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Formed by Barry Newman, the Wilde Club has been at the forefront of the independent music scene in Norwich for two decades and is credited with helping change people's perceptions of Norwich as a lifeless city to one that is blossoming with local talent in 2009.

The Wilde Club has hosted hundreds of bands over the years at the Norwich Arts Centre, former Norwich venue Fat Pauly's and at the Norwich Waterfront.

In the past it has given local artists prestigious support slots with groups such as Oasis, Nirvana, Coldplay and Muse.

The record label function of the company signed talent going back to The Bardots in the 1980's and popular local acts such as Catherine Wheel in the early 1990s.

Starting the Wilde Club

Barry's desire to start the Wilde Club began at a young age.

"I started doing voluntary work at the Norwich Arts Centre in January 1988. There had been a few good bands that had played there in previous years, such as Bog Shed, The Mighty Lemon Drops and My Bloody Valentine," said Barry.

"At the start of 1988 there was nothing happening in Norwich. I wasn't getting to see any good bands at the venue, so after a while I thought that this couldn't be too difficult and started promoting gigs myself.

"When I heard King Of The Slums and Pennine Spitter on John Peel's Show, I thought 'well why don't I give it a go?'"

To make Barry's work more marketable, a change of name was needed.

"It didn't start off as the Wilde Club, it was done under the name of Baz Mchat, which has become my pseudonym," he said.

The main key to Barry's success was enjoying his work and putting on bands that he really loved.

"I started by promoting bands that I liked and that's pretty much the way the Wilde Club went. I think that's the way to do it – it was the way John Peel worked. I think you should put bands on for the love of it," he said.

The record label

Barry had always planned to start the Wilde Club label in Norwich as well as promoting gigs.

Baz Mchat record - The Bardots

"It had always been an ambition of mine to run an independent record label since I read an article in the Record Mirror when I was 16 in 1980," said Barry.

"Fortunately the early Wilde Club gigs did make a small amount of money, although I did have to dip into my savings to help with the record label.

"I just admired the independent music scenes so much, it was something I wanted to be a part of."

The two bands on the first Wilde Club EP were The Bardots and Shine!, whom Barry was particular fans of.

"They were my two favourite local bands at the time, but there weren't quite as many bands around then as there are today," he said.

Bringing in the big names

Thanks to the Wilde Club, Norwich has seen some of the biggest names in Indie music history enter the city.

"Coldplay were booked as the touring support for a band called Terris, who were front page of the NME at the time and were going to be the next big thing," said Barry.

"Coldplay had just entered the top 40 with their first single and because of them the gig sold out.

"Chris Martin (Coldplay's lead singer) twice during the evening came up to me and made a point of thanking me in the most humble manner for booking his band. You don't often get that attitude from bands."

Grunge icons Nirvana were another group whom Barry managed to get his claws into before they had made it huge in October of 1989, although only time has revealed the gig's true significance.

"I made a mistake that night of not calling it a Wilde Club, because I had applied for the music manager job at the Waterfront and not even been given an interview," said Barry.

"I was so disgusted, I didn't want to have the Wilde Club name associated with the venue.

"In hindsight, the Wilde Club name would have bought in a few more people in and I wouldn't have lost £200 when I was expecting to make £400.

"I just remember sitting on the ground, staring at my shoelaces and feeling very miserable, but I went in and saw five minutes of the encore as it was the last gig of the tour."

The 20th anniversary celebrations

Simon Dunford, now a columnist for the Eastern Daily Press in Norwich, was the former singer of band The Bardots. They were one of the success stories of the Wilde Club during the 1990s and they played at the first ever gig back on January 17, 1989.

The Wilde Club 20th anniversary gig

The group decided to reform for a one-off gig to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Wilde Club at the Norwich Arts Centre on Saturday, 17 January, 2009.

"The Wilde Club was a really welcome new development in the Norwich music scene," said Simon.

"When I first came to Norwich in the mid 1980s, there was not a lot going on in terms of music. Until Barry Newman started the Wilde Club it was lifeless.

"The Wilde Club attracted some really groundbreaking bands at very early stages of their careers. I didn't see Coldplay or Oasis, but I saw Nirvana, which was an amazing night. You could tell they were a seriously good band."

Barry was very pleased with the outcome of the gig and was overwhelmed with the response.

"It went extremely well, it couldn't have gone better. Unfortunately I didn't have much time to see many of the bands, because I was bumping into so many people and they just kept talking and congratulating me," he said.

"240 people were rammed into the venue. Even though I was very pleased with all the line-up, from what I heard of The Bardots they were very good. They hadn't played for 15 years and one of their members had to come from Italy for rehearsals," he added.

Changing the Norwich musical landscape

The Norwich scene is seemingly very healthy, with a large breed of new Indie talent coming through. Much of the success of the scene in 2009 is down to the groundwork produced by the Wilde Club.

Ruby Flipper at the Wilde Club, 1998

"Not meaning to blow my own trumpet, but the Wilde Club did encourage people to be in bands, because they had somewhere they could come and play," said Barry.

"They knew that if they were good enough and played the right kind of music, they would get a support slot.

"Nowadays with having the Internet, it's so much easier for bands to put their music out there and make it available. I think it's brilliant."

Barry is very proud of what he has achieved and he hopes the future of the Wilde Club can be just as special.

"I have a poster of the Nirvana gig on my living room wall. It's kind of there to remind myself I have done something worthwhile," he said.

"I want to do some voluntary work, so I won't be doing anything now with the Wilde Club until around July 2009, but we shall see what happens. Hopefully I'll find the time to put on gigs at the Norwich Arts Centre again once a month," he added.