There are few people who live and breathe Nottingham’s vibrant music scene quite like Sam Heaton. From his own ambient rock band Eyre Llew being one of the city’s greatest exports, to a stint in charge of Rough Trade’s events, as well as independently booking and promoting local artists for the last two decades too, his fingerprints have been on a lot of the city’s musical successes. Earlier this year though, he took on a tough new challenge – transforming Saltbox from a little-known sports bar into a versatile 500-person capacity music venue and events space.
To find out more, we sat down with Sam to chat about his first seven months running the venue, the hurdles he’s had to overcome in that time, and what he has planned for the venue and his band in 2025…
You took over the management of Saltbox back in April, having previously been at Rough Trade. The changes and improvements to the venue can be seen already, it seems to have quickly become a key part of the local music scene. What’s been your ethos as you’ve built up the venue?
I’ve always been really interested in helping different local bands and promoters over the nearly two decades I’ve been booking professionally, so it’s just been leaning into that really. What we’ve seen is not just a big local calendar but, because of the size of the venue, we’re also getting all sorts of (national/international) agents and promoters wanting to use the space as well, because there’s not many others like it in the city that have the availability like we do.
In my first month here, I think we booked in something crazy like 92 shows in three weeks! So, we’ve seen phenomenal demand for a venue like this, and we’re doing everything from craft nights for seventy people seated, to movie nights for 100-120 people, to gigs where we’re having 200-300 people.
We’ve also got things like big Q&A events. Stuff like that is in my blood having worked at Rough Trade for four years. I really enjoy those because it’s something different for the music scene. It isn’t a direct clash with other venues, so there’s a space to have that as well around what other venues are doing. So, I’m keen to carry on doing those kinds of events.
And we’ve got some club nights booked in with like 600 tickets sold – I’ve got mild anxiety about how I’m going to handle that! But we’re so appreciative of it, because those kinds of things keep our venue alive - and I wholeheartedly believe you have to support the local scene as well as the national touring circuit. It starts local, so a lot of what I’m doing is offering local supports out from the Nottingham music scene. It’s tough for bands to get on support slots these days, so I’m booking in headliners then offering two supports for these shows. I love that we can do that.
You’ve mentioned the different types of events you’ve got coming up – one of the key selling points of the venue seems to be that it’s such a versatile space. What have been the biggest challenges when shifting Saltbox from a pre-Panthers game spot to more of a regular live music venue and nightclub?
Every type of infrastructure you need in a music venue has had to be introduced over this year – that for me has probably been the toughest challenge. Making things happen so it can function as a music venue is achievable for me, it’s just trying to find the time and delegate enough to people around me that can spare resources basically.
I started here May 1st and my challenge then was that I was coming into this blank canvas. It didn’t have a “What’s On” section on the website, and the website was pretty much dysfunctional anyway. We had to start that conversation of having a new website, with that you then open a can of worms, which is should we then also have a rebrand, do we redecorate the place, do we have to hire in a team to facilitate that? So, kind of everything really.
When I first started here it was previously functioning as a sports bar, so they had loads of screens everywhere but didn’t have a PA or a mixing desk, didn’t have mics or the cables. I had to find the budget to do that, so I brought in a ticketing sponsorship and agreement. So that was another thing.
Staff training has been a big one. Typically before they would’ve worked behind the bar exclusively, whereas now they might be selling tickets on the door or selling merch, doing room setups and moving furniture around. We’ve also got security now for events, organising crowd barriers and crowd control systems. It’s very diverse and every day is different.
Nottingham is – and I’m not biassed here – equivalent to any capital around the world with how many music venues there are in the city
As it stands, I’m the only full-time member of staff in Saltbox. I have amazing support from some people at the National Ice Centre, but we are basically a standalone venue and business. We have overheads like most other venues do, we have to pay rent, and we have huge electricity bills and stuff – so that’s been a real challenge trying to navigate around that.
But the overarching premise of why I’m doing it is because it’s a great opportunity for the Nottingham music scene to have another music venue. In a world where music venues are closing down left, right and centre, how amazing is it that we can build one up from scratch - you don’t hear of many stories like that.
It is great to see, especially after The Chameleon shutting down which was devastating. But now there’s Saltbox and we’ve also got The Grove that’s just opened in Sneinton. It’s positive that there are new spaces opening up and becoming available…
What I’ve seen, all over the 27 countries I’ve been touring in, is that Nottingham is – and I’m not biassed here – equivalent to any capital around the world with how many music venues there are in the city. Per capita, I think Nottingham has more venues than most of them. So, whether people recognise it or not, I know and believe in my heart that Nottingham is a music city. We’re sometimes waiting for breakthrough artists to come out and prove to the world that’s the case, but you can see it in the daily life of what our city is enjoying in its own entertainment and hospitality industry. So, it’s an exciting time to add another to that list.
You’ve had some incredible moments here already in 2024 since taking over – what’s been your personal highlight so far?
We got to host the Pride after-party here and we had 400 people in the room for that one, which was amazing. We had something like fifteen drag performers and artists - they just took over, it was incredible. The feeling was electric and we just decorated it really lovely.
We’ve had countless bands here do some amazing shows as well. Bands from Mexico, Japan, America, Italy, France, Canada – it’s becoming an internationally recognised venue as well as a local one, but again providing the opportunity for local supports – which is the bit that I’m really passionate about.
To give you some perspective, we’re averaging on 28 events a month right now. In November, I’ve got 42 events here…so I’m tired! (laughs)
You also did the collaboration with Mollis Fried Chicken over the summer - it was originally meant to only be for three months but it’s now a permanent fixture in the kitchen. Has that collaboration been a huge win-win for both brands?
