Eric's Club


Eric's Club was a music club in Liverpool, England. It opened on 1 October 1976 in a building basement on Mathew Street opposite The Cavern Club where The Beatles and other bands of the 1960s played, and became notable for hosting early performances by many punk and post-punk bands.
The club was started by Roger Eagle and Ken Testi and joined later by Pete Fulwell. The club was given the name 'Eric's' by Ken Testi as an antidote to disco clubs with names such as 'Tiffany's' and 'Samantha's'

Music

The club played host to many local, national and international bands primarily within the music sub-cultures of the time, such as Elvis Costello, Buzzcocks, The Clash, Joy Division, Ramones, Sex Pistols, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Cardiacs, The Slits, Talking Heads, The Stranglers, Ultravox, Wire, XTC, X-Ray Spex and early gigs by New Order and Mick Hucknall.
The club acted as a catalyst for local musicians and saw many local artists later become successful acts, including Dead or Alive, Echo & the Bunnymen, Julian Cope, The Teardrop Explodes, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Ellery Bop and Wah! Heat.
Eric's was a membership only venue whereby members had to buy a yearly membership to enter the club. One of the more beneficial ideas was to provide membership for 'under 18's', which allowed younger music fans to see both local and national bands during a 'matinee' show they would more often than not have had a chance to see. It could be argued that this was merely a marketing ploy or revenue generating exercise, but this encouraged more prominent national bands and artists to visit Liverpool and helped provide a social networking venue for some of the city's future musical artists.

Closing

The club lasted until March 1980 when it was raided by police for drug offences. The final acts that night where The Psychedelic Furs supported by Wah! Heat. Wah! Heat's performance was recorded for a John Peel session, and the poem "The Last Night of Erics " was penned by Rob Jones. Later the club reopened as Bradys, to last some 12 months before closing.

Current status

The original venue building was until mid-2011 part of the local 'trendy' orientated bar/club culture playing contemporary pop/dance music and is still on Mathew Street, which has an annual festival to promote Liverpool music. The club's main members entrance was situated below of the Beatles Mural sculpture on Mathew Street, which is featured on the wall, opposite the current Cavern club.
In October 2011, a new venue called ‘Erics Live’ was opened by a local Liverpool business person. Although occupying the same location, the new owner and venue have no connection with the original club. The venture, and use of the name and logo, was condemned by a founding owner and many members of the original club, and has since closed. The venue reopened once again shortly after, this time under different ownership, but taking a direction back to the building's original roots of showcasing local live music every night, Eric's can be visited 7 nights a week on Mathew Street..

Eric's The Musical

A musical written by Mark Davies Markham and directed by Jamie Lloyd which ran at The Liverpool Everyman Theatre in September 2008.

''All the Best Clubs are Downstairs, Everyone Knows That''

In April 2009, a book entitled Liverpool Eric's: All the Best Clubs are Downstairs, Everyone Knows That, consisting of extensive interviews and research of the club and its history, was published. The book was researched and written by Paul Whelan and Jaki Florek and contains many interviews with the people involved in the club and a large amount of previously unpublished material from the time. It is published by Feeedback.