, and so far we're firmly in the red!! Any tips for us?

Aim big and work with Swedish acts!

What struck us as being the most stressful aspect was that there are so many factors outside of your control that can affect a show: another similar show gets booked on the same night, for instance; or everyone's broke; or it pisses rain! Is there ever such a thing as a dead cert? And do those stresses start to ease over time?!?

No there isn't. And no, they don't!

You've used some venues this year that aren't performed in all that regularly on the gig circuit - I'm thinking of Polar Bear at Westminster Reference Library and Max Richter at Cadogan Hall, for instance. Is it important not to just stick to the same old venues, and try to ensure you match the right artist with the right setting?

Yes, that's always the exciting bit of the job; trying to look for that unique venue, although we do use The Lexington quite a lot too....

You've also started putting on shows in Paris and Berlin - how have they been going? Is there much of a difference between promoting shows in Europe and outting them on in London?

They've been great fun so far, which is what we were all about when deciding to organise them. We just wanted to travel with bands that we like - also, one of us is from Paris - and of course we love Berlin - so it just made sense. London, Paris and Berlin are very different in terms of promoting; different crowds don't necessarily go for the same bands, so you need to know your cities very well. In terms of the way venues work, Paris is generally painful with administrative stuff, while Berlin is pretty laid-back... You can do pretty much what you want there!

How many people now work for BOTW? Does it provide full- or even part-time work for whoever is involved at the minute?

There's two of us involved full-time, but we have the best intern in London and a dedicated team member in Berlin who do most of the work for us.

I see Ólafur Arnalds, Suuns, Tu Fawning and The War On Drugs are all booked for 2011. Not to jinx em or anything but do you've any more in the pipeline?

Check our website on Monday, some big announcements on the way!

And finally, what would be your absolute dream gig to put on?

Probably The Unicorns, so we could come full circle. Or, errr... The Boss in 200-capacity basement venues in London, Berlin and Paris maybe?!!