HEROES OF FRINGE

The Scottish Borders Brewery are fans of Edinburgh Fringe and so when they read our Alternative Fringe Manifesto they asked us what help we needed with our campaign to Reclaim the Fringe – making a stand against pay-to-play and unnecessarily high ticket prices…

We took one look at SBB and knew they were the perfect partner to work with.

Scottish Borders Brewery produce individual beers and have built their business through word of mouth for a quality product. This is the spirit of the Fringe! They have a very different approach to large commercial brewers who make cheap, generic lager and then spend millions in order to convince people that is it special…

The current state of affairs at the fringe with pay-to-play, huge spend on marketing, high ticket prices and the acts seeing little of the money is based around acts being discovered and turned into stars. The industry plays a numbers game knowing that if they back several acts then it is likely that one will succeed. Acts keep their head down and put up with this treatment hoping that they will be that one…

Over the past ten years many established artists in the music industry have proved that they can have more success outside of the traditional record deal using the internet to connect directly with their fans. New artists have also increasingly realised the opportunities that independence can create. The music industry has been forced to adapt in order to accommodate this new breed of self sufficient performer. Other creative industries such as TV, Books, Magazines, newspapers all going through similar reinventions and it is inevitable that the Comedy Industry and The Fringe will follow.

Within 5 years we are likely to be part of a healthier, vibrant, more efficient and less commercially bloated fringe. When that happens there will no longer be a need for the Alternative Fringe. In the meantime we are making our stand.

We have stripped back Marketing costs and offer artists a fair deal. This means Low priced tickets (£5 per show or £12/£10 membership for all shows) with Income from paid shows going directly to the performer.. Within 5 years we expect to be part of a healthier, vibrant, more efficient and less commercially shackled fringe. When that happens there will no longer be a need for the Alternative Fringe, but in the meantime we are making our stand.

Sponsorship has provided The Alternative Fringe @ The Hive with

1. Cash to help cover our costs

2. A proper beer! – Not a watered down bland lager that was rejected by its country of origin

3. A Donkey that will be presented to the winner of the inaugural “Not The Fringe” award.

ABOUT BOB SLAYER
Bob Slayer is a Rock & Roll Tour manager turned Award Winning Comedian. Infamous in music for antics wilder than the acts he looked after (Snoop Dogg, Iggy Pop, Bloodhound Gang etc). He championed independent bands and was instrumental in establishing Crowd Funding as a viable alternative routes for artists (Kickstarter.com, Pledgemusic.com etc). Bob delivers balls to the wall, alternative comedy that embraces the unexpected and mocks everything around him. It’s wild! It’s liberating! It’s pure anarchy…

The Scottish Borders brewery is the brain child of farmer John Henderson of Chesters Estate on the banks of the river Teviot in the Scottish borders, hence the name. They grow all their own barley and have access to plenty of good Scottish water. All they need to import is the hops in order to produce the beer “From plough to Pint”. The brewery started producing beer early in 2011 and has already delivered over 300,000 pints to over 300 pubs – in places ranging from local villages of Ancrum and Denholm to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Darlington and beyond. The six beers currently brewed are Foxy Blonde, Game Bird, Dark Horse, Holy Cow, Wee Beastie and Heavy Nettle…

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9pm Heroes of Alternative Fringe
- 31st July – Heroes – Launch Night
- 2nd to 8th – Heroes – Pick of the Fringe
- 9th to 12th – Heroes – Phil Kay‘s only solo shows 2012
- 13th to 21st – Heroes – Pick of the Fringe
- 22nd to 26th – Heroes – Greatest Show on Legs

£12 to see all these shows (One Pay) 
Or £5 per show

Devvo, Nick Sun, Aidan Killian, John Robertson, Lewis Schaffer, David Mills, Queens of Antifolk, Twonkey’s Kingdom, Barry Ferns, Laura Levites, Dave Cohen, Josh Richards etc