Interview with Rod Moor-Bardell of The Old Rectory

The Old Rectory. (Photo: Béla Alabástrom)

A Bit Of History

So, Rod, can you tell me a little bit about the history of the Old Rectory house gigs? How long have you been doing them and how did they get started?

Event ad for John Mitchell, 2018 Okay, I saw a message on Facebook from a young lady called Nellie Pitts who used to run the merch desk and did merchandising for bands such as Big Big Train. She was looking for venues for house gigs. At the time I'd never done one, but I wrote to her. I said "I've never had one, but I think I've got a venue that might work. I just don't know what to do". And to be fair, Nellie pretty much organised that particular one, so the very first house gig as such we had was John Mitchell. he turned up with Liam Holmes, the keyboard player from Lonely Robot and was absolutely brilliant.

However, we only sold 13 tickets. Financially, it was a bit of a disaster. We weren't sure it was going to go ahead because it wasn't covering the fee that John needed. We offered food as an option, and we made a number of mistakes. I think about 50% of the people said yes, they would have food. However, everybody ate, everybody drank wine, which we hadn't charged for or catered for or thought about. So it ended up with 13 people costing us nearly £500 to put on a house gig and I thought maybe we shouldn't be doing this. We couldn't afford to underwrite that kind of event.

But one of the people who came to it was Julie Crowe, who runs the merchandising for John Young and Lifesigns, and she said "Would you consider putting John Young on because it's a lovely venue?" I said "Well yes, but we would have to make some changes". So we made changes and that is pretty much the model we have followed ever since.

Our model was this. We offer a meal, we will not offer a no-meal option. We've had one or two people who say "Oh you know, I have very difficult dietary choices, I can't eat what you're offering", but we try and accommodate that. We've dealt with gluten-free; we've dealt with all sorts of other dietary issues, vegetarian, vegan, diabetic, whatever, but we've decided the meal is mandatory. It's included in the cost of your ticket because it makes the event an event rather than just another gig. That's our view.

We've been very, very fortunate when I think all the musicians that have been here, and we have had quite a few now. They have been just lovely people. We've developed our own little clientele I think, with people who are regulars who come again and again. Some people pick and choose the artists they want to see, obviously, but a lot of people come because it's an event at The Old Rectory.

We hold events in the garden. This will be the case today with Credo, it will be our 10th gig in the garden. But we've also done quite a few in the lounge in the winter months. Those tend to be a little bit more acoustically driven, though we have had Franck Carducci and the Fantastic Squad, the full band in there. They had to modify their set because the room size was a bit of a problem. They'd had their gig at The Robin (a music venue in Bilston) cancelled. They then decided to come and play their final gig of that tour here two years ago. Franck performed quite a lot of solo stuff on piano and then was joined by Mary Reynaud on guitars, and then the full Squad came in for about 45 minutes.

What year did you actually start doing the gigs with John Mitchell, can you remember?

Our first, the John Mitchell one, was October 2018. What I also remember is that one we decided not to make a house gig as such, was with one of my favourite prog rock bands, Magenta.

Magenta (Lite), 2019. (Photo: Stan from ProgPics)

I've probably seen Magenta's around 50 times now. I think they're fabulous. An absolutely amazing band. I had a conversation with Rob Reid. It was coming up to my 60th birthday and I said "Is there any possibility the band would come and play?" and he said "Yes, I'm sure we can do that. We'll organise that". Then, when we looked at the dates, it didn't work. My 60th birthday was in April and the only dates that we could agree was in August, so we held it before my 60th birthday. I think the correct word is serendipity, because my 60th birthday was in April 2020, during the first pandemic lockdown. I had my "Not Dead Yet" party in August 2019 with, as I call it "Magenta light": the core of Magenta with Chris, Tina and Rob. They performed our first outdoor gig. We hired a farmer's trailer with a marquee over the top of it.

Did you say that the gigs will be moved somewhere else in the future?

Well here's the thing. We live in a lovely beautiful old house, but we need to downsize, so sometime in the next 12 to 18 months we will be moving unless we win the lottery.

Buy the ticket! Please, buy the ticket!

