‘I’ll continue Paul’s legacy’: New Adelphi manager appointed
‘THRILLED’: New Adelphi manager Casey Stead
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
A musician and promoter steeped in the culture and traditions of iconic independent music venue the Adelphi has been appointed to succeed its founder, Paul Jackson.
Casey Stead, 35, has been appointed booking and events manager at The New Adelphi Club.
Paul, who launched the award-winning venue in 1984, died on March 31 after a short illness. He was 71.
Casey will be assisted by Ciaran Hall, 36, who shares his job title, and venue manager Meg Baillie, 35, after all three were appointed by the Community Interest Company (CIC) that has run the Adelphi since February 2017.
“I’m absolutely thrilled to have been chosen,” Casey told The Hull Story.
“I don’t think an awful lot will be changing in terms of how the clientele is going to see it. Coming for a night out at the Adelphi is going to feel very much the same as ever, aside from the obvious absence of Jacko, which we’ve all felt.
“It has felt very strange and especially since his passing. I remember gigs immediately after his passing where they were lively and they were fun, as it should be – having fun is the whole point of the Adelphi – but you almost felt guilty. But it’s what he’d want. It’s absolutely what he’d want.
“That is the best way that we can continue his legacy, to ensure that people are still having a good time in this place.”
Nine candidates were shortlisted for the role from hundreds of applications.
Founded in October 1984 at a former working men’s club at the now famous address of 89 De Grey Street, the Adelphi established a national and international reputation as a must-play venue on the alternative music circuit.
As well as providing live performance opportunities for generations of local musicians, the club has helped forge the careers of many artists who became household names, including The Housemartins, Radiohead, The La’s, Pulp, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Fatboy Slim, The Stone Roses, Echo & The Bunnymen, Happy Mondays, Primal Scream and The Idles.
The Adelphi CIC said: “The team brings a new wave of energy and expertise in order to continue Jacko's legacy towards the 50th anniversary and beyond.”
Alt-rock trio Strange Pink headline The Adelphi tonight as week-long celebrations marking the club’s 42nd anniversary continue. Support acts are Portable Memory Of and Underscore.
‘Jacko was a great mentor’
TEAMWORK: From left, new Adelphi management Ciaran Hall, Casey Stead, Meg Baillie
By Simon Bristow, Co-Editor
When Casey Stead arranged to meet a friend at the Adelphi one late night 17 years ago, he could not have known what a big part it would come to play in his life.
He now has the opportunity to help shape its future after being handed the reins of one of the city’s foremost cultural institutions.
Casey has been appointed booking and events manager at the Adelphi, which was founded in 1984 by Paul Jackson, who died in March aged 71.
He now leads a three-strong team, which includes Ciaran Hall, 36, who shares his job title, and venue manager Meg Baillie, 35, after all three were appointed by the Community Interest Company (CIC) that has run the Adelphi since February 2017.
Thinking back to that first encounter, Casey said: “I was meeting a friend of mine who’d already been to one of the club nights – I think it was a Payback night – and I came in and it was all candle-lit and DJs on – I just thought it was really cool, that was my first thought.
“I’d heard of the place but I knew it as being famous for breaking bands and my experience was ‘Oh, it’s DJs as well’.”
FOUNDER: Paul Jackson
It was the start of an enduring bond as Casey realised from further visits, as so many others have, that the Adelphi offered something different to other venues. It began to feel like home.
Casey said: “I’d started following a local band, Felony, online, a three-piece indie-rock band, thought they were really good. I saw that they had a show here, and that was when I first started coming to gigs at the Adelphi, and I’m really glad I did because I’d been going to other local venues at the time and just not really found anything for me.
“A lot of my friends are metal-heads and I was going to the metal shows – enjoyed them, don’t get me wrong, but it wasn’t my thing. I’m more into alternative rock and punk rock and something a bit different so when I started seeing bands at the Adelphi I was like, yes, even though the shows were quiet attendance-wise and the club was struggling.”
