1. Brian Eno's 'Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy)' was recorded at Island studios in 1974. This studio was bought by Trevor Horn and became uber-studio Sarm West in the Eighties. Most of A Certain Ratio's 'Good Together' album was recorded in the basement studio of Sarm West - the old Island studio live room. So the Good Together album was recorded in the same room in which Eno recorded the track that inspired their name!

2. John Rhodes, who replaced Lita Hira in Stockholm Monsters, was originally in a band called Delhi Polo Club.

3. The late Ritchie Close wrote the theme music for the seminal Seventies music show 'So It Goes' which was presented by Tony Wilson. Close also played piano for Mike Pickering and Simon Topping's T-Coy.

4. 50 Newton Street, the current home of the highly recommended Hatters Hostel in Manchester, was once the home of 'City Fun' fanzine and the Buzzcocks' 'New Hormones' record label.

5. Alec Sidebottom, one of the drummers in The Distractions, used to be in Sixties band The Purple Gang.

6. Rumour has it that most of the individually signed, 6 foot long, guitar cut-outs designed by Peter Saville and randomly left around town have been, erm, destroyed by over-zealous bin men!

7. In 1992, The Adventure Babies played on France's Inter-Radio on a show called The Black Sessions. Little did they know that the radio station released a CD of the live performance. This included the previously unrecorded tracks 'Sunday Girl' (yes, a Blondie cover!) and 'Time'.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, Adventure_Babies, Stockholm_Monsters, The_Distractions, Tony_Wilson

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