Manchester Missives from the Rock 'n' Roll Frontline

These bands are not what the music scene in Manchester is about.

)=

are the best thing in Manchester

are also ace but kong make me happy

are also pretty good but i think theyve moved to Laandaan

All the bands mentioned in that article are John Robbs mates.

And if you are reading this Jonny boy - hows pimping The Courteeners outside of Manchester going?

Having some trouble with that maybe?

will be punching above their weight if they become the Northern Uproar of this generation.

I know nothing of the other bands you mentioned but the way you described them makes me glad I've avoided them.

Like you have barely touched the surface of the City. I'll agree that I think the Ting Tings will burn out as fast as they sparked up, but I've got a lot of time for Modernaire. They have witty and quite bitting lyrics and are making enjoyable electropop.

However, where are The Answering Machine? Best pop band around Manchester and they are getting better with every show they play at the moment. Since bringing in Ben on drums that band seem to have changed their sound with every show. I know that they are experimenting with more Broken Social Scene type stuff in the studio at the moment, which will only enhance their sound more.

Similarly, Air Cav. Rightly described on this here website as a mini Arcade Fire, I was amongst a number of folks who travelled to the continent to see them rip up Paris. That band must be on the verge of a break through.

Whilst I'll admit that they are two bands who I have worked with and consider friends, there are a host of other folks out there making great noises. Gideon Conn is a star waiting to happen. Laymar sound like nobody else in town and are utterly captivating. Tim and Sam Tim and the Sam Band with Tim and Sam's folkyorchestra are beautiful, and are rightly starting to get noticed by the media and other folks in and around town.

If Twisted Wheel and The Courteeners are the best that this city has it is a pretty damning verdict on other people being far more creative in Manchester.

I lived in manchester for 3 years, the first year was great due to the fact that there was so much live music readily available almost 24/7..

2nd year I found myself getting involved in the cities unsigned scene working with bands through gigs etc..

3rd year and I realise that there are a small collective of journalists, 45 year old balding djs with novelty surnames, and popstars who where never really that popular and biggest hit was penned by there mate Chris, this collective who insist on predictively name dropping the bands that they want to hang out with and pretend to be young again!

The Courteeners have done well, but to say that they are at the forefront of manchesters music is a little boring. They Sold Out The Ritz, good on'em.. but isn't that what we'd expect from a signed band anyway?

Ref. the initial post: If Liam is a frontman legend in the making, at least spell his name right.. (FRAY not FREY)...even I know that and I'm not the bloke licking his musical bum.

There are some fantastic bands out and about in manchester (infact nationwide) at the moment who just don't seem to get the recognition they deserve due to this lame matey matey approach within the industry!

Oooooohhhhh Rant over.

Ace!

but tim and sams band name has put me right off.
i just think sometimes on this board people try and be too 'indie'. twisted wheel and the courteneers are probably going to get quite big and manchester should be proud of that, as well as producing bands who may be deemed to make better music.
and yes, the answering machine are awesome, i'll be at joshua brooks on saturday for that one.

manchesters own fucking self obsession with its past.

I feel like shaking some people round here and screaming "move on!" in their face.

No suprises there tho.

I honestly think that most of the people who have commented on here have got their finger more on the pulse than John has. Especially the 'underground' scene.
I work at a venue, my band (mentioned above somewhere - thanks popcult), play penty of gigs in Manchester, I put on about two gigs a month and on my days off I go and see live music in Manchester (and Leeds) and I can honestly say I never see JR at any of the venues I go to.

"remember the 80's / 90's!"
shows down in London, Caj.

Or in Big Hands, either way I agree - the man is fucking clueless to whats actually going on in this town.

wrong!

I saw them last week and they were brilliant.

I remember when the stone roses came out of manchester and the indie snobs were whining then about bands we have all forgotten about!

I see him at every gig I ever go to, and thats a lot!

when talking about the Jam he should have mentioned the followimng....Air Cav
Autokat
Burnst
Cats In Paris
Denis Jones
Generallimos
Gideon Conn
Headlines
Magic Arm
Maudite Dance
Modernaire

because these are the bands that 'the kids' are talking about!

these bands are the big names in Manchester! yeah!

totally right mr Ejamesb!

I was expecting a list of cool bands that play in the Northern Quarter like your cutting edge self.

