TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY - PART 7 I made my debut at “mixing two records together without making people leave the room” (in public) in a place that was by then (it didn’t need my superstar DJ shenanigans) already a big player in the Manchester music scene - The Roadhouse. That night was one of the Fuse “parties” - occasional sister night to the monthly club night my mates Oz and Goose had started with the Electro Sluts DJ tag team. It quickly became the best underground night in the city playing the best in techy-house, DnB and the developing Nu-Skool breaks (like old skool but faster and louder) and Big Beat scenes. It was wild. I used to go to Tropical Hotdog Weekender there (mental druggy night) and had already played there a few times so I was familiar with the place but not as familiar as I was about to become. I think I can safely say that The Roadhouse is like a friend more than a club (*) In late 1994 or early ’95 I saw a band called Soft there. They changed their name a few years later and made, ya know, a few decent records ;) I saw a curly headed chap called Chris strum a song called Yellow on his acoustic in front of about 10 people one Tuesday night. I certainly didn’t think “Coldplay” was a very good name for a band….One night there was a queue around the block for a band who had played to less than 20 people there the week before. They had just brought out a huge single about a curryhouse (some bunch of posh designer hippies called Kula Shaker). Manchester Music’s Chair’s Missing nights started there. Some amazing bands. The Sonar Yen, Scaramanga Six, FiLo Radio (FiLo Radio!), Moco, Jackie O. Loads more. The only time I ever had facial reconstructive surgery at a gig was in the Roadhouse in around 1999. It was my first time seeing a band I would watch quite a few times over the next 10 years or so. The skin was slowly peeled from across my cheeks and forehead and my ears were assaulted. In a nice way. Even my eyes were being bombarded by squals of high frequency coming at me from three very loud amps. But I couldn’t move away. I couldnt stop looking at the drummer. How can arms move that fast yet still do the job they are supposed to do? This bit seems to be 7/4 but this bit here? Well, he’s playing in something like 13/8 and the bass player is in 4/4 but the rest of them are alternating between 9/5 and 7/8! And these are also the odds of them ever meeting in the right place on the right bar - but they always do. And the noise. Oh the noise. Glorious whooshing and diving. Alarms going off as your synapses burn. Great chasms opening before to suck you into a terrifying abyss. Like being inside an interstellar jet engine with an angel’s choir. Thankfully I can say that I’m lucky enough to have become friends with them all too. This band and my band became inseparable over those many great summers. We experienced together some of the absolute best highs the world of music can offer. It almost all happened in tandem back around the start of the 21st century when Manchester was at the forefront of yet another musical revolution. (*) I’d like to dedicate this particular blog to the memory of Steve Lloyd https://youtube/watch?v=xakusOLnvPk
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 12:17:06 +0000
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