Casey, who has been in many bands – including Bedsit with Ciaran – was becoming more involved in the local music scene. He volunteered at Warren Records where he shadowed Life drummer Stew Baxter – an experience he describes as “amazing” – and which was becoming so busy he began running his own subsidiary label, Hull’s New Breed.
His contribution was being noticed – not least by the man he now succeeds, whom he affectionately knew as “Jacko”.
Casey said: “I would handle releases by a lot of the new bands that had never had the experience before, didn’t really know how to go about putting a release together, putting on a launch show which we’d do here, and I’d take care of the posters, all the promotion.
NEW ERA: From left, Casey Stead, Ciaran Hall, Meg Baillie
“And that was great because every young band in the city wanted to be on Warren Records and Stew Baxter was steering that ship all on his own at the time and was pretty overwhelmed. It allowed me to take some of that pressure off him once he’d trained me up.
“The launch nights were here and they were amazing. I think that’s when Jacko first told me what I was doing was important, it was important to him and important to the Adelphi.”
He added: “I think he also recognised – something I recognised in him – which was the Adelphi was very DIY, it’s a grassroots DIY venue so Jacko worked so hard.
“The team now – the three management staff – it’s probably the biggest the team’s ever been, and we have a rotating line-up of bar staff and satellite staff. When I first started coming we weren’t even a CIC so there was no board of directors, no one overseeing everything, it was Jacko running the ship.
“I knew at the time I wanted to do everything I could to support this place.”
Paul began advising and helping Casey, who has worked behind the bar and as a promoter at the Adelphi for 11 years.
PACKED: Kaiser Chiefs at The Adelphi. Picture: Ian Rook
“I just did everything I could for the place and I know Paul appreciated it and he supported my nights,” Casey said.
“It’s all online now, but back when he handled the diary he’d get this tatty little book out from under the counter and we’d be looking ahead at dates and he’d say, ‘Well it’s getting busy in this month, if you want one, even if you’ve got nothing in mind yet get the date now’.
“He was a great mentor in that sense, in many, many ways.”
Asked what he had learned from Paul, Casey replied with one word: “Integrity.”
He added: “The number one thing you can do, and I think why the Adelphi has survived all these years, is being completely transparent and making sure that an arrangement works for everyone.
“Jacko, he taught all of us just how important it is to be fair, to work hard, because it is hard work, and we have a lot of fun doing it but we still need to take care of the basics. And it’s the attention to detail.
“I remember my earliest bar shifts, and you wouldn’t see him all night – he’d be up in the office, busy, be dealing with a band or something like that. He would just emerge for ten minutes and he’d be hovering over your shoulder and micro-managing – ‘There was a bit of wastage on that pint. This particular tap is funny so it’s like this’. It’s all the little things that add up.
BANDMATES: Casey Stead, left, and Ciaran Hall, third from left, in their band Bedsit
“Teamwork as well. You know, because anything like that I picked up off him I’d make a note of it and pass it onto the other staff. The importance of working as a team. The Adelphi wouldn’t have survived any other way. And not just a team but a real community. There’s so much good will from the community.
“A lot of the time that’s how people end up with a job here; it’s how I did – bringing glasses back at the end of every gig and eventually, you know, he thought he might as well start paying me for it.
“The nature of the Adelphi is you do whatever makes sense – who’s the right guy for this job? And again, working as a team. People are noticing the venue’s tidier than ever, thankfully. That’s been nice, bands have said it and customers have said it and it’s nice that people have noticed because we are putting a lot of effort into taking care of the place.”
As well as ensuring a seamless transition into a new era for the award-winning venue, Casey, 35, said he was confident it would still offer moments of magic.
He said: “I honestly believe people have life-changing experiences in the Adelphi – it might be that folk show that has 15 people in and the bar’s taken about £30 and we’re all worried at the end of it, but the audience has been on the edge of their seats, people have been in tears, moved by the music.
“People come here for a good night and a great time, and it’s our job to facilitate that, but that other particular kind of Adelphi night is not always what comes to mind immediately but it’s important too. It was always important to Paul and it’s important to us now.
“To facilitate all kinds of music and all kinds of transformative experiences, you know, that really shape people. And that’s not going away.”