I think so yeah - everyday we’re learning. So, they’re now open every time we have an Arena event and we’re open too. It’s really lovely to serve high quality food, the chef who started that whole thing is a Michelin star chef and he has his own proper restaurant, but this is his side hustle and a passion project for him.
I think sometimes it doesn’t have to be about the money, it can just be about let’s play to our strengths - which is booking shows and functioning as a venue - and let someone else play into theirs, then the two can collaborate brilliantly. So that was the thinking behind that.
You also played with your own band Eyre Llew back in March at Saltbox as a fundraiser event – was that night important to you taking over the management and did it help you get a feel for the venue as a live music space?
Interestingly when the idea for using Saltbox as a venue came about, everyone was like “Saltbox? Never heard of it”. There was a reason for that, because sadly it was a failing sports bar for a while.
At that point when I did that show, I didn’t know that I was going to work here. So, it was really great to have that first-hand experience of what it’s like to come here as a band and knowing all the good things about it. The load-in here is beautiful – you pull up, you go in through the front doors and you’re in the venue. It’s amazing - no stairs, it’s ground floor access so you can use wheels!
But then also just knowing the limitations of the venue. Every space is different, so having that (insight) as a band was pivotal in the success of what’s changed here. For that Eyre Llew show I had to hire in everything: PA, mixing desk, 120 XLR cables, all the mics, floor monitors - even the lights, everything. So yeah, it really helped set up what was needed there for when the job opportunity came up.
Speaking of that fundraiser, you’ve recently been down at the iconic Abbey Road studios recording Eyre Llew’s long-awaited second album – how are you feeling about the new music?
Yeah, so excited! The whole experience was a dream come true.
When we put on that comeback show and fundraiser at Saltbox, the thinking behind that was we’ve got to make sure that its (the album) really good quality. That’s not just at a songwriting level but at a recorded level as well. Then it’s like, where’s the good mastering studios? It’s probably AIR, Metropolis, this place in Memphis or Abbey Road. Then you go through that process, thinking it would be a bucket list moment to say I’ve worked on a record that’s gone through Abbey Road. Then you’re part of the history of the building and it’s a part of our journey forever.
What we don’t like is just asking for money where there’s no reward, so we’ve always treated our hometown shows as fundraisers. When we sold out Rough Trade, that was to fundraise for us to go to Germany. When we sold out The Bodega, that was to pay for the vinyl costs and all that kind of thing. So, it all ties together.
It’s amazing to have gone there and done that at Abbey Road, and we couldn’t have done it without the fan base supporting us. So, thank you to everyone out there reading this!
And what was it that made you return to Eyre Llew after so long? Was it just the urge to be in a band, writing and playing live together again?
Well the band never stopped or gave up in that kind of sense - lockdown had a very big negative effect on us.
When lockdown first happened, we had to cancel so many flights to all these international tours and festivals we had planned. We had prepaid for all accommodation, and it was at that time where they would refund all the flight money, give you it back as credit, and you could use it within a year. But of course, lockdown lasted longer than a year. So, what happened was, you’d just end up losing all that money and we couldn’t reschedule the flights and tour dates… you know, it was horrible. Some of the countries where we had all these festivals planned, the festivals never happened again - they went bankrupt.
It was really tough - lockdown for us was the time to re-energise and financially recover from being hit so hard. All of us lost our jobs in that time. So, it wasn’t us wanting to stop the band, we continued to meet and kept writing together - it was more we just had to sort our personal lives out sadly. Now, all of us have come out of lockdown and we’ve all got full time jobs, so we were able to pay those debts off.
We’re at a point now where we’ve written and recorded all the songs that we wrote over that time onto an album, recorded it over fourteen months as and when we could, did a fundraiser show for Abbey Road and now here we are! I think the next steps are just to see who is interested in releasing it and that’ll be a big 2025 project for us.
And is the plan to release the album and tour with the band next year? Any festivals on the cards?
We don’t have any festivals booked – we’ve always previously been a DIY band, not through choice necessarily, we’ve just always done things ourselves for whatever reason. So not much confirmed yet, but if anyone’s reading this and wants to get us a festival slot, we’ll happily consider it! (laughs)
I think we’ve all agreed we’d like to just continue to release more music. After this album, the first thing we’re going to be thinking about is continuing to write and release music, so that there’s less of a gap between releases. That’ll be our focus towards the latter half of 2025.
And finally, going back to Saltbox, do you have any big plans for the venue in 2025 and what are some of the long-term goals for the venue that you would like to see come to fruition?
I’m really excited, we’ve got all sorts of huge artists coming here. We’re also in the process of trying to turn our upstairs area into a dedicated second bar, because right now it’s not functional. We’ll be developing that and trying to turn it into a space for Panthers fans potentially, so they can have their own dedicated speakeasy of sorts, which we can then also use for different events as and when needed. So, we’ll have that second room basically for things like all-dayer festivals and club nights.
I’m really proud of what’s going on, I just need to build the team here and keep the momentum going. I’m getting contacted every day from all sorts of promoters and bands wanting to use the space. It’s a really interesting time, I will definitely keep booking in heaps of events, as I want to have as many shows as we can.
You can keep track of all the gigs, club nights and events coming up at Saltbox by visiting their new website.
We have a favour to ask
LeftLion is Nottingham’s meeting point for information about what’s going on in our city, from the established organisations to the grassroots. We want to keep what we do free to all to access, but increasingly we are relying on revenue from our readers to continue. Can you spare a few quid each month to support us?
