Move Over Memphis, TN
Norwich is a City of Music Too
Catch 21 Records: Independent Record Label and Norwich Recording Studio
I have spent a lot of time listening to local bands since moving to Norwich in August 2020. The breadth and quality of music being produced here is nothing short of phenomenal. Like another often overlooked music generator, The Isle of Wight, Norwich is a little remote and as such the citizens have to make their own entertainment. Consequently, you will be able to find every music genre you care to mention, with excellent venues to suit. The Roman Catholic Church, the Protestant English church and non-conformists can take credit for their legacy of many acoustically sweet buildings that have been re-purposed as contemporary music venues, but Norwich has some more recently developed performance spaces of sonic quality too.
The cathedral and old churches provide the most beautiful acoustic spaces, as was their design in the time before electric amplification. St Laurence on St Benedict’s Street, was used for the 2025 Wild Paths Festival. St Swithun, just a bit further down the hill is now home to Norwich Arts Centre, which was named ax the NME Best Small Music Venue in 2014. It is still one of my favourite all time venues, anywhere in the UK. St Peter Mancroft in the heart of the city, towering over the market place is home to choral and classical concerts. A new music venue, The Piano Bar, will soon open on the crest of Redwell Street in St Michael at Plea. One of my particular favourite venues is the distinctive Octagon Chapel, which is a rare treat, as it is not used for musical events as often as its acoustics merit. And I am looking forward to getting into a gig at The Halls, refurbished and managed by Norwich City Council.
And on the list goes on. The city’s theatres all host music events, not least The Maddermarket Theatre, current hosting gigs for Norwich Jazz Club (run by Simon Brown), and The Puppet Theatre, where I saw Mumurations launch their debut album, then Gavin Bryers performing his stunning composition, The Sinking of The Titanic.
If you fancy big production musicals, then The Theatre Royal will be a favourite. Pubs? Yes, pubs too. The Walnut Tree Grapes, The Louis Marchesi, The Reindeer, The Brickmakers, (out toward Sprowston), The Last Pub Standing, Pogue Mahon’s and The Champion, (with its own late-summer festival), are just some of the city's hostelries giving regular space to live music.
There are also specialist music venues. For example, the former TV studio that is Epic Studio at the far end of Magdalen Street. The Waterfront, (sponsored by insurers Adrian Flux), with its studio stage and main stage by the river, was perhaps the most well-known music venue in the city. Recently a bar with an intimate basement setting, unusually called Three Stories has opened up on cobbled Bedford Street. It is just round the corner from Space Studios. Benedict’s Street is a bit of a music lovers’ Mecca with The Bicycle Shop and The Holloway, a tiny grassroots music venue squeezed down St Lawrence’s Steps. It also worth checking out The Merchant House, which has a beautiful courtyard for small-scale events too. It is just across the Fye Bridge from The Ribs of Beef, which puts on some fine, fun Sunday afternoon band sessions, to accompany their beers.
I could go on, but I am even beginning to bore myself. I know that I must have missed some places out. Anyway, top of the tree, pick of the pops and the icing on the cake for the city is Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom. This subterranean music dive bar is the place for breaking music, new music and anyone fancying a first step onto a stage with an audience, because, as well as frequently hosting gigs, a free monthly open mic night on the first Tuesday of each month is held at Voodoo’s.
This open mic night is proving to be a proving ground for some seriously good local musicians. At Voodoo’s you can catch bands from the city opening for touring bands from all over the world. The man running the shows, Ben Street works devilishly hard to slake Norwich’s insatiable thirst for music. He has brought in bands from across the USA, Australia, Canada as well as providing a really well-honed setting for UK bands to put on shows for about 250 people at a time.
Behind all these city central venues, ignoring the box-like UEA LCR / Student Union in the darkness on the edge of town, forgetting the festival sites in Chapelfield Gardens, Earlham Park and Eaton Park, Norwich has practice rooms and it has the wonderful Cookes, (specialist retailer of musical instruments and equipment) and a number of recording studios.
I’ll be honest, there is only one that I really know well, Catch 21 Records in Sackville Place, tucked away from the antiques traders, junk shops and second hand music retailers.
