#29: A chat with Baba Yaga's Hut

Anthony Chalmers talks spanning genres, crucial Baba Yaga’s shows, and art for art’s sake.

Cantilever is a weekly rundown of London-based gigs and other musical ephemera.

Baba Yaga’s Hut is one of the eminent experimental and alternative promoters in London. Cantilever routinely writes about their shows and there are many, many more linking off our site. It’s a very small operation, spearheaded by the relentlessly enthusiastic Anthony Chalmers. We caught up a few weeks ago to have a quick chat about promoting, venues and some important Baba Yaga’s shows.

Billboard, Dalston

Cantilever: For those who may not know, could you briefly explain what a promoter is?

Anthony Chalmers: We put on a concert. I find your music, I find a venue that I think is suitable, I try to find a date that works, and I try to sell as many tickets to the show as possible! A simple job, technically.

C: This week [a few weeks ago] you’ve got Hip-Hop, Avant-Pop, Drone, and more. How do all these genres fit together?

AC: It used to be that Baba Yaga’s was much more focused. We had our core audience, and we promoted mainly heavy rock bands. But I like all sorts of stuff. And I’ve tried to broaden the horizons a bit. This week we’ve got Martha Skye Murphy, on AD93. I think they’re one of the best record labels in London. I promote all of the artists on AD93. We’ve also got Chester Watson. I got into his music in 2021 and I’m just a massive fan. Do I think that most of my core audience are going to like Chester Watson? No, I don’t think so. But I love Chester Watson, and that’s what’s important.

We’re working mainly with underground artists — not a lot of managers. Sometimes you get artists and they say “here’s my stuff” and send you only Spotify and Instagram links. If you don’t have a BandCamp I know you’re not a Baba Yaga’s act.

C: Are you a BandCamp user, do you buy records there?

AC: I have tonnes of records. Mainly I buy records at gigs though. I buy stuff on BandCamp occasionally — a few a month. In 2010 - 2013, I was DJ-ing vinyl only in clubs. That was my peak record buying because then it was my job. Now, it’s just to support bands. But on my NTS show on Mondays, that’s a vinyl only show with just new records that I’ve bought.

C: Your core audience; what ties these people together?

AC: We’re talking about dedicated music fans, where going to gigs and music is the most important thing, their main social life and their main activity. If I do a gig that sells a thousand tickets, not all of those people are going to two or three gigs a week. But there’s always that main audience that keeps things ticking over.

All of the Baba Yaga’s shows I like the most are the ones that sell really poorly, ironically. I just booked a weekend of Colombian music in Cafe Oto, 14th and 15th of March. The Friday — Los Pirañas — sold out ages in advance. The next night, Chupame El Dedo — the one I’m hyped for — sold much more slowly.

Tickets don’t always exactly fly, but generally speaking, we’re selling really well. We’re the go-to people for this kind of thing. I never take it for granted.

C: People talk a lot about how hard it is to be an artist today, especially an experimental artist…

AC: It’s just about money. The wages you get for being an artist — for being a musician — are the same or less, and the cost of living has gone way up. It’s hard to live. But I’d like to think that hopefully we’re helping to platform really good stuff.

C: Going to such a high volume of shows, does anything still surprise you?

AC: I was quite surprised when I saw Gentle Stranger for the first time. They do so much in the same set. It’s also been brilliant to get the band France over. It’s not like no one else has played the same note over and over again for ages, but I thoroughly enjoy what they’re doing. I’ve loved working with MC Yallah, glorious. Senyawa are doing something that no one else has done. SANAM, out of Lebanon, are a kind of arabic This Heat, something I don’t think anyone has done before.

I watch stuff all the time and think it’s incredible. Is it always the newest thing? I don’t know. I work with a slightly older audience, generally. Our average audience age is about 43, per analytics. When I first started putting on shows it was always the newest, newest stuff, but we’re not really doing that now. I’m older, you know? Fundamentally — although this is not the reason that I do it — people who are older have got more money.

