Reaching Metric’s full potential

If you are old enough to remember dB’s (the club before Metric) then you’ll probably conjure up images of a dingy, dark club that was falling to pieces and famously unpopular outside of Wednesday sports’ nights. The room wasn’t particularly great with the tiny bar hidden away at the back and a sideways stage that meant no-one could stand in front of it, and the rest of the room couldn’t really hear properly. For DJs it was fine, and for band nights it was okay, and in the last few years the Union’s multi-million redevelopment has seen it transform into Metric, but I’m not convinced it’s living up to its full potential.

The Union has a good history of attracting some big names. Previous Summer Balls have included the Noisettes, Chase and Status, Plan B, and Laura Marling. We’ve had Pendulum, the New Young Pony Club, and if you go back far enough and add a pinch of salt, even Queen! Big Union events have come hand-in-hand with big names (sometimes adding to the financial failure), and there are a handful of student organised nights throughout the term, but where is the middle ground?

In my mind, the irony is that Metric was supposed to be better... it was supposed to be an improvement [of dB's]

You might ask whether there is a desire for live bands at Imperial, with many people choosing to avoid the Union for their nights out, instead favouring the plethora of other clubs out in London. But decent bands have so much more to offer than that particular DJ’s latest music fad, played to the max in a room so dark you can’t see whether it’s your snakebite or someone else’s drink that you’ve spilt until you slip on the polished concrete floor and it seeps into the newly formed crack in your head. The atmosphere in a packed out Metric and diversity of music from a good selection of bands is sure to tickle everyone’s fancy, it may not be your favourite ‘take your bra off and attempt to make love to them on-stage’ boy band group but would you expect that at Imperial (and would you want it?). Last year’s Summer Ball proved that people aren’t willing to pay through the nose for their own mini private festival, but surely there must be a happy medium where it’s affordable and enjoyable?

But there’s more to live entertainments than your standard five-piece band. Once upon a time, back in 2010, Isy Suttie (aka “Dobby” from Peep Show) did her stand-up show to a packed dB’s, her intriguing mix of acoustic musical stand-up was popular, witty, and went down well amongst the crowd. But to my knowledge, this hasn’t been tested out in our new venue, the basement feel of Metric surely must make it ideal for stand-up, hell why not combine comedy and live music?

It’s unfortunate than Metric suffers from the building it’s surrounded by, the irregular narrowing at the Western end forces the stage to be abnormally small, smaller than its predecessor, the PA design has had its teething problems but it’s still a vast improvement on its former self. However, it’s still very possible to run successful events, as proved by Jazz & Rock, who run regular Jam Nights, Felix Music Nights, and Guitar Soc, who host Open-Mic nights, but these very successful events are still relatively ad hoc, the booking process is hazy and fraught with obstacles, and limited to particular slots (We Are Metric: Thursday & Saturday).

In my mind, the irony is that Metric was supposed to be better for this, it was supposed to be an improvement! During Metric’s construction I remember conversations with the then Union General Manager were so hopeful towards a bright and happy future for Metric, with named and up-coming bands performing regularly and students contributing towards its success. That vision of building up a vibrant live music scene at Imperial seems a long way off, building up a fan base and interested clientele can be difficult, but many of the student run events have been recently born and continue to thrive.

One might argue that there is a financial risk from hiring in bands, and while true it is worth remembering that the costs of renovating Metric still needs to be recouped over the coming years; large festival headline acts probably aren’t going to make it their new home, but we can’t compete with that so why would we try? Students want to come to the Union for a cheap, fun night out, but the same thing each week will only attract people who just want to get bladdered in a dark room (I’ve done this, but not weekly); the Union seems stuck in its old ways still, and I think variety would get profits.

The student input into Metric so far seems to be on the up, and events such as ‘Heal These Wounds’ Album Launch and ‘Diggidy Dawg’ Felix Music Night are on over the next two weekends, and Summer Ball, the biggest event of the year, soon after. So why can’t all these great events and proven ideas be brought together into an accessible and well advertised Friday/Saturday night music scene, mixing acoustic, comedy, live bands, open-mic, and then the classic cheese/drum and bass/dub-step/trance... Why shouldn’t there be something good on at the Union every week; that was what was meant to be! Something to tease in the punters to spend even more of their precious pennies on lemonades and ice teas, scrape back some of the recent losses and provide top-notch entertainment at the same time.