“He’s just a top guy,” says Brokate. “He runs around helping out the community at The Brunswick Hotel with the poetry night there and he’s pretty much at the pub every night taking photos for free. He’s pretty involved in the Brunswick community for longer than I’ve been playing which has been about three years, doing a lot of the poetry and music around venues out there which is why everyone’s eager to help out.”
With a lineup of 27 bands and solo artists playing over the day, the show doesn’t just benefit Reynolds, but offers opportunities for the acts playing. Brokate goes on to explain: “About a third of the bands on the lineup are here to help – a lot of the metal and punk bands are very involved with that – but we’re not doing it for money,” he says. “It’s pretty much giving bands a go at getting exposure for a bigger audience and working to festival timeslots. It allows people to listen to music they haven’t heard before and with the bands doing a 30-minute set each, they’ve really gotta put on their best stuff.”
The origins of the fundraiser stemmed from a simple conversation at the bar, surprisingly months after the gear had been broken. “I only heard about the laptop thing from [David] ‘Frankie’ [Cudmore], who owns the bar and books the shows at The Brunswick Hotel.” Brokate says. “I was talking to him at the bar and we both thought we should find a way to get him a new laptop so we came up with the idea of the fundraiser back in December. He’s been without his gear for about eight or nine months.”
As far as getting the lineup together, Brokate admits it was no huge challenge despite the scope of the event: “We’re in a band ourselves and we do a bit of band booking so it was pretty easy getting everyone together,” he says. “I just asked Frankie and a couple of bands that Michael likes and flicked them a few emails. This one’s a bit heavier than normal with more metal, more punk acts playing, although a few rock and acoustic acts are going to be there too.”
Reynolds’s altruistic approach to the performers at the hotel has clearly left a lasting effect on the people around him, which is the base reason for the show itself, as Brokate elaborates: “Frankie lent Michael a laptop to help him out with his work and he’s still been working, but Michael didn’t really know about the event, didn’t ask for the help at all. He never asks for anything. It’s a case of doing a nice thing for a person who’s helped out the rest of us and I think he’ll appreciate it.”
BY THOMAS BRAND
