Maker Sessions

Huge news! The first annual heritage exhibition opens tomorrow in The Garrison Gallery and Patchwork Studios 🌞 Celebrating the birth of the Maker community, from the first days of the festivals right through to the closure of the Random Arms. Take a nostalgic trip into immersive exhibits, with some of the Maker greats providing entertainment all weekend. Here's what's on...

Thursday 7pm: The exhibition launches in Garrison Gallery, with complimentary drinks, alongside this month's intimate Candlelit Session with Alex Hart band and Ollie Dixon. Limited tickets still available for the latter from Patchwork Studios page.

Friday from 11am: Exhibits open across both spaces, with Maker Memories films rolling on the big screen. From 7pm, MC Vegas & DJ XL perform Gert Biggun tunes celebrating 50 years of hip-hop. Plus support from the venerable Jo Phillips! Free entry all night, Garrison cocktails at the ready!

Saturday from 11am: Exhibits open again, with more films of the past 25 years. That evening the venue hosts touring rock behmoths October Drift & China Bears, tickets only £7.50 in advance! Free in the gallery, Maker legend Joe Scott will be in Random Corner behind the ol' robin reliant DJ booth...

Sunday at 2pm: A free screening of the original Snow White community pantomime, seating for first 50 arrivals! 90 mins long with interlude, please don't be late! Afterwards, more amazing Maker heritage DJs will be seeing in the sunset in style 🌞

Thanks to Rame Conservation Trust, there's so much more happening on site too for all ages to get involved with this weekend, as part of Heritage Open Days. Come on up the hill!♥️

Sunshine greetings to all 🌞 Our friends over at The Garrison Gallery are pulling together a local exhibition celebrating the birth and journey of our creative Maker community; from the first years of Maker Festival, right through to our doors closing at the end of that nostalgic era...

If any of you lovely lot have ANY photos or video footage (digital or otherwise) that you're able to dig out and share, it would really contribute to representing the rich tapestry of community activities that have helped shaped Maker Heights over the last quarter century. If not, please help share this post far and wide to find those camera-wielding memory collectors 📸

The deadline for submissions is two weeks time, please email [email protected] for more info. The exhibition launches 14/09 with a full weekend of Maker music and arts, put it in your diaries! Massive thanks in advance for your time and support; we miss you all 🌞

Relief aid delivery to Ukraine, organized by Peter Dunstone Hi my name is Pete Dunstone myself and two others are driving in convoy to Lublin and t… Peter Dunstone needs your support for Relief aid delivery to Ukraine

The people of Maker are ready to hold peace talks with developers

Maker Music and Arts: Press Release 15th March 2018

It is with very heavy hearts that we, the directors of Maker Music and Arts, must announce the closure of the much loved Random Arms and Energy Room.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has supported us and been part of this wonderful musical adventure at Maker.

We began this venture over fifteen years ago in the early days of the Maker Project supporting young musicians to develop their craft in the delapidated run down buildings. During the glory years of the Maker Sunshine Festival the spaces were revamped and improved year by year and became fondly known as the ‘Random Arms and Energy Room.’ We hosted a wide range of live acts and effectively became ‘the festival bar that never closed!’

As the success of the venue grew Maker Music and Arts CIC was founded to manage the space. The formidable team of Frodo Brooks, Pete Dunstone, Will Rogers and Joe Scott each brought practical, musical and organisational skills to the party and boy did we have some parties!

The Random Arms and Energy Room has gone on to become a highly regarded community run grassroots live music venue and bar of local, regional and national importance. We are proud to have supported a great many emerging artists who have gone on to develop their musical careers. In addition we have played host to countless talented performers from a wide range of genres at our regular events, including open mic nights, theatre, comedy and spoken word.

Maker’s importance to the bands and artists of Devon and Cornwall is huge. Most of the music performed is written by the musicians themselves so through its closure performers, young and old, are losing out on the inspiration and support of a venue such as ours to hone their craft to a live audience.

Why are we closing? Quite frankly it is because Evolving Places Ltd, a commercial development company, have bought the buildings we operate in and have demonstrated no interest in working collaboratively with us in supporting live music and creative education within our community.

We hope that the Rame Conservation Trust and/or Evolving Places will recognise the value of what Maker Music and Arts has contributed culturally to the region and will find it in their hearts to work with us in the future.
We would love to continue enabling live music and performance at Maker, whether on a long term secure and affordable lease or through an option to raise the money to buy the venue.

Here are some comments from a few of our thousands of supporters:

Oli James, Artist and Tour Manager (Ben Howard, RyX, Example): “The Random Arms created something completely unique. It is one of the most thriving grassroots venues I have ever come across and the whole community will suffer creatively with its loss. I hope something can still rise out of its ashes”.

Dawn French: “It would be a massive tragedy to lose this remarkable venue, vital for live music in Cornwall”.

Phoenix Elleschild, Haunt the Woods,: “It is the most important place in my life,” he says. “I couldn’t bear to think about what the next generation would do without it.”

