Save Off The Cuff Bandathon
18th and 25th Feb 2024
Herne Hill

Great bands don’t just happen – they germinate over years in dark, damp places – the corners of a backroom bar; the smallest stage under a railway arch. And here they thrive and grow, getting louder and louder until their voices can’t be kept underground any longer and they blossom onto some of the biggest stages in the world, making everyone’s lives just that little bit better with riffs to die for, lyrics that reach in and just get you…Music. It makes the whole world go round.

Off The Cuff, a grass roots music bar in two conjoined railway arches in Herne Hill, is under threat of closure. A combination of high running costs and the cost of living crisis.

Since 2017 Off The Cuff has gifted its stage, musical equipment (and paid for sound engineers) to the award-winning JOM – Junior Open Mic – a community group of volunteers organising free monthly and one-off Open Mic Events for 4 to 18 year olds. They are the largest open mic sessions in the country, with each session typically lasting 7.5 hours with 70+ young artists taking part. More than a thousand young people have performed so far with many returning multiple times as they build their craft.

Off the Cuff has created a real community around it, especially, with the Junior Open Mics, giving young people something to connect to, a place to go, and in return they rise – delivering all styles of music with a freedom of expression that’s increasingly rare in a world where our kids feel constantly judged and scrutinised leading to a very real crisis in mental health.

A unique venue where kids can make their own kind of music. With professional sound engineers. On a real stage. For free. OFF THE CUFF.

The Save Off The Cuff group was formed to help preserve Off The Cuff as an asset in the community. There are 25 members (and growing). And they’re the people organising Bandathon – a two day, free music festival that blends young performers from JOM with a mix of adult DJs, bands and solo acts. The line up so far features:

• Comperes Jo Brand and Kerry Godliman 
• Jay Rayner
• Abba Tribute band A Star is Bjorn
• BBC’s Ros Atkins (DJ set)
• Brixton’s Youth Sayers
• And more to be announced (in true JOM style)…

Bandathon is at Off The Cuff Music Bar, Railton Rd, Herne Hill, London SE24 0JN on Sunday 18th February and Sunday 25th February 2024.