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Graham Coxon gets down at the Dublin Castle during last
year’s Camden Craw
Organiser Lisa Paulon |
Crawling into a Camden legend
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INTERVIEW - CRAWL ORGANISER LISA PAULON
LISA Paulon organised the first Camden Crawl in 1995,
which ran for three years. Last year she organised a 10th anniversary
bash which went so swimmingly she decided to reinstate the sell-out
event as a permanent fixture.
She has hung out with the Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, The
Libertines and anyone else she wasn’t too drunk to remember
at the legendary aftershow parties.
Q: Why is the Crawl so successful?
A: It’s because there aren’t any headline acts.
The bigger bands go on before the smaller ones and they all
get paid the same – £150.
There’s no cheesy festival stuff going on behind the scenes.
Everybody does it for the love of the night.
Q: How did it start?
A: In 1995 there were all these baby bands around charging
£6 a gig, so we wanted to put them all on one showcase
for one night.
We had seven venues, 15 bands and charged a fiver. We wanted
the young kids to run around and see everything without breaking
the bank.
It’s nice that bigger acts get involved to support smaller
and newer ones – that’s part of the ethos.
Q: Who are you looking forward to seeing?
A: ¡Forward Russia! and The Aliens. Plus a special
guest who we won’t announce until the night.
Q: Why’s it gone from a fiver 10 years ago to £20?
A: It’s a break-even event, everybody covers their
costs, no one makes any money.
Q: How did the Crawl come about to be in Camden?
A: Camden is the heart of it all, all bands cut their teeth
here.
In fact, if it wasn’t for Graham Coxon (former Blur guitarist
and Camden Town resident) I wouldn’t have done the 10th
anniversary. I bumped into him in Strada Pizza in Parkway and
he told me he wanted to play the Dublin Castle.
So he gave me a reason to organise the night.
I thought no one would care, but last year was more successful
than any other Crawl and sold out in three weeks. 3,800 tickets
on a promise it was going to be a good night.
Q: Who is your dream band to play the Crawl?
A: Teenage Fanclub – I ask them every year. And the
Specials, they were really classic band from a time when music
was really gritty and there was no corporate element.
Q: Any memorable incidents from past Crawls?
A: A big riot broke out at Dingwall’s in its first
year, at the Wedding Present gig. It was the first event I’d
organised and I had no idea.
In ’97 we took it on the road to Manchester and Glasgow,
carried beers all the way from Camden to Glasgow ’cos we
thought it would be cheaper.
Q: Have you had any “difficult” acts?
A: Echo and the Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch got really
drunk and started asking where his dressing room was, but there
are no headliners so all the bands share rooms.
No room for egos either – although I think Ian was just
drunk.
Q: What’s the best thing about the Crawl?
A: Standing in Camden High Street and seeing thousands of
people wandering around drunk saying “where do we go now?”
Q: Future plans?
A: Next year we are going to expand it to a three-day event
called London Crawling. Thursday in Camden – indie day,
Friday in Soho – rock day, and Saturday in Shoreditch –
dance.
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