Catch 21 Records is the living dream of London-born Gavin Bowers. Bowers had found his way to East Anglia in late 2019, after a youthful start in stage school, working the boards of West End musicals, playing in bands and working in London recording studios. His idea was to bring his love of music and recording skills to a place where home and work could be better balanced than is found in the capital.
Establishing Catch 21 Records in Norwich was a solid move and as his contacts developed, Bowers began to build up a strong reputation as a good-natured, knowledgeable, hospitable and hard-working studio man. Not only did Bowers get stuck into producing and recording, he somehow found time to keep his eye in with his own music. Currently heading up Palm, a three-piece rock band, Bowers has recorded an excellent album Cheap Therapy under his own name and he will be performing at Voodoo Daddy’s Showroom on 27th October, 2026 opening with Harry Jordan before The Jump Cuts headline the night.
The man is never short of something to do, but he was well-placed to come out of the pandemic and the series of lock-downs firing on all cylinders. He played in, produced and recorded a tremendous psyche-rock album with WAXX! Before expanding his repertoire in the company of various local musicians breaking through in Norwich. Now, six years on, he is with a wave of new musicians, who will, no doubt become increasingly familiar names.
One of the earliest Norwich bands to (re)emerge in 2020 was the off-beat, quirky and thoroughly entertaining Pleasure Inc. The band recorded their first two singles, Croissant and For The Fun of It with Bowers, releasing them on Catch 21 Records. This band love being on the road and have developed quite a following in the Netherlands. Pleasure Inc. opened for James at the Norwich edition of Rock’n’Roll Circus 2026, after a great set at the 2025 event under the Earlham Park big top. A debut album cannot be far off for these lovable characters, purveyors of tip-top-pop-hip-hop.
Gavin Bowers’ Catch 21 Records was heavily involved in the development of Vieira And The Silvers, led by Diogo Vieira. The band was huge for a time in the early 2020s, with sell-out shows, including at the Norwich Arts Centre. The band was exciting, raw and created an atmosphere at their gigs that can only be described as feverish. They had an absolute ball and every music follower in the city was excited by them. They looked destined to become a spectacular national smash, after a sensational set at the Red Rooster Festival in 2024. But Vieira broke up that version of the band and moved to London, where he has scaled back and taken a more conventional rock approach.
From that band the bass player, Pedro Danger, emerged as a singer song-writer in his own right. Matt Kennedy, who was also an early member of The Silvers, is now working with Floral Image, and has put together his own band Black Magick Caravan. Backing singer, Nancy Dunnell has revived her solo career, I am delighted to see. All of these musicians have enjoyed working with Gavin at Catch 21 Records, as well have the Molee Shakes, Mally and The Hayburners (a band name that once might have seemed light-hearted), Lara Price, New Royal Standard and Kitty May.
I appreciate that this article is in danger of turning into a list poem, so I’ll draw the line on bands and recording artists there. Suffice to say there is a wide range of sounds and styles being worked with by Bowers at the desk. One of the things that is valued is his ability to support his artists with his own multi-instrumental skills, where it is agreed he can contribute to the finished impact of a song.
The studio at Catch 21 Records has regular bookings from a podcast producer, bands recording their latest tunes, drummers needing somewhere sound-proof to practice. The set up has the scope to work with soloists, small choral groups, even spoken word artists.
What impresses me most about Catch 21 Records is how Gavin Bowers generates such enthusiasm for the music being played. His experience is substantial. Here is someone who knows what works and how initial ideas can be fully developed in a studio. When musicians go into record they can’t afford to waste time, they need someone to listen to their work, work with them to help them find the magic mix they are seek. Time is money after all.
Norwich is steeped in music and at every level of the business, from busking beginners, the students at the Access Music College, (above Epic Studio on Magdalen Street), to its array of venues and studios. I have joked that Norwich should be twinned with Memphis, Tennessee because of its musicality, but the more I discover about this place, I am no longer sure if that is a joke, perhaps Norwich should be twinned with Memphis.
Tap into Norwich and its music:
If you want to hear about Norwich's independent music scene try On The Huh podcast on Spotify.
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Spencer Ide
spidewriter@gmail.com
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