Page 255 - WDT MAGAZINE IRELAND ISSUE WINTER 2018

Frank Zappa is one of several musicians
featured in a mural at The Clutha, a bar on
Stockwell Street where live bands play.
Bottom: Barrowland is one of Glasgow’s
most beloved music venues. After a fire in
1958, it was reopened in its current incar-
nation in 1960.

spent a further £1.8 million doing it up.
“It was falling to bits,” recalls Michael, who looks
a bit like a modern day saint himself, with his bushy
beard and collar-length hair topped by a grey knit hat.
“There were pigeons living in the wee church hall, and
holes in the ceiling. It was a mess.”
Now it’s racking up the accolades, having been
named Best Live Music Venue at the Glasgow Awards
2017 and Scottish Pub of the Year at the Scottish
Bar & Pub Awards 2017. Sigrid, the young Norwegian
singer-songwriter, and Evan Dando, formerly of The
Lemonheads, are just a couple of the acts to have
played at the intimate 780-person venue, where the
words “Still I Rise” are emblazoned near the rafters.
“That’s from a Maya Angelou poem. It’s about get-
ting this place out of the depths of despair, and it’s
our motto,” explains Michael, who believes that St.
Luke’s and The Winged Ox have played a significant
role in breathing new life into Glasgow’s East End.
“You wouldn’t have come down here five years ago; it
was just really rough,” he admits. “But now that we’ve
redone the place, a lot of new business have come in.
It’s made a big difference.”
He says that Glasgow as a whole has really come
up since it was named European City of Culture in
1990. “It’s changed a lot for the better, but it’s always
been a music city. It’s in our blood,” he says with a
smile. “I used to go to my grandparents’ house, and
we’d have a singalong every weekend.”
What if you can’t sing? I ask, envisioning babies who
cry out of key being adopted off to Glasgow’s friendly
rival, Edinburgh. “You sing anyway,” he grins. “You just
enjoy yourself.”
Speaking as someone whose singing makes
small children howl and big dogs growl, that sound
advice is music to my ears.

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