A new music venue is coming to Tooting thanks to a £12,000 crowdfunding campaign.

The award-winning Sound Lounge, an independent music venue that became homeless last year, will be opening the new venue seven days a week from Friday January 27 thanks to the whopping sum raised.

Founders Hannah White and Keiron Marshall were forced to leave their previous venue at Merton Abbey Mills due to financial difficulties and what Mr Marshall described as “on site politics”.

See related: The award-winning Sound Lounge at Merton Abbey Mills is about to become homeless

Ms White and Mr Marshall started the project which the aim of providing a bigger space than the previous venue for promoting unsigned artists and bands.

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Hannah and Keiron

Hannah, who won the Arts and Entertainment award for her work at the Sound Lounge at the Wimbledon Guardian’s Merton Civic Awards in 2015, spoke to the Wandsworth Guardian about the whole experience.

How are you feeling about the upcoming opening?

We are both so excited, of course.  I also think there is an element of disbelief in us both.  We have been talking about this for quite some time but it’s always felt like an incredibly ambitious undertaking, particularly as we have never had the financial safeguard to cushion any mistakes we might make, or to sustain us whilst we’re getting on our feet.  

We are genuinely not romanticising the reality by saying the whole project has come about because we have been given gentle pushes, financial support, practical and logistical support from normal people who value music and value the impact it can have on a community.  

I think it’s a reflection of what is happening in other areas - the internet has democratised music, media, everything! There are downsides to that of course, but the upside is that individuals today have a power to engage and make a difference in a way that would not have been possible a decade ago.  It’s been quite moving, quite stirring to watch it come together in that way.  We could not feel happier or prouder of every single person who has got involved.  
 

What has the past year been like since leaving Merton Abbey Mills?

It’s been a really challenging but incredibly rewarding year.  We have been focusing on the charitable projects that mean so much to us -we were collecting aid, taking it to Calais, volunteering on the refugee camp and playing and capturing music out there, once with The Calais Sessions, we also ran some music events to raise awareness and run a collection for a local homeless charity Merton Faith In Action.

I also released an album which takes a lot of work and a lot of time touring and promoting.  So we have been really busy.  But all the while we have been fantasising about an ideal Sound Lounge model.  The break has given us time to reflect on what we did well and what we needed to learn going forward.  

I don’t believe you can succeed in anything without making some mistakes first.  And we are lucky enough (laughs) to have made quite a few in our last venture.  So we are very much building on our strengths and successes with the benefit of some incredibly relevant experience.

With a lot of music venues in London closing down, what impact is that having and what do music venues like yours bring to an area?

Both Keiron and I who are running The Sound Lounge, know first-hand what it means to have music change your life.  The power of art for individuals, particularly at a time when services are being cut or even withdrawn altogether, cannot be understated.  Something very sad is happening in our country at the moment: venues are closing down because people are too busy coping with the financial and logistical pressures of surviving, to carve out time and money to go to gigs and exhibitions.  

This is particularly true in London where life is fast paced, pressured and expensive.  In addition we are seeing creative subjects being taken out of our schools; the value of creativity is being dismissed and communities are learning to go without.  But this is incredibly sad.  Not only is music and art an expression of an individual and/or collective consciousness, it’s crucial in fostering an entrepreneurial spirit and for progress, both of which are fundamental to any economy.  

The Sound Lounge will bring people together, it will be a place where people connect, find peace, get ideas, find hope and get active.  It will bring people to Tooting which, being one of the most independent and diverse high streets in London, it really deserves, and it will communicate to all people of all ages - music and art are really important.  And finally it will give people an opportunity to get involved. 

What would you say to the people that gave money to your cause?

It is no exaggeration to say there was no plan B.  Without those who contributed, we would not have been able to take on the project.  I would tell them that this is their venue, their arts centre.  I would say thank you for having the vision and the passion to get behind something - sometimes even anonymously for no reward - just because you felt it was important.  

I want to tell them that Keiron and I share the same values and way of seeing the world and I hope that we get to meet every single one in person for that reason!

The Sound Lounge will open Friday January 27 on Upper Tooting Road.