The Glasgow Podcast: 10 years of music at Saint Luke's

GlasgowWorld

Owner Michael Woods explains how Saint Luke's became one of Glasgow's coolest music venues and a neighbourhood bar in the last decade

Transcript

00:00hello and welcome to a new episode of the glasgow podcast we're off to the east end for our latest

00:11chat about the city we paid a visit to st luke's the music venue and bar celebrating 10 years

00:17in the carlton this month it's a chance to find out more about their remarkable story

00:22and changes to the area over the last decade join us as we meet owner michael woods

00:30hello we're at st luke's i'm joined by michael woods and it's 10 years since uh st luke's and

00:41the wing docks opened up here at the carlton michael when you think back to the start what

00:47was the when was the first time you saw this building and thought it might be something

00:52oh god uh 2010 my brother took me around here uh to have a look at this never said a word to me

01:00come around to this building come out to see it and he says look uh this place is available

01:05what do you think i'm like took one look at it and like that's nah what are you talking about you

01:11have to read uh so in the building and fell in love with it instantly so it was just as soon as we

01:17getting to see that it had to be so but what we're going to do with it at that time no idea it was

01:22just a let's do this and we'll make something up basically you know so yeah yeah bye did the music

01:28venue side of it was that what what came first did you think you wanted to do a bar side of thing or

01:35do you think you wanted to do the music venue yeah it was a long process so i'm not having my friends

01:41minding the trade so i showed them the building and there's no one thing this place thing but a good

01:45venue good bar and it was just basically a venue bar restaurant so all came together yeah one kind of

01:53plan so it was um hi it was a big ask it's true i mean once you'd actually got through the the work

02:02i remember i still remember the first time i came through and saw the the main hall um and it's so

02:10atmospheric and the fact that that exists because you know there's a maybe a slight of a discorrect

02:15in terms of like a really impressive building you could drive past this and lots of people walk

02:20past this for years and don't really notice it but once you come inside there's a whole different

02:24world right oh definitely it's i mean it's starting inside uh when we took over it was still a working

02:28church so the pews were everywhere i mean it was it was a mess right enough i mean there's pigeons

02:34living next door holes in the ceiling uh and outside it was just a absolute disrepair

02:39so you would walk past it and don't matter what the state of that place you know but uh but what

02:44has changed in you is it's unreal it's so atmospheric it's beautiful you've been in many a times yeah

02:50and then so the the the the main venue itself has become a staple of glasgow's music scene

02:59you've also had weddings there including my own yes uh and then the bar the wing docks which kind

03:05of had a life of its own and the thing that i like about the wing docks um is as much as it's you

03:11know like there's people who come up here there's destination dining there's people come up here and

03:15they go in here they maybe go before a gig or something like that i like the fact that it's

03:19basically a local for the people of the carlton oh and that's what you created right

03:23so definitely that was part of the biggest plan as well uh this area was really down here at the

03:28time there was only a few razors here it was it was bird's bath uh there's hoops was still there

03:35so nobody was the emerald uh eastenders squirrel which is still there right enough at the moment

03:43so there was that was only kind of bars that was down here so it was very put towards football crowns and

03:50it just wasn't right so about this area needed i think it needed a good place where you can come

03:56family place yeah dinner and have everything that basically you know part of the community

04:01to come in and enjoy the this beautiful thing yeah church when i when i lived up in dennison that was

04:07one one of the things you'd come in and i choose tonight you see like entire basically entire families

04:12in for uh dinner on a few pints uh that that sense of community that's important to

04:19you and important to your family as well that connection to this area yeah my dad had a plumbing

04:24company around the corner on tobago street so we worked in this area since i was six even younger

04:30than that i would think you know so my grandfather worked around the corner on parney street so there

04:35was a big connection area and i've always worked here myself growing up so a lot of friends a lot of

04:39family members so it's very very important to have that community side there can you remember

04:45the first gig that you had next door what was that like the first gig that would have been

04:50baby strange i think played the first gig it was fun when i've had a 10th party of all night and

04:56the chap at a baby strange done the first song so it was a weird 10 years can remember that you know

05:01but i have to remember that first gig i was absolutely buzzing with it and stressed and you name it you

05:07know there must be a real breakthrough moment having you know like reclaimed that space for glasgow and

05:12then seeing all the people coming in i mean that's one of my most favorite things about this this

05:17building the merry games we've had you come in here and you see people having a brilliant time you

05:22know what i mean it's just it makes me so happy you see people's faces and smiling and jumping about

05:27and sweating and i think you i mean you spend a bit of time kind of like talking to the artists and

05:35stuff like that but i certainly get the sense that this is a venue that musicians really enjoy

05:41because it is so atmospheric oh i mean we get it all the time every every musician that comes in

05:46here has not been in here yet but when can you play this can you get us in can you fit us in here

05:50and it's it's hard to fit them in yeah but uh even for the big artists it's the top down it's

05:56they love it i've never had a bad word cared about the venue i know you liked your music you still do

06:02but you know like in terms of like folk that you remember from growing up like damon alburn and stuff

06:07like that the same people like that play your venue is that a good feeling that was that was

