The History of The Track & Field Club Part One...1996-1998

Beat happening....

In 1996, there used to be a club in London called the Beat Happening run by Steven and Ben. It used to happen every Sunday night in an "interesting" pub called the Penny Black that is sited opposite the big post office at Mount Pleasant in London. The pub was pretty grimy and the landlady used to pass around dodgy looking fish as tasty snacks; clearly believing these skinny kids were malnourished and starving. No one EVER ate any!

The music was a rare mix of independent guitar pop such as the Go-betweens, Orange Juice and Stereolab, 60s beats and a bit of northern soul thrown in for good measure, although the pub itself used to advertise the evenings as a 60s/70s disco and so curious postmen used to appear from time to time and pull strange faces at the pop kids shaking their fringes to the tunes. The nights often attracted a decent crowd but most importantly, it was friendly and the people who came were passionate and enthusiastic about pop music.

Every once in a while a pop group would play and at one stage Comet Gain seemed like the house band. On another occasion, it was rumoured that the Bluetones, who were regulars around this time, were going to play a secret show… this failed to happen (of course) but it did mean there was a huge crowd of Japanese pop kids for the evening.

Happenstance....

After about six months, it was decided that the Penny Black wasn't the place for such a gathering and the Beat Happening closed, to be quickly replaced by Happenstance; a similar gathering of similar faces and similar tunes in a pub called the Sols Arms, near Warren Street Station.

Again, this was frequented by friendly people who were enthusiastic about pop music. Sadly, the atmosphere in the pub wasn't great as the room was like a school dinner hall, the bar was full of office workers on a Friday night out and the landlord cared more for his dog than Dylan and quite a bit more for Middlesborough FC than McCarthy.

Dark times...

After battling against this throughout the summer, Steven and Ben had had enough and decided to quit. Subsequently, not much happened in the underground pop scene. Blow Up had long since departed for the filthy lucre of the Wag, PIAO! was winding down and no one seemed interested. Sure, there were bands like Bis, Gorky's and Super Furry Animals who seemed to play every week and old favourites like the Pastels, Tindersticks and Stereolab could be relied upon to carry the flag but on the whole, it seemed Oasis had sucked the soul out of pop for good.

Paul Track meets Steven Field...

Paul Wright first heard of the Beat Happening when he was given a flyer at a Lilys gig. He'd always thought of starting a club in London but was busy helping his friends at the Cigarette Club in Brighton. He thought the club shown on the flyer was just what he was looking for and decided to head off down to the Penny Black to see if it was as good as they said. And it was. Nowhere else in London could you hear the Go-betweens, East Village and Brenda Holloway. Nowhere else were the kids propping up the bar talking about Postcard Records and Pavement. This was the club for him.

And so was Happenstance, even with the pissed up office boys who barred the way to the toilet. It was worth all the hassle 'cos the Happenstance kids had the Belle and Sebastian LP and he loved it! But sadly, not enough others did. At this stage, Belle and Sebastian were a well kept secret and he was gutted when Happenstance closed its doors for the last time.

For the next two years, Paul used to see the people responsible for these incredible nights around London at shows by the likes of the Pastels, Comet Gain, Broadcast and Lilys. They'd always say hi and wander off to watch the band or buy a beer. Then one day he decided to give them a call and find out what they were up to. Was there a new Happenstance that he knew nothing about? Did the Beat Happening exist in a world where he was excluded? As it happens, no it didn't. There was a void in the underground pop world and it needed to be filled… and Paul knew that him and Steven were the people to fill it.

So using their past experiences and a fellow devotee called Russell, they set about putting together a night based around the music they loved in the hope that there were others who loved it too. Flyers were printed and the first notices were distributed at Bowlie. "Fill in this card to find out more about a forthcoming pop sensation". And fill them in they did. The cards came flooding back to his flat and one by one each person was mailed with details about this brand new pop underground at the Betsey Trotwood pub in Farringdon. Track & Field was about to begin…

FIND OUT WHAT HAPPENED NEXT ...

The Track & Field Organisation
Top Flat, 7 Lakefield Road, London, N22 6RR, UK
info@trackandfield.org.uk
Last updated: 31 May, 2001