Music / Venue of the Month
Venue of the Month: Friendly Records
North Street has grown exponentially with cafes, restaurants, shops and venues some of the best in Bristol.
Friendly Records is part of the North Street day and night life. In the day, it is a warm and cosy record and coffee shop.
The shop transitions into a music venue at night, enjoying a wide range of artists from Bristol and beyond. The site was expanded at the end of 2018 to open up the space into a venue.
is needed now More than ever
It is on the site of local legend, the ‘poet butcher’ of Bedminster, and retains original tiled walls, decorative glass and A.D Collard signage outside from its days as a butchers before becoming another Bedminster institution – the antique shop of Michael & Rachel’s.
Friendly Records is on the site of the old butchery. photo: Bristol Archives catalogue
Benny Dart who co-runs Friendly Records and is the lead programmer tells Bristol24/7: “For the musical and wider listening community, it can mean many different things – to some it’s a weekend drinking spot with an eclectic range of Friendly friends spinning their records on the turntables.
“To others it’s the fortnightly Wednesday traditional folk session or Chops, the weekly new material comedy club or, and I really like this, as Bedminster’s musical front room for explorative improvised music, jazz & chamber folk music.”
In between the regular comedy club, folk nights and the afternoon Ambient Cafe (first Saturday of the month – tabletop synth experiments with chess, knitting and reading encouraged), the venues most consistent run was almost weekly for the Autumn programme.
The venue was just beginning to take off when Covid hit however it has overcome such challenges with the help of some musician friends.
” The chamber folk duo JOW encouragement and championing has been invaluable since their performance in spring 2022,” Benny tells us.
“For me the final week for the year showed how far the space had come in 2022 – three shows of improvised music including organising one within ten days (thank you Agnete).
“A double set from drums and saxophone free jazz duo Brace who launched their brilliant debut album on the Thursday, Friday afternoon saw improvised vocal royalty with Phil Minton amongst travelling musicians from Bristol, London and Copenhagen and the week was rounded off on the Sunday evening with the wonderful drawn minimalism of violinist Tom Connolly.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeIRQ_P8jXE
The venue is eager to keep their shows as accesible as possible with many of the events either free or £5 and, in most case, all of the money going to the artists.
Friendly Records is first and foremost a space for musicians and lovers of music alike.
“As a devoted attendee of music across the city for over a decade now, it’s a real honour to provide a further space and voice to such a diverse and energetic scene.”
With the programmer of the venue such a music enthuasist, it’s no wonder the venue is drawing the eyes of people across the city, the UK and beyond.
Keep up to date with the venue via their Instagram.
Main photo: Benny Dart
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