What about

Carcrash International,
the Fuzzy's
Elvis Blink
the Magic Carpet Band
Munch My Liver
Typewriter
Pimp Xerox
Autumn Romance
Walking Sideways
Pet Crab
and The Total Onion?

all these bands are bigger than the Courteeners and no amount of hype by journalists can deny this fact.

Yeah, choral pop songs about mythical greek creatures are really "in" at the moment. We stole the idea from The Courteeners.

another thing...whilst evreyone is whining there is the fact that Manchester's grass roots live scene is pap, people need to vote with their feet and get down to shows
but to be honest most people dont give a toss about a multitide of band nights...FNF, Buff Bang Pow et al all provide great lineups (FNF is even free for christs sake) but audience numbers are laughable.

There is a cult of cuntish indifference, you see it amongst bands who dont give a toss about any other bands, in the audience with the people who come to see their mates bands or whatever leaving as soon as they have played.
If this continues then no band will ever pick up new fans!

So it is bands like Twisted Wheel and The Courteeners who have the investment and influential backing that do well, people could fight back by not going to see them and by making up their own minds to support the other bands in their droves, but the fact is they dont.
There are a lot of bands and people just cant be arsed to weed out the diamonds from the shite, so they let the press do it for them.

Shame.

Haf I ubset swome pwor darlings feelins?

Now, now - go back to Big Hands and cry into you fucking pint, cock-end.

Its amazing I keep hearing this
"..is bitter cos he's not getting the attention" nonsense. Its just deflection.

I'm just sick of a certian journalist dirtying Manchesters good name with shit bands whilst trying to get himself more work.

Give up Johnny, your days of being "on the pulse" in Manchester and now long gone, and I sometimes get the feeling you were just a bandwagon jumper anyway.

Frankly those "indie snobs" that actually make up core audiences in Manchesters real music scene think you are becoming a bit of a sad joke with all this Courteneers knob sucking of yours.

Time has come to look to the future, not to drag us back to the late eighties.

Why not embrace the likes of Air Cav, Modenaire, The Search Map, Band(ism), Say and The Marder (and of course my good self!) rather than backing those who sound like what your percieved "Manchester rock and roll"?

Been pretty annoyed about the lack of support bands in this town give each other, we're trying to encourage against this with The Anti-scene nights but it feels like an uphill struggle.

When you see a bands crowd leave the floor when they have finished, only to be replaced by the next bands - you have to ask yourself if we have a serious fucking problem with the way we treat live bands these days.

If there are any bands out there in Manchester reading this (and I know that this is the case) perhaps think about enthusing about the bands your supporting or who are supporting you to your fans - it makes all the difference.

Cos of MySpace et al people dont want/need to actually leave the house to check out a band anymore..you can just sit on your arse and click through twenty bands in an hour, its rubbish and MySpace can go fuck itself. yes its useful if you want to hear the bands but christ, time was you had to be a shithot live act to get recognition, now all you need is a myspace page and a mass adder and before you know it no one gives a fuck anymore...meh.

It has just lowered overall quality control so when 2000 bands all send 'come to this event' or 'buy this' the 2 great bands out of that 2000 get washed over.

I say get the fuck off our PCs (completely ironic as of this moment) and start watching live bands again. The shite will be found out and the decent stuff will rise up off live rep, not how many fucking plays they have had today.

he cant mention everyone!!!! however he could be more representative and even accurate! i know the sex pistols is a bizzare add but really, he cant mention all the bnads there are hunderds of good acts whether 'antiscene' (marder ej bass etc ???)or 'scene' (thenaughtys, the nouvelles etc??? who havent yet reached a level courteeers have (even if courteeners are piss poor!):(
i did see paris riots support the naughtys/the nouvelles a couple of weeks ago and i have to say the latter 2 brought the fans and got the place going. paris riots barely got a cheer im afraid to say.