Art Malik: “The energy in that room was incredible, just brilliant. If you were to put that venue in central London or New York people would absolutely love it. And it’s essential to the local community, I really, really hope it continues”

Context links - https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/plymouths-music-venues-disappearing-must-1218640

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/people-maker-ready-hold-peace-1301684 =sharebar_facebook

plymouthherald.co.uk Eviction-threatened musicians, artists and celebrities are ready to sit down with the very people trying to turf them out - as they reveal how the beauty spot has touched their lives

Plymouth's music venues are disappearing - so we MUST save Maker

Music is probably this country’s biggest industry and export. The main stream musicians we know and love all began in ‘grass roots’ live music venues like the Random Arms and Energy Room at Maker. Losing these venues will be a long term loss to us all...
Please support your local venue wherever you are.

plymouthherald.co.uk Clare Robinson bemoans the loss of some of the city's favourite live music venues - and hopes the Random Arms and Energy Room at Maker Heights won't be the next to vanish

Just one of the many talents that keep your Sessions running and music at Maker alive. It's easy to forget that behind every party, every festival, every raucous night of fun and frolicking, there's a strong team of passionate and insanely creative people running around making sure you have the best time possible. Here's to them, and here's to many more Sessions to come ❤️

~In Residence – Musician Profile~

It’s an old adage that if you choose a job you love, it will never feel like work. We can only assume this must be true for Tom Ogilvie - a man who lives and breathes music like his life depends on it. Not only does he work full time for the record manufacturer DMS Vinyl, but he’s also the bassist in Land of the Giants (a Southwest based band that has gained a massive fan-base touring all over the UK and Europe, though he counts Glastonbury as his favorite to date.) Add to the list that Tom pioneered and has booked the Maker Sessions for the last 5 years, AND also happens to be the director of the Maker-with-Rame CIC, and has about 10 other projects up his sleeve at any given moment- just ask him. It’s rare to meet a young person with so much get up and go - so much so, that this interview had to be sprung on him at a recent social gathering or we may not have gotten it at all! The full live interview was a whopping 40 minutes long and almost a tragedy to cut, but we’ve gathered the highlights for you here. ☺

1. *Tell us a little bit about what it is you do in your studio/space up at Maker?

Tom: My studio at Maker has been many things over the years. In previous versions it’s been a builder’s store, a gallery (more recently), and is soon to become a recording studio, and more. But for the most part it’s always been a practice space for whatever band I’m in and whatever music project I’ve been doing over the years. Since my folks and I renovated it a couple of years ago it’s been open for other bands to rehearse as well. Anyone within the community, or anyone at all - especially any young bands that have grown out of their parent’s garage and maybe have nowhere to go to practice - can just approach us.

2. Do you have any specific projects you're working on at the moment? Tell us about it.

Tom: Well there are one or ten projects in the pipeline right now. When we originally renovated the studio, we actually split it in half, and the remaining half continued as the builder’s store while the other went on to be the practice studio. We’re now working with Joshua Owen Elleschild and Will Rogers (of Patchwork Studios) to renovate the old store into the control room for the recording studio to move into. So next door we’ll have the practice studio, which will double up as a live room for recording, and next door again in the bottom of the Soldier’s quarters (which is currently being renovated) we’re going to create the Patchwork Lounge. This space will be another live room for the recording studio, and another practise space for bands, but more importantly will be open for a variety of community uses besides. We will have some speakers set up, beanbags and cushions dotted around, the intention is for Maker Memories to have a place to continue to document local music through their 'Live at the Barracks' project, which Josh and Will have already been heavily involved with the live audio production side of.

3. What role do you see your studio/spaces playing in the wider community?

Tom: The concept behind Patchwork Lounge isn’t complicated, but it is multifaceted. Yes it’s a recording studio. And yes it’s another practise space to support all the amazing talent out there, but it's also an open space for all those with a music-based project in mind to use. This could be anyone from schools and music teachers, and host workshops or even musical therapy sessions, we haven't even considered every possibility yet but we're fully open to any and all ideas and proposals. You know, Rosie French has renovated her pod in the Nissen Huts for Awenek Studio CIC that’s this amazing community art space, and the thing we’re missing in the RCT-owned buildings at Maker is a community music space. We intend to support the Random Arms and Energy Room, in no way will it be in competition as the spaces couldn't be more different, but one area that we would like to pick up the torch on is reviving the Youth Music Club which was originally created by Will Rogers and Pete Dunstone many years ago. That’s how me and many of my friends in this area ultimately came to play instruments. It’s important to nurture the younger generation and give them the space and the tools to explore their creative interests and realize their potential. We live in a massively creative area (it’s been said there’s something in the water) but if we don’t help people harness their potential, then we’re missing a trick.

4. Can you share a special memory about Maker?

Tom: I remember the various gigs I did there as a kid, and the Maker Sunshine Festival was an amazing way that young bands were heavily supported. The first gig we played was actually at one of the bunkers over in the camping field during the festival. We were playing on the command centre and there were maybe 20 people watching us from their tents probably thinking “who are these little kids and what are they doing making noise at us at 2 o’clock in the afternoon…” but we smashed out some covers like ‘Sweet Home Alabama’ and it was great. The band was basically a bunch of twelve year olds playing at this festival. At that time, it was massive to us. And then about 4 years later, with Hillside Heroes, we were put on the second stage with a great time slot. It gave us a crowd and the confidence to feel like we could really pursue music as a career. The thing is, those memories from playing when I was 12 and again when I was 16, and then again in my 20’s, and then coming back from traveling and helping book bands for the festival, and being a part of the management, then pioneering the Maker Sessions themselves, and then my band (Land of the Giants) playing at what was [at the time] the last ever Maker Session and the sheer energy of that night- that kind of life cycle in it’s entirety is amazing to look back on.

