THE EVENT
MANCHESTERMUSIC.CO.UK
Presents
The unElectric Circus
The Roadhouse
Newton Street , Manchester
Venue Tel: 0161 228 1789
Sunday the 19th October 2008
7.00pm – Midnight
FREE ENTRY
8 Acts / 2 Stages
The Tides, Box Kid, Politburo, The Magnificent Ambersons, Simon Connor, Butler Williams, Nick Miller, The Lightshines
THE BANDS
The Tides
http://www.myspace.com/thetidesinfo
The Tides released their current single on MM’s sister label Soviet Union and clambered in at #22 in the Official UK Indie Singles Chart (as used by Radio One). Sadly this doesn’t mean long holidays in Mexico, but it does mean we can get them to deliver a special low key, acoustic version of their set. David Gest is a big fan..fact
Box Kid
http://www.myspace.com/boxkidband
One of Manchester’s relatively unknown new bands, Box Kid have the potential to exploit moody 80’s pop, folky musings or straight up 4/4 dancefloor. If you meticulously pick the very best bits from Prefab and Deacon, then you have a taste of Box Kid and their very exciting bundle of tunes
Politburo
http://www.myspace.com/politburohq
Singer Nick Alexander & guitarist Dominic James from Politburo, put away the grind and punk rock attacks for their acoustic sideshow. After dabbling with the unplugged genre at the Green Room, the pair stir up echoes of The Cult and Nick Drake (true)
Nick Miller
http://www.myspace.com/nick83miller
WITH influences ranging from The Hour of the Bewilderbeast and The Wedding Singer movie soundtrack, Bolton musician Nick Miller (also of Burn The Mona Lisa) provides torch songs steeped in atmospheric flair – be aware if he brings a tin of paint..
Simon Connor
http://www.myspace.com/simonconnor
A progressive collection from Simon Connor’s full band EP “Seaside Surprise” reveals a mixture of folk and sweeping lullabies. His rock ambition only occasionally seeps to surface of his often gentle tunes, but there’s some progressive and detailed work in each of his songs.
Butler Williams
http://www.myspace.com/chrisbutlernoelwilliams
With their current self-released EP selling like proverbial hot cakes at local musical bakery Piccadilly Records, Butler Williams are currently engaged on a national tour. On record their songs flutter amongst echoes and vivid painted melodies, but live it’s even more engaging. BW are certainly one of MM’s favourite folky type duos and one of the most satisfying to amble along to on any lazy day..
The Magnificent Ambersons
http://www.myspace.com/theambersons
The Magnificent Ambersons have a Flaming Lips grasp of putting the psychedelic into pop without losing any tightness. "I think I'm in Hawaii 5-0" says an looker... and then David Gest walks in – weird ? that’s just one of their gigs..
The Lightshines
http://www.myspace.com/thelightshines
Echoes of Spacemen 3's "Transparent Radiation" and the euphoric dreams of Galaxie 500 - layered guitar drones and chimes flow into each other like oil rainbows on a water surface, rippling and shifting into ever-changing pictures with his spaced-out whispers sprinkled across the top – all from one bloke with no shoes..
ABOUT MM
After the early alt-rock days of Chairsmissing (2000-2003), MM had cemented in the new template for the Web / Label / Club formula. Two things happened a few years later – Manchester suddenly erupted to the rise of branded/alt/live indie club nights and the championing of underground guitar music, often by the very people who came along to the CM events.
MM’s solution was really just to stop putting on gigs in Manchester – rather than compete with a scene it helped create, it meant we could at least now go out and feast on the new platforms that had suddenly became available for new musicians.
Retiring to the live event fringes meant chipping away at new frontiers (Oldham / Bury / Salford) but sustaining a few more sneak attacks at the odd city centre venue (Star & Garter, or Hard Rock) and coming up with a range of sometimes odd ideas.
One of the biggest issues with our bid to regenerate rock music, was that the quieter side of town wasn’t quite getting a real look in. It got to the point where we almost expected hoards of bands with flaming torches to come banging on our door. SO the Electric Circus allowed a wider brief ( folk / metal / electro / dance / punk / rock etc – but not all at once I might add… although some bands have had a real go at that one).
As aside to even this, the accompanying unElectric Circus (in partnership with the Roadhouse) is in its fifth year (MM is in its 10th) - and we think there’s a pretty unique formula of Free Entry, (2 Stages), a casual Sunday evening slot and in this case, 8 acts…
We’ve had some pretty good names so far, including the live debut of Jim Noir, Aiden Smith, Liz Green, Denis Jones, Stickboy, Bonebox (unplugged), Tim & Sam, Cortina Deluxx, Sam Hammond, Alexis McLean, Snowfight (unplugged) plus dozens more….
Like the website we just love doing this and finding new music – which is all the more satisfying when you can also get such splendid acts to play at your gigs too…
MM
1999 - 2009
musicdash would also like to acknowledge the support of the PRS Foundation for new music