The Pogues are an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London, in 1982, as Pogue Mahone, an anglicisation of the Irish phrase póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". Initially poorly received in traditional Irish music circles—the celebrated musician Tommy Makem called them "the greatest disaster ever to hit Irish music"—the band were subsequently credited with reinvigorating the genre. They later incorporated influences from other musical traditions, including jazz, flamenco, and Middle Eastern music.
Kentish Town is an area of northwest London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, immediately north of Camden Town, close to Hampstead Heath.
Pub rock is a subgenre of rock music that emerged in the early to mid-1970s in the United Kingdom. A back-to-basics movement, which incorporated roots rock, pub rock was a reaction against the expensively-recorded and produced progressive rock and flashy glam rock scenes at the time. Although short-lived, pub rock was played live in small traditional venues like pubs and clubs. Since major labels showed no interest in pub rock groups, pub bands sought out independent record labels such as Stiff Records. Indie labels used relatively inexpensive recording processes, so they had a much lower break-even point for a record than a major label.
Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was a British-born Irish singer-songwriter, musician and poet best known as the lead vocalist and primary lyricist of Celtic punk band the Pogues. Known for his songwriting talent as well as his heavy alcohol and drug use, he wrote lyrics that frequently focused on the Irish diaspora experience.
New Cross is an area in south-east London, England, 4.5 miles (7.2 km) south-east of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham and the SE14 postcode district. New Cross is near St Johns, Telegraph Hill, Nunhead, Peckham, Brockley, Deptford and Greenwich, and home to Goldsmiths, University of London, Haberdashers' Hatcham College and Addey and Stanhope School.
The O2 Forum Kentish Town is a concert venue in Kentish Town, London, England, owned by Live Nation Entertainment and originally built in 1934.
The Barfly was a chain of live music venues in the United Kingdom originally started by Nick Moore, Jeremy Ledlin and Be Rozzo on Valentine's Day 1997. Club nights and events tended to feature rock, alternative and independent music.
Roddy Lorimer is a Scottish musician who plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He has performed with Blur, Gene, the Rolling Stones, Draco Rosa, the Who, the Style Council, Eric Clapton, Suede, Supergrass, Beyoncé, Jamiroquai, Dr John, the Waterboys, Nik Kershaw, Bruce Foxton, Fish. He is a founding member of the horn section Kick Horns.
Club Fandango is a live music promotions company based in Highbury, London. It was started in 2001, by Simon Williams and Andy MacLeod. The former runs Fierce Panda records, the latter the Pointy Records label. Williams and MacLeod had previously promoted nights such as Club Spangle!, NME "On" nights, Club Pointy and Club Panda.
Hope and Anchor is a pub and upstairs theatre on Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington which first opened its doors in 1880. During the mid-1970s it was one of the first pubs to embrace the emergent, but brief, phenomenon of pub rock. With the decline of this movement, the pub went on to become a leading venue in the punk rock movement. Hope and Anchor is still an operational pub and live music venue today, owned and operated by the Greene King brewing company. It is a Grade II listed building.
In the early to mid-1990s Heineken sponsored free admission four-day live music events in the United Kingdom in and around large capacity big top tents in Heineken green, designed by Rudi Enos.
Blow Up is a club night that was founded in the early 1990s by promoter and DJ Paul Tunkin at a North London pub called "The Laurel Tree". The night quickly became the centre of the emerging Britpop scene in Camden attracting long queues of people eager to gain entry to the tiny venue. Early regulars included members of Blur, Pulp, Elastica, Suede, The Buzzcocks, Huggy Bear and The Jesus and Mary Chain, leading to the club being referred to as the place where "Britpop was born".
Camden Underworld is a music venue in Camden Town, London, England. The venue is a part of the World's End pub, situated in the basement of the building. It has a capacity of 500 people.
The Bull's Head, also known as The Bull, is a pub in Barnes in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It hosts live music in an attached music room that has a seated capacity of 70 people.
The Garage is a live music and club venue in Highbury, North London. It opened in 1993 and has a capacity of 600. The upstairs room, also known as the Grace, has a capacity of 150.
The Fellowship and Star is a Grade II listed pub at Randlesdown Road, Bellingham, London SE6 3BT.
The Laurie Arms is a pub at 238 Shepherd's Bush Road, Hammersmith, London. It was next door to the Hammersmith Palais, a long running dance hall and music venue from 1919, which hosted The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who, David Bowie and the Sex Pistols, but was demolished in 2013.
The Church Studios is a recording studio located in a former church in Crouch End, North London, England. It was rented and then owned by Dave Stewart in the 1980s and 1990s, and was used to record Eurythmics' second album Sweet Dreams (1983). David Gray acquired ownership in 2004 before British record producer Paul Epworth bought and refurbished the studio in 2013. It has since been used by notable artists such as Adele, Beyoncé, Mumford & Sons, Coldplay and Madonna.
Andrew Ian Ross was a British music executive, influential in the history of Britpop in the mid-1990s.
The Falcon, later The Camden Falcon, was a pub and music venue located at 234 Royal College Street, in the London Borough of Camden, North London.
