SOLOS @ Casa
Overview
SOLOS @ Casa is a night of solo performers & solo + accompaniment.
It takes place monthly on random Saturdays.
We have 6 slots each night - with 6 x 30 minute performances and quick 10 minute changeovers. We play mellow tunes in between.
The night generally runs from 8pm-1am - the venue has a 3am licence but we are generally wrapping up around midnight.
About Not a thing.
Not a thing. CIC is a non-profit promotion run by Dan Akers, based in Huddersfield, working mostly in at venues the Leeds area.
Our model is that generally we pay for the spaces, and most promotion activities, so that bands can split door takings equally. We take (and make) no money from what we do, £0. In fact... minus up to £1,000 a month.
Our goal is to provide spaces for (mostly) new and upcoming bands across a number of 'alt' genres - alt-jazz and soul, alt-rock and all its many variants, plus electronic, afrobeat, latin etc.
Check out our Instagram or YouTube to see what we do.
Not a thing. CIC is a Community Interest Company, company number 15685867.
Venue Details
Casa - Grand Arcade, Leeds, LS1 6PG
CASA is a restaurant & venue located in the Grand Arcade in the 'Northern Quarter' of Leeds. It has been a restaurant and venue for 10 years as Casa, and previously under other names. It is located 2 floors directly above Domino.
The restaurant is relaxed and friendly, serving latin fusion food. The owner is friendly and well known in the arcade.
The venue consists of a large, arched ceiling room, as well as a semi-separate lower area on the same floor with its own bar. Toilets are also on this floor.
The venue includes a medium sized PA for bands, as well as a large separate PA for club nights. We use both on our nights, sending the bass from the bands to the large club PA and also DJing through that setup.
Lighting is basic, but is being upgraded. Furniture is also a bit limited, but this is being worked on too!
We can fit bands of pretty much any size. Capacity can be up to 200 depending on the layout.
We have a separate area for storing kit, though it's not private or currently lockable.
Unfortunately, Casa is not a fully accessible venue - access is via staircase
Fees
Not a thing. is given the space for free. We cover the cost of general promotion and source the sound engineers for the night, bring the PA and other kit, DJ equipment, as well as audio and video recording equipment. The venue provides staff for the bar. Not a thing. takes no fees from the night.
The sound engineer is paid first from door takings - their cost is £120-140 dependent on who it is.
All performer fees then come from the door takings, which are currently £5 advance - via this website - or on the door. We take cash or cards on the night. The cost is kept low because we are hoping to build up the number of 'walk ins' over time, as the venue becomes more of a destination. This will potentially allow us to book out the room multiple times across the night - another reason for a long night with lots of performers!
All door takings are split equally between all performers, regardless of distance travelled or experience - we find that new local performers have often brought as many people as larger out of town touring performers - so this keeps it all fair and easy.
Because Not a thing. are paying out of pocket for promotion - and we keep the door price accessibly cheap - there are no riders or 'guest list'. We don't currently have any deals in place with the venue either for cheap drinks or food - sorry!
Equipment & Tech
The equipment available on the night is a essentially provided by us - or the promoter collective that is being built up at Casa.
We have no Bass Amp or Drum Kit currently - though again, we are working on it! Performers therefore need to bring breakables and all other equipment. We have no guitar amps!
We DO have a house piano - it currently needs a bit of tuning so it can be a bit on the edge of honky-tonk.
We mic up or DI everything on the stage, even if that mic is never being added into the room mix, because we multi-channel record and video record all nights. These nights are made available on the Not a thing. YouTube channel within 7 days, and the audio & video recordings are available for performers to do what they want with.
We don't have any 'in ears' kit of our own, or specific instrument mics - though we're happy to work with these if you let us know what you'll be bringing.
Load In, Soundcheck & Stage Times
Casa is open from 5pm on Fridays, and 12pm on Saturdays
We arrive around 18:00 - as does the sound engineer - to begin setting up the space.
We don't do full soundchecks for SOLOS, only individual line-checks during changeovers.
We gather the tech specs of all performers in advance of the night, and set up all mics and channels in advance. We ask the first performers to do more of a full sound check, but otherwise we do quick checks for everyone else.
We have a separate PA essentially for the music that plays between acts, which allows us to do (quiet) checks without killing the vibe.
All performers need to arrive - with their equipment - 30 mins before their set time.
We'll let you know in advance what time you'll be playing, and we try and stick (roughly) to these times.
When arriving, please bring your equipment up into the 'VIP' area - at the end of the corridor, a sunken area to the right with funky lighting above it.
First performer set starts at 20:00 (ish - we have some flexibility here, if the room is still filling up for example) - and can play up to 30 minutes. So we have about a 10 minute changeover.
We then have performances every 40 minutes through til midnight (ish).