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 When
local band Chemical Sun were looking for places to play, drummer Scott
Howarth came across Hindley nightclub, Topspot. After a series of
successful gigs, things really took off for Scott when he joined forces
with an old school friend, Matt Nutter. Together, they formed Scutter
Promotions, and have since gone from strength to strength.
On the eve of their debut club night at Wigan’s Club Nirvana, The LINC sat
down to talk to the Scutter boys about the Wigan music scene, and their
biggest signing to date, the mighty Skindred.
How did you get into the business of promoting and putting bands on?
SCOTT:
It was an accident. I was looking for places to do gigs with my band and
stumbled across Topspot and said, “I wanna do a few gigs.”
So we did a gig and it went well because we did a sort of 8-band sort of
thing and then it just escalated from there. Down the line I met Matt who
I knew from school, and he said, “I wanna do some promoting.” So we
started doing the weekly thing at Topspot and then we started becoming
aware [of the music scene in Wigan] and started Scutter Promotions to take
it a bit further and get things rolling.
The band you were in was Chemical Sun?
SCOTT:
Yeah, Chemical Sun was the band yeah. That’s how we started. I was
managing my band and putting gigs on there. We’re still in that band, but
doing bog all with it.
Why did you decide to set up a proper promotions company rather than
just putting bands on?
MATT: It’s more professional, innit?
SCOTT: Yeah it’s like, any old joy can set up bands, but we wanted to try
and do a bit more. It was kind of a chance to see, to make something of
our own and for people to recognise us. It’s like, people go round and say
‘Oh yeah, I know Scott,” or “Yeah, I know Matt,” but we wanna be known
[collectively] as ‘Scutter.’ Like Dylan & Shaun are known as Lupine.
Why choose the name ‘Scutter’?
SCOTT: Well, it’s Scott and Nutter. There you go. It’s funny, everyone
says that:
“Is it Scooter?” “No, it’s Scutter” “But why?”
and then they’ll sit there and suddenly go “Oh ya, I get it now!”
Is it mainly Topspot and Nirvana where you’ll be putting on gigs?
MATT: Yeah, we have started putting on more gigs in other places though.
We did a gig in Leigh and we’ve got another one at the end of this month
on Monday 25th at Chicago Rock.
SCOTT: We’re tryna get our names out there. Like I said, anyone can put a
gig on, but with our stuff, we do the door, the nights, the lights, the
sound, we organise everything. That’s why we’re so knackered today, was up
late last night after a gig at Topspot.
So is the one at Nirvana the main like…
SCOTT: Oh yeah, yeah, that’s our new project. Our name got round to venues
and we got a phone call from Andy [Prescott, Club Nirvana owner] we had a
meeting and he said “I want you to do the nights for me.” So we agreed to
do them under Scutter. So it’s a new thing for us. We’re advertising it as
a club night because nobody else does a club night on a Saturday other
than here [The Tudor] so we just thought, if we do just a club night –with
bands - hopefully we’ll start to pull a few people in. But yeah, we’re
mainly working at Topspot and Nirvana, but we wanna branch out every now
and again.
Are there set nights at Topspot?
SCOTT: Yeah, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and then Saturdays at Nirvana.
They’re changing Topspot now to Thursdays and Sundays cos they’re putting
on an R&B night there. But there has always been one or two nights at
Topspot.
MATT: We wanna try and get at least one big band on a month at Nirvana.
We’ve got Uncle Brian in August, Skindred in September.
Do you two have set roles in Scutter?
SCOTT: I don’t know. We kind of just split it, but obviously somebody will
end up doing more than somebody else does. On the nights, he’ll DJ more
than me. Then I’ll say “Do you wanna mix for this band.” then it comes to
booking, and I’ll book someone and he’ll say “Well, what about this too?
When it comes to the night, everything is 50/50 all the way. All the way
through, just making posters, someone will design 'em, somebody gets 'em
printing etc.
So as long as everything gets done, it doesn’t matter who does it?
SCOTT: Yeah exactly. We both know what we want, so we both work together
and say to each other “this needs doing” and a week later, it’s done.
In Wigan there’s The ‘Collective, Lupine.. What makes Scutter
Promotions different?
MATT: I think we’re aiming higher.
SCOTT: The way I see it, is that the main promoter in Wigan is Lupine.
Personally, I mean, the ‘Collective do what they do and that’s fine.
Lupine does a very good job within Wigan but they promote a more melodic
side. I mean, they’re doing Fever on Mondays with all different genres,
but there’s never really been metal bands in Lupine. I mean, the
‘Collective put on metal bands, but you tend to find it’s the same bands
over and over. Yeah, there are a few new ones, but it’s rare.
Like Matt said, we’re aiming higher. Like, as soon as we got Nirvana we
said, “Right, let’s see who we can get.” So we started phoning round,
e-mailing, just try to get bigger bands.
I mean, at the end of the day, live music’s fine. Everyone likes live
music. And we were like, well, it's alright going watching local bands,
but it's not a touch on the good stuff, so we said ‘let’s get bands who we
like and see what happens.’