im from one of the bands in the review. reading some of these petty sadd arse comments from some of you makes me laugh. ive been playing in bands on the circuit in mcr for 6 years and now things are working in my favour. THis has only happend recently and its not because were mates with the press or John Rob because to tell you the truth none of us have ever spoke to the man or no anyone in press. Rather than sitting in on computers being a wining twat what you do is get your group together and go out on your two feet and play gigs, spread the word, write songs, network, phone everyone you know to get them to your gigs, everywhere you go out tell people about your band and where they can hear the music, give CD's out and anything else you can think of to spread the sounds. If your actually good and worth listening to people will pick up on you and your gigs will then get busier. Next thing thers a bunch of kids talking about you and watching everyshow. This is when the press get a sniff and if they like it they write about you. a large amount of these smarmy bands people have listed arent even from the north let alone manchester and if they actually had something and did the graft theyd be getting the praise they deserve. That bitter saddo who takes the mic out of the way we walk and talk is merely just a jellous sole who has no taste in decent music and is probably not from manchester. Its great to see some of the views from people but i know from doing the job some of you know nothing and should have ago yourself before you slag the musicians off and the writers.
Message to all the musicains/bands on here. Get off fucking this shit and go out there and have it or you'll be writing your own bitter comments on your gravestones before you top yourselfs.
ps
dont nock the kids who come to the gigs after reading about the bands in the papers. Their the new generation and the people who actually matter at this time. Not the boffins and the little critics that never made anything of themselfs.
i hope the spelling mistakes get your napper toooo

How stupid do you think people are? All people are saying is that in their opinion some of the bands in the review aren't very good. If you're in a band, and put yourself in the public eye, you have to accept that people will criticise and have opinions on you, whether constructive or not. Fair play to you for getting a band going, it's more than a lot of people do, but to start offending people for having a different view to yourself just makes you look like a bit of an idiot. I'm sure a lot of people on this site are musicians or writers, so dishing out badly-worded lectures is something i find quite strange. The general feeling about music in Manchster at the minute is that it's really on the up, but if it's to really prosper it needs to grow out of the shackles of past bands, that's all people are saying, i'm sure you have your audience, but you have to accept that it won't appeal to everybody. Sorry Johnny.

Maybe just maybe you are not very good at what you do!
I just checked your myspace and your songs are unoriginal and unimaginative. They sound like a mediocre version of your heroes.
Shame. I was hoping they would be good enough to back up your funny rants.

The One Post Posse.

Hello John.

'take the mic out of the way we walk and talk' Fuck off Truth01, not all Mancs are monkey-walking gobshites like you.
I am fucking tired of the working classes being represented in music by bellends like you.

I am both working class and a Manc and damn proud of it but actually have the brain to move away from the fucking stereotypes you so keenly embrace.
All this 'im carnt speeelll propurley' angle is just another fucking PR stunt.

What gets my napper is not that you cant spell because you clearly can, its the ultra PR-savvy medidated 'im-a-northern-monkey-fuckwit-i-dont-got-an-education' stereotype that you play on.

You've got no soul, but goooooood luck to ya you fucking puppet.

of you to offer such kind words. Glad you enjoyed the CD Mr Robb, good to see repected figures around town gave it a listen.

One further comment on this one, why does it matter that Sir Yes Sir aren't as good as Pavement? Few are, even Malkmus' solo stuff struggles to compete. I know that I'd rather listen to someone who is trying to ape Pavement than copying Northern Uproar.

sorry but you're just a bit of a sponge. they were two different posts, one about who i think are the better local bands, and one about john robb doing an interview on tv about something unrelated. don't get the hump because people think your band aren't very good, just get on with it. if the people on here are such an irrelevent bunch of idiots then why do you care what they think?

Is a star. The Courteeners are rubbish, as is their manager. Ting Tings cancel just about every gig they have in Manchester. Are WFANFC signed now?

or at least that's what they tell me.

£3 for a tin of red stripe, wtf?

For Robb to write about Manchester 2007 and not mention The Courteeners and Twisted Wheel would be like writing about Liverpool in 1962 and not mentioning the Beatles and concentrating on the Trad Jazz scene.
Not that The Courteeners are as good as The Beatles! They are a pretty good indie band who have a sold out gig at The Ritz this week but the pompous whinging on this messageboards sound like the bleatings of the Trad Jazzers.
The indie Quintens who are so up in arms (that's EJamesB and his various pseudonyms) are the modern equivalent of those Trad Jazz bores sniffling into their real ale droning on about 'proper music' to their four friends in their Chorlton local.
After reading some of the rants above and being a big gig goer and message board lurker I thought I was missing out on something. I decided to check out Ejames's music and despite his hatred for the Courteeners as being retro I found his music to be quite mediocre and a not very intelligent copy of mid eighties indie which makes him five years even more out of date than the Courteeners! Saying that I will go and see him play next time in Manchester as I can’t decide about a band till I’ve seen them in action.
Can’t say the prospect really excites me though as there are plenty of other good younger musicians in the city closer to my own age.
I dunno where all his protestations of representing the youth come from as he looks like a slightly seedy, elderly, bitter indie gnome and claims to be about 30 years old- hardly the teenager!
He is at the forefront of the Quentin/Tristan scene of Chorlton dwelling net obsessives....singer songwriters ignored by the rest of Manchester, dribbling their bitterness into their keyboards...upset when locals have the nerve to have their own bands and make it, blaming everyone else for their failure apart from themselves.
Oh and I’m not John Robb either- just someone who likes going to a lot of gigs in the city and someone who quite likes the Courteeners and the Answering Machine and hates the bitter losers who clog up the city’s musical arteries.

