It’s rare that a live music venue stands the test of time. But since the 1980s the Leadmill has also transformed the careers of Pulp, Reverend and the Makers, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys, to name but a few. It really is a Sheffield icon.
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00:00 The music, the nightlife industries are very, very fast moving industry.
00:04 You've got to be, you know, ahead of the curve all the time.
00:07 And, you know, they've kind of managed that for many, many years.
00:11 So it holds a special place in the hearts of minds of,
00:16 you know, tens of thousands of Sheffielders of, you know, of different generations.
00:21 The Lead Mill is the longest running live music venue and nightclub in Sheffield
00:26 and was first opened in 1980 in a former flour mill, which was originally a community centre.
00:31 It initially hosted plays, education and training workshops and live music.
00:36 Over the last 43 years, the landmark has hosted live music, comedy nights,
00:41 theatre productions, record fairs, cabaret, drag shows and talks.
00:45 Some of its early gigs included performances by Jimi Hendrix and Small Faces
00:50 as part of the Esquire, which was a 1960s club.
00:53 King Charles III, then Prince Charles, visited the Lead Mill in 1988
00:57 and described it as a building well restored.
01:00 In the 1960s, the Lead Mill became the Sheffield venue of Gatecrasher
01:04 before launching its own house night, Rise, where Sheffield's own Arctic Monkeys
01:08 sold out in 2005, faster than any other band.
01:12 Today, we celebrate the Lead Mill and what it means to Sheffield.
01:15 I think Lead Mill was one of the earliest places that I ever, ever went to see a gig.
01:21 One of my favourite bands in the early 80s was a band called the Dead Kennedys,
01:26 American punk band.
01:28 And I was in raptures when I heard they were coming to Sheffield.
01:31 And I was still, I was still at school.
01:34 I was in the sixth form.
01:35 I was actually living in Chesterfield, which was kind of obviously
01:37 a bit of a bit of a journey away when you're a 15 year old.
01:42 Anyway, I got wind that the Dead Kennedys were visiting this place
01:46 I'd never heard of called the Lead Mill.
01:48 Got together with friends at school and we all made the journey to this.
01:53 And I do remember it was absolutely rammed.
01:57 So I think it would have been 1981.
02:00 And I've still got the ticket.
02:01 I've still got the ticket.
02:03 It was it had this playing card on it.
02:06 The Lead Mill, Dead Kennedys.
02:08 The place was absolutely rammed.
02:10 I never obviously, I was 15.
02:13 I didn't drink at that point.
02:15 But I just remember a lot of my friends complaining because there was no bar on.
02:19 So I'm assuming that was maybe whether they'd not got a license
02:23 that night or whatever, or say it was very much a venue in its infancy.
02:27 Anyway, I was kind of got quite hooked on the Lead Mill in its early days.
02:32 I was really into my punk rock at that point.
02:35 So I remember seeing a whole host of acts like
02:39 but saying that I think Peter and the Test Tube Babies
02:41 are actually on the Dead Kennedys bill.
02:43 But anyway, I remember I went quite a few times and I always remember being
02:47 standing those those really kind of creaky turnstiles, which, you know,
02:51 I still remember that.
02:52 I think I assume they are they still there? I'm not sure.
02:54 But I remember it was all very political in there, very with like the imagery.
02:58 And, you know, it's all very kind of arty.
03:01 And I remember the kind of I think it was the cafe at the back.
03:05 Lots of vegetarian food.
03:07 But yeah, no, felt very much at home there.
03:09 And I remember, thanks to some of the earliest,
03:11 I used to frequent between the Lead Mill,
03:13 the Limit on West Street and Rebels Rock Club.
03:16 So I was kind of around all the all the time.
03:18 But I'd say I went to
03:21 the Lead Mill really loads of times.
03:23 It was always very cheap.
03:24 I think there was lots of lots of
03:27 subsidies for the unemployed.
03:30 Real kind of mixture.
03:31 And I've still got some of the old flyers, some of the photocopied flyers.
