Section 25 add a date in Italy to their burgeoning comeback tour which continues this coming Saturday 11 November at the Camden Underworld. The new date is at Club Iroko, Salerno on Thursday 7 December 2006.

Labels: Section_25

The official Durutti Column MySpace site confirms details of a new book featuring Vini Reilly's lyrics and Rachel McFarlane's photography is to be published early 2007.

Labels: books, The_Durutti_Column

Konnie Huq, one of the presenters on the new version of The Tube, talks to BBC Manchester about the reasons why the city is hosting the programme and her gives her thoughts on co-presenter Anthony Wilson.

The first edition is broadcast this coming Friday 3 November at 6pm on Channel 4 Radio and thereafter on the first Friday of the month.

There's a 54-track album on unsigned artists featured at this year's In The City available for download from iTunes UK for only 9.48 GBP.

There is also a flickr photo gallery of all the goings at ITC 06.

Paul Robinson, in today's Media Guardian [free registration required], reveals that the return of classic Channel 4 music show 'The Tube' as an internet radio station will have a strong FAC flavour.

The first show will include New Order plus Anthony Wilson doing a phone interview with REM's Michael Stipe. Wilson also hosts a game show segment called 'Ayepod, Naypod' in which the studio audience will vote for whether they would have the releases of the day on their own iPods. Finally, the "is-it-a-hoax-or-isn't" band Freebass (comprising Hooky, Andy Rourke and Mani) has composed the theme tune.

The first show goes out on Friday 3 November on Channel 4 Radio.

Labels: New_Order

Thanks to Scream City contributor Aloysius Munn for this short but entertaining review of New Order live in Glasgow.

Labels: New_Order

The music and titles for new Channel 4 series 'Goldplated' ("Set in the 'golden triangle' of Wilmslow, Prestbury and Alderley Edge, Goldplated lifts the lid on a world of conspicuous consumption in which wealth – or at least the appearance of it is everything.") are the work of Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert (The Other Two) and Central Station Technicolour (Pat Carroll and Karen Jackson) respectively.

Labels: The_Other_Two

ESG play a rare London date on Wednesday 15 November 2006 at Dingwalls (Lock 17) in Camden. This is an over-18s gig. Tickets available from all usual agents priced 16.50 GBP.

Dingwalls (Lock 17)
Camden Lock
Camden High Street
London NW1 8AB

Labels: ESG

Northside have reformed and a UK Tour has just been announced (thanks to Dermo on the Cerysmatic Factory Message Board):

December 2006

Leeds Cockpit - Mon 11th (0113 244 3446)
Glasgow, King Tuts - Tue 12th (0141 287 5511)
Birmingham, Academy 2 - Fri 15th (0870 771 2000)
London, ULU - Sat 16th (0871 2200 260)
Manchester, Academy 2 - Sun 17th (0161 832 1111)

Ticket prices: 10.00 GBP - Leeds, Glasgow and Birmingham; 11.50 GBP - Manchester and London

Tickets on sale Friday 20 October from 9am. 24 hr cc hotline: 0871 2200 260 or buy online http://www.gigsandtours.com

Labels: Northside

"This year's In The City direct mail invitation, which is being sent out to the music industry later this month, is in the form of seven-inch single. This may come as a surprise to the many who are aware of In The City's loud and proud championing of digital music since the mid-nineties when sister convention Interactive City was launched. However, fear not; this is no sell-out - the single-sided, collector's item features... the sound of a song being downloaded! If you haven't received your copy of the seven-inch single yet please let us know and we'll get one out to you right away." - AHW's explanation to delegates for this year's odd invitation format choice.

"Our slogan for 2006, and the name of our downloadable soundtrack this year is: "Sounds Good to Me," which is borrowed from my beloved Shaun Ryder. It's perfect because that's exactly how a lot of the music today makes us feel, and it's our job is to reflect our business and help, in whatever way we can, to take it forward." - AHW on the slogan that is a slogan.

Currently on heavy rotation in the cinemas and on television is the new trailer for 'Marie Antoinette' by Sofia Coppola. Eschewing the teaser trailer's use of 'Age of Consent' it heavily (more so in the cinematic version) uses 'Ceremony' by New Order.

In other movie news, 'Blue Monday' makes a prominent appearance almost as soon as the opening credits have finished in 'The History Boys'.

