Tag: And They Shall Know us by the Trail of the Dead

Preston Venues 24 and 25

When I left school in 1984, I undertook a one-year course to purloin some more further O’Levels at Newman College based in Winckley Square. I had somewhat to my detriment but to endless fun discovered pubs by this stage and regularly visited Lou’s Longbar in town on a Thursday night as they were somewhat lax in applying the normal age 18 criteria. A further essential part of the social calendar was to attend the legendary college do’s which took place 3 times that year. The very boozy events took place at Clouds nightclub on a Monday night.

At that time, there was a sister establishment in Preston called Tuson College based on St Vincent’s Road in Fulwood. They also held a college do in the same week on a Wednesday and these took place at Brooks Nightclub on Church Street. Rick Clegg and I managed to complete a 100% attendance record at all 6 functions in our college year but on those double do weeks we were extremely jaded come Thursday morning!

Brooks nightclub was based in the former Ritz cinema and was originally Scamps Discotheque and has since gone through various incarnations namely Arabellas, the Place and Aqualenium. Under that latter guise I attended one gig there on 16/05/02.

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Brooks Nightclub. Image Credit Flickr.

I discovered the existence of this hometown gig in a slightly unusual way. Thus, 19 days before I was leaving a And They Shall Know Us By the Trail of Dead gig in Manchester and local luminary John Robb was holding court by the exit door and outlining an upcoming Goldblade gig in Preston.

Calls were made in the morning to gather interest resulting in a group of us, including the enigmatic Matty Allen, gathering in the Black Horse on the gig night prior to heading onto the venue.

As it was a nightclub gig it turned into a very late one and many drinks were imbibed. Goldblade were supported by local band Onset. On a very small stage the main act commenced their performance close to 1am with Action Record’s Gordon Gibson in attendance. I do not think John Robb was enamoured with the sound system resulting in a fit of pique and the microphone being hurled down after a chaotic and very noisy truncated set!   

Action Records located on Church Street is one of those rare but utterly essential independent record stores. It started out as a stall on Blackpool Market before moving to its current location in 1979 and is still run by the indefatigable and Stranraer’s finest Gordon Gibson. I have been going in there since the early 80’s and remember Saturday afternoons delving into the vinyl boxes on the shop floor and unearthing and buying obscure gems such as Dumptruck and Squirrel Bait from my YTS money.  

They have developed their own record label recording output from acts such as the Boo Radleys. They have been a fierce advocate of record store day and have had many in store gigs including performances from Dirty Pretty Things, Bastille, Billy Bragg and a show from a young Muse in 1999.   

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Muse pictured with Gordon Gibson in Action Records 1999. Image Credit blogpreston.co.uk

On the night of 23/10/05 I was out watching Nine Black Alps in Manchester, coincidentally my 200th gig, and Magic Numbers were playing at the venue next door, and I heard on the grapevine they were undertaking an in store set the next day. So, the following lunchtime I gathered in a busy shop with Algarve Ray in attendance to watch a short set from a jaded looking Magic Numbers who hail from West London but model themselves on the 60’s Californian sound. They provided a soothing soundtrack within the confines of a somewhat unusual setting!

Manchester Venue 5 – Academy 2 (Part 2)

Many of the pre-gig drinks meets for this venue were located in Jabez Clegg situated on the other side of Oxford Road however that pub closed around 10 years ago. It was swiftly replaced by the nearby Big Hands which is a slightly grubby, fabulously noisy venue with a fine jukebox where there is a tradition to play ‘Hells Bells’ prior to departing to the gig.

In 1995, Buffalo Tom hit town and I do find their soothing Americana is like putting an old pair of slippers on. A great live act.

The following year, we encountered a band who I thought were the best live band on the circuit at that point in time, namely Rocket From the Crypt. The first sight of them was then they roared onto stage and their effervescent lead singer Speedo uttered the bracing opening phrase ‘This is Motherfuckers God’s music’. They then lived up to that claim by producing a thunderous set. I saw them twice there that year and the second had about 10 of us in attendance.

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Rocket from the Crypt live on stage. Image Credit mrteeth.reviews.com

This high was followed by a crushing disappointment when we went to see Screaming Trees. The main reason was the fact that lead singer Mark Lanegan had a damaged throat and only completed 4 songs before stomping off. The gig should have been cancelled and I recall Paul Bruzzese being understandingly vocal in his consternation. What made it worse was it was my one and only chance to witness them. I still treasure their ‘Dust’ album.

Screaming Trees ‘Dust’ Album cover. Image Credit norman.records.com

I have seen Billy Bragg there twice, one of those a couple of weeks ago when he played selected songs from his first three albums. I have also seen Wannadies, 3 Colours Red, And They Shall Know us by the Trail of the Dead, Mark Lanegan, Nine Black Alps, Ash and Yo La Tengo.

Mercury Rev in 1999 was an outstanding gig where their swirling sound was unique. When they left the stage the lights didn’t come in and there was no piped music for 10 minutes, despite that half the audience left leaving us stalwarts to enjoy an intimate encore. I saw them there again 9 years later.

I saw Bob Mould there twice and also captured Pains of Being Pure at Heart, Children of Bodom, And So I Watch From Afar, Dinosaur Jr and most recently Pup, a Canadian punk band.

Also, in 1999 Death in Vegas played and they had the noisiest bass I have ever encountered. I recall we were leaning on the side walls and they were literally vibrating! I saw them again 3 years later. Teenage Fanclub were also really enjoyable. I also have tickets for DIIV there next year. 

Now I have found that as I have got older, that it takes a lot more to impress me until Hold Steady stopped me in my tracks. The first gig in February 2007 was bloody brilliant as their intelligent sing along evangelical performance was utterly life affirming. Their subsequent performances in 2010 and 2014 were equally as impressive. Lead singer Craig Finn is a modern day bard and I like them a lot.