Avalanche in NYC @ Cake Shop
When I first mooted the idea of moving to the Grassmarket the immediate response from every band who had either been to the Cake Shop in New York or had ambition to play there was that we should look to them for inspiration. It seemed a little ambitious given they were a cake shop, record shop venue and bar but I certainly understood what they meant.
Fast forward two years and the comparison was starting to take shape. We had had a couple of successful “proper” gigs in the shop and the overwhelming vote for what we did with the shop’s space at the front was for a “proper” cafe. I’d realised that if we were to go down that route it had to be done as almost a separate venture rather than simply as an extra for customers as we had tried.
So you can imagine my surprise when who walks into the shop a month ago but Nick Bodor one of the owners of the Cake Shop and over here for a wedding with his Scottish wife. When he then says they are keen to work with Avalanche and he doesn’t even know our plans it seems just too good to be true !
So how will it work ? First of all to celebrate our new partnership there will be a split single with more to come on a regular basis. With a Cake Shop band on one side and an Avalanche band on the other it will immediately give any band chosen an international profile. Kept realistically limited it will be sure to be a success.
Nick was keen to have Avalanche nights in the Cake Shop and we will be looking at how we can get bands over to New York for this at a reasonable cost. Certainly with their extensive contacts Nick will make sure bands have a series of gigs to play once they make it over. Of course I will be happy to help New York bands coming over here. I’ve already had offers of sponsorship for free hotel accommodation so we just need to get the free flights !
Avalanche will provide the Cake Shop with sampler CDs of our favourite bands to play in the bar/shop and again with sponsorship these could be made available to their customers for free. On top of this Avalanche will have an area in the Cake Shop to promote and sell our best albums. It will give bands a genuine chance to put themselves in front of people looking for new music in one of the best places in New York for new music. I’ve long said that what bands need is new people to hear their music and then be able to buy it and this of course ticks both those boxes. We have other exciting ideas but I think you will agree that is enough for now !
Next – Cake Shop in Edinburgh