Tag: Hold Steady

Manchester Venues 121 to 122 Deaf Institute – Part 1

One of my favourite Manchester venues is the Deaf Institute situated on Grosvenor Street off Oxford Road, almost equidistant between Manchester Oxford Road train station and the Academy venues.

The Deaf has a long history, initially being built in 1877 by a chap called John Lowe (not the darts player!) and the foundation stone laid by local MP Hugh Birtley was engraved and is still in situ. Also still inscribed over the doorway is its original name of Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute. No expense was spared at the time, and the initial build cost a princely sum of £5800. There were annual soirees arranged including the institute performing Romeo and Juliet in sign language in Hulme Town Hall as early as 1900.

Deaf institute entrance. Image Credit Tokyoindustries.com

It served an integral role in the city by helping individuals with speech and hearing difficulties. However, when the Institute moved to new premises in 1975, it resulted in the original site falling into disrepair and it lay unused, abandoned and reputedly ghostly for many years. The next activity was that planning permission was provided in 1987 to convert the building into a wine bar and bistro.

In 2006, the local promoters TROF took ownership and sensitively upgraded the building by utilising its existing grand features, including the stone gothic exterior. It was subsequently reopened in 2008 and was renamed as simply The Deaf Institute.

It is a three-tiered Grade II listed building with high, lavishly decorated rooms. The ground level is the Manchester Deaf Institute Bar which had a seating area which you could visit as a standalone bar. They had food options available, including a Sunday Vegan hangover menu, in this area they also staged DJ sets and periodically bands played there.  

Deaf Institute Bar. Image Credit headbox.com

I have seen three acts in this space, the first on 14/11/16 prior to attending a gig at Trof’s sister venue Gorilla, the performer being an acoustic singer called Rafiq B. The second gig on 05/12/21 was as part of a Record Vinyl collectors event organised by the Charlatans lead singer Tim Burgess, who is a keen advocate and supporter of the Manchester music scene.  

The band undertaking a decent acoustic set that day were Apollo Junction who are an indie band from Leeds. They formed in 2015 and within a couple of years