I buy one every month! We will be looking to move, so I've accelerated the number of gigs we do. It's a bit of a burden for my wife because sometimes for the more popular ones, we've got maybe 50 people to feed. She's producing a two-course meal out of a domestic kitchen on her own. She works wonders, and she does produce very good food, as you will learn later. At the moment we have one gig booked for next summer, and we believe we'll still be here. We have a gig booked in October, which is going to be a lovely unique one. It's Guy Manning. I don't know if you're a fan of Guy Manning, but he'll be playing here. It will be totally different to what he's going to be doing at Summer's End (a festival in Chepstow). It's going to be acoustic. It's mainly him, but because other members of the band will be staying here, they may or may not just join in. It's all going to be a little bit of a free-for-all. They won't have their first band rehearsal until the following day. He's playing here on the Wednesday night, 2 October, and on Thursday, Friday and Saturday they will be rehearsing for the gig on Sunday at Summer's End. Again, I love Guy Manning's music. I think he's a wonderful composer and arranger. I think his ear for melody is incredible.

So we shouldn't despair if it moves somewhere else it will continue.

Sally Minnear, with Dave Bainbridge just out of shot. (Photo: Stan of ProgPics) It will depend on what we can buy. I would love to continue hosting them whether they are indoor ones in future, or whether we can get an outdoor space. One thing I would say that's interesting is the growth in how we have held the outdoor events. The first outdoor one was Magenta. It was performed on a farmer's trailer. It was covered by a marquee that we hired. My good friend Tony White has always done the lighting, he's a lighting technician. He found that I, as a director, was perhaps more imaginative and more interested in lighting than most other directors. I wanted effects and at this point in the play we're going to try and do this, which was great fun, we worked very well together and that's now come over into the musical side. So he's always done the lighting for us.

For the next outdoor one, following Magenta, we had a Coleman's event shelter with Dave Bainbridge and Sally Minnear. There's a Lifesigns link there. John Young contacted me and said "Oh, my mate Dave wouldn't mind playing". We had bought a second-hand marquee for people to sit in and have dinner, and we had the Coleman's event shelter for Dave and Sally to perform in. It was in August and it had been put back a year because of COVID, so I think it actually happened in 2021. We had a monsoon, literally a monsoon. Something in the rig kept tripping all the power in the house, and we found that we couldn't have both the PA and the lights on at the same time. We had no power, so Dave and Sally performed with fairy lights and little festoon lights outside and no stage lighting. At the midway point there was a 20-minute break for toilet and drinks and things, and I said to Dave "Would you mind playing a 15-minute acoustic encore?" "Why?", he asked. I replied "Because then Tony can do some lighting". That's what he did. He was very kind, very gracious. They did an acoustic encore so that there was a bit of a light show at the very end.

It's interesting because Facebook sends you these reminders of things and pictures, and that was on my feed yesterday and you see this little event shelter.

We're So Lucky

I'm very fortunate. I had the opportunity to buy some second-hand staging and a large Gala Tent marquee for the performance area. I have three sons, and the middle one is a scaffolder. The drum riser that we now use is scaffolding that he supplies and builds, plus the rest of the staging.

I sell medical equipment for a living. This is scandalous I have to say, but I was at a major conference in London with all these huge — huge, I mean they're like aircraft hangars — buildings. To make them comfortable, they're all carpeted. As the carpet fitters are rolling them all up at the end of the event, I asked "What happens to the carpet now?". He told me it all goes to landfill. I said, "Seriously, you use it once and it goes to landfill?" and he said "Yep". I said, "Can I take some?" He told me, "Help yourself, have as much as you like". So that is all the blue carpet I've retrieved from going to landfill. I think it works really well, it makes the staging look so much more professional.

The Gala Marquee was originally a six-by-six metres, we've extended it to six-by-eight so we get a bit more depth, and between Tony and I we've bought more and more lights and lasers and things. We're not going to be using lasers tonight because Mark is not keen on haze. We need the haze for the lasers to work. So yes, it's really built over the years in terms of what we offer. I try and make it as professional as I can, but at the same time retain that element of it being an intimate gig.

John Young, indoor house gig. (Photo: Rod Mood-Bardell)

For example, we have a little tradition. It was started by accident and I believe the band have agreed to it tonight, because I always talk to them before the event. Some artists do not want to eat before they perform. We have this mandatory meal and John Young didn't want to eat. It was an indoor gig, so people were in here, the dining room, in the hall, in the lounge, at tables to have a meal. John said "Well, I don't want to sit while everyone's eating, so can I just hang out in the kitchen with Sarah?" So that's what he did and it's maybe 25 people she's cooking for. He's watching her work and he says "Okay, good God, is there anything I can do to help?". She said "Well, as I put this food on plates, can you start going and giving it to people?" He said "Yeah, sure!" So he's now essentially a waiter. People have paid to see John Young perform and he's waiting at table. People are photographing it and saying "John, you know if the music career doesn't quite work out you might have an alternative!" I thought it was quite fun.

