Don't Hate, Gyrate

When the EDL visits Manchester on Saturday 16 August it won’t be to spread hatred and fear, but instead the opposite will be true. Two years ago, with EDL protests grabbing headlines in the national media, Alex Jones and some friends joked about the idea of claiming the acronym back from the clutches of racism and violence. Today their joke has developed into a positive movement aiming to promote community spirit and diversity under the heading of English Disco Lovers.

Beginning with social media and search engine optimisation to link the ‘EDL’ acronym with their own English Disco Lovers title, they then set about creatively and humorously deflating the negative right-wing messages by arriving in fancy disco dress, aiming soundsystems at English Defence League demonstrations and turning Gloria Gaynor's ‘I Will Survive’ up to 11. Elsewhere, the Disco Lovers have pointed their soundsystems at various dancefloors across the country by arranging clubnights whose proceeds fill the pockets of charities that work towards greater social cohesion.

Jones will first pay a visit to the People’s History Museum for a 60 minute talk as part of the venue’s Work in Progress exhibition and workshops series. His talk will cover the array of tactics used by the alternative EDL to combat and subvert the far right EDL group.

Later on, the Manchester division of the English Disco Lovers will be on the turntables at the Roadhouse to deliver an earful of soulful grooves. Jonny Shire of Oui Dig fame and Zero are the resident EDL tune selectors, while guests this time around are from the Hi Ku and Full Stop Manchester clubnights.

Ian Pennington

The English Disco Lovers talk at People’s History Museum begins at 2.30pm and the suggested donation on entry is £3 in order to support the museum.

The clubnight is from 11pm til late on Saturday 16 August at Roadhouse. Tickets are available via the ethical ticketing agency, Party For The People, who donate a cut of their sales to selected charities.

Letters To Fiesta @ Roadhouse, 29.03.13

Just as a flame seems to flicker more brightly towards the end and the wick folds into the remnants of the wax, the club event that Underachievers Please Try Harder has used to light up both the live music and club night atmosphere of Manchester is slowly drawing to a much regretted close. Like George Best, you might as well go out leaving fond memories, and the best wishes of those who have taken part in the event, behind.



So let’s enjoy the fare that Dave and Kirsty have laid on for us. First up is Letters To Fiesta, who feature the pure, clear voice of Anna-Louisa Etherington. Her performance resembles an intelligible version of Liz Frazer, who fronted the Cocteau Twins. Strong yet delicate, the vocals seem to frame how their set is delivered.

Whilst her voice is the first thing that grabs attentions, the musical detail supplied by Tom Brydon (guitar), Andy Fletcher (bass) and Daniel Houghton (drums) provides a splendid platform to work from. Ethereal in tone and subtle in delivery, they could be Sigur Ros on steroids.



The band is being hailed as the latest in a long line of outfits to emerge from Manchester, and as the next band that must be twittered about. Yet, like the other band on the bill, they've been making music for several years – albeit with slightly differing line-ups. This overnight recognition of abilities seems to take several years. On tonight’s performance that opinion seems justified. Let’s hope they are allowed the time and space to flourish.



So it's onto to the very danceable tunes of Kid Canaveral who have travelled down from Scotland. I hope they weren't swayed by the fact that Manchester is closer to the equator and as a result it will be warmer than their nominal home base of Edinburgh. It’s a pity that the weather outside cannot match the warmth of their sounds.



By now there's now a large crowd in the Roadhouse some of whom are waiting for the club night to start rather than catching the bands. It could have been a challenging occasion for Kid Canaveral, but it wasn't. From the front David MacGregor guides the four-piece through a merry romp, armed with a repertoire of instantly catchy songs. Quickly they have a core of dancers in front of them and the smiles on people’s faces are enough indication of how well they’ve been received.

Words & photography: Ged Camera.

Slow Show and Ellis Davies & Ríoghnach Connolly (Honeyfeet) @ Roadhouse, 13.12.12

“Have you heard that woman’s voice? It’s fuckin’ brilliant.”

That comment was made by the manager of the Roadhouse about Ríoghnach Connolly, who is also the vocalist with Honeyfeet. Well, if it’s good enough for her, then it’s good enough for me. Tonight Connolly and Ellis Davies are here at the request of The Slow Show to open this evening’s performance.

Having just toured with Elbow, this show is intended as a low key homecoming event for the headliners, The Slow Show. Nearly 200 people have filled the venue and as soon as Robert Goodwin leads the troupe out, they’re greeted with cheers of approval.

The six members can just about squeeze onto the Roadhouse stage and they quickly set off into opening number ‘God Only Knows’, whose title is the only similarity with the Beach Boys hit. This number has the delicious tones of the cornet relayed by Jenna Smith. If you were to hear the vocals only, you might wonder if Richard Hawley is making a surprise appearance, but the deep tones belong to Robert Goodwin and add a languorous feel to proceedings.

Slow in name, measured and lush in delivery, the band create an intriguing weave of brass band sounds allied to a multi layered, Americana tinged, pop sound. Like a hot bath on a cold night, it’s something to luxuriate in. There’s no moshing or throwing of beer pots by the crowd; instead there is a line of bobbing heads and feet tapping in quiet contentment.

Their style is typified on one song that they do cover, ‘Born to Run’ by Springsteen which is stripped of its testosterone fuelled delivery, allowing its dreams of escape to echo as loudly as Clarence Clemons’ sax playing did.

