Having given the 100 club brief a lot of thought, I have come to a few conclusions. Firstly it seems that the brief has changed slightly, initially the purpose of the brief was to create, 'A graphic urban intervention to secure a future for London's legendary 100 Club,' owing to recent events (McCartney showing his ugly face) it seems that the 100 club has secured a future at least for the short term. This poses a question, how do you secure a future for a club, that seemingly already has one ? With this in mind I've started thinking along the lines, of raising awareness of the 100 club , and getting new people through the doors.
Through my research I have identified two areas which I believe represent the 100 Clubs true value. The first is obvious but undeniable, the musicians that have played there, make the place what it is, make it special. As a development of this I have been looking at the opinions of the musicians who have played there, here are a couple:
"I get a feeling from the walls and the chairs, they tell me of the things that've always been there."
Paul Weller
"keep the bunker open..."
Jonnny Borrell
The second area I would describe as the 100 club's imperfection. As a venue the 100 club has a list of faults as long as your arm, but ultimately the music is the glue that holds it all together, the result is a unique music driven venue. The 100 Club is like a favourite jumper or pair of shoes, broken and falling apart, but still your favourite, it has soul.
I realise atmosphere and soul are hard to quantify, but they are words we use regularly to describe something a bit special. I want to explore the beauty of the 100 club's imperfection.
Strangely when thinking about this brief so far I've found myself coming up with written rather than visual responses:
'The 100 Club is like a crackle on a record, the beauty lies within the imperfection.'
The Hundred Club - Reassuringly dated
The 100 Club, chipped glasses since 1942
Its like London's musical Time Capsule
100 Club - it gets better with age
They say you never realise what you have until its gone
I feel that these tag-lines/observations I've written about the club, are the foundations for what will develop into a visual piece, of which the form I've yet to decide.
I feel like this post is a little incoherent but I needed to get my thoughts down somewhere and this seemed the best place.
6/1/2011