The Kashmir Klub
The Kashmir Klub was a unique, non-profit making, live music club housed in the basement of a Restaurant and Bar called "Fabrizio" at the "Baker and Oven" located at No 6 Nottingham Place, central London, England. It was open from 1997 to 2003.
The club was started in November 1997 by musician Tony Moore to provide a different approach to discovering, developing and promoting the best signed and unsigned artists available, and to create a "fertile, creative and spontaneous" atmosphere. The name was inspired by the Led Zeppelin track "Kashmir". Moore loved the track and also the band. He said "It seemed to me that Led Zeppelin covered nearly every genre of music in their time, from Rock to Acoustic. So I thought "The Kashmir Klub" would be perfect."
Concept
The principles involved were simple but radically different from anything that had been done before.
There was no money involved. No one paid an entrance fee, no artists were paid for their performance, or had to pay to play, and the organisers were not paid a wage for doing it.
The equipment was first class and the sound was almost Hi-Fi in quality. The equipment in the club was sponsored and given by commercial companies. These included Allen and Heath (mixing desk) - Celestion (speakers) - LA Audio (signal processing) - Focusrite - Mad Manufacturing (lighting) - Yamaha (digital grand piano and Stage Custom drum kit) - Line 6 (Flextone combo) - Sennheiser (microphones) MC2 (power amps) and others.
The audience were part of the show. Everyone was made to feel welcome and involved. There was also a strict "No talking during the music" policy which, unlike most venues, was completely successful.
Operation
Originally open on Tuesday nights, the Kashmir Klub proved an immediate hit; the club became a regular fixture Tuesday through Friday nights, as well as occasional Monday and Saturday evenings for special events. It quickly became known as London's most innovative live music venue, and was described by The Sunday Times in 2000 as "the coolest club in town."
On Tuesday, January 25, 2000 The Kashmir Klub, in conjunction with BMI, also began a monthly webcast showcase of BMI writers and artists live from London.
By maintaining a reputation for quality in all things and making sure the sound was always excellent, the club often had famous artists ‘drop in’ and play unannounced. These included Sheryl Crow, Belinda Carlisle, Kiki Dee, Jona Lewie, Ron Sexsmith, Nik Kershaw, Barry Mason (author of Delilah) Jerry Jeff Walker (writer of Mr Bojangles), Jim Lauderdale, Skip Ewing (one of the top Nashville song writers), Annabel Lamb, Marie-Claire D'Ubaldo (writer of Falling Into You for Celine Dion), Chris Difford (writer and singer from Squeeze), Nick Heyward, Greg Jones (USA), Muse, Chip Taylor (writer of Wild Thing), Reg Presley (of The Troggs and author of love is all around), Marcella Detroit, Mick Fleetwood, Patti Layne and others.
Closure
The club finally closed on Saturday 17 May 2003, when the building was repossessed for redevelopment. Tony Moore continues to run a similar live music venue at The Bedford, a pub in Balham, south London. In 2004 other members of the Kashmir team opened 4 Sticks Live at The Cobden Members Club, a private club in west London.