Steve Trigg
Appearances
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
So we want to try and bring that back. We have some great schools around the area that produce kids. They have skills in music. We want those kids to have opportunities. We want to bring bands on the national tour here to Redhill. We will start developing gigs. This is our first attempt. We are hoping to set up a festival. and our Big A, a proper grassroots music venue somewhere in Redhill.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We have three bands coming on tonight. The first band is Rosanna. The second band we have, Cocopoli. I've seen them down in Brighton. They are really good. They're coming in as an acoustic trio tonight, so that should be slightly different to what I saw them last time, but very good. And lastly, we have The Room. They come through Inspire Through Music, which is a local charity.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Exactly, and we're here tonight, and as you can hear in the background, we have Rosanna singing away, we have over 100 people here, and there's a stage, there's a band, what more do you want?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Well, actually, the stage has just been rebuilt because it wasn't big enough for a band. So the Belfry staff have been fantastic. Andy, Paula and Kieran, they've come out and they've made a proper stage for us. We've brought in our lights, we've brought in our PA system and we've brought three bands. You know, it's just a lovely night here at the moment. We're going to do this more.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We're here tonight, this is a pilot. We're testing... Does it work? Is the Belfry Centre going to echo and cause all sorts of trouble with sound? At this moment, it sounds good to me.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Yes, there's an acoustic screen directly above the stage, which will stay now permanently, because it's right in front of Marks & Spencer's and there used to be a sort of space where you could look down. So there's a proper screen across there, which the Belfry did, which is really appreciative. And then we brought in our own PA. There's a few screens so we can block off an area.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
And we brought a bar in, and it's working. People seem to be enjoying themselves. I can see smiling all round us.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Right, we started a brand new charity called the Red Star Community. We're literally in formation at the moment. That's how new we are. A group of us got together and said that the music scene here is very much a band in the corner of the pubs doing covers. We want to encourage proper bands to come to Redhill and play. So we want to find a bigger stage.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We've got a little bit of a venue, the Belfry to start. We're going to look at other places. I went to a place today where we might put some jazz on. So we're also all genres of music. This isn't just indie rock or young music. It's for all ages. So we're going to have jazz, we'll have folk nights, we'll have blues nights and all that sort of thing. So we're going to build that up.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Our next plan, we had hoped, we almost got there this year, to have a music festival in the Memorial Park in Redhill. We got very close. Unfortunately, our time ran out. We didn't get enough funding in time. But we now have a year to get it ready for 2026. And so we're going to still do that. Fingers crossed, we're on our way to that.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
The other thing we want to do is we want a probably about 250, 300-seater music venue, grassroots music venue here in Redhill.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Well, first of all, we don't want to compete with the Harlequin. They're a different market. As a standing venue, the Harlequin, I believe, is 750 people. We're talking about half that size. So you need to get a bigger band in to get 750 people in. But you're after something a bit more grassroots. Yeah, a bit more grassroots. We've done calculations.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
I work with the Music Venue Trust, and I've seen lots of venues, and we think there's a good size, about 250 to 350, and if we can bring that to Red Hill, we'll get some good bands here. We won't get Oasis... but we will get the smaller bands on the national touring circuit.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Well, I mean, that's an important point. Our schools and colleges around here are creating bands. I mean, Disclosure, they went to Reigate College. They're one of the biggest dance bands in the world now. So we need to get those bands here... our local bands, and we need to get them somewhere to play.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We have two bands on tonight who are involved with Inspire Through Music, a charity up in Merstham, and they're playing for us tonight. It's their opportunity. They don't get opportunities locally. They have to go to London, they have to go to Brighton, If I want to go and see a band, I have to go to London, I go to Brighton. So we want to do that.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
But... Sorry, just to interrupt, that's a great response there, isn't it, to Rosanna?
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
Yeah, she's very good. I mean, it's the first time I've heard her, and she's doing some great songs up there. We've actually deliberately done the line-up tonight, so we have a... a singer just with backing tracks on iPad. We're then going to have a folk rock band who are going to do an acoustic set, and then we're going to have a full band. So that's how we're building the night tonight.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
But the full band, the last time I saw them was in the Feathers at Merstham, and they're on the floor, not on a stage, and only about 30 people in there. They've got 100 people to play to here. That's getting them a stage further. One thing I want to say about the venue, we want that venue to be a community venue. That's why we started this as a charity and not as a company.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We want it to be a community venue. We want the South Asian bands to come in. We want the Eastern Europeans to come in. We want to get people from all our community here in Redhill to have opportunity there. We want it to be more than just music as well. We want it to be a space... for performing arts. So we'd love to have Sajila with her comedy in the cottage. We haven't spoken to her yet.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
She's probably just finding out on this podcast. But we would like to see her doing comedy cottage in a venue, if we get one. We would like to see small children's theatres, smaller theatre productions in there. This venue is going to be for everyone. We'd like to see the community using the venue during the day for other things, you know, whatever that is. Even if it's yoga, it can be anything.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
But we want it to be for the community of Redhill and Merstham and Reigate and Earlswood and Salford and Woodhatch. Everybody here. We want it in the town centre here in Redhill because this is where the public transport is and all the connections for everywhere.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We're talking with a couple of places. This is going to be a very slow process, I expect. If something comes up and we can get involved with and create something for more than just us, that would be perfect. We're very conscious of the empty spaces around here. There's quite a few. There's some around by the light. There are bigger areas they could do.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
We've actually asked the Belfry, but they don't have any space at the minute. other than Marks & Spencer's, in which they don't let anybody go in because Marks won't let them.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
As a terrific space. It would be terrific, but I think that Belfry probably have some people who can pay them a bit more than us. But, you know, we have to be realistic. But, you know... I've seen venues all over the country. I've worked with venues all over the country. I genuinely believe we can have one here in Redhill. We can find the right space and we can get support from the council.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
And I'll be fair here, Richard Biggs is in the council. I've had several meetings with him. He's very helpful. He's trying to help us get going. We have a little Redhill arts group that we meet on a Friday, talk about this. It's slightly separate from the charity, but we meet on a Friday.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
and we have a councillor from the Lib Dems, we have a councillor from the Labour, we have a councillor from the Greens, and we have a councillor from the Conservatives joins us. So, you know, all our councillors around here are trying, and they're willing to see it happen.
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
I just want to welcome you all to our first Red Start The Mall sessions. This is something we hope to do quite a bit. We really appreciate the fact that the guys from the belfry have enabled us to do this, they've built this stage, they've sorted the lights out, they've given us power. Red Start Community is a charity that we've set up here in Redhill
The Planet Reigate Podcast
76: Redhill’s new new-music nights… and more
For the surrounding areas, that includes Merston, Earlswood, Salford, Woodhatch and Reigate. And our aim is to build a music scene here that Redhill used to have back in the day. Bands like The Cure were signed in Redhill. They played here eight, nine times back in the 70s. Bands like The Kinks and The Who played here. Simon and Garfunkel played here on his first tour.