How the Arts Bar brought back my love for music

It’s a tired old stereotype in books, tv and film that creatives work in hospitality to make ends meet while they chip away at their big dream of Hollywood, Madison Square Garden or an expensive record deal.

For 25-year-old Ethan Lee, his job at Arts Bar Baltic isn’t just a side hustle, it has given him his love for performing back.

He commented:

“I did architecture at University and when I finished my degree I went straight into the industry for a few months and quickly found out it wasn’t for me. At the time I was working at the Titanic hotel and that was when I got into bartending and stuff, it was one of those things where I fell out of love with music, especially when I stopped playing with my band. I moved on from the Titanic and wanted to get more training. I got some proper bar training at the Alchemist, I was there for about three years, and my life started to settle down a bit.

“Working in bartending actually gives you a lot of freedom, you’re not on a 9 to 5 and you can sort of pick what days you want to work. It was a really good thing and that’s how I’ve started to get back into music. I actually got my freedom back.”

“You actually feel like what you do matters, which is a really nice thing. In this bar, you’re surrounded by creatives, you’ve got the studios upstairs and all the events that go on. I think coming here, working on the cocktails and working on the venue in general, I genuinely think it was the best thing I could have done with my career.”

Liverpool Arts Bar was founded in 2019 by four friends who all worked in the arts industry, across their two independent sites, they aim to support grassroots art in the city by providing spaces for creatives to play and work.

Ethan, who works at the bar alongside his older brother Aaron, told The Guide how having a job at the arts bar has encouraged him to play music again.

He added:

“I’m in two bands at the minute, a band called Lofts, because me and Aaron used to write all our music in the loft, so it was an easy name. It’s a Math Rock band, we call it North West emo! I also play guitar for my friend Lewis Maxwell, that’s more like folk/indie music. He released a single not too long ago called ‘Burning Gold’.

Ethan also told The Guide about upcoming changes and events going on at Arts Bar Baltic. 

He said: 

“It’s like more or less a complete menu revamp, apart from like a few staples. Same with the cocktail menu, we’ve got six staying and six new ones coming in. It’s the same as us with the cocktails, the chefs have complete freedom to do what they need to do. The owners understand that we’re able to do it. I think it’s really nice that they’ve got trust in us, they know what we’re going to be providing is going to work, and if it doesn’t work, there’s no harm in changing things further down the line.

“We always have jazz on a Monday, and we do something called ‘Tiny Decks’ which is kind of a spin on NPR’s Tiny Desk, where we record DJ’s, and give people an opportunity to get a full, filmed set that is uploaded to our social media.

“We’re definitely moving in the right direction we want to, the next big step is focusing on turning this into a proper music venue, having a big push on live performance. We want to give people the space to put on full nights, headline with two or three supports, and give people the platform to put on their own shows.”

You can learn more about the Arts Bar Baltic here.

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