I'll just watch, and appreciate what I can (or not, as in this case)

No, I'm not really a fan of 'artpop shite' and have never been to club fandango. there is a certain amount of snobbish elitism that i dont care for.

Thing is, I love the work of John Cooper Clarke, think Oasis and the Stone Roses and the Happy Mondays made some of the greatest songs of all time....

What I dont need is some low-rent, Argos imitation watered down rip offs of these same bands. The very things that made the above bands innovative and exciting is just being rehashed by both of the bands Robb is talking about, but he is trying to make it seem like it they are not.

Fuck off mate, seriously - your not fooling ANYONE.

You are the same person be it John himself, a band member or someone involved in said band - that trolls every place where these people are commented on negatively. And its obvious. The comments are always the same.

Do you HONESTLY think that people are fooled into thinking there are people like yourself out there willing to defend these views?

And why do you care?

Because you are worried that something might just disrupt what you see as this bands inevitable commercial success and no doubt a pretty penny for you too, eh?

Say what you like about me, the other "indie snob" detractors on here and the Manchester scene you so despise because anyone and everyone for whom music is more than just a simple commodity can see what kind of person you really are.

You claim to love "rock and roll" but in truth you just like the rewards, maybe you understood once but its gone now.

Goodbye, hollow shell.

I don't seriously believe that anyone cares that much to invest this much time in deflecting attention away from the band or Robb's detractors.

Tell you what though - prove me wrong,
tell me what gigs you have been to in Manchester recently and what you thought of them.

Or post up a myspace here or something,
you might not like me fella but I least I can prove I actually exist!

Unlike you no doubt I have a lovely lady to keep me warm at night, I don't need to "mong" out with my "mates" cruising web forums for the warmth of human existence.

Fuck, this is entertainment to you and your accusing ME of being creepy?
At least I have a purpose here.

Are you one of those Gallagher lookalikes that dwell in Manchester sattelite towns - you know the ones with the mock walk and effected accent that never existed pre-Ian Brown, that sit around going on about how legendary the Stone Roses were.

Here's something that'll cheer you up mate - I'm not even from Manchester, I'm a fucking southerner.

Can't wait to hear what you have to say about that....

Oh Edward my dear. Does your call centre team leader know how much time you spend on here? Don't ever let him find out as he would NEVER understand how a happy little boy grew up to be a bitter, bald old man peddling his piss poor Luke Haines impressions with 'clever' reworkings of the Cheers theme tune. it's just wank..."it's got no soul, it's got a shopping centre....jesus christ was born in a stable in small town" - wow man, that's just soooo fucking out there, you're like the Anti-scene's answer to Nick Cave man - so fucking radical.
Even if it was any good - you are too old and too bald for anyone to buy into what you're selling. It's a shit business ain't it.
Ah well, it's a gonna be a great week for Manchester Music - The Courteeners and Ting Tings at Apollo tomorrow, The Courteeners at The Ritz on Thursday, The Twisted Wheel at Gmex (with Happy Mondays) on Friday, Cherry Ghost and The Twisted Wheel at Ritz on Sunday. Cost me a packet in tickets but well worth it!!!

Hey Edward, there's no need to be so nast. You know what, you sexless slaphead, you and The Courteeners and Twisted Wheel might all get on if you ever men.
They may be able to have a chat with you and perhaps even help you get a foot on the ladder by namechecking you in interviews. You could go on to be star in your own right and do smart stuff like appear on BBC 2's Later covering Shipbuilding accompanied by that ugly little fat bird out of Arcade Fire. Would you like that old man? Would you?

The thing is Edward, all things considered, you will never ever achieve the commercial success you so clearly crave - or even get a sniff of it like Twisted Wheel and The Courteeners. So, why don't you put less effort into attacking successful acts and more effort into working up the ranks in your call centre?
And...rather then combing it forward why don't you just shave it off? That would be far more dignified granddad.