When we had Sally Minnear and Dave Bainbridge here, while Dave spent most of the time tuning guitars, Sally Minnear was chopping vegetables and fruit preparing for the meal and I thought "You know, we're on to something here!" So now I always ask the bands to participate. We've had Tina from Magenta chopping fruit and waitressing; we've had most bands waiting at table and the look on people's faces when, for example, Franck Carducci and the Fantastic Squad are giving them their meal! I've asked Credo they've agreed to do it. Mark said "I might help myself to half the meal!" And now everybody does it. Spriggan Mist did it, too. You know it's fun, it's one of those little things that makes it a little different.

We had Franck [Carducci] and Mary [Reynaud], now that's a really interesting story. Franck had played here with the band, and then they had stayed here. Musicians on the road, they're trying to keep their costs down, so a number of people do come and stay with us. This was in December and then in January he messaged me. He said "Rod, you've got that small PA?", meaning the small PA for indoor gigs. He said "Is there any chance I could borrow it?" "Franck, you're in Lyon!" He said, "Well I've been asked to perform at a wedding of some friends. It's not too far from you, I think, and I just wonder if I could borrow your PA rather than have to bring something from France?" I said "Well okay, let's have a look at it. What's the date?" And he told me the date and I said "Ah, I've got something in my calendar for that date. I'm going to Fran and Andy Gibb's wedding. Is it that wedding you're playing at?" He said "Yes it is!" I said "Well, obviously then I won't be doing anything with my PA that day, so it's available for the wedding, and it's my friend so obviously you can have it."

"But that's on the Sunday", I added. Franck said "Yes". I said "So do you fancy having a rehearsal on the Saturday evening in my lounge?" Because he was doing the wedding and a gig here, he thought why don't we do some more gigs? So he put together four or five other gigs. And then he thought "Well actually, let's record an album!" So the album Naked by Franck and Mary came about because of Fran and Andy's wedding and that's the story that's how it came about. How amazing is that?

Mary Reynaud and Frank Carducci in the lounge. (Photo: Rod Mood-Bardell)

They played here on the Saturday night, which was great, and they stayed here with us on the Saturday night. We all went to the venue on the Sunday and we set it up and there were some marvellous moments. One of Andy's favourite songs has got nothing to do with Franck Carducci, it's A Horse With No Name by America. He asked if they'd play it, which they did. But then they called Andy up on stage, so he's singing it with Franck Carducci and Mary. They played their set, the wedding's in full swing. There's a grand piano in the corner and later that night Franck got on the grand piano and starts knocking out numbers. They're playing ABBA numbers and things like that. It's incredible how talented they are. At that Naked gig, for example, they played a Pink Floyd song, Time I believe it was. Then some stupid idiot — and I really shouldn't call myself that — said "And now The Great Gig In The Sky!" They'd never played it before. Franck played what he thought it was and Mary went with him!

The following night, while sound-checking, he said "I found that chord". She said "What chord?" He said "Remember, I went slightly wrong last night". She said "Yes, you left me right up there!" He said "That's because I didn't know what the chord was next. It's this one! This is the one I should have gone to!" Watching it, we had no idea of course, it just seemed like it was a natural part of their set. We had no idea it was the first time they'd ever played it – that's talent!

I mean we're so lucky, as I say, that there are so many very talented people, who are very lovely people and they're friends. Franck loves coming here. I have a snooker table upstairs, and we play snooker and I always joke with him that the loser has to play a house gig in the other's home!

Odin Dragonfly, 2023. (Photo: Bryan Taylor)

What do you see as the unique aspect of the gigs here?

I think there's a number of unique aspects. One is access, access to the bands. Not always, but they mainly sit and eat with the audience, in particular with the garden gigs. I ask them not to sit together as a band, so they tend to spread out around the tables.

Second, there is no real curfew. We have a sound curfew which is self-imposed because we have neighbours, so we try and make sure that there's no live music after 22:30h outside. But Ghost Of The Machine were here a year ago, and I think Charlie Bramald and I were the last to bed at 06:30h. People will stay as long as they want; we don't kick people out, we'll sit and drink with you, party with you, play games with you, whatever. It's not a venue, it's our home. You've paid for your ticket to see a band, but that's so we can pay the sound guy. It's the sound guy and PA that is actually costing the money. And we typically pay the band some kind of travel expense.

We are not big enough, selling enough tickets to pay the band a proper fee, and never will be. A number of bands have said they've enjoyed playing here more than anywhere else now. That's great and that's lovely, but you'd have to ask them. We try and make it as professional as possible.

There's a number of people doing house gigs. Geoff Parks [organiser of the Stretham House Concerts] is a great example. He has his unique things that he does brilliantly. I think what we do is that we have an incredibly professional lighting guy who's very much into the music, so his lighting is very sensitive to the music and the mood of the music. He typically knows the music.

