The Return of Live Music Now Under Threat!

With the whole world battling a pandemic that has lasted well over two years now, the return of live music bands was a small step towards some bit of normalcy that the U.K hadn’t seen in quite a while; but with the ranging omricon variant of covid-19 now threatening another looming lockdown The Hillingdon Herald’s Timothy Otieno explores the concerns live bands and event organizers are facing.

The 'Well Seasoned' night club in Harefield, Hillingdon signage of the night’s show

It is hot, stuffy and overcrowded at the Well Seasoned night club in down town London. Sweaty revelers have gathered here to jam to the latest that a Peruvian band named “The Whippy Jam” has to offer. The women sway their hips from left to right and the men glare adoringly nodding their heads in tandem with The Whippy Jam’s lead drummer Luca Huvenko, 41, who has been a professional at his craft for over 23 years now.

'The Whippy Jam' band, led by Luca Huvenko (in pink apron), plays for a live audience

He arrived in London in 1997 as a teenage boy. Education is what brought him to the U.K, he tells me, but music kept him here instead. He started the band from a friend’s garage in West Drayton, Hillingdon just a year after he arrived into the country. Now, Mr Huvenko plays about three shows every week. “I used to do at least nine shows a week with some venues having me perform twice in a day,” says Luca, “but since the pandemic hit in early 2020, I consider it even a blessing just to still be having a gig to play these days.”

The Well Seasoned club in Harefield, Hillingdon borough where Luca’s band is playing, just recently reopened after months of closure due to the pandemic. The owner, Kenyan-born Britain-based Kwame Otiende, 38, was almost giving up on a business he initiated nearly a decade ago. “I started out as a musician but I quickly realized that I was not very good at it,” says Mr Otiende, “that is when I ventured into art spaces and started several night clubs.”

He now owns three joints across London including The Jago located in Dalston and a night club at Peckham Levels in Peckham. Well Seasoned was actually a parking garage that was about to be sold off to a private developer to construct residential houses until Kwame successfully led a group of young artists to demonstrate against the privatisation of the premises in efforts towards saving creative spaces in London. The story is the same for The Jago restaurant and bar in Dalston that was sold to Kwame and refurbished into an artistic space for musicians and bands to play.

Kwame Otiende (centre) mingles freely with revelers at his night club in London

His three ventures are just a small fraction in a bigger pool of players in the UK’s entertainment industry totaling close to 40,000 bars and restaurants in the country (37,544 as at 2019 according to statista.com). But experts believe the numbers may have drastically reduced due to the coronavirus pandemic. The “stay at home” directive issued to the public on 23rd March 2020 by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in effect led to a lockdown that would last more than ten months and in its wake result in at least 571,000 job losses according to a research document tabled at the House of Commons on 20th December 2021 seen by The Hillingdon Herald.

60% of the jobs lost were in the hospitality and entertainment industries which were adversely affected by the closure of venues and cancellation of events. “Business truly began picking up in August this year,” says Mr Otiende, “I used to make about £60,000 across all my night clubs pre-pandemic. Now I get between £15,000 and £20,000 on a good weekend.”

It’s a drop in sales that could get even worse if another lockdown is to be announced due to a resurgence of the coronavirus under the new omricon variant. (At the time of this publication) the UK has reported 39,923 new infections of this strain of Covid-19 since the first case emerged in South Africa more than a month ago. The country has seen its worst numbers of new infection in a day with more than 10,000 new Omicron cases having been reported in the UK in the highest increase so far.

“I honestly do not want a lockdown,” says Mr Huvenko, “I’m struggling to make a living from my art. If Boris Johnson locks us up again then it’s over for me.” The same concern cuts across to night club owner Kwama Otiende who says he had to reduce the number of employees working across his three restaurants from 60 to just 19. “Another lockdown means more job cuts for me, unfortunately” reveals Mr Otiende.

Reveler Rosio Chacon, 38, has been coming to Well Seasoned for the last 5 years. “It’s my favourite place because I get to listen to different live bands each week” says Ms Chacon. “But if this new variant is as deadly as it looks to be, I’d rather we have tighter safety measures put in place” she adds.

Rosio Chacon at the 'Well Seasoned'

Van Banter, 25, whom we find sipping some cold beer, believes a lockdown will not be the silver bullet to this problem. “I’m into live music but come on!!! Lock downs don’t work! We’ve tried that before and still people died,” he says “honestly, we’ve had enough of that. I love the night life and it’s my responsibility to remain safe out here, not the governments.” Van Banter during the interview at 'Well Seasoned'

Clip of my trip to 'Well Seasoned' night club in London

https://video.wixstatic.com/video/679b8c_6d6a1c569ce34c45a9f62005bb155bed/1080p/mp4/file.mp4