‘You might go to a show at the Windmill, fall in love and end up with a tattoo’

Charlie Steen has played a lot of ‘strange’ venues in his time.

The lead singer of the post-punk band Shame credits the band’s rise to fame with open mic nights in the London grassroots music scene, where the band would perform alongside acts such as ‘a married hippy couple with a tambourine and a flute.’

But one venue has captured the heart of the south Londoner – which is none other than the Windmill in Brixton.

Speaking inside the venue, Charlie told Metro he doesn’t know ‘where we would be without the community’ who gave them ‘love and support.’

Shame formed in 2014 by five mates in their mid-teens – Charlie, Eddie Green, Sean Coyle-Smith, Josh Finerty and Charlie Forbes.

After playing in pubs like the Queen’s Head in Brixton, the band rose in popularity with their debut album Songs of Praise in 2018 and tracks ‘One Rizla’ and ‘Concrete.’

Charlie has joined the likes of Billy Bragg and Skunk Anansie to voice his support for London’s grassroots scene as part of the launch of the London Grassroots Music Tube Map.

The map is part of a new campaign that Metro has launched alongside the Mayor of London, Transport for London and organisations including the Music Venue Trust, Featured Artist Coalition, Outernet and Universal Music.

It will be screened for a month at the Outernet London, the largest digital exhibition space in Europe. The interactive display of the map will be shown in the Arcade space, which links the nightclub to The Lower Third grassroots music venue on Denmark Street.

Charlie, who hails from south London, praised the now-closed Queen’s Head, where he sneaked in as a 15-year-old to see bands such as King Krule and Childhood, and the Windmill for allowing them to practice for free and hold their gigs.

Named after the nearby historic flour mill, the Windmill Brixton sits on a quaint road of Blenheim Gardens in the bustling London neighbourhood. It was voted London’s third best music venue in a 2012 Time Out poll.

Bands like Bloc Party, The Vaccines and Hot Chip have played there and it has been a breeding ground for new punk and rock talent since the 1990s, such as Fat White Family and Black Midi.

Windmill’s booker Tim Perry described it as ‘a classic dive bar’ that hosts live music every night of the week.

Tim said: ‘We’re very proud of being south London and we try to be good to bands from the area and somewhere they can come and play at short notice, play a lot and with each gig their confidence grows and they get better.

‘The music industry really needs to look into its grassroots, and not just grassroots venues, but right down into how we’re getting eight-year-old kids into music.’

Venues like the Windmill are always buzzing with creatives of all kinds, enabling an ecosystem where people find each other in the heady mix of live tunes, sticky floors and smoke machines.

Charlie said: ‘When we came to the Windmill, this was the first place we were given the opportunity to put on our own nights. It worked perfectly.

‘When we would go and do open mic nights in independent pubs and venues over London, we would always be paired with something that was a little bit strange – like a married hippy couple with a tambourine and a flute – and we would go on to play to no one.

He said the community wasn’t driven by ‘any fame or any kind of achievement, apart from doing what you loved and having a deep passion for it, and that was the like-mindedness of the people.’

Charlie continued: ‘I can’t imagine without the community we had around us being where we would be today.

‘There have been a lot of people who didn’t need to go out of their way to help, but they did, and they helped not only us but so many other people.

‘It’s the selflessness that a lot of people in this community have and just a willingness to help you for the love of it.

‘We just had the mentality that we just want to play.’

And they played – a lot and ‘anywhere’ they could, including a hat-trick of three gigs in one night.

Charlie said: ‘We had the idea to do three gigs – one in central London, one in east London and one in south London, where we’d finish it. We got a coach and anyone who’s bought a ticket for all three shows could come on the coach with us.

‘It was just a real laugh. The shows weren’t any good, but it was just a lot of fun.

‘We always wanted to try something new and push ourselves. I don’t remember much of that night, but it was fun.’

As teenagers, finding their home in the grassroots scene was eye-opening for the band, who were exposed to ‘all flavours’ of life.

‘The venues had people who seem to be like-minded in some way, in type of style of clothing, music, and mentality, which I hadn’t really been exposed that much because I was still in school, where people are insecure and only want to wear logo-branded hoodies and not show much of an identity or individualism, Charlie said. ‘And this was the opposite of that.’

‘There was a lack of judgment in these environments, and that was so important.’

But venues, many of which closed down during the coronavirus pandemic, could do with more support, Charlie said.

He criticised the pressure that gentrification was putting on venues that are part of the London DNA, while people are being ‘forced out’ by luxury developments.

‘I’ve just come from Brixton Hill Studios, which is a very important place because there aren’t many places to practice either,’ he said.

‘It feels like space is getting smaller – even though f****** things are being built left, right and centre, it seems everything else is getting crowded and people are not able to find these spaces.’

He said grassroots venues are ‘massively important’ in cultivating ‘something good’ for the future.

‘It is about the continuation of people having a good time, inspiring people and being able to escape into a safe environment where they feel good and inspired and passionate, and I don’t think you can ever undervalue that,’ Charlie said.

‘You might go to a show and you might hate it or love it, meet someone who’s going to be your partner in the future, you might end up with a tattoo, you might get something out of it. Even if you don’t enjoy it, at least we’ve learned that.

‘Always be open to new experiences, and it’s important for the soul sometimes to go out and have fun.’

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