Labels: New_Order

Legendary Leicester (Pinball) Wizard Kevin Hewick has relaunched his own website at www.kevinhewick.co.uk. Check it out for all the latest KH news, gigs, streaming audio and much more.

Labels: Kevin_Hewick

Check out the new official MySpace site for The Durutti Column which announces the following details about the Japanese 'Keep Breathing' bonus dvd:

"The band were filmed at a recent session for Xfm Manchester the day after having all their gear stolen from Bruce's truck! Luckily they were able to improvise (Bruce and Brosci are featured taping bits of drum-kits together) and recorded 'Sealine Woman', 'Requiem for Mother' and new song, 'If You Were Me', a collaboration with Vini's cousin Helen Farley-Jones, who performs vocals on the track."

This new site is billed as "the official Durutti Column site" but not sure what that means for the future of thedurutticolumn.com.

Labels: The_Durutti_Column

You can listen to clips from the new Gothic Archies / Lemony Snicket album 'The Tragic Treasury' via a new micro-site on the Nonesuch website [Flash required].

Delights include a video of an interview between Stephin Merritt and Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket, who also plays accordion on the album).

Labels: Stephin_Merritt

Manicured Noise 'Northern Stories 1978/80'
Released: 30 October 2006
Label: Caroline True Records

A first ever compilation gathering together almost all this eclectic and always (FAC 1) Factory related act - giving a clear insight into an otherwise hereto unknown missing link in the Manchester music jigsaw.

Album artwork reproduces Fac 1 with kind permission of Peter Saville and also features a great 8 page digi-pack with rare pics and extensive cover notes by Steven Walsh of Manicured Noise.

With the first few copies (100) there is a splendid A1 poster that features Jon Savage's late seventies / early 80's pics of Hulme in Manchester and album artwork.

Available now pre-distributor release as follows:

10.50 GBP inc P+P to UK and free poster from jkertland@yahoo.co.uk (Paypal, all enquiries to the same address) or via snail mail (with Cheque / Postal Order in GBP made payable to John Kertland) to:

Gravel Hill Farm
Shrewsbury
SY4 3HH
UK

Labels: Factory_Records, poster

'Keep Breathing' by The Durutti Column is set to be released in Japan on 22 November on Imperial Records (Cat No. TECI-30398) according to pre-release information on HMV Japan broken on the Durutti YahooGroups email list. This is listed as a 2-disc set, with the regular album on cd plus a bonus dvd with as-yet-undisclosed content.

The content was rumoured to contain elements connected to the Story Rooms installation curated by Andrea Zapp last year in Manchester for which Vini Reilly provided soundtrack material. However, eil.com is listing it as a forthcoming import and describes the dvd as "The Durutti Column Live at Xfm Manchester" (tracklisting to be confirmed).

Vini's music for Story Rooms did appear on the official dvd. Andrea explained all to Cerysmatic Factory:

"We produced a limited edition of 500 DVD copies which were distributed by the Cornerhouse to museums, galleries, bookshops and via their website etc. Vini also wrote the soundtrack quite early on in spring last year, while I was still working on the installation. Although he reworked samples of it on his CD later in the year, he still considers it to be a different project and piece of music, we just had a chat about this recently. So I'd be surprised if there is a link between this release and the exhibit."

With Japanese releases being such a fickle thing only time will tell the exact nature of the bonus dvd content.

Labels: Factory_Records, The_Durutti_Column

Friday 13 October
Riffs
11 Station Rd
South Shore
Blackpool
Cost: 2.00 GBP
Doors: 9 til late

Friday 22 December
Xmas Party
Beat Club
Coronation St
Blackpool
Cost: 5.00 GBP
Doors: 9 til late

Friday 12 January 2007
Underworld Club
Athens
Greece
www.underworldclub.gr

Labels: Section_25

... whilst I popped out for a cup of tea.

When invited to guest edit cerysmatic I hit on the idea of proactively contacting various ex-Factory people - both obscure and well-known - to find out what they are up to nowadays and to ask a few questions. I thought it would make a nice feature - a one-per-day 'where are they now file'. So popular was this idea that nobody replied to any of my emails.

Except one person: A heavily jet-lagged Hooky, in between dj-ing and touring, replied at 4am Friday morning.

