In The Spotlight: Todmorden-based Gig Promoter Lou Karwowski

“When it’s gig day, nothing else matters. The bands feel the same. Everyone just can’t wait to play, because that’s what we live for. That’s why we go to live music as punters. To get that adrenaline, that buzz from watching a live performance in front of your eyes.”

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Lou Karwowski of Dark Matter Promotions has been immersed in music her whole life. Growing up, she was enraptured by her dad’s gigging adventures in Manchester in the 60s. At Uni, she dived headfirst into the rave scene and hung out backstage with bands. Moving to Todmorden, she helped launch a fast-growing music website. And most recently, Lou has been putting on gigs at The Golden Lion, bringing bands of every flavour imaginable to a discerning local crowd.

Lou’s approach to gigs is very different to most promoters. Leveraging her professional expertise, she puts neurodiversity and accessibility at the heart of everything she does.

“If people have mental health challenges, they might want to watch the soundcheck, so they get familiar with the noise levels and the room layout before it gets busy. People can have explanations of the layout of the venue. If you’ve never been to the Lion, I’ll explain how to access the upstairs live room. If you don’t have that knowledge beforehand, it can induce anxiety.

We do buddying up as well. So if you have anxiety about crowds or noise, there’s somebody in that room you can stand next to and ask for support.”

Lou has the kind of infectious enthusiasm that brings people together and makes things happen. She loves music, particularly the thrill of live music, and has a desire to help others experience its tremendous power.

That passion for music all started in Bury. With her dad.

“My dad ended up staying at home to look after me because he was the lower earner. Back in those days it was really rare, but my parents had a very adult conversation about it. My mum was a surgeon supporting three hospitals.”

Lou’s dad and his two brothers were deeply entrenched in the burgeoning Manchester music scene. Regulars at clubs like The Twisted Wheel, they saw The Rolling Stones, Herman’s Hermits, The Yardbirds and John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers all hammering away in small, intimate venues.

“Dad taught me what music was all about. I was the first child and he’d never had any female presence growing up. I think I was quite alien to him and that’s what connected us. Then as a young adult, when I’d come back from the pub, we’d sit and watch Top of the Pops 2 and he’d talk me through all the acts and explain who was who.”

Lou soon started carving out her own set of adventures. As Uni in Manchester, she got into techno and made a beeline for nights like Havok, Elemental, Electric Chair and then, further afield, The Orbit in Leeds.

“My brother introduced me to this tiny techno club in a residential area in Morley in Leeds called the After Dark. They had global DJs flying in and doing six-hour sets. The experience was just phenomenal. That became a weekly occurrence. It opened my eyes. It completely changed my world, seeing that sort of movement.”

Having friends as musicians, Lou then veered more towards the gigging scene – hanging out in green rooms and lugging amps. Frequenting venues like Night and Day, The Roadhouse and The Thirsty Scholar, she inadvertently picked up a lot of know-how. “If you’re around, you’re helping.”

When she moved to Todmorden 11 years ago, the town was very different to what it is today.

“There was a lot of live music happening everywhere, but you couldn’t find out about it. So, together with my neighbours, we created this music blog. Local Sound Focus. It was really good. We had 18 writers, several photographers, an editor and we used to get invited to review festivals.

That’s what exposed me to working directly with bands. I’d write a review that was all-singing, all-dancing and the bands would say ‘If you love us so much, why don’t you put us on?’”

Enlisting the help of another neighbour, Andy Sloman – himself an avid promoter as well as highly respected sound technician – she quickly got to grips with the end-to-end logistics and started putting on her own gigs. These were primarily at The Golden Lion, thanks to the support of venue owners Gig and Waka, as well as The Mill, Eagles Crag Taproom and the cricket club.

“My ticket prices were £3 entry and I would do the door, the promotion, the stage management and we’d run a bar upstairs as well. Then Andy would do the sound. I don’t know how I did it.”

Among the first bands she booked were Cosmic Slop, Buff, Featherteeth, We Were Lawless and a certain Daniel Wakeford from Channel 4’s The Undateables.

“He’s just so brilliant. My mate runs a music charity called Carousel in Brighton, so he works with disabled artists and he contacted me. Channel 4 came to film it.”

In time, Lou built a reputation, under her Dark Matter Promotions umbrella, for showcasing innovative bands across many genres, from psych to pop and punk to funk. She has made huge efforts to attract exciting bands from outside the area, often pairing them up with a rising local act as support.

“I get such a buzz when I see a published tour schedule listing major European and UK cities – and Tod!”

Of the many acts she’s put on, several have gone on to bigger things.

“Liberal Violence (now Working Men’s Club), AKDK. Charlie’s Girls (now Splint), The Hanging Stars, Black Doldrums.”

The wildest to have graced her stage? “Thee Windom Earles, Vukovar and Furrowed Brow.”

As for her ones to watch, Lou tips Callis, ELLiS·D, The Hazy Janes, Woioi, John J Presley, Sister Wives and Gas Künst.

Most impressed by? “Fat Frances, Hazel’s Maze, The Sleazoids, JuJu, Helicon, The Mandelbrot Shakes, Flex, Roller Boot Dogs.…”

The best band she’s put on? Unable to choose, Lou offers a thick catalogue of names.

Ok. The loudest?

“Funeral Dickhead. Or Gnod.”

The worst? There have, of course, been plenty of incidents along the way.

“One band, I won’t name them, had far too much to drink. Five songs in, the lead singer started kicking over equipment, getting aggressive. He was pushing the PA and running riot. A lad called Jacob who was working the bar, vaulted over it, then Dawn, our door lady, and somebody else at the back, they all ran for him, grabbed him and dragged him outside.

You have to be prepared for the unexpected, every gig. Actually, if a gig goes completely smoothly I’m a bit saddened. I don’t get the same buzz.”

While putting on bands, building a brand, growing a network and expanding horizons, Lou also started to look at ways of making her gigs more accessible and inclusive, drawing on her experiences of helping disabled people.

“I really wanted to make a difference in terms of mental health in the community. At Uni I was supporting disabled students with pretty complex needs, finding ways for them to learn independently to get their degrees. Then I trained up to do that at-scale for more people with more complex needs. I realised what you can achieve with support and strategies, to enable people to flourish in the right environment, independently.”

Lou’s over-arching motivation is one of connection, bringing artists and audiences together, giving people new experiences, developing an independent cultural scene – and enjoying every existential minute of it.

“That drive to continue the emerging artist scene is powerful because I’ve seen the thrill that my dad and my uncles got from it back in the day. There’s a much greater thrill in seeing an emerging band with that blatant glimmer of potential, a talent they themselves may not even realise, than going to see a band that’s already established.”