It was in 1993 at the renowned live venue King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow, Scotland where, legend has it, former Creation Records boss Alan McGee discovered Oasis. 

In the musical underground, meanwhile, this November sees noise-centric, three-day music festival Core celebrate its fourth anniversary, with a lineup featuring cult-favorites like Saetia, Incendiary and Pig Destroyer at several locations around the city—including another much-loved venue, Nice N Sleazy. 

The festival’s origins trace back to 2022 and a name less well-known, but a favored destination of both local and international underground bands like Chicago’s Hardcore Punk four-piece Stress Positions—The Hug & Pint. 

“It’s a festival started by us,” explains general manager Eric Daponte of the noise-metal event. “It used to be at Woodside Halls, which is a community centre just across the road, and here.”

Understanding this “us” introduces the Hug’s owner Brian Reynolds and his independent promotions company 432 Presents—an operation with offices in Glasgow and Newcastle organising concerts, comedy shows and festivals around the UK and Ireland—festivals like Core, though as Daponte explains, Core is more than a once-a-year music event.  

“Any gig where the band would be booked for the festival at that time of year they brand as a Core event. It’s a kind of ongoing branding throughout the year.”

For touring bands passing through the U.K. a gig at the Hug comes through 432 Presents (or Core, by extension)—a system drawing a throughline that includes this column’s last subject: Swamp Booking, whose roster features repeat Hug players Deaf Club.  

The Hug are forthright with their principles, their website stating their opposition to the genocide in Palestine, fascism, racism, and nazis: “If you Seig Heil in our place, you better be a fast runner.” 

They also promote their pro-LGBTQ+ stance, support of local businesses, and avoidance (where possible) of major corporations. 

While this mission statement comes from owner Reynolds, the venue team lives by this ethos. “We stopped using Coke,” reveals Daponte. “That was a big one. Coke has just been one of the companies listed as basically supporting and profiting off of the genocide in Palestine. From our perspective, having statements like that on our website, is it just lip service, or are we actually practicing it?”

With such a vocal stance, it’s clear how a band like Stress Positions (who during their show last year at the Hug led a chant of “free, free Palestine”) would feel a sense of belonging. 

Besides running the gigs which 432 Presents and Core book for the venue (as well as running the bar and overseeing the third-party-run kitchen), the Hug fills out its seven-day-a-week calendar of events with private hires. 

In contrast to the sense of a Core brand, almost anyone might hire the venue, if the initial email convinces Daponte of their professionalism. 

“We just had a Bollywood event here a couple weeks ago,” he mentions. “Like nothing like we’ve ever had before, which was amazing.”

“We are always applauded for having some of the best sound for a venue of our size  and our engineers are amazing,” notes Daponte, while recognizing touring bands may wish to bring their own. Bands can also make use of the venue’s PA, backline, box-office service, and poster distribution capabilities. 

Occasionally the presence of alcohol has required Daponte to politely, but firmly eject visitors—the Stress Positions show being one such occasion. 

“This guy, I think he was on a pub crawl and got separated. He was very drunk. He threw a candle down the stairs. I asked him to leave. He left, and then he was trying to get back through.”

“He’d never stepped foot in here before that day, and he’ll probably never step foot in here after. He called us the next day and apologized.”

Thankfully, Daponte finds less cause to remember the faces of drunken miscreants than he does the regular gig-goers. “There’s a good handful of people, I know their drink orders now, because I’ve seen them in here that often.”

For Daponte, whose passion for live music was fueled in his native Canada at club gigs, this is what he’s in the business for. 

“Going to shows at places like this when I was 17 or 18 changed my life. If I can help create that kind of experience for someone else now, that’s what doing this is all about for me.”

Visit The Hug & Pint for upcoming events and booking info.

Check out Whatever Comes Next for more conversations about underground and DIY music making.