Liverpool has become synonymous with music and entertainment through the decades - and much of its success is down to the hard work of those in the city.
We've had the privilege of welcoming hundreds of incredible artists to have perform here and we've also been the first to celebrate the acts who hail from our region - but years before the internet and social media, those involved in the Liverpool music scene had to be on the ground, take other routes to secure big name acts and keep up with trends. Booking bands meant scouring the phonebook for any possible contact, promoting through word of mouth or posters and generations will remember queuing at a record store to buy a ticket to a gig before it sold out.
DJ and promoter Steve Proctor, 63, was one of the first DJ's to work at Cagneys and was heavily involved in the alternative music scene in Liverpool. While working at Penny Lane Records, he saw an advert for Cagneys in the ECHO and decided to go with a friend, being given the opportunity that night to audition as a DJ.
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From there, Steve became known for working at the likes of Rotters, The Executive Club, Warehouse and Pickwicks, later turning his talent to promotions and securing a number of public appearances at the popular clubs. Bernie Start, owner of The State, later approached him to DJ there and whilst waiting for it to open, Steve also worked at Adam's Club and was later an integral part of revamping The Pyramid club into The System.
As part of the Liverpool ECHO's How It Used To Be series, we spoke to Steve about what it was like being at the centre of Liverpool's nightlife and live music scene in the 1980s. Steve told the ECHO: "The week I started at The State, they had about 50 people in and within three weeks they were having 700, 800 people in every Thursday night. It absolutely exploded.
"By 1982, I had auditioned to be a presenter of The Tube, I was doing Thursday nights at The State where we were getting 800 to 1000 people in and I was doing The System which had live music every Friday and alternative music every Saturday. I didn't get the gig as a presenter on The Tube but they came back to me because they’d heard about this band, Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
"They asked can you organise for us to film them at The State. I coordinated all the filming for Frankie Goes To Hollywood at The State for The Tube, which is when Trevor Horn and Paul Morley saw them and signed them to ZTT.
"The Tube were going to film them anyway, but it happened to coincide with the fact they knew me, knew about The State through me and they knew about the band through me, but also because they had other sources as well. It was at that point I thought, we could do live gigs here."
To secure acts, Steve had to go through a more 'traditional' route of tracking down their details and building contacts with their management. The first big gig Steve booked at The State was New Order.
He said: "I would literally try and find out who I had to speak to to book a band. I would ring up record companies to get agents or managers numbers and just work really hard.
"It was all on landlines, there were no mobile phones or internet or anything like that. It would literally be me sitting at home on the phone for as day, running up huge phone bills, ringing anyone I could.
"I got through to Rob Gretton, manager of New Order and told him about The State and invited him over. Bernie backed me and said we’d take them to Rooneys, I'll buy them a pizza and then we’ll take them down to The State and that’s what we did.
"As they were getting on the train back to Manchester I said to Rob where do we go from here and he said just write me a letter offering us the gig and I'll write back accepting it and that's how it was done. It was so cool.
"I got a letter back from Rob, hand typed and signed by him, basically saying it was great to meet you guys, we love The State, we’d love to do the gig, the fee is this much, this is the date we can do and we’ll bring our own support act and you’ll pay them £50. I've still got the letter."
After some teething problems, capacity was reduced for the New order gig, but the band agreed to also play the following night. At The State, Steve went on to book the likes of Howard Devoto, The Alarm, Devine, Set The Tone and co-promoted Clint Eastwood & General State with owner Bernie.
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Today, clubbers and music lovers can secure tickets to events and gigs online via a number of companies and often hear about them online or from news outlets. But years ago, Steve would rely on the likes of Probe Records and Penny Lane records to help sell tickets to his events and customers would also have to queue, keep an eye out for advertising or hear through word of mouth in order to not miss a performance from their favourite artist.
Steve said: "If it wasn’t for the quality and enthusiasm and support from the staff, my gigs wouldn't have done as well as they did. The likes of New Order went by word of mouth, other bands we made posters for.
"A mate of mine was a printer so he’d always be able to do a deal for me and I'd throw 30 or 40 posters around town in the right places. We’d also have people queuing to get them on the door, but I always knew how good a gig was gonna do by two or three days before the gigs if we’d sold half the tickets in advance."
At the time, many bands in and from Merseyside were making the music, but Steve was one of the people behind the scenes helping to give it a platform in the city, doing it without the resources that are available today. Steve said: "For me it was just as exciting as being in a band.
"By the time New Order performed, I'd done so much stuff, so many gigs and really got myself to a position were I was an established independent promoter. I also ran coaches to see Echo and the Bunnymen at St George's Hall, in Blackburn, Stratford-upon-Avon, I took coaches to Deesside Leisure Centre to see Gary Newman. I was doing everything I could to be involved in promoting music, creating experiences around music for people who probably wouldn't have had that opportunity otherwise."
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In the 80s, Steve juggled DJ'ing, promoting, managing bands, being sent and buying records and more, whilst still keeping on top of trends and what people were interested in. Steve said there were "times when he'd be struggling for money and times when he had loads of money," but it was never about that, it was "about his passion" to be involved in and promote Liverpool's music scene.
Steve said: "It was hard, there’d be days when I'd be up at 6am and I wouldn't be in bed till 3am the next morning. For a lot of my gigs I'd employ a crew, so I'd be responsible to pay them.
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"I had a partner, I was living with a girl called Anne and I owe her a huge debt because whenever I had to write a letter or something like that she’d get it done at work. Whenever I had to have a band on, part of it would be we’d need sandwiches for like 15 people when they arrive and she would get up and make me make sandwiches for everyone in the morning before she went to work.
"She was an incredible help and support to me. I'm pleased to say we’re still friends now."
Before social media and marketing as we know it today, local promoters would be on the ground in venues and in record stores making events happen. For those in similar roles, it looks much different today compared to how Steve and his peers worked decades ago.
Steve said: "By 1982, I was 23 years old and I had no training, no qualifications in it. I left school with O Levels and A Levels, I never went to university, but music was my life.
"For me Liverpool was unique and I was proud and excited and passionate to be a small part of this phenomenal energy that was Liverpool. It wasn't a job - it's that old saying, find something you love to do and you’ll never work a day in your life."
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