06:12crazy eh i mean sitting there having a beer in the green room like so nice to talk to you

06:16about alburn here i used to sit and watch them at school you know it's it's crazy i remember a

06:21pal of mine just popped into here for a pizza and the next minute bez from the capy mondays was

06:26wondering about buying people pints and tenants it all happens right it's nuts i remember as well

06:32steve cradock for ocean color scene he was in doing a gig and the two of them on the back and

06:37he was just jamming songs to me having a few beers and i thought this is crazy this was kind of at the

06:42start as well so it was uh pretty much not saying no way but it's it's amazing i can sit and have

06:48that experience with these people yeah i absolutely love it 10 years in now um i was in for dinner the

06:54other night and you've kind of it seems like you've gone full circle almost back to the original

06:59concept which was there's a lot of kind of like americana influences and comfort food and

07:04and then you've got the smoker menu tell me a bit about the food and drink that you like

07:08here at the moment yeah well the smoke menu we're doing at the moment is changing up every week yeah

07:14we wanted to do that at the start it was very difficult it was not a big scene when we first opened

07:19up so trying to push that smoked barbecue scene in glasgow at the time was tough so again the menu

07:25evolved to sort of customers going through the years then and it's a full circle we've got these

07:32fantastic smokers at the back and people are really keen to get into this kind of cooking so yeah it's

07:37it's it's pretty pretty good and it's super tasty you tried it yourself yeah i've been i've been writing

07:44about glasgow for 10 years this month as well and one of the big things one of the big changes

07:51that you can point to over the last decade is is definitely around this area not just in terms of

07:58you know that the streets look better there's there's there's a real energy now around the

08:02bars but the amount of food and drink businesses that have opened up do you feel that this area is

08:07is reconnected with the city center like the rest of the city oh definitely 100 it's uh we first moved

08:14in we were the first people you can open up as a as an established brand restaurant you know so it's um

08:19the changes have been a little bit holly fook up up in the corner bad uh van winkles the gate 226

08:26and for that for us to have this in the past 10 years it's good to see 10 minutes walk through the

08:31city center so it's apparently the mergers and city city center kind of side i feel yeah but still

08:36we stand do you have any uh do you have any particularly really strong memories of like great gigs that you've

08:42enjoyed oh many oh geez but i can remember them really okay thundercat was amazing they were they

08:51were supporting uh red hot chili peppers and the the guy got cancelled at the bellahousen right we got

08:57a phone call up at 10 o'clock in the morning said you can fit thundercat in here tonight i'm like aye easy

09:03so that was it i had to go and pick the guys up to one day was her garden so i did it in the back of

09:08the car and playing other music at the back of the car it was brilliant yeah that that gig was just kind

09:14of uh just surprising as you know so it was a fantastic gig uh who else has been brilliant ghostface

09:22killer the wu-tang clan he was unreal yeah yeah the party in the back after that was not to be discussed

09:29it was a bit wild but um i've just been so many people know bam was the brilliant one louis

09:36capel was first ever again yeah that was amazing yeah too many to mean yeah but aye that's that's a few

09:42of them in terms of the music is very important to classical i think it's very important to the way

09:49that we define ourselves it's one of our chosen ways of expression expressing ourselves and

09:55do you think it's important that we can protect that you know like we we can't take it for granted

10:02the fact that that we're very good at this you know like we need to invest that we need to make

10:06it a place that bands feel that they can come here and live and that people that can play and do you

10:12feel very close to that yes oh 100 i mean glasgow is a music city i mean every bar you're going to

10:17it's very music led and it's it's always been a scene in glasgow and a lot of people don't know that in the uk

10:22and out of the world you know to the amount it should be uh but i definitely uh music is key for

10:29this side especially this area the bar lands bad than us yeah it's like we can a beautiful week

10:34quarter it should be it should be embellished and aye it's um it's very important to me it's soul

10:41for this this area yeah when you think of like a decade of gigs and what your team's managed to be

10:48able to establish here i mean it's quite an achievement really to to build something from

10:55nothing into something that's a really important and vibrant part of the music you see when you're

10:59very proud of all the efforts of your your guy that's really nice to see either the guy i mean

11:04it wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the team we've gone twice

11:07yeah i mean with uh alexander which is who's a operation manager for everything he's absolutely

11:13amazing he's he loves the place but i love the place yeah allison who does our events he does

11:18our wedding so you know very well as well these people really care about the business and care about

11:23what they're trying to create so it's creating if you had the chance to book any musician to play on your

11:32stage who do you think you'd go for i don't know for tough questions oasis might be around next

11:36i might be he might get a wee uh acoustic gig i would love to get some more i mean i mean i'd

11:42know like an acoustic thing in here it'd be it'd be unreal oh yeah i might have to wait 20 years

11:48aye i don't do it well you've done the general doctor a few years ago didn't he

11:52yeah but uh i would i there's just so many i would love to get in here you know it's uh but i just

11:57said all the other bands love it so i don't think it'd be a tough ask or a deal breaker to come here

12:02and you know yeah all right well best luck for the next decade thank you thank you make it cheers

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