Words & Photography: Ged Camera

The Lovely Eggs @ Roadhouse, 29/11/12

In 1916 during the ‘year without a summer’ Lord Byron, his physician John Polidori, Percy and Mary Shelly and Claire Clairmont spent some time in a rented villa by Lake Geneva. Kept indoors by incessant rain they spent their days contorted on irresponsible amounts of laudanum telling each other ancient and fabled ghost stories. It was from these rainy days spent in earnest that inspiration seized Mary Shelly and bid her write the great gothic horror story Frankenstein.

Nearly 200 years later a band called the Lovely Eggs played a show at the Roadhouse in Manchester.

The Lovely Eggs are like your cool, boozy aunty and her stay-at-home boyfriend who gives you your first puff on a joint and plays you Sparklehorse on his record player. He wildly points out the best bits and explains that his records and the player were the only thing he managed to rescue from that bitch he was seeing before he met your aunty.

Just then your aunty comes in from the kitchen with half a bottle of Campari, an avocado and a packet of Penguin biscuits and your soul is instantly given the texture your mutilated, teenage body has been crying out for since sporadic hair growth, explosive sweat glands and giddy erections took over.

Back to Manchester and the Lovely Eggs charge through their rampant set with endearing violence leaving punk ditties in carnage, griping all over the stage. Song blood poured out of strangled melodies leaking in trembling pools off the stage and in to the soles of the front row stomping feet. The rest was mopped up by the drum mat, absorbed and recycled into the drum skins, beaten to a pulp like a pair of bruised kidneys.

Middle eights were severed and strewn from their thrashing carcasses. Shrieking vocal lines drove spikes hard through glaring eyeball observations, delivered with grinding copulation against raw, waggish nerve endings. Some literally had to stitch their ears closed to combat the infectious whim. The place was a bloody mess.

The audience was eclectic. A throwback punk, a flat cap folkie, some girl dressed like Uma Thurman from Pulp Fiction throwing interpretive dance moves at the shoddily placed pillars. A man in a tracksuit, a man on a horse, some twat with a flag and a couple with no hope. They were all magnificent.

In the midst of all the chaos, the blood and guts and remnants of three albums worth of material, the severed limbs and noxious mix of muso freaks, a hideous monster was formed.

A mash of cyclic verses, crushed rhythms and social misfits held together by grating chords and dirty jagged hooks. Given life with the throbbing heart of punk and the distorted energy of tragedy and joy Frankenstein stood bewildered and grotesque, flapping wildly in delirium and adoration of his Godly revivers the Lovely Eggs.

Words: Samuel Buckley

Preview: Kidsuke @ Roadhouse, 21.11.12

If an electronic artist turns the heads of three of the area’s top promoters, then it’ll be worth sitting up and paying attention. Mind On Fire, Groovement and Hoya:Hoya, have clubbed together to make sure Kidsuke will be calling in Manchester as part of their European tour this month.

Kidsuke is the fusion of electronic music minds from continents apart. UK’s Kidkanevil and Japan’s Daisuke Tanabe treat that distance as arbitrary by tethering their tectonic drifts with lushly glitched rhythms cradled in askew lullabies.

Evoking Baths to Múm, Kidsuke have that same knack of finding rhythm within disparately crafted, yet intricately woven glocks and rattles to bells and squeaks.

For the Manchester leg of their tour, they’ll be joined by Jealousguy, Laurent Fintoni and Danny Drive Thru as well as the promoting trio’s resident DJs.

Words: Ian Pennington

We have a pair of tickets up for grabs for the show at Roadhouse on Wednesday 21st November. Just email ian@nowthenmagazine.com with ‘KIDSUKE’ in the subject line to add your name to the hat. Otherwise, tickets are available for £5 adv. Click here for more information. A version of this post appeared on the Manchester Mule website (the competitions are separate, though).

Underachievers Please Try Harder ft. Brown Brogues & Great Waves @ Roadhouse, Saturday 14th January 2012

A Brown Resurrection

In between songs, the guitarist of the Brown Brogues, Mark Vernon, is looking down at the stage with his back to the crowd preparing for the next song when a cry of, “Know any Stone Roses?” rings out. He slowly lifts his head, half turns around and slings a look of disdain in the direction from where the heckle came from. After all wasn’t it the Roses who said, “The past was yours / but the future is mine”?

The future looks bright for the Underachievers Please Try Harder promoters whose nomadic wanderings has led them to the Roadhouse. If a capacity crowd is anything to go by, it will be there for a good while to come. After all, the essential ingredients seem to be in place; an always differing but intriguing line-up combining with excellent between-bands DJ sets and a value for money door price of £3. It’s not a recession buster, more just common sense.

Great Waves by name, great waves by nature as rich textures flow from the guitar and keyboards. The duo stands on opposite sides of the stage, allowing the space between them to be used as a backdrop for a series of projections.

A chiming resonance builds, with a Cocteau Twins style lushness breaking out. Using the past as a reference point only, they take their own directions towards a form of blissed-out beauty before exiting the stage in a myriad of noise and distortion.

The condition of the drum skin is a testament to the ferocity with which it has been assaulted by Ben Mather, the drummer with Brown Brogues; it is held together with gaffa tape. It is always likely that more will be required before the evening is finished.

The guitar and drums duo from Wigan are equally ferocious throughout the rest of their set. They can veer from a Cramps type rawness to a full on deranged onslaught that has a substantial amount of the audience jumping along. It’s effectively simple in that two standard instruments are utilised, but the sound swamps the venue and the passion spilling from the stage is impressive. Like all good performers, they leave to chants of “more”, without any hint of a Stone Roses cover.

Words & Photos: Ged Camera