03:34 I remember Martin Bedford used to do the amazing
03:37 iconic posters in the in the early days.
03:39 I remember, though, just seeing those around Sheffield when I was wandering.
03:43 I remember I lied to my parents.
03:45 I said I was going to the school disco just down the road in Brampton,
03:48 in Chesterfield, but I'd actually hopped on the train and got to the Dead Kennedys.
03:52 But I saw the gig. It was amazing.
03:54 And I had an exam the following morning.
03:57 One of my GCSEs and I passed it.
04:00 So, yeah, before the Lead Mill, it was the Esquire,
04:04 which really shows what kind of, you know, music was in its in its DNA.
04:08 Right back to the early, early 60s.
04:11 It was the Esquire Club.
04:16 It actually that actually came from an even earlier club called Club 60
04:20 on Shales Moor.
04:22 That opened on actually on in 1960,
04:25 and they kind of developed a name for kind of
04:29 kind of blues acts,
04:31 kind of beat club, kind of pop music.
04:33 And it got that popular.
04:35 They decided to look for a new venue and say they stumbled on
04:39 the first floor of the Lead Mill building.
04:42 So they really had the knack of capturing
04:46 iconic acts on the way up, you know, to be achieving national,
04:50 international fame, something, you know, the Lead Mill
04:53 has kind of carried on throughout its year.
04:56 But it was also amazing.
04:58 The resident musician
05:01 at the Esquire was somebody called.
05:05 Well, it's the one and only
05:07 that became better known as Joe Cocker, the former gas fitter.
05:11 So he kind of cut his teeth
05:15 at the Esquire, providing kind of support acts.
05:17 But they had some massive, massive, well, acts that went on to be
05:21 major names down there, you know, kind of
05:24 I think kind of bands like the King, Sonny Boy,
05:28 Williamson, blues artists coming over from the States.
05:31 They had all sorts.
05:32 And I remember within a few weeks of the Esquire opening,
05:36 they got a membership.
05:37 So those days you had a membership card.
05:39 I remember it was only a teenage club, no alcohol.
05:42 It was just like teas, coffees, soft drinks.
05:44 Within a few weeks of opening, they got a membership of 45,000,
05:49 which was, you know, so it just shows, you know, there's obviously
05:52 a bit of magic in that those bricks, those bricks are more down there
05:56 in terms of the, you know, it's been there for decades.
05:59 It's very, very rare that, you know, nightlife venues,
06:04 you know, have that kind of lifespan.
06:06 It's very rare that generations of the same family
06:10 will be frequenting a venue, the same venue.
06:13 And it's and it's, you know, you have to work very, very hard.
06:16 You know, obviously the music, the nightlife industries
06:20 are very, very fast moving industry.
06:22 And you've got to be, you know, ahead of the curve all the time.
06:26 And, you know, they've kind of managed that for many, many years.
06:29 So it holds a special place in the hearts of minds of,
06:34 you know, tens of thousands of Sheffielders of, you know,
06:37 of different generations.
06:39 I think I think probably the lead mills kind of ability to really
06:43 kind of not see anything off limits.
06:46 I remember a performance by David Ike down there,
06:50 you know, all the kind of conspiracy theories.
06:52 It was absolutely rammed.
06:54 And I didn't realize an old mate of mine was then his publicist, publicist.
06:58 I had no idea.
06:58 So that was a really interesting evening of catching up with an old friend.
07:02 See Mr. Ike in action.
07:05 Another one I remember from the rise of the grunge period,
07:08 the Jim Rose Circus, which was like this very, very alternative
07:13 circus kind of freak show where there'd be chainsaws flying around,
07:17 people tying themselves up, pretending to chop limbs off and
07:20 all sorts of crazy stuff.
07:22 So, yeah, lots of fun memories of the label and all sorts of shapes and forms.
07:27 Back in May 2023, Sheffield welcomed home its greatest rock stars,
07:31 Def Leppard, with an internet celebration show at the lead mill.
07:35 And we spoke to fans after the gig to see what they thought.