5. What does Maker mean to you?

Tom: I see Maker as one of the cornerstones of the Rame Peninsula, and what makes it so unique. And it’s not a cornerstone for everyone – some people might just pass it by- but they have to appreciate that what it is IS special in different ways for a load of other people, even if the reasons aren’t always tangible. To me, its geographic location is also quite synonymous with its social location. It’s a meeting place. It’s somewhere people on the peninsula, or anywhere else, can come and just be themselves and meet loads of other people that also feel very much at home and able to be themselves. It doesn’t matter who you are where you’re from – you can go to Maker and just meet on a level that removes all pretences. Words I associate with Maker are community, inclusiveness, creativity, lasting friendships - you can connect on a level that’s so far removed from what you would expect in a modern society. And you can connect in a multi generational sense as well- it’s quite common to see 3 generations of family all up there, enjoying a drink and some amazing live music together.

6. What do you want the wider community to understand about Maker Heights?

Tom: There are so few places left like this in the country – they’re closing down all over. Most people of the Rame Peninsula may see Maker and not even realize how important it is to the way they SEE the Rame Peninsula, and the things that keep them there until it’s gone. It’s the heart of the community. Yes, it may be the heart of the CREATIVE community of the peninsula, but the creative community is a HUGE part of what it is to be here. So many people don’t realize that. You walk by and see a piece of art – an amazing sculpture of a fish made of plastic cleaned off the beaches (by members of the Rame Peninsula Beach Care) and you go ‘hang on – these people are artists, who also care about the environment, who clean up our beaches, and they do something with that stuff and display it back to you’ – many people will just walk by and think ‘that’s nice – it’s nice that there’s a shop here that sells hand made gifts, and there are clean beaches’…but if you took away all the people who DO the arts, music, comedy, beach care, woodland care, and put on events in the area - These are all the same people fighting to keep Maker alive – without them there would be very little. It wouldn’t be long before younger generations would stop living here, and then it would fall.

The moment younger generations leave here, this place is doomed to be a holiday town. And Maker is the main thing that keeps these generations coming back. Whether it’s through jobs, enjoyment of going to an evening of entertainment, the camaraderie and nostalgia- they’ll come all the way home from Bristol and London just for a gig at Maker and to see their friends and family, just to support what’s going on at home because it means so much to them. And many of those same people who have moved away still envision themselves coming back one day and raising their families here, because the community is so strong, and they want their children to be brought up with the same exposure, experiences, and opportunities they had – but they wouldn’t come back if it weren’t for the fact that this rare community exists. The community needs to stay strong because in the age we live in – and with holiday homes on the rise – they may not even be able to buy a house in the ever-growing competitive housing market – so there has to be SOMETHING that draws them back here or the whole community will be lost within a few generations. To me and to a huge amount of people, that’s what Maker is. It’s a lifeline and a way to keep younger generations coming back and keep the community alive. *

Couldn’t have said it better ourselves, Tom.

-To check out music from Land of the Giants: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBD2qJKvj1c

-If you’d like to enquire about booking Tom’s studio for your next practice, you can email him at: [email protected]

-To buy a copy of the Maker Tapes Album (produced by DMS Vinyl and featuring the song "Holy Funk" by Land of the Giants) click here → https://makerwithramecic.bandcamp.com/album/the-maker-tapes

Andrew

Anyone?

I found a mobile phone today, possibly left by a volunteer clearing the brambles etc.
I don't want to switch it on right now as it is wet, but if anyone lost a mobile phone there recently then contact me by pm

The venerable Dom Moore Photo opened his studio in the Barrack building up to all during the Giants Session earlier this month, here's what went down. Get tagging!

Merry Christmas one and all x

What say you good folk? You got one more in you? It's still unclear if we're able to carry on as a community pub and grassroots venue next year, but you can be damn sure we plan to party like it's the end of the world regardless.

With festival strength party bands, the funkiest DJs in the land and a pretty plethora of other such treats to take your fancy, Maker is THE place to be to see in 2018. Earlybird tickets on sale now at tinyurl.com/makernye x

The moment we've all been waiting for - look how good you all looked last weekend! Dom Moore Photo did an incredible job of capturing all of your amazing efforts with your costumes. Take a peek and tag up anyone you know 👻

Happy Halloween! Another set of beautiful photos from the latest Maker Sessions on the weekend. Big thanks to Dom Moore Photo for capturing the essence of such an amazing night, and to The Cabarats, The Gin Bowlers, Sikada, resident DJ Lewis and of course all you lovely lot for making such valiant efforts with your costumes. Tag 'em up! Studio photos to follow 🌞