Thomas Evrenos – The Pipeline – Uber Rock Interview Exclusive
Written by Jo Hayes
Saturday, 09 November 2013 03:30
After feeling a bit deflated at the lack of any cool Rock ‘n’ Roll venues near me, I went to see The Nomads at The Pipeline in London, and I felt right at home. Not only is The Pipeline a great venue, it is a potential Glunk and Punk mecca.
Named after the Johnny Thunders cover of ‘The Pipeline’, originally by sixties surf band The Chantays (and later covered by the mighty Hanoi Rocks, the opening track of ‘All Those Wasted Years’), the name gave the impression that this place will be a cool hang-out.
The upstairs bar is huge, with plenty of enviable Rock ‘n’ Roll posters, pin-ball machines, and if you fancy it, a Japanese food menu. The downstairs is dark, hot and sweaty, and had a great atmosphere, it looks like it could be an old underground Punk club back in the seventies (not that I’d know by experience, only being born in the eighties…)
It may be Rock ‘n’ Roll, but as it says on their website: “If you puke, you clean,” so get pissed there but try and handle your booze well!
Wanting to know more about how the venue came to be, and what prompted the owner, Thomas Evrenos, to open a Rock ‘n’ Roll bar which wasn’t in Camden – I caught up with him to see what he had to say.
First off, whereabouts in Sweden are you from originally? And what was the music scene like there growing up?
I am from Stockholm. Grew up in a pretty rough suburb, Bredäng, and started to go and see gigs in my early teens. Think my first proper gig was Status Quo in September 1974, at that time you listened a wide range of Rock.
Since it was before, at least for me, people had to divide everything into genres. I listen to anything like Grand Funk, Blue Öyster Cult, Montrose, Ten Years After etc etc. All my friends bought records and we played them a lot.
I did see a lot of bands before punk popped up, but most I would be embarrassed to mention (but if you insist) I saw Camel, Rick Wakeman, Al Di Meola, etc. I did also see some great ones: Dr Feelgood, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, AC/DC with Bon Scott and Frank Zappa.
After 1977 I focused on Punk/New Wave, and that is still my main focus when it comes to Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Where did you get your taste for rock ‘n’ roll? Did anyone from your family get you interested for instance?
I have as long as I can remember loved music and specially Rock ‘n’ Roll. Only record that my Mom bought that I played was Johnny Cash at San Quentin. Still an epic album. My older sister did introduce me to some bands but she was mostly into hippie kind of stuff or singer/songwriters. My father was from Turkey and did not provide me with any kind of music influences. It was mainly friends that shaped my music taste and I guess my teenage years. Being 16 years old around 1977 was pretty good timing.
Have you been in a band in the past, or are you in a band at the moment?
I am completely tone deaf. I can’t sing or play anything. I was kicked out of the mandatory recorder lessons in school – I was a menace. I was not even allowed to participate in the school class choir.
Still think I’ve got great ears for what is good and bad music, but doing anything myself is out of the question. If I could play I would probably be sitting at home playing guitar instead of opening a rock bar.
If you had to name the best gig you’ve been to, what would it be?
Must be at least 3 gigs:
1. Ebba Grön/Dag Vag with Elvis Costello, November 1980 – Elvis booked two of the best Swedish rock bands of all times to support him. 70% of the audience left after the support acts
2. The Clash – Turku, Finland 1979
3. Rammstein – Isstadion, Stockholm 2005
Did you own or work in a bar like The Pipeline back in Sweden? Or were you working in a different profession?
I was a banker between 1990 to 2008. Never run a company/bar or anything before I opened The Pipeline!
When did The Pipeline open?
We opened August 2009. We have never invested in any kind of marketing, and people tend to find us anyway, but it took some time to get the word out. We are not in Camden or Soho.
I’ve only been to The Pipeline once, for The Nomads a few weeks ago, and I loved the venue – we could definitely do with a few more places like this around the country for us Punk Rock ‘n’ Roll fans! What made you want to open a venue like this in London?
I was made redundant from Deutsche Bank in 2008, and decided to open a small little bar to play my favourite records and enjoy life – but found this place and realised I had to go much bigger than I thought in the beginning. It’s great to have such a large bar even if it sometimes is little too big.
What are a couple of the best gigs that have happened at The Pipeline?
I must mention the Zodiac Mindwarp gig. Adam Ant popped up on stage during the encore and it was a truly night of Mayhem. After that night we had to increase the soundproofing and was silent for more than a year. Now it feels like it was worth it.
Other good gigs would be The Subhumans, Death By Stereo, Hookers and Mugen Hoso (Japanese two piece band).
Upcoming gigs I look forward to are: Kid Congo Powers, Angelic Upstarts and Hard Skin on NYE.
For the future, if you could choose one band to play there, regardless of their fame who would it be?
Iggy Pop and The Stooges – Possible
The Hellacopters – Difficult
New York Dolls (original line up) – Impossible!
I know this is cheeky, but I notice you have some cool limited edition Pipeline T-shirts which are only available if someone can come up with a cunning way of getting one, would asking you in an interview count? (It’s worth a try right?!)
You have to pop in and have a beer with me. I think I am running low on girl sizes, so might be difficult in the short run – but next batch we print I will remember you. Promise.