Fundraising album released to raise money for The Moon
David Owens
An album which will raise funds for those who have lost their jobs at recently closed Cardiff music venue The Moon has been released.
The 10 track ‘Live At The Moon Cardiff’ album is available to buy via Bandcamp – and as today is ‘Bandcamp Friday’ that means every penny from the sale of the album will go directly to the fundraiser.
When the grassroots venue, which has been at the forefront of the city’s music scene for many years, announced it was to close its doors for the final time there was a huge reaction from those who had attended shows at the much-loved venue on Womanby Street in Cardiff city centre.
Music fans rallied in support of the venue, and have so far donated more than £7,000 to its Staff and Freelancer Support Fund.
The Moon’s Ed Townend who worked as a technical manager, promoter and sound engineer at the venue explained how the album came together.
“As a sound engineer I have been recording every so often at The Moon for a few years now. Either for rehearsals, a live session during lockdown or just to capture a live show, I’ve kept these archived for a few years either to help teach sound engineers how to mix or just to mix for fun myself.
“When The Moon closed and we started the crowdfunder, I also wanted to find some way of building a bit more on it. I thought a compilation of some of the recordings would be my best bet, utilising the skills I have when I can’t mix in the venue any more.
“As I’ve gone through the tracks, it’s brought back a lot of memories and so has become quite a personal project. I’m thankful for all of the bands and artists who have contributed to the project and let me record them over the years.”
You can buy the album here… https://themooncardiff.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-moon-cardiff
Announcing its closure last month the venue posted a heartbreaking message on its website and social media channels detailing the issues it has faced, stating, ‘the burden of a cost of living crisis and the mounting costs of running a business where survival always runs on a knife edge have proven too difficult for us to continue.’
The news comes as grassroots venues across the UK face a constant fight for their survival, with an average of two venues a week closing.
Back in 2017 the venue closed its doors, but eventually reopened after staff launched a crowdfunding campaign to help them resurrect the much-loved live music venue.
Then a ‘Save Womanby Street’ march attended by thousands of music fans took to the streets of the city to protest at the closure of Dempseys pub (now Gareth Bale’s Elevens bar) and The Moon, as well as potential threats from a Wetherspoons Hotel, a noise complaint filed against Fuel Rock Bar, and a proposed seven-storey residential and commercial development next to Clwb Ifor Bach.
Fuel Rock Bar and Clwb Ifor Bach, are now the only two remaining music venues on Cardiff’s ‘music street’.
Reacting to the news of the closure of The Moon, Mark Davyd – the founder and CEO of Music Venue Trust told Nation Cymru: “Sadly, despite all the positive direction that government and industry seems now to be heading in, and everyone trying to get to grips with the challenges being faced by our grassroots music ecosystem, it isn’t happening fast enough to save vital spaces that are much loved and valued by their communities and essential to artists.
“The Moon is the perfect example of one of those spaces; incredibly important to local artists and music lovers, run by a dedicated and passionate team who have pulled out all the stops trying to keep the doors open, doing everything they could together as a community to keep music live.
“The external pressures on these venues cannot be met by these operators alone, and we must, urgently and without further delays, have a comprehensive action plan from the very top of the live music industry down to the very beginnings of people’s passion for live music that delivers real change and saves our venues from closure.
“We have consistently warned the Government that financial burdens from things like poorly conceived and delivered Business Rates was placing too much pressure on venues like the Moon. Not enough action has been taken quickly enough and now another venue has been lost. We’d like to thank the whole Moon team for everything they’ve done for music in Cardiff and for being such an active part of this community during incredibly tough times.”
You can donate to The Moon’s Staff and Freelancer Support Fund here: https://crowdfunder.co.uk/p/support-the-moon-cardiffs-staff
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More needs to be done to protect these precious venues, especially in the music Quarter of Cardiff.
Small gigs are a multi million pound industry for Cymru, assisted properly now, would ensure that our performing arts industry is strong in years to come.