Festival of Hobbies - Putting on Live Music (Featuring Laura Holmes of Buds and Spawn)

“It’s something that is separate from my 9-to-5 and something that is just for me to explore and push the boundaries”

Laura Holmes is the General Manager of Third Angel, a theatre company based here at Harland Works. Third Angel are a registered charity, regularly funded by the Arts Council, and Laura explains that the job is a perfect fit for her.  “I’ve been at Third Angel for about a year. I’ve done all sorts of jobs in the past, mainly in the voluntary sector. This is my first job in theatre, although I’ve worked in the arts before. This is a particularly lovely one. I've really landed on my feet. I'm quite happy doing the boring spreadsheet stuff - for something that’s exciting and that’s exactly what that is. It really makes a difference”.

But Laura’s hobby is something completely different. Something that draws both on a life-long love of music and a methodical and creative mindset honed expertly during her working life.

Laura explains, “My hobby is live music events programming, promotion and organisation. I run a company called Buds and Spawn in Sheffield that focuses on putting on live gigs for the sort of music you wouldn’t normally get to see anywhere else. It’s something that is separate from my 9-to-5 and something that is just for me to explore and push the boundaries”.

Buds and Spawn is, according to Laura’s website: “For lovers of the weird and wonky, punky and proggy, choppy changey, twisty turny, off kilter, psychedelic, experimental, math / alt / art / just plain awkward”.

So, what does it take to dedicate your time to organising live music events to showcase the truly left-field? I asked Laura and she laughs; “I am the sort of person that always needs something to keep my brain busy. If I haven't got a project on the go, then I’m looking for a project or a hobby. I'm a trustee of Ignite Imaginations, a community arts charity based in Sheffield. I do a lot of things that look like work, but that I don’t get paid for, because that’s just the way that my brain works”.

“I’ve always been a music obsessive and I enjoy bands that are a bit different, artists that play around with time signature or really experiment with melodies. It’s still music, but it can be quite interesting and challenging to listen to”

It seems the ingredients were always there; but it wasn’t until 2016 that Laura considered that promoting and organising live events might be something she wanted to do more regularly. “Until recently I was involved with arts organisation NotWork 23, and got the opportunity to start programming some of the bands that I really loved for their Festival 23 in 2016. It wasn’t originally a music festival, it was very multidisciplinary. There were lots of talks and visual stuff mainly. Eventually we realised that running a festival as a hobby was absolute madness - we’ve all got families and it was just too much. So it got scaled back and the stuff that I loved, the music side of it, faded into the background a little bit”. 

Laura continues, “After that I started to think about what I’d done there and the connections I’d made and the music that I loved. The live band stuff that I did there was quite weird and quite niche and that’s what I enjoy and wanted to see more of. I have lots of different pockets of music that I’m into. I’ve always been a music obsessive and I enjoy bands that are a bit different, artists that play around with time signature or really experiment with melodies. It’s still music, but it can be quite interesting and challenging to listen to. That’s how I got into it really, and discovered a real love for it. Even from around the year 2000 though, I was putting on DJ nights in Sheffield and I’d done loads of events and promotion stuff for other jobs and so the two just seemed to go hand in hand”.

And so from Festival 23 in 2016, Laura started a journey that led eventually to the the birth of Buds and Spawn, a project that was entirely hers.

“I’ve done various bits and bobs of music promotion, but this venture is the first one that is just mine. And that feels great. I’m very clear about what I want this to be and I can apply that to the events themselves. There are so many benefits to working as part of a large team on something creative, but there are also a lot of downsides. I found in the past I was doing a disproportionate amount of the admin side of things, because I’m good at it. Eventually you find that you’re just underpinning everyone else’s artistic vision and you’ve somehow got lost along the way. So this means a lot to me”

The nature of the music itself presents challenges. When you’re putting on music that is outside of the status quo and often by emergent artists, it can be difficult to get the word out to the appropriate audiences. Laura explains: “I’ve done two gigs so far both of those have been at Sheffield’s Cafe Totem. They’ve done okay but it’s gonna take a bit of time to build up. Because of the styles of music I’m putting on, it’s really difficult to find and market to the correct audience. The plan is to hold my nerve, keep going and grow the base of followers really. A couple of people each time just to grow the pool - hopefully this time next year, I should be able to have something that’s sustainable”.

“It’s also really difficult to get a lot of these artists to tour outside of London, because they know that it can be challenging to get the audience numbers, I’m hoping that as I grow the brand, I can get people to come out and try something new that they maybe haven't heard before”

Although Buds and Spawn and live music promotion is something that takes up a lot of Laura’s time, it is apparent speaking with her that it is a labour of love.

“It’s 100% a hobby at the moment and that’s fine with me. The thing that separates this from a business venture is that I know that the market is fairly limited. It wasn’t that I saw a gap in the market but that I wanted to provide something that I would enjoy and that was a bit different. While it’s not a business, the goal really is to get to a point where it’s not costing me any money, which it is at the moment. I’ve recently put a bid into the arts council, as they have some money that is ring-fenced for grassroots live music. If I was to get that, it could at least go from a hobby into a real short-term project.”

“Sheffield has loads of amazing spaces, especially DIY spaces in more recent years”

Laura also is an advocate for the positive impacts that hobbies can have on your mental health - and the mental health of those around you. She quips, “It’s definitely good for my husband's mental health! If I’m not doing something creative, I’m always looking around for a new project. I’ve accepted this element of my personality now, that I need this focus and something to be working on. Even on the walk to and from work, stuff will be going on in my head. I’ll be trying to change something or fix something. It’s nice to have a project that is just mine that I know I can work on”.

“I also think it’s really good for my kids to see. Jobs, of course, mean nothing to them at their age - they know we go out and come home but in terms of what we actually do, they have no idea. But for them to see me actually doing something that I’m so passionate about, having ideas and following them through, producing leaflets and bringing the musicians round to the house...I think that gives them a broader idea of what they could be doing as they get older and there are options on offer for projects like this.”

So what’s next for Laura and Buds and Spawn? Well, it seems that the goal is to start exploring fresh ways for exciting new music to reach the audience it deserves.

“I want to grow the follower base and start to explore more venue options. Sheffield has loads of amazing spaces, especially DIY spaces in more recent years. I’m looking for spaces that have a bit of imagination and would really add something to the experience. Places like Theatre Deli, Abbeydale Picture House and Bishop’s House - they are really inspiring venues and I’d love to organise something in those sorts of places. Fingers crossed for the funding!”

You can visit the Buds and Spawn website here. Keep your eyes peeled for new gigs, music and events in 2020!