07:37 Absolutely amazing.
07:39 Just seeing them in such a small, condensed space.
07:43 It was just electric.
07:44 I don't know how many times you've seen Def Leppard live.
07:47 Oh, God, I'm I'm getting over a hundred times now.
07:50 I'm old.
07:51 We know.
07:52 We've got all the photos for you.
07:53 Can we put these up?
07:54 Yeah.
07:55 That's cool.
07:56 When does it rank as far as all those go?
07:57 For me, when does it go?
07:58 Top.
07:59 This is in the top five.
08:00 Definitely.
08:01 Because they're huge now.
08:02 Yeah.
08:03 And it's a really small, intimate gig.
08:04 And it's not enough.
08:05 You just don't get like that.
08:06 To see them somewhere like this, it'll never happen again.
08:09 It's once in a lifetime, right?
08:10 Yeah.
08:11 You know what I mean?
08:12 That way you think it'll often take you years to do it, but it's once in a lifetime.
08:14 It's just a fun thing.
08:15 It could happen every five years or ten years.
08:17 Once in a lifetime.
08:18 Yeah.
08:19 what is it about Death Level what makes them special? They're really nice people, I mean they're just good guys. They're proper, proper just normal guys, they're not you know, they haven't got early races and everything they're just you know normal people like we are.
08:35 They're out of charge very often. Yeah just the musicians here. Oh yeah there's the talent as well yeah. Yeah yeah. If you had any words for them what would they be?
08:46 Just keep doing what you're doing, we love you. Yeah. Stay strong. They've got at least another 40 years left in you. They've kind of been the soundtrack to our lives. Keep it going.
08:56 We need a bond thing. We need a bond thing. We need, you know, we've got to go down to Snot Island, we need a bond thing.
09:06 Mirror Mirror, We're Still, wow. I cried. Iconic. I cried. What were you one of the most intimate gigs they've ever given? How was the set list for you?
09:17 It was really good, really good set list. And there was a false set list coming down before the gig started as well. Yeah. And then they came out and put the proper set list down and it was like woah.
09:27 We brought a lot of people out with us. Everybody. Mirror Mirror is the most magical. Too wasted. Wasted. Wasted.
09:38 Well we've got to say, I mean, Pour Some Sugar is considered the signature tune but Wasted 3 is the signature tune. No, no. I'll take another half week as well.
09:48 How many gigs have you been to before? About 50. Where does this one rank? Top. Top for me. It's not very often you get to see a band like that in such a small venue.
09:59 If there's something you'd like to say to them, what would it be? Thank you boys. And Viv, Viv, you are the magic man. That's all you need to know. You are the magic man.
10:10 He's a great fan. It's been an honour and a privilege to be in the Deaf Leopard book.
10:16 How long have you been in the Deaf Leopard book? I have been but not in a while. It is a good night out. I like it. It's a good night. It's quite far because I live in Emptick. It's quite far to walk.
10:29 Like at home you have to take a freezer. But it is a good night. I like the cards that they do. It's like you're a member of the 11 mil. You get your drinks and you get your cheek shots. It's always packed as well. It's very busy.
10:43 It's a good student place for socials as well. Yeah. Do you normally go for club nights or for gigs? Club nights. Club nights.
10:53 If you were going to a gig at the 11 mil, who would you want to see? I don't know. It depends on who did. Is it more indie? Yeah, I think it's quite a mix actually. They had Deaf Leopard there a few months ago. They are quite a heavy rock band.
11:10 I'm not in love. Chris Moyles was there as a DJ last month. Do you know who Chris Moyles is? That reaction made me think I had no clue. It was someone who was a celeb. Oh yeah, I didn't know that. It was someone that I knew that I'm sure I could see fit to a gig there.
11:37 It's rare that a live music venue stands the test of time, but since the 1980s, the 11 mil has transformed the careers of Pulp, Reverend and the Makers, Coldplay and Arctic Monkeys to name but a few. It really is a Sheffield icon.
11:50 [music]