Tag: History of Apple Pie

Manchester Venues 77 to 78

For one of the main city train stations, Salford Central station is somewhat of an anachronism. I currently work very close to this station and have many colleagues who are commuting over from Preston who now don’t have a direct train to Central and have to change at Salford Crescent. They are due to close the station for a few months to upgrade and make the platforms safer, however they have missed a glaring opportunity to open up for wider use the other platforms that are available on the Piccadilly to Victoria station line link, more short sighted thinking relating to Northern based stations and on any initiative that sits outside HS2, methinks!

If you turn left as you exit Salford Central this takes you directly to the Salford Egerton Arms Hotel. The pub has sat at the Gore Street site since at least 1841. It must have been a pacifist venue back in the day as the pub’s coat of arms motto ‘Virtuti – Non – Armis – Fido’ apparently translates as ‘I trust in virtue not arm’s’. It is purported that the name derives from the Egerton family who owned the Tatton park estate around the time of the inception of the pub.

 

Egerton Arms Hotel. Image Credit Geograph Britain and Ireland.

The pub has been owned by the local Joseph Holts brewery, still arguably the cheapest beer in Britain. I first visited there in 2017 as part of Sounds form the Other City festival (SFOTC) in 2017 and we saw a three-piece from Leeds called Autobodies.

There was also a chap in residence on the microphone who was publicising his quizmaster duties later that day and he had the most amusing laconic style in his delivery. That evening we were in the Pint Pot pub preparing to head off for our train home and begun chatting to three lads who we discovered had become the actual quiz winning team and they had received a tidy price of free tickets to next year’s festival. At the 2018 event we witnessed a local band called Perkoset at the Egerton.  

Next door is a decent food establishment called Caribbean Flavas and we have sat in the window a couple of times sampling their wares whilst in the area. There has been an uplift locally with acclaimed Italian and Tapas restaurants opening up nearby the station.

Directly across the traffic lights and the busy Chapel Street you find the Salford Arms Hotel. The pub has the same longevity as the Egerton, and it circles round onto Bloom Street and has also doubled up as a working hotel in the past. I walked past recently, and I have identified that the pub is now permanently closed.

It always had a battered old boozer vibe about the place, and I first visited there when in attendance at the 2012 SFTOC event.  On a makeshift stage in the middle of the pub we saw a thrilling set of shoegazey noise from History of Apple Pie who had not yet released their excellent debut album Out of View. On our way out we saw them loading up their transit band and had a brief chat.

History of Apple Pie on stage. Image Credit NME.

We returned later to see a very early set from Birmingham’s post-punks Victories at Sea. Just checking back on the bill now I see that Lovely Eggs actually headlined the venue that year. In 2017, we saw Manchester based artist Maddy Storm and the following year we ended the festival with a fun set from Leeds party band Crumbs.  

Manchester Venue 68 and 69 Gullivers NQ – Part 2

I have encountered many free bonus gigs at Gullivers NQ when visiting before and after attending another scheduled gig in the local area, it is also a useful ten-minute easy jaunt from Manchester Piccadilly station for the trains to and from home.

Upstairs via some cramped stairs leads you to Gullivers NQ Ballroom with a capacity of 110.  It is a windowless room with a raised stage at the end and can be very warm and a tad claustrophobic when busy. When less populated a gap on the side walls can be located to lean and sway upon.  I have attended fourteen gigs there in total.

My first visit prior to a gig at the Ruby Lounge on 21/10/10 was to see a local band called Blackjack Boys. Eighteen months later I witnessed Manchester trio the Onions who were in the Talking Heads mould, they garnered some attention in the following couple of years with a suite of 6 music sessions.

I visited three times in 2014, the initial one to watch Young Mountains, a six-piece post-rock band from Atlanta, Georgia who I surmise were named after their compatriots This Will Destroy You’s debut album.

Young Mountains. Image Credit listenherereviews.com

The second was a slightly anomalous one as it was the only time, I have paid for a singular gig there and not as part of a festival. The band in question was History of Apple Pie from London, a shoegaze act in the vein of Pains of Being Pure at Heart who I had seen previously at Salford Arms. They weren’t quite as good as that debut performance as the sound was a bit muddy prior to asking the audience ‘do we need to turn our guitars up?’ which received categoric assent from myself.    

History of Apple Pie. Image Credit NME

The final piece of that trilogy was Walton Hesse, another Manchester band who produced a fine slice of Americana with pleasing harmonies, reminding me of a country version of Nada Surf. Next on the roster was a double bill of London three-piece Mayors of Miyzaki and Personal Best, a punk band from Bristol. The latter acts initial line up having future members of Attack! Vipers! and Caves in their ranks.

At the 2016 edition of the Dot-to-Dot festival I saw the mod band Pleasure Beach, somewhat appropriately deriving from Blackpool formed by two schoolmates from Carr Hill High School in Kirkham. That school bizarrely being the first team we played at football when I was goalkeeper in the fifth year for Cuthbert Mayne High School in Preston.

Next on the list was a post-hardcore band from Leeds called Unwave, who were a very bracing challenging listen. At the tail end of 2017 another Leeds act called Mush were in town, they had an enjoyable off-kilter sound reminiscent of alt-rock luminaries such as Sonic Youth and Pavement. The band are currently about to go on a British tour.

Continuing the Yorkshire theme at the 2018 Dot-to-Dot I saw KAWALA who met originally whilst studying in Leeds but now reside in London, they were a tad limp for my tastes. Later that year I see roots singer Debra Ohalete who had African influences within her music.

Next on the Gullivers roster was Brighton based folk singer Bess Atwell. She was prolific from a tender age and started writing her own songs at the age of thirteen. My penultimate attendance there was to witness local post-punk four-piece Springfield Elementary. They reminded me a little of Stump of C86 fame.

My only post-covid visit thus far in April 22 was at the Fair Play Northern Quarter festival to see YAANG. Originally a Manchester duo called YANG they added a third member Ben White, previously of Working Mens Club during lockdown resulting in adding an extra A to their name. They were difficult to quantify but perhaps an apt description might be an electro doomy Joy Division, am I selling them well?