When I speak to someone in their early 20s trying to do music or art or journalism or promoting, I’m like: “wait a minute your rent is £1000… and your wages are, like, £12,000… how are you supposed to go to any gigs? That’s impossible!” Our audience is a bit older and their finances are a bit easier. I work with plenty of people who are over 60, and I work with plenty of people who are under 30.

C: What kind of venues are you working with?

AC: We do a mixture. Cafe Oto is a regular place. Let’s see: Hootenanny, Servant Jazz Quarters, Rich Mix, Stone Nest, ICA, New River Studios, Venue MOT, St. James’ Piccadilly, Moth Club, Union Chapel, Lexington, The Garage. There’s loads. It’s not that venues shutting down isn’t sad, it is sad. But London is not the place that struggles. For me, like with all of these things, London is disproportionately not affected by this stuff. There’s just way more money here.

C: There’s an argument that goes like this: “Small-er venues are important because they are the stepping stones for big stars.” Thoughts?

AC: That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of the entire purpose of doing music and doing art, and having a venue. It’s not the stepping stone for anything. If you’re the head of Universal, or if you’re the head of the Arts Council, then you want to be able to look at Ed Sheeran and Coldplay and say “look at our big exports!” But if you’re virtually everyone else, who gives a fuck?

The point is that it’s something for it’s own sake. It’s a place where people can form their bands, do their art, and perform their music. Where people have a safe and fun place they can go, to meet likeminded people. And hopefully everyone involved can run a good business while they’re at it.

If one of these people gets popular, then that’s great! But that’s not the purpose of the venue.

I did actually apologise to the MVT (Music Venues Trust) about making my comments before. Because in their defence, I don’t actually think that they think that either. But these are the only words that the government will understand. Support this or you will lose loads of money and international prestige. They understand loads of money and international prestige. They don’t understand anything to do with community, art, or enjoyment for enjoyment’s sake. The MVT speaks to their on their terms. I couldn’t do that job, so good for them.

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5 Important Baba Yaga’s Hut Shows (with a bonus one thrown in)

The first show I ever promoted. April the 16th, 2008. The Jim Jones Revue at Madame JoJos, with the Monk’s covers band, Ye Nuns. I was very lucky as I managed to book a band that were quite popular and lots of people came. When you promote your first show, all your mates come. By the time you’re on your third show, no one gives a shit anymore.

Bohren und Der Club of Gore, St. John, Hackney.

The first big show I ever did was Bohren & der Club of Gore with Stephen O’Malley. It was in 2013 at St. John in Hackney. In recent years, St. John has had a massive refurb. But this was when it was still a church and was quite run down. We fit a thousand people. The first big, successful thing that I ever did.

Raw Power Festival, 2016. A really memorable one. I started Raw Power in 2014, but my favourite was 2016. Test Dept came back from retirement. Part Chimp — a band that I deeply love — played on the Saturday to probably the biggest crowed they had ever played to in London. Plus Melt-Banana, one of my absolute favourite bands. It was a glorious, glorious good time. Raw Power ran its course, and that’s fine. But that one will stay deep, deep in the memory.

I booked Euros Childs of Gorky's Zygotic Mynci as support for Das Wanderlust for their album launch. It was the first time I booked someone I was a fan of before I started promoting shows. Same experience for Hans Joachim Roedelius (of Harmonia). You start to think… these people that you think are really famous are maybe not as hard to reach as you think they are. Just because they’re famous to you doesn’t mean that they’re impossible to access.

I did the first ever show for Tomaga, who went on to be very close friends of mine. Tom has passed away now. He was the agent for Acid Mothers Temple and Bardo Pond back in the day. Since then I have gone on to work with Valentina Magaletti for many years. Tomaga, in my opinion, were the best band in London, when they were around, in 2013 - 14. I collect all their records, and I don’t do that for all my bands.

Colin Stetson’s “Hereditary” show (soundtrack to the A24 Horror Film). It had never been performed before. The score hadn’t even been written. It didn’t exist. It was just Colin in the studio. So a score had to be put together. We ended up with a fourteen piece orchestra with Colin and fifteen hundred people at The Barbican. The show was my idea, and it was brilliant.

Thanks Anthony! Check out the Baba Yaga’s Hut website on the button below:

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