I have met you a few times and, apart from the inescapable fact that you are old AND bald, you are OKAY for an OAP. But, you need to let The Courteeners thing go. It's not healthy for you to be so obsessed with a band that you know nothing about and have never seen. It's eating you up inside Edward - you cannot hate hip, handsome and famous young men with healthy heads of hair just because they have had the cheek to go and get signed, record an album with Stephen Street and play a sell out tour. It's not fair on you or your ugly girlfriend - it really isn't my friend...it really isn't.

"hip, handsome and famous young men"

No! Your one of those little indie tarts that follows them around aren't you?

Awwww.

Either that or you really need to have a think about your sexuality there mate...

Stop deflecting all this onto me - I can see the real root of your angst now little missy.

Don't worry tho - soon those Courteener posters will come down, just like the Bloc Party ones did.

And then, that next band you fall in love with...

Yes - your dreams are fine Edward. And that's all they ever will be - dirty little dreams. Like the time you dreamt you were titting up Kate Bush as she sang along to one of your songs.
Don't you think it's a bit weird being on music messageboards at your age? Shouldn't you be, like, reading your kids a bedtime story or turtle waxing your Ford Mondeo?

Time to get Mommy and Daddy to shell out
for some more sessions with that child
shrink I think.

Your clearly a nasty box of issues.

Eddie!
I gotta laugh! I knew you were a southerner!
As we thought you are just another failed ex-student in a failed band getting all bitter about the locals who you look on with contempt in that southern hating the working class kinda way! ‘Oh they can’t even spell- don’t they talk funny’ kind of way!
You come up here and sneer at our culture, you stuck up ponce! Of course I’m one of those kids who grew up in North Manchester (bet you never even been up there!). One of those kids you sneer at with your sub Oscar Wilde put downs!
We have that northern thing that you could never understand but you know what there’s plenty of working class kids in London who get it as well. My mate saw The Courteeners down there last week and you be thrilled to know that the gig was packed.
All you seem to like is yourself and your small group of mate’s music. You rant and rave because some local journalist wrote an article about some local bands who are from Manchester and dares to miss your self styled genius out!
And you make weird little remarks about ‘bumming’ because a band gets a good review.
No-one in the city gives a toss about you and your holier than though mini scene of twelve people- you know we were going to come down and see you play for a laugh but you don’t seem to be playing any gigs! If the Courteeeners and their sold gig full of horrible northern oiks at The Ritz is not a band who are getting big and worth attention then what have you got to offer instead? A mini mini scene of bands that don’t play any gigs and have no hits on their myspace sites.
Hardly the talk of the town!
In ten years time no one will give a toss about your daft bands. They will never mean anything and you will be living back down south in some posh Home Counties town still cursing the world for not recognising your wacky genius!
And while you get warm with your girlfriend she will be thinking of Liam from the Courteeners instead of you!
Whilst me and my mates will be running round own having a good time, getting pissed, copping off and going to gigs and clubs- the sort of things that young people from Manchester do and the sort of things miserable old people like you don’t do.
You do sound scary wiping ‘scals’ off your shoe!
But at least you give us a really good laugh with your pompous answers….lets have another one Quentin!

You just pretty much confirmed everything
I thought about you as well.

Goodbye, and enjoy hiding in the shadow
of this band you love. Whilst you still can.

Morning Edward or Bernardo as you are calling yourself today!
WeI await you Oscar Mild riposte with glee!
Get typing in your coffee break from Macdonalds!

In that article top Manchester punk
John Robb is going on about Babyshambles and the Sex Pistols!

This is hilarious - have you people never
even heard of The Fall or The Buzzcocks?

Conveyor line more like ;)

Maybe we should invite these poor saps
down for Febuary 7th - show em what the real sound of Manchester is.

They might even turn out to be decent human beings behind that creepy stalker facade.

Did you cue up for hours to get Take That tickets?
Because you must love Take That, they're the most successful and popular band to ever come out of Manchester.
They're the real sound of Manchester...

I thought you said the Courteeners were doing badly in London!

I guess being shitty Libertines also rans is a quite a few notches up from being shitty Luke Haines never rans.

Oh and Vincent, you sound like a little baby having a tantrum

I sound like a little baby, do I?
Awwww, could you not think of an argument to counter my last point?
And you don't want throw any personal abuse at me either, like you did with Ed when couldn't think of anything clever to say (which is rarely)?
You disappoint me, I'm used to much better competition than this, but I'll guess you'll do for some practise.
I'll toy with you for a bit longer but please come up with something better next time, otherwise I'll get bored and my plan won't succeed.
The floor's all yours, steggy...

