The Louisiana is a known and loved local independent music venue in Bristol that has been providing us music fans with some stellar names in the industry for almost four decades.
Formerly named ‘The Smugglers’, it was bought by the parents of musician Mig Schillace, who had previously ran The Lock & Weir in Hanham, and the neighbouring Chequers. When they took over what is now The Louisiana, Mig says it needed a drastic makeover – both in the way it looked, and when it came to its reputation.
Mig tells BristolLive how initially his parents opened the venue as a restaurant and, before long he and his band were rehearsing there. They stopped doing food because Mig says it was ‘not cost effective at the time’ and began to put on club nights at The Louisiana, which Mig says were “really successful”.
From then, a Northern Soul night was born and the likes of The Moonflowers, a Bristol-based band at the time, had their own club night here, too. Mig says that things changed for them following a huge fire at fellow indie venue The Fleece in the nineties, when The Louisiana received a visit from promoters who said they needed a space in which the bands could perform.
“The first week we had Placebo, and Super Furry Animals,” Mig recalls, “and this is before we even had a stage at the venue. We built the stage the week after.
“On one of the club nights, The Moonflowers had The Chemical Brothers come down and do a set – they were called the Dust Brothers then I think. And we’ve been going for 37 years, now.”
When it comes to what Mig thinks has been the reason behind The Louisiana’s longlasting success, he says it’s a mix of passion and an understanding of the industry. “For us it’s more of the fact that it’s run by musicians,” he says.
“I was in a band, we were signed to Universal, and I’ve played with people like Portishead and so we’ve got a real understanding of how the music industry works. I also think, because it’s family run – we are independent, we’re not some sort of big corporate whose just after the money. For us it’s about the music first, and then everything else after.”
Mig says that, over the years, The Louisiana has become the ‘first port of call’ for many touring artists, as well as local bands. He says: “We see ourselves as community-based and we have invested our own money into things. We gave that studio space away for free for a whole year, just to help new artists coming through and now we only charge £40 to cover electric. It’s a cool space to record in as well. That’s what makes it worthwhile for us.”
The Louisiana has welcomed the likes of Coldplay, Dua Lipa, Amy Winehouse, Scissor Sisters, and more here over the years. Muse even did a residency.
“Residencies are great,” Mig adds, “because at the start nobody knows who they are, they come in play a show in January and then come August they are selling the place out and you know they’ll be jumping straight to Academy-sized venues.”
He goes on to say: “It’s probably easier to say the artists that haven’t played here, like Oasis and The Killers – they were both booked in but went straight to The Fleece, so they kind of skipped our level.”
He admits that, while the music is epic, running a local independent venue in this day and age comes with its struggles. He says: “At this point in time I don’t think, if I was going to start up a venue, I would.
“I work 14 hour days, seven days a week – so if you’re going to get into this industry just for the money, then don’t bother. It’s a job you have to be passionate about. With the cost of living nowadays, it’s just got so tough.
“It’s super expensive for bands to go on tour nowadays, especially since Brexit. The number of artists coming from Europe has gone right down. It’s too expensive for them to bring merch anymore – they have to pay loads of tax on it now.
“There’s lots of little knock-on effects – like beer prices going up. Then we’ve had to start paying business rates again after having a relief on that during and after Covid. Then there’s rent to pay. So it’s tough. But we’ll carry on doing it because to us it’s a passion.”
On what the future holds for The Louisiana, Mig says: “I think places like The Louisiana are really important. The whole reason why Bristol’s such a cool city is because of its music and arts culture. It’s something that should be cherished.”