Bruised Fruit
Name: Bruised Fruit
Business: Promotions Company
Address: 15-21 Gordon Street
Belfast, BT1 2LG
Telephone: Jen: 07761291706
Angie: 07754517895
Website: http://www.bruisedfruitpromotions.com
Bruised Fruit is a non-for-profit organisation that has been running for almost three years aiming to promote Northern Irish unsigned music. They host thirteen shows a month, and also offer merchandise services, events management, and band promotion. AU went to meet Angie McCrisken, to find out what Bruised Fruit can do for you.
How many people work here?
Jennie and I are fulltime. There are eight other volunteers who work for us in their freetime. Every member is responsible for their own section, but we all come together for bigger projects.
Is there a mission statement for Bruised Fruit?
‘Keeping it local’, haha. Or ‘Local music champions’. That’s what we have on these business cards, because we champion local music. Sadly not because we won anything!
What happens during an average day here?
There is no such thing as an average day! Each day involves reading through the emails we’ve received, and listen to any demos that have come in the post. Splitting time between working for the bands, but also with working for the business, like setting up the label for instance. It’s a constant feeling of hustle and bustle.
How can people get involved?
If you’d like to volunteer, simply send us an email. We’re always looking for people to help, whether its handing out flyers or to work the door at gigs.
What makes each Bruised Fruit night different?
Here’s how the nights break down:
Monday - Club Sandwich in Laverys Bunker, which is for relatively new bands who are just getting started in the scene.
Every other Tuesday - Up In The Attic in Auntie Annies which is for more experienced and established bands.
Friday - Toast in Pat’s Bar, which is our late-night clubbing extravaganza!
One Friday a month - F*Rock, which is for female-fronted bands. It’s difficult for them to get up in the scene. When it started out, we had a lot of people telling us that it would never last, but it’s been running for two years now.
Every other Saturday - The second Club Sandwich evening, as an early show in Laverys Bunker
Do you cater for up-and-coming DJs?
The Club Sandwich, F*Rock, and Toast nights all cater for DJs. We try to match the styles of course. We have had guest djs from local bands in the past. We also train up all our volunteers for it as well.
What do you think of the current scene?
It’s good, it’s exploded in the last five years. There is so much talent here, the only thing missing is an industry to back it up. That’s soon to change though, when Oh Yeah begins to take off and we launch our record label in 2008. The standard has gotten so much higher, and the atmosphere in the local scene is great, too. Everyone’s so close, and the sense of competition is more friendly than it is fierce.
What’s in store for Bruised Fruit?
We will still be stepping up our work for the local music scene with our label. Our first signings are Olympic Lifts and The Fools, who should both have singles out in the early new year.
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