And I don't see why Ed's views are cliched, maybe you can explain this to me. And are you an educated and trained musician to make such sweeping criticisms of his music?
I think you might be punching a bit above your weight here. Prove me wrong...
Oh, and I do like amusing people and will keep going, but I feel I need a better sparring partner than you. Whenever someone makes a good point against you, you start with the personal insults and stuff. It makes things duller than the Courteeners. Come on, you can do better than this, you're the "real" scene, the dominant force, you should be able to put me out of misery by the end of the day.

I was only asking if you like Take That. They're very popular you know and you seem to like popular bands, it seems to be a requirement to your listening pleasure. You might also like Girls Aloud, the Spice Girls and I bet you wait with glee for the winner of X-Factor.
I eagerly await your reply...

I get what your saying but we're not actually that much against these bands
as much as the way Manchester is being
represented in that article up there.

That Manchester grass roots scene is hardly represented on this site mainly
because most people around the UK think
all the city has to offer is "attitude"
bands.

You know as we know, this just isn't the case.

Nice try, mate - your bailing because your beat, simple as that.

Now fuck off and learn to hold an argument, prick.

He namechecks the aftershow...he cant possibly have ever been on anight when there were no bigger named acts cos its dead. I was at the one where tigerpicks headlined and there were 10 people downstairs...if it wasnt for the indie night project in room 2 (where there were about 300 people) the night would have gone tits up, but still Robb bleats about the aftershow. ill tell you now its a farce, an egotisitical farce.

Which leads me to my next point that PR and image shaping points to only one element of manchester...it seems odd to me that the witty, poptastic stylings of the smiths is somehow overshadowed by the monkeys. The Smiths are for me, Manchesters best ever product. Nothing like it then and no-one can even rip them off now. not even mr fray despite what his lyrics say...hahah

gives a tiny ray of hope that once we get out of manchesters inbred nonsense climate
that it is good see that bands get lauded
purely for music alone, once the fads pass
it is the music alone that counts...
no-one gives a shit about daffodils and daft quiffs now only the music.

So in short twisted wheel and the courteeners will not be as enduring in this way cos their tunes are not up to the hype despite what john says...and for fuck sake has anyone listened to goldblade? utter shite and not even purposefully shite so that its good. just shit. he has no platform in which to give his opinion. john robb is NOT the singular voice of manchester music. end of.

and am loving the rawness, tell em to check their myspace ;)

Ultimately with the anti-scene we are not trying to create a movement as much as a place for bands that are willing to innovate, a place to meet up and check out what others have to offer.

We're just trying to keep that Manchester DIY spirit, the one Mr Robb loves to talk about but has long since forgotten, alive and burning bright.

seemed to have missed this Band maybe..

DAVID RYBKA & THE VICTORIAN DAD
. It has been a long time coming and David Rybka, the leader of “Wigan’s Super Group”, is no stranger to hard work. He has perfected his compositional style and live act over the course of thousands of performances (beginning when he was just fifteen years old) and this experience is obvious – so much so that within a year of his arrival in Manchester he was offered not one but two publishing deals: an acoustic release on R.I.P. Records and a full electric album (entitled “The Thin Thread”) on Elbow’s label “Skinny Dog Records”.

Together with his band (consisting of core members Jimmy Wilson, Tom Doherty, Matt McNicolas, Tom Yates and Fran Lydiatt) he has carved out a keen UK following and something of a private mythology; the band moved into Withington’s last surviving 18th Century farm house and soon transformed it into a hermitage for musicians of all disciplines to collaborate in (until they were suddenly evicted and the place began to crumble – but they now tour too much to make use of such a base anyway).

David and the VDB have recently enjoyed enthusiastic support from BBC 6 Music, patronage from The Smiths’ Mike Joyce and praise from local artists I Am Kloot & Elbow. They are also part of Manchester’s Debt Set (affiliated with co-operative label Debt Records run by occasional collaborator Louis Barabbas) and are engaged in a host of creative and promotional projects with their contemporaries in the Manchester arts scene.

NOTE TO EDITORS

The electric and acoustic records will be available soon after, accompanied by a video for single No Fashion. A further album is in pre-production.

www.myspace.com/victoriandaad