Remembering ‘the little club with the big reputation’
Posted 30th October 2024It was a place that pulled people from all over the country, and it was on our doorstep. Now, its story is being put to the screen with the new Living Archive documentary, The Pitz, One Day Like This.
Pitz club devotee Sammy Jones spoke with the man who made the music happen, promoter Chris Kemp.
For those of us who were waiting stage front to devour the sounds, The Pitz was a magical place that took the buzz bands from the pages of the magazines and placed them within spitting distance.
More often than not they rocked our world and, over time, those shows provided us with a bank of memories that we still pull from with alarming regularity, when you consider some of those Pitz highlights were more than 30 years ago.
Perhaps rather oddly, The Pitz music club was housed at the Woughton Centre, and what served as the gig venue by night was, by day, a rather more sedate school hall.
Chris Kemp was the man at the helm, the promoter responsible for bringing more than 3000 acts to its stage during his time holding the reins.
Now, a new documentary, The Pitz – One Day Like This, shines a light on those rowdy, lively and brilliantly expressive days. It’s been a long time coming.
“The idea for it first came to me when I was leaving the Pitz,” Chris told me.
He had been headhunted for a role which would have put him firmly in the mix as a big promoter nationally: “I had been scouted to become the agent for Pearl Jam, Tori Amos and other bands for Rod MacSween at ITB booking agency.
“On being asked, I took a step back and thought about the great opportunity this afforded but then reconsidered my future. After giving it some thought, I decided to go into education to give back to the industry what it had given me.
“It was a major crossroads in my life as it meant starting again in an alien world.
“After 30 years working in education, but still alongside the music industry, I started my own successful business in the events industry again and worked a lot from home in Milton Keynes, which reignited the spark for the film.
“I decided the story still needed telling before the memory of the amazing venue just became lost in time.”
The Pitz was a 400 capacity hall, but one that delivered the crème de la crème of metal and thrash bands. The Pitz crew wore t-shirts which accurately called the venue ‘the little club with the big reputation.’ Among 100s of shows this young rock fan attended, was a date in the company of the mighty Iron Maiden, when they played under the not-very-cryptic name of The Holy Smokers, in a nod to their single release at that time.
That Maiden show – which saw the band bring their iconic mascot Eddie to the stage – was a highlight for Chris, understandably, but there were many more: “Standing at the side of the stage when Babes in Toyland caused an incredible moshing mayhem was something else,” he remembered, “For the first time I thought, ‘I did that.’
“Meeting Mike Keneally from Frank Zappa’s Band backstage during the Z show was another highlight; I rarely set foot in the greenroom and chatting with him about literature and film was a really great time.”
Thrash-metallers Acid Reign were a regular favourite who would park up the bus at the venue on their UK tours, and always played to an avid crowd.
Frontman H recalled: “The Pitz was just kind of special, also the irony of the title is the that most of the places we played were the f***ing Pitz … ramshackle venues which we loved, but then you’d get to The Pitz and it was a modern venue…”
We’ve had an early peek at the documentary, which pulls open the curtain and the memory box on those many hot, sweaty, noisy nights. It’s a warm trip down memory lane.
“It has to be now or it will never come out and no one will know what it was and what they missed,” Chris believes, “With so many venues struggling we have to show that it can be done, but also that it takes blood, sweat and tears.
“This film is for those who were there and who saw the most incredible venue and club become such a key place to play on the major touring circuit – and saw it happen in such a short amount of time.
“I have found so much out recently from those interviewed for the film that I didn’t know before; like how bands would reduce their fee for us because every band wanted to play our venue. Stories like that are amazing.
“This documentary is also for those who were part of it after I left and those who heard about it but were never lucky enough to sample its brilliance. It was never about me,” he says, generously, “It was about the community – especially the rock and heavy metal community, you came along and you belonged.”
Those of us who were there in any guise; as audience members, bands, security, centre workers, roadies…we all knew about the pull of The Pitz. But how do you explain its allure to those who weren’t lucky enough to experience it first hand?
“It was fun, full of people like myself who others thought were misfits,” Chris thinks, “We weren’t misfits, we just loved music, and especially metal. The anticipation before the show, the camaraderie, the looks of astonishment. The reaction of the bands, the pieces written about it in the music press. It was the perfect storm and we were all part of it,” Chris says, with his passion for the place clearly intact, “For some it defined their childhoods, others relived their childhoods and mainly it was about a good time which was cheap and amazing.”
Running the venue came with many trials and tribulations too, and for Chris that involved ‘fighting against authority, and fighting against the stigma of rock and metal in a new town,’ and “convincing people it would work and going against the powers that be to constantly prove them wrong.”
Chris did prove them wrong, while creating a venue that could hold its own as one of the leading national venues of the type.
A place where rock and roll dreams came true just a few hours after the school bell signalled the end of the learning day.
“The best thing about running the venue? Meeting so many amazing but ordinary people and getting to play five-a-side with bands I never thought I would see, let alone play on the pitch with, and of course working with the faithful crew.”
There were plenty of crazy moments too: a band allegedly defecating in the showers after a squabble about payment, and another band tipping chilli con carne into the resident piano, and that’s just for starters.
Blur were banned after launching a guitar into the crowd – which promptly connected with the head of one punter, and when PJ Harvey played, she was superb, although her set was just 18 minutes long!
Frank Zappa’s sons had received death threats and took no chances – employing an armed guard with a submachine gun to keep watch outside the green room, and Deep Purple frontman Ian Gillan ran onstage in his slippers, before realising his error and heading backstage to pop his boots on!
But the worst part of running the venue?
“That’ll be the egos of the pop and indie stars,” Chris smiled, remembering the dramas, “What a bunch of arses we sometimes had to deal with – especially fallen 70s and 80s pop stars who believed they were still megastars but were just spoilt brats making life hard for us.
“Anyone who demands one brand of water and won’t go on stage unless they get it needs their head examining!”
The Pitz – One Day Like This will air in early 2025.