Cheers H - trooper as ever! If this guilt-trips other interviewees into replying I will pass them on to John for publication. Otherwise, adios, and I leave you with news of another set of bloody cassette tapes...

M: What are you up to nowadays?
H: DJing, playing in the group occasionally, writing the hacienda book, doing my first mix cd as a dj, quite a lot really. Then tryin to juggle that with looking after my family.

M: How different is stockbroker belt to Moston?
H: I don't think you have to ask that do you? It's nicer surroundings. I suppose the nice thing about success is you can give yourself more space. People aren't as near you so hence don't bug you as much. It's a lovely place to live but my mates wont eat round here. 5 quid for fish and chips!

M: Best Factory moment?
H: Release of Unknown Pleasures.

M: Worst?
H: Never being accounted to for any record sales.

M: I hear you're doing some of the soundtrack to 'Control', but you're not doing covers. Are you looking at something similar to the Peter Saville soundtrack?
H: Yes.

M: I was recently played a bit of Joy Division with someone playing sax. Was that you (there was no bass playing at the time)?
H: Send me a copy of that - maybe the bastards were tryin to get rid of me!

M: Have you got the Lavolta Lakota master tapes?
H: No master tapes but I have the master cassettes. Do you want them?

M: Do I owe you any money for them?
H: Thousands.

M: Mars Bars?
H: Yes. The small ones are better and I have great fondness after using b.m. for the advert!

M: Any plans to do anything with the Hacienda Classics website?
H: Not at the moment i've not got the time.

M: Finally, Factory Classical. Any regrets?
H: Add it to the list: the factory boat, the factory car, the factory buildings, ikon, all the foreign factorys: benelux, usa, zimbabwe, australia, poland, they all lost thousands!

But the most important thing is we're still here!

Peace an love hooky.

Ditto moist.

Labels: FAC51_The_Hacienda, Factory_Benelux, Factory_Classical, Joy_Division, labels, Peter_Hook

I can exclusively reveal that ACR have almost completed their new album. 'Mind Made Up' has 12 tracks and will be released in February 2007, hopefully on the Soul Jazz label. But is it funky? Guitarist and producer Martin Moscrop says: "It's very funky - but also dark, moody and trippy".

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

Bezwick's band Domino Bones play Dry bar on Tuesday 31st October. I'm not sure i'm actually supposed to post this as the DBs don't seem to want/get any kind of publicity for their gigs (and they have done quite a few), which can only be applauded.

Anybody hoping to be entertained by the 'Manchester Original Modern' street campaign whilst xmas shopping will be in for a disappointment. Most of it has already been taken down after just three weeks.

The 'Manchester welcomes the Labour Party' posters were replaced by 'Manchester Food & Drink' straight after the conference, the Albert Square displays went a few days ago - as did the 'Be Original, Be Modern' lightshow - and the Moss Side 'Manchester' signage has been replaced by 'In The City' banners.

The most 'spectacular' act must be the 'Original Modern' lamppost pennants, which have been replaced by....Christmas trees.

Manchester City Council Tax starts at GBP 799.50 per annum for band A properties and runs through to GBP 2398.50 per annum for band H properties. Students are exempt.

Labels: poster

Ich kann exklusiv enthüllen, dass ACR ihr neues Album beinahe fertiggestellt haben.

"Mind made up" beinhaltet 12 Stücke und wird im Februar 2007 veröffentlicht, hoffentlich auf dem Soul Jazz label. Ist es funky? Gittarist und Produzent Martin Moscrop sagt: "Es ist sehr funky - aber auch finster, niedergeschlagen und trippy"

Fur Hans.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio

The honorary membership scheme and being able to get Lime & Soda for 0.15GBP from Leroy. That's what.

Urbis and MNMArchive are having a public 'talk' under the banner 'What was so great about the Haçienda then?' on 14 November 2006:

http://www.urbis.org.uk/events.asp?page=328

One of the evening's facilitators, friend of cerysmatic David Nolan, states: "It's an en masse discussion with the usual suspects specifically prevented from starting the debate because it's about the PUNTERS experience".
This will be achieved with the help of a "panel of punters, djs, authors and musicians".

Anybody wishing to relate any experiences/memories of the very early days of the club can contact David via email: mediaexpertise@fsmail.net or via www.myspace.com/davidnolanwriter

Tickets are available from the Urbis shop or via 0161 605 8220 at 3.00GBP.

