Thoroughly independent promotions company Club Fandango is girding its loins and goading its lions in preparation for its tenth birthday. March 2011 sees the Bull & Gate (Club Fandango's home venue) play host to shows by the cheery likes of EAGULLS, TWO WOUNDED BIRDS, EXLOVERS, ARROWS OF LOVE, THE ANSWERING MACHINE and TOWN.

Before then, the birthday celebrations kick off with these gigs here:
MONDAY MARCH 7TH: Kentish Town Bull & Gate (Club Spangle vs Fear Of Fiction)
BABESHADOW + FRENCH WIVES + TURNPIKE GLOW + LUNA BELLE
TUESDAY MARCH 8TH: Kentish Town Bull & Gate (mybandsbetterthanyourband)
DOG IS DEAD + FUNERAL SUITS + THE ACCUSERS + THE KILL VAN KULLS
WEDNESDAY MARCH 9TH: Kentish Town Bull & Gate (Kilimanjaro)
FLATS + guests

Believe it or not (and our minds are still fairly boggling at this particular fact) it was a dark and windy Tuesday night in March 2001 when Club Fandango first shuffled shyly onto London's live circuit. Bored senseless by the paucity of decent small gigs at the start of the week the good burghers of Pointy Recordings and fierce panda records decided to bally well do something about it, and that something was to put their heads together and take over the Dublin Castle on each and every Tuesday in a cavalier attempt to create a welcoming home for great new bands to come and peddle their melodies.

Little did those Pointy and panda burghers know that those Tuesday night showcases would run and run until September 2009, a grand total of eight of your earth years. Or, in promoting speak, roughly 413 live shows each and every Tuesday night. Apart from Christmas, and whenever the venue was closed because they were having the floor replaced.

By some berserk twist of fate the Fandango name became a byword for an edifying night out for bands, industry and gig goers alike thanks to early and pivotal gigs by the of Arctic Monkeys, Death Cab For Cutie, Bloc Party, The Futureheads, Hot Chip, Razorlight, The Killers, Keane, Kaiser Chiefs and other bands beginning with 'K', like KaitO. All of a sudden Tuesdays were the new Fridays and Thursday simply didn't know what to think.
Along the way there was unbridled gigging passion and, inevitably, unhinged expansion. There were the quite-frankly-seminal runs of nights such as the BBC 6 Music gigs at the Water Rats and the BMI sessions at the Borderline. There have been the trips up north to In The City, down south to The Great Escape, and along the road for The Camden Crawl. There has been the fanzine (Zine Fandango), the record company (Label Fandango) and the urban - if you will - festivals (A Fistful Of Fandango).

And now? Now, after nigh on a decade of dossing on other people's (dance)floors, Club Fandango has finally found a home it can call its own. That home is The Bull & Gate in Kentish Town. They moved in on June 1st 2010. In September they threw a splendidly successful month-long housewarming party which doubled up as a 30th Birthday celebration for the venue itself. The esteemed likes of mybandsbetterthanyourband, Chuff Media, We Got Tickets, Steve Lamacq's Going Deaf For A Living, Best of Myspace, Stuntfox, fierce panda and Camden Crawl Sessions all signed up for the ride, because the idea is to create a welcoming home for great new bands to come and peddle their melodies. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. www.clubfandango.co.uk