The Conspiracy Room has a capacity for 300 and will put on gigs for the country’s best tribute acts as well as local bands and new talent

A dedicated live music venue has opened its doors in part of a nightclub on Sheppey.

The Conspiracy Room - the brainchild of Sam Gage - has opened in an unused part of Tantra nightclub.

The new venue has a capacity for some 300 music fans and will showcase some of the country’s best tribute acts as well as local bands and new talent.

The first gig was a hit, with the Faux Fighters UK playing on August 28.

Gage hopes the venue will continue to give people a unique experience and become a go-to place for live music.

“We haven't had anything like this for years here,” explains Gage.

“The last one we had is getting knocked down to become flats I think.

“There's pubs that have live music and there's nothing wrong with that, but they’re pubs - we want to offer a live music venue experience.”

He says it means for people living on the island they don’t have to travel to see good music but due to its location - close to Sheerness-on-Sea station - it’s an easy visit for those coming from elsewhere.

“It's generating a lot of interest but we're trying to build it slowly,” says Gage, who is in two bands himself, Strange Brew and Hobo Jungle.

“We're not having something every weekend as we don't want to dilute what we're offering.”

Gage knows the venue well, having DJ’d there 20 years ago.

“A good friend of mine owns it and you could get 800 people in there,” he explains.

“But as the club scene declined a bit, numbers went down and he put a dividing wall going through it.

“You still had the nightclub, but that other room was used maybe just two or three times a year.”

During a drink at the pub with his friend, who runs Tantra, he then floated the idea of taking over the unused part as a dedicated live music venue, something he’d always wanted to open.

“We had a quick 10 minute chat about it and then he phoned me the next day and said he would do it,” says Gage.

“It's got its own PA system, a stage, a bar, a licence - it was practically set up for it.”

He says he hopes people are “gagging for gigs” and already has more events lined up, including bands The Moonlight Walkers, The Maywaves and Samuel Ashton on October 16, Pure Weller on October 30 and the Stereosonics on December 18.

Gigs are also already lined up for next year with tribute act KOasis on February 19 and The Modfathers on May 28.

Gage says the venue is already drumming up interest, particularly due to its name.

“I didn’t want to 100% take over so I put together a list of about five or six names and showed my friend, hoping he would pick The Conspiracy Room - and he did,” says Gage.

“It's quite current with the situation there is - I get hits from all over the world.”

For more www.theconspiracyroom.com