BEING in an un-signed band can be incredibly frustrating at times, with promoters often more interested in how many tickets you can sell for them rather than what type of band you are or whether you are any good or not. Meanwhile there are plenty of venues that seem solely interested in getting as much money as possible out of the people who turn up, rather than actually putting on a good night, and act like they are doing you a massive favour in letting you play (usually for nothing) in the first place.

This will often lead to bands playing to the same people they have managed to drag down, as ‘promoters’ haven’t pushed the gig themselves, whilst the others bands that are on the bill are sat in the pub next door with the people they have managed to drag down because they have nothing in common with you musically and the drinks are half the price.

However, despite the closure of a few live music venues over the last few months, there are plenty of reasons to feel positive about the music scene in Liverpool at the moment. One of them is the re-opening of the much loved venue The Lomax, a place that actually seems to like music and the bands that play there, and does its best to keep drinks prices low. Another is the emergence of promoters such as Lazy Genius, Boss Magazine and now Snub, who, rather than randomly booking bands to play and give them a batch of tickets to sell, put effort into creating nights that music fans will enjoy and return to.

Snub – a promotion team which has emerged from the ashes of The Masque – is hosting a three night festival over four days this weekend at The Lomax which has something for most music fans. Thursday night is metal night featuring Oceanis, Hollow Dreams, The Day will Come, Scare Tactics and Hope Against Hope. I must admit to not being completely au-fait with the Liverpool metal scene, but Oceanis in particular sound like everything you would want from a metal band; loud, ferocious and containing a shirtless front man, whilst Hollow Dreams are much admired by people who know more about this sort of thing than I do and have a singer with an impossibly deep voice. Five bands will set you back the princely sum of £2, so no excuses if you are a fan of that sort of thing.

Much more in my comfort zone is a Friday night of Indie and Alternative music from some of the most exciting bands in Liverpool. Headlining are much hyped The Temps, who sound like Joy Division with an edge and are nothing like anyone else around at the moment. They bring an impossible amount of energy to their live show. I feel exhausted just watching them, and you’ll soon realise what all that hype is about. Also playing are White Heat, The Fall of Kings and, friends of The Anfield Wrap, The Last Gambados. £3 is all you’ll need to get in, which is cheap to see just one of the above bands play never mind all four.

After a Saturday night to recover, Sunday night is rock night. Dark, yet surprisingly tuneful and highly impressive Always the Quiet Ones headline, supported by Vintage rock band The Guardians, horribly young and talented We Were Beautiful and Arkaidence, who play prog and whose name I have checked I’ve spelt right fifteen times.  It’s £2 in, or the price of a glass of coke in Mojo.

If successful, Snub plan on running monthly events and want to branch out into nights featuring Electro, Punk, Rap and anything else that music fans of Liverpool want to hear. If you want to keep in touch with what they are doing, or you are in a band who want to play future shows you can get in touch on Facebook or Twitter at:
https://www.facebook.com/snublomax or  www.twitter.com/SnubTwo