Gavin looking to bring the live back into Wolverhampton
A Wolverhampton music producer is continuing with his quest to 'bring Wolverhampton's night life to the forefront' by hosting the latest live music night at a popular city venue.
'Magic Garden Live' is a monthly event which has been running at The Clarendon Hotel, Chapel Ash since before Christmas and which uses Gavin Monaghan's contacts to bring top acts to the venue.
Mr Monaghan has run the Wolverhampton based Magic Garden Recording Studios in a former nail factory for 35 years where countless acts have recorded – two of the current crop are in this week's charts.
He has also worked with Robert Plant and Celine Dion, seen his own music featured in Peaky Blinders and Austin Powers and been awarded over 30 gold and platinum albums during his career.
But he wants to bring people away from Birmingham and into Wolverhampton by putting on live gigs at The Clarendon, which has had a makeshift stage built for the event which started in November.
Wolverhampton born music star Beverley Knight recently spoke out about how she was ‘immensely annoyed’ at the state of Wolverhampton city centre.
Gavin admits a cold Friday night in Wolverhampton is not guaranteed to have pulling power on the surface, but that the first of the Magic Garden nights had been very well received and it was a case of diversifying and bringing in bands from across the West Midlands and beyond.
He said: "Of the bands we have on Friday, Unit 47 are from Telford, The Mucks from Coventry and Shortwave a mixture of members from Wolverhampton and Birmingham so we are trying to bring a following from outside the city rather than just have acts from here, though of course they are very welcome
"The first night was very successful we had 80 or so people in a small room at the Clarendon enjoying the music, having a great time and spending money in Wolverhampton which can only be good for the city. It is a great venue and Tina who runs it has been very supportive, even going to the trouble of having the stage built.
"I have been running the studio for 35 years and it has always been about getting acts from other areas as well as ones from the city, they have come from far and wide. Over those years I have had to diversify to keep up with trends in the music industry but we are doing well and I am determined to build up the live scene as well."
Tickets for the Clarendon Hotel event are £10 on the door or available in advance fromwww.skiddle.com/whats-on/Wolverhampton/Clarendon-Hotel/Magic-Garden-Live-Presents/37176052/
