Having spent the last couple of year’s as one of Leeside’s most tireless and passionate promoters, Southern Hospitality Board has announced that they are going on an “undefinable hiatus”.
Founded by Aisling O’Riordan and Caoilian Sherlock following the clouse of the Pavilion back in 2014, SHB kicked off their gig-promoting tenure with a show at Triskel Arts Centre with Girl Band in October 2014 and will host possibly the final ever show, The Sudden Club Weekender featuring Rozi Plain, The Shaker Hymn and Anna Mieke Bishop, at The Kino on Sunday, Decemeber 2011.
In a Facebook post, the promoters pre-emnpting a few whats and whys:
“Dearest Friends, Internet Stalkers and Giant Losers,
It comes with both sadness and a little personal relief that we have come to the decision to go on a undefinable hiatus from running and promoting shows with Southern Hospitality Board. We excitedly jumped into this as a new challenge together the very night that we lost our jobs at The Pavilion two and a half years ago. We had the same worries and questions that everyone else had when we heard the news. Where will we go? Who will bring our favourite bands to Cork? Where will we dance?
With issues such as the poisonous increase in the amounts of Nandos, Starbucks and Wetherspoons popping up around the city, the lack of rehearsal space for musicians, the closing of important and substantial artistic hubs like Cork Community Printshop and Sample Studios, the definitive increase in building sites that construct monstrously dull unnecessary shopping centres and new hotels for event centres that don’t (won’t) get built – we believed together and still do, that we are part of a fight to keep our home from being homogenised. Colourless and characterless.
So. We asked punk bands to play in flea markets, and great original R&B bands in the Fitzgeralds Park and got half of Iceland into Gulpd at some point. We asked if we could reopen an old cinema to launch an album for our friends (who are also our heroes). We celebrated the same sex marriage referendum by dancing to real dank hip-hop. We made Jazz Clubs and Nightclubs. We made shitty night clubs into temporary but swanky venues and we managed to somehow convince Peanut Butter Wolf’s agent to bring him to Cork.
Through all of this we have also been artists and musicians ourselves. Trying to balance the creative aspect of our lives with the financial all the while funneling our own money into SHB and some weeks not being able to eat. Or pay rent. It’s just good luck that we both prefer second hand shops to buy our clothes anyway.
We’ve enjoyed so much of what we’ve done for the past two years but this side of the music “biz” (BABAY) can be really tough. We are constantly trying to make things as easy for both the artist and the venue. We put entire bands and entourages on our couches and more importantly our housemates couches. And if we do a great show we might in the end, afford to buy a bottle of gin to share. A glorious bottle of gin.
Ultimately, we don’t personally want to become colourless and characterless. We want to stay creative and excited. We want to dance and sing and we’re going to do that instead of sending emails and counting deficits.
Mainly, we want to stay friends.
The Sudden Club Weekender will be our last official show for a good good while which is fitting as we have invited literally all of our favourite people to play in Cork.
We just want to thank everyone who came out to see shows, do little dances, spread love and harmony. We have had really special crew who have helped us with running posters, being pleasant on the door, making sound happen and making art to promote the shows and making us laugh and remember. You all know who you are and we love you. We have been given loads of beautiful advice by some of the best people – most of which we ignored – but the care and love afforded, we are very grateful for.
Of course somewhere along the way, we also invented an arts festival called Quarter Block Party. Which will take place this February and we hope there’ll be many more of them to come down the line. But that’s more than enough for us for now.
This is in no way us saying ‘goodnight’ but ‘bye for a while’
Aisling & Caoilian
x”
All the very best, guys. Don’t stay away too long, you hear?
