Coffee bar in Thurso could be town's new music venue
A NEW music venue could be established in Thurso if a trial run this weekend proves successful. That is the hope of Ken Bateson, who set up Love Live Music (LLM) in the town three years ago.
He and Kyle Beaumont from the Olive coffee bar in Brabster Street are staging an event there on Saturday evening featuring Faith Charlton who will be performing an acoustic set in what is described as " a relaxed atmosphere."
Ken said: "The Olive coffee bar would be a new live venue for local musicians, either solo or duo, to play a full set of around two hours or so of music. As well as providing a different atmosphere it will also give them the chance to stretch out and expand their repertoire.
"The LLM events are held at the Royal British Legion club, which is a great venue, and provides a platform for bands and musicians to play shorter sets of around 30 minutes. As well as giving a variety of different styles for our audience to enjoy it's also important as not everyone will have enough material to play longer sets.
"There will likely be a crossover of musicians who have played in the Legion and who will play at the coffee bar. Kyle and I will be working together to have performers along to provide a relaxing night of music. Of course I'm always keen to find and encourage musicians who would like to play at LLM nights.
"I see this venture as a new branch of LLM and I'm hopeful that it will be a success for the future and help to promote the live music scene in the area."
He added: "Kyle currently hosts regular wine nights and we will be teaming up to provide music for those nights. We'll be giving this a trial run on Saturday, June 4 with the talented Faith Charlton. Kyle will also be cooking up some tasty pizzas with his newly acquired pizza oven. If it proves successful we would hope to have more of these events."
However, Ken stressed he has "every intention of continuing with the regular LLM nights in the Legion lounge bar." The next one will be on Friday (June 3) and feature Will Mackay, Fern Strachan, Dawn Mackay with Brian Spence, Bats Don't Walk and Colin Manson.