Inside The Dome, the new music hub, home to Amex Gold Unsigned 

In partnership with Amex Gold Unsigned

American Express is kicking off its second year of Unsigned. The initiative sees Unsigned shine a light on the most-important small venues in the country and the work they do to help the next generation of musicians.

As part of the initiative, Unsigned is partnering with the iconic Tufnell Park venue, The Dome / Downstairs at The Dome, which will be refurbished with designs by leading interiors contractors Wilmott Dixon.

Last month, the venue launched Amex Gold Unsigned with a special opening event, and on November 30 they will host a special showcase with six chosen artists from the Amex Unsigned initiative.

Ahead of the show, NME have spoken to Iain Scott and Sally Hipwell from The Dome to find out how Amex Unsigned has helped them fulfil their potential and support live music in the capital.

Can you tell us a little bit about the history of The Dome?

Iain Scott: “It’s been in action since the ‘80s, but it’s one of those venues that’s never had a steady run. It’ll go up and then it’ll fall off the face of the earth. It’s been a bit of a rollercoaster.”

Sally Hipwell: “Over the years we’ve had Coldplay, The White Stripes, Blur, Florence + The Machine, Lily Allen. So many people have come through here.”

And what did you know needed to change about the venue moving forwards?

Scott: “We were looking at all the other competitors that were out there, and their venue spaces having a bit of character. We realised that we’d ended up with two black boxes that didn’t show off the personalities of the rooms and some of the smaller design elements. They all just got lost in space.”

What are some particularly memorable shows you have seen at the venue?

Hipwell: “Enter Shikari! They played here in 2019 for War Child and it was absolutely brilliant. That sticks out to me for sure.”

Scott: “I loved Lenmania [an all-day festival curated by Jamie Lenman]. It was just a really lovely day full of great bands, and nothing went wrong. That’s what makes a good show for us – when we’ve got a lovely crowd in and great bands and all the stars align in one night.”

And you had Sleater-Kinney there this month for a tiny gig downstairs!

Scott: “They brought their full production to our tiny room – it was a maze of flight boxes at the very start of the day. It was one of those gigs where you saw the warm smiles on the faces of the fans, because they just can’t believe they’re seeing a band like that in a room like this.”

When did Amex Gold Unsigned get involved, and what did you tell them about the venue?

Scott: “It’s especially hard being an independent venue, because there are venues of similar sizes, but the amount of backing that these other venues actually got behind them is just astronomical compared to ours. Basically, if there’s no beer being sold here, then there’s no money coming in. Simple as that. Before Amex got involved, people who live nearby had never even visited the place or weren’t aware of it.”

Can you talk us through some of the refurbishments that have taken place with help from Amex Gold Unsigned?

Hipwell: “We had ideas of what we wanted and what we needed, and they helped us realise that.”

Scott: “It was obvious that this place could be so much more than it already was, so we collaborated together on it. They told us: ‘You’re a Victorian building, why not show that off with your colour schemes?’”

Hipwell: “They came up with the idea for the big pictures on the walls, of people with massive smiles on their faces. I thought it was really cool – people of different ethnicities and from different backgrounds all with massive smiles on their faces.”

The downstairs room at the venue has now also been rebranded as Downstairs at The Dome – why was it important to start fresh like this?

Scott: “Next door to us, there’s a pub called the Boston Arms, and the downstairs venue was called the Boston Music Hall, then the Boston Music Rooms, and no-one could ever get it right. No-one has managed to fudge Downstairs at The Dome yet! They’re designed to play off each other as two venues, and it’s much easier from a marketing angle too.”

What do you hope that this project means for the future of The Dome?

Hipwell: “We’re hoping that it will bring in more music from a lot of different genres. We became known as a heavy metal and rock venue, and it’d be nice for people to know that we also do R&B, we can do grime, hip-hop, country, whatever it is. We’re open to everything and we want everything to come in, because diversity is key.”

Scott: “Having Amex and the branding partnerships has also helped us understand a bit more about how we need to get our message out to people so we’re not just resting on our laurels and crossing our fingers. That stuff’s going to change. They’ve really helped us try and make healthy changes at the venue so that we appear a lot more universal.”

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