From eight people in a living room to Westminster Abbey, Sofar Sounds is exploring new heights

Sofar Sounds has a unique selling point: secret gigs in secret locations.

From its modest beginning in a living room in 2009 to now operating in over 200 cities, the music company has grown massively.

Like all business, and in particular the creative industry in general, Sofar Sounds was impacted by Covid but after returning to work in September 2021, the organisation has took off with an unexpected force.

“Trying to get people to come back to live music at the beginning was quite tricky,” Tiggy Taliadoros, the UK Artist Booker for Sofar Sounds tells Bristol24/7.

“But I think once the restrictions lifted, it kind of just like went into full mode. We’ve had some amazing alumni artists come back, as well as bringing in new artists. And we’ve had some really great partnerships with local tickets.

“2022 was a really sick year, we did shows in like Westminster Abbey, London Transport Museum, the Royal Naval College and then Tottenham sSadium. Hopefully we could do stuff like that in Bristol.”

The organisation has not only grown in London but it has also grown in Bristol with monthly shows becoming weekly events.

“I think in Bristol at the beginning, we were just doing like a small handful of shows and now we’ve increased it because of the demand. It went from five shows a month to two or three a week. It’s definitely exciting to be able to have more of an established kind of like space in the city,” Molly Davies, Sofar Sounds’ Show Experience Lead, tells us.

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With so many events each month, do they ever struggle with finding artists or venues?

“I probably book just under 100 shows a month. Everyone wants to perform in London and so many people travel to London, like from other cities, other countries. So finding London artists aren’t necessarily an issue,” Tiggy explains.

“We don’t just book three artists, there’s a curation to it, you know? So it’s about trying to find three different artists that can bring three different genres or styles, but that can flow and work well. Sometimes that can be the trickier thing but because Bristol isn’t too far from London, many artists are willing to travel.”

It’s a different aspect for venues with many of them applying through the Sofar Sounds website who want to host the event.

“The main things that I tend to look for is just whether it has enough space to comfortably host, at least 40, preferably 60 people. So you need quite a large living room to be able to do some shows, cozy shows tend to be more magical,” Molly tells us.

“With residential shows, we spend more time trying to fit more people in a room. Or we try to work with companies that are sort of independent and have an ethos in line with Sofar as well. So that could be independent co-working spaces, or hair salons, or clubhouses.

“I think the main thing that I like to look for is that old space that is particularly or inspiring. For example, the Bristol Harbor Hotel has a function room where the architecture is just stunning and every time we’ve been there, I can’t take my eyes off the ceiling so if you have like haunting artists singing, you can just sort of gaze up.”

The organisation like to keep the lineup and venue secrets for the audience. Ticket owners will receive an email with the location 36 hours before but you will not know who you’ll be watching until you arrive at the event.

Each show is planned three months in advance: “So I’ve been living in March,” Tiggy jokes as we speak on the phone during the first week of January.

Diversity, inclusivity and accessibility are at the forefront of both Tiggy and Molly’s mind when booking artists and finding venues.

“Particularly for artists, one of our main goals is to make sure that is as diverse as possible and that it’s inclusive for everybody. In terms of venues for disabilities, I think it depends, because unfortunately we can’t modify a space, but it’s something that we do look at when we go on our site visits,” Molly explains.

What goals do the two have for 2023?

“I have a personal goal for Bristol,” Molly says. “Obviously London has like a massive community of people and what I would like to do is further develop our links with the local scene community through running jam nights and events to help people explore their musical career. I think there’s such a wealth of knowledge within the Sofar network that it’s worth exploring!”

“I’m going to piggyback off the back of that,” Tiggy laughs. “In London we work with local community groups so I’d love to find those niche social impact groups in Bristol to kind of work and collaborate with is something that I would like to further broaden a little bit more going forward.”

Sofar Sounds had an amazing 2022, we can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeves for Bristol in 2023.

Main photo: Dave Reid

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