Urbis are planning their own summer of Haçienda in 2007 and have a series of Haçienda photographs on show in the corridor gallery from 18 October - 4 December 2006.

Not sure I remember Manchester's "pioneering days of breakdancing" at the Hacienda being quite like John Robb describes in today's Guardian piece built around a reunion of the Broken Glass breakdance crew and original member Jason Orange:

What I do recall is that ex-ACR pianist Andy Connell and ex-Magazine drummer Martin Jackson were instrumental to the 1984 Streetsounds compilation album 'UK Electro', featuring Broken - style of the street - Glass themselves.

Labels: A_Certain_Ratio, FAC51_The_Hacienda

Also in the Guardian, Steve Morris imparted his 'special album': Pete Atkin - A King At Nightfall (1973), which features Clive James on lyrics, and is listed along with 48 other musos' albums 'nobody has heard of'.

I recently asked Jan Hargreaves for an update on her sterling work with Rob Gretton's generous bequest to the city of Manchester. I can only post her superb response in full:

Factory, the Hac and Dry - Rob Gretton's legacy at MSIM

"Rob Gretton contacted the Manchester Science & Industry Museum in 1998, when he was clearing out Gainwest's Knott Mill office near Deansgate.

The then Senior Archivist, Penny Feltham, went over to sort through the files, posters, videos and piles of art work and Rob transferred everything over to the Museum in August that year.

Sadly, Rob died before he could sign off the paperwork for the transfer, and it wasn't until 2003 that Peter Hook, as a director of Gainwest, made the transfer official. Contact with Hooky was made with the help of Dave Rofe and Rebecca Boulton.

Rob was an important figure in Manchester's music industry and, through choice during his lifetime, an unsung one. He was the man who decided Manchester needed a superclub to rival those of New York, although he phrased his reasons differently.

The Factory Archive at MSIM is one part of his story. It tells the tale of Rob's involvement in Factory Communications Limited, through minutes of meetings, financial documents and correspondence. Looking through the finance documents is like reading a who's who of whoever was owed money throughout the life of the company. More importantly, it tells Rob's story as the brains behind the Hacienda and Dry Bar.

The archive includes copies of Ben Kelly's architectural plans for both the club and the bar, along with design proofs for cocktail menus for both Dry and the Gay Traitor, samples of wine bottle labels, designs for Dry sugar sachets, guest lists for the Hac and details of which records were played at various club nights. Other revelations come from the pages and pages of door takings for Hacienda nights like Nude, Temperance, Void and Wide. The same sheets list the bands that played at Monday Club through the late 80s.

As a man renowned for his golden ears, Rob's other main input to the company was as an A&R man and band manager. The archive includes around a hundred artwork boards for record sleeves and posters. The majority of these have now been listed and are available for researchers to look at in the Study Area at the Museum. As well as the artwork, there are examples of posters for Hacienda nights, album releases and gigs, and a collection of videos. The videos come in a number of formats, including 1" video and audio masters. Those which can be watched in the Study Area on VHS include promos for singles, live appearances and tv appearances by Joy Division, Happy Mondays, Kalima, Cath Carroll and Revenge, among others.

Cataloguing of the archive is a slow process, but researchers are welcome to visit the Museum to look through it. The Study Area is open Tuesdays to Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

The Museum is keen to build on this important collection and has been working with the Manchester District Music Archive to help make sure that Manchester's music history is documented properly. It would be an achievement to bring together more strands of the Factory story, including archives from the people who worked there, from artists on the label, from the other Directors, and from the rest of Rob's own collection.

The Museum plans to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Hacienda next year with an exhibition of items from the archive.

If you have any Factory-related documents or objects that you would like to donate to the Museum to help tell the Factory story, please call Jan Hargreaves, the Senior Archivist, on 0161 606 0115 or email archive@msim.org.uk. Contact details for the Collections Centre via this link."


This generous, philanthropic act is a lesson to us all. It is sincerely hoped that the significant remainder of Rob's tangible legacy - future currently uncertain - is treated to the same level of public safekeeping/access and steered far away from potential commercial exploitation. The more people use and enjoy this valuable archive, the better chance we all have of this coming to pass.

Labels: Ben_Kelly, FAC51_The_Hacienda, Factory_Records, Happy_Mondays, Joy_Division, Kalima, Peter_Hook, poster

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