Dylan’s come up with a good strategy, he’s got Babyshambles on, and he’s
looking at getting Inme to play so he’s aiming higher now too. We came in
straight away and thought we’ve had local bands, we’ve got a lot of links
with local bands, but let’s push it. I mean, I pushed it in April at
Topspot, but that wasn’t the best place to do it. So then I thought, when
we got Nirvana, good venue, centre of Wigan, easy local access, so we just
throughout ‘Let’s go for it.’
I remember the last time I went to Topspot to watch Toxic Lemon, I was
thinking yeah it’s a good venue, but being that it’s in Hindley, it’s a
bit out of the way, but now you’ve got Nirvana, it’s almost the perfect
venue.
SCOTT: It’s so hard. Last night, we did well. We got 60-70 people, and
that’s a good crowd. I mean, you look at other venues, The ‘Collective,
it’s only a small venue and they do get people in which is great, but in
some ways it’s easy, because it’s a Saturday night, and in the centre of
Wigan. We’re on a weekday (In Topspot) and we’re out of Wigan, so it’s
getting them people in, and I think we do really well. The boss doesn’t
see it, he’s like, “Oh we could do with getting them numbers up” and I’m
like “Well, just be grateful we got sixty people in. That night you’re on
about [Toxic Lemon, Vegas Suicide, Jean is Dead] that was a busy night.
We started like, out of town band, see who’ll come. Then it was like, two
local bands and one out of town band and we’re just careful about how we
book.
Skindred are a massive band, even if you’re not into their music, you
know the name…
SCOTT: That’s it, it’s like taking it to the next step. You can listen to
local bands so much, you can go on a night out, but if you didn’t know any
bands, you probably wouldn’t go. It’s like with Uncle Brian and Whitmore
who we’ve booked, they may not be well known, but if you’re into punk, you
kinda recognise them. It’s like when Greenday played here [The Infamous
nativity scene gig] before Dookie, that was great, people went because it
was Greenday. And Mcfly, everyone went, just because it was Mcfly.
How did you get Skindred?
SCOTT: I just asked. I’ve got a generic e-mail to speak to local bands,
but with a bigger band like Skindred, I took my time and wrote about how I
feel about Skindred and one thing that sold it is that, I spoke to Benji
from Skindred and said “look, if I’m such a big fan, just think how well I
can promote it.”
That’s the same with Matt getting Uncle Brian.
How did it feel to get these two big bands?
MATT: It was a big thing. Like our big break.
SCOTT: Initially we weren’t gonna tell anybody about it. We booked
Whitmore and then Skindred and then it was like makes scared noise “Erm, I
told me mum.” We were tryna keep it in but then it’s like “WE ****** GOT
SKINDRED!!!” so... yeah.
It’s weird. You think about stuff when you’re little kid and think about
where you wanna be. Like I’ll go to a gig, and you just stand there and
think “I’ll get them on one day.” where as when I was a little kid it was
more like “Wow, wouldn’t it be mint if they played in my garage?”
I think him and me are gonna be dead goofy when they come though. But
we’re gonna try and be cool about it.
What do you reckon to the state of the scene in Wigan?
MATT: It’s improving. It’s gonna be massive when we’re finished with it!
Seriously though, Lupine give it a good name, the Haigh Festival gives it
a good name.
SCOTT: I’ve always listened to bands. But even when I was younger, it
still seems to be a band of a band. Like AWOL split up and all of a sudden
you get The Beat Poet, and The Corinthians have come out of that now.
Like, when I was younger, The Hyperjax were one of the biggest bands in
Wigan, and they’re still going now and it’s still the same tunes. I dunno,
it’s weird, it’s still getting better but it’s still…
MATT: It’s still, Manchester’s the top place for music.
SCOTT: I’m enjoying it more though with Dylan. I mean, he got Arthur
Brown! The god of hellfire! And I was like “**** me, Arthur Brown coming
to Wigan.”
It’s not just the Wigan Music Collective. I just think they do what they
do, which is putting bands on, but they don’t…But mind you, they have
started pushing bands like Bilge Pump…
Do you think that maybe something to do with Dylan setting the
standard?
SCOTT: Oh yeah, definitely. I mean, before the Collective there were very
few gigs, then they came in and they pumped themselves and booked
themselves up with local bands, and as soon as we started, that’s what we
did, but then you take a step back and have a look at it and think “do I
really want this?”.
You get a band in, and it’s your mates band, so you’re gonna think they’re
the muts nuts, but then Dylan stepped in.
Dylan brought Arthur Brown, The Vollunteers, The Stags. I mean, The Stags
are not massive, but I think they’re awesome, and The VCs are bringing a
good name to Wigan, and Moco have been signed…
They’ve definitely been signed now?
SCOTT: I think so anyway, I’m not sure. They’re all over the place aren’t
they? And then there’s Strain who have been underground for a while but
they’re going somewhere.