I'll give you an example. Spriggan Mist normally open their set with a song called Isambard The Mechanical Dragon. I asked them to play it much later in the set and Baz [Cilia, the bass player] said "Well, that's our opening number". I explained that this is how Tony and I work together. I'm an artistic director and part of being an artistic director is that you come up with stupid ideas and then ask people to make them work. This stupid idea was: there's a song about a mechanical dragon, wouldn't it be fun if we could use the lasers to be the dragon wings and some other lights to be his eyes and during the song the dragon is flying? That's what Tony does, that's amazing. Of course, it needed to be dark, so it couldn't be their opening number. Once Baz understood that's what we were trying to do, he was really happy.

Something else about what makes the gigs unique. The venue itself. The house is quite spectacular, also we're right next door to the most famous Green Man in the UK. I routinely take people into the church next door and point out there's not just one Green Man. There's the main really famous one, but outside there's three or four others, and there's a cow coming through the wall of the church. So that's quite interesting.

I think the fact that we have a very professional light show is another thing. Also, I'm a very trusting person. I don't think most people who come to prog rock gigs want to defraud people; they're paying a lot of money to go and do things, so we run a bar, but that it's a cash bar. You put the money in and there's no one policing it. Police yourself. When you're inviting people into your home there's got to be a trust element anyway.

I think the quality of the food is a factor. When I met Sarah I was 10 stone 4 [65 kg]. I am no longer 10 stone 4, which I think is visibly apparent, so it's entirely her fault! But she's a wonderful cook. She gripes and moans to me in private all the time about why she doesn't want to have to do all these house gigs, but I think in secret she really loves it and most people seem to enjoy the food. There are people who've said to me "Oh, I only come because of the food!"

Then, I've got a couple of sons who help out. My eldest son is here today, James. He does a lot of work for us. I think if you've never been here before, and you come into the garden, the first thing that surprises you is the house and the size of the garden. Then you look at all these marquees, and you think, "Wow, this is not what I'm expecting from a house gig!" Even if it's just in the lounge, the lounge is big, it's tall ceilings. We put things like fairy lights up the curtains, but the lighting show gives it a level of professionalism that you don't necessarily expect in a house gig. I wouldn't knock anybody else's house gigs, so we do it slightly differently and that's because I want the full experience. I do sit in my own lounge watching people, thinking "I can't believe this is happening in my lounge!" And I still do. Franck and Mary with Naked, that's a really great example of that.

So the lounge, it's tall enough, but there wasn't enough room for Mary to perform the whole wings thing when she sings Angel. So she's singing it whilst playing on an acoustic guitar sat on the stool. I leant across to Tony and said "Give her wings, mate!" There's a particular light that we've got and so Tony gives Mary wings when he hadn't planned to. And that's the thing when it's not planned, you're doing it on the hoof. I mean just to say that that's talent again, isn't it? I suppose part of that is the willingness to try.

Ebb in the garden, 2024. (Photo: Bryan Taylor)

Tony used to do lighting for Mostly Autumn years ago and so he knew Heather Findlay and Heather puts feelers out about wanting to do a house gig, so he messaged me. He made the initial introduction and then we had her performing with Angela Gordon as Odin Dragonfly here, which is lovely.

It's the willingness to solve problems. We can have up to 40 to 50 people in the garden, so we need 40 to 50 seats. It's finding those. I mean, they're all second-hand. For example, I've got 20, which I ended up paying a pound each for, which is great but then you've got to store them, plus the stages and the lighting, and I've had to upgrade the house electrics. I mean we've lost the electrics twice today. We upgraded the electrics to make sure that that doesn't happen, which is why it's a bit of a worry, but it's often down to the kit with the band itself because a lot of it's not necessarily pat-tested, etc. But that's the difference between us being a professional venue or a private venue. We're not a professional venue, so we don't have that kind of facility. We'll muddle through!

I suppose, what we are really trying to achieve is making the experience for our audience change from attending a gig amongst strangers, to having a live performance at a party with friends. To me, that kind of sums up what we are trying to do.

That's brilliant thank you very much!

Text by Béla Alabástrom.
Photos by Béla Alabástrom, Tony Apps, James Moor-Bardell, Rod Moor-Bardell, Stan of ProgPics, and Bryan Taylor. All used by kind permission.

Links

The Old Rectory House Gigs on Facebook

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This concert review was published at the same time as the interview with Credo's singer Mark Colton and the interview with Rod Moor-Bardell on the venue, The Old Rectory.