I think Strain have been on the verge for sometime...
SCOTT: Yeah, they’ve always been building it up. I’ve always looked at
them and thought “wow.” And then they played Topspot again last night and
they sounded amazing.
MATT: They’re going on tour in August with Mendeed.
SCOTT: I mean, they are sort of the ‘pioneers’ now. People say The Beat
Poet’s going somewhere, personally I don’t see it. Nice guys, supposedly.
I’ve not met them, but people tell me good things, but I don’t really get
into them personally.
Out of all the bands in Wigan knocking around now, who do you reckon
has got ‘it’.
SCOTT. I think Inglory [Formerly Aisle Seven], they seem to have been on
the verge for sometime too, they’re tight to listen to.
I mean, it’s clichéd, because that’s what everyone’s doing [The whole emo/screamo
genre] but it’s a good cliché and it works.
MATT: Not everyone agrees, but I think Car Crash Radio could do something.
If you could bring any band into Wigan, who would it be?
SCOTT: I’d bring Avenge Sevenfold. That’s who I’m really into a minute.
MATT: Any band?
SCOTT: Any band, dead or alive.
RACHEL: [Girl in the pub]: Queen!
SCOTT: They’re not even a…no, no. They don’t “rock it” for me.
MATT: I’d like to get NOFX at Wigan. I think people would like NOFX.
SCOTT: Can you imagine that? You see what you’ve done now!?! We’re gonna
be going home thinking, “hmm, let’s get NOFX!”
MATT: Hell is For Heroes or Hundred Reasons. So guys, if you read The
LINC, we wanna get you playing in Wigan.
SCOTT: I definitely wanna get Mendeed on again. They’ve toured with Avenge
Sevenfold, Bleeding Through, they’ve just done a European tour.
So now you’ve gone from putting on gigs at Topspot to booking out
Skindred at Nirvana, what’s in store for the future of Scutter? Where do
you reckon you’ll be in the next twelve months?
MATT: Bigger and better. Big bands in Wigan, that’s what I want.
SCOTT: It’s bringing a profile to Wigan. I said this to Andy [Prescott], I
see Dylan breaking, and going to JJB and putting Oasis on at JJB. With us,
we say we wanna put one big band a month. Our biggest band so far is
Skindred, but we really want to get Hell is for Heroes, and they’re bigger
than Skindred.
We’ve got The Fight in October, and they’re not that big, but they are
with underground kids who are into their music. I dunno, in twelve months,
I’d see us being more professional, owning an office, expanding with
people who work for us, even if it’s just a guy who works on the door or
whatever and becoming a well known name. It’s like you talk to people and
everybody knows Lupine, everyone. It’s like, you’re in the Tudor, and you
don’t know Dylan? What are you doin’!?! That’s what I want for us.
Why should people reading this come to a Scutter gig?
SCOTT: Because we do things differently. When you go to a gig, you’ll go
there, watch the bands, as soon as the bands finish, you’ll go home.
Now, I know it happens on a weeknight at Topspot, because at the end of
the night you’re like “**** I’ve got work in the morning.”
We keep entrance cheap, or what we think is acceptable. And throughout the
night, we don’t just have the bands, we DJ, and we say to people, if you
want a song, come and request it, and the speakers will be up, and I think
that’s what some people like. If I go to a gig, I wanna hear that, I wanna
be able to go, have a dance, whatever. At Fever, the band will finish and
someone will shout, “Get the Jukebox back on!” so it’s not a DJ, it’s just
a jukebox. At the ‘Collective, they say they have DJ’s on, but it’s not
loud, it’s not…I don’t even listen to the music in there, if it’s not loud
enough you can’t.
So, what you’re doing is putting on the sort of night you’d want to go
to and doing the sort of things you’d want to see.
SCOTT: Yeah, like, no doubt we’ll all be in Maximes tonight. Why do you go
out on a Friday night to Maximes? You go out to mingle…
[The interview descends into Scott & Matt promoting their new Saturday
night to the two girls we’re sat with]
[To the two girls] Are you going watching Skindred?
JANE [Girl in the pub]: Who’s Skindred?
Nevermind...
SCOTT: Yeah, so, as I was saying. You go to Maximes to mingle and listen
to music, and socialise. We’re going to Maximes tonight because that’s
just how we do it, and I see that and think, well, if you’ll do that, why
won’t you do it on a live band night?
Like, the thing when I was younger, I’d go out and I’d be in every pit and
I’d be drunk and then I’d go home happy. I go to a gig now, I miss the
support and I watch the last band, stand there have a pint or two and go
home.
That’s why I feel like, when you go to Topspot, as soon as we open them
doors, we blast the music and keep it flowing all night, nice and
friendly, I want to make it a night out. I feel that when you go watching
bands now, it’s not a night out it’s just that you go watching bands and
then go home.
That’s something we wanted to stay away from in Nirvana, so we did it as a
club night and said, “Right, as soon as the bands have finished, it’s your
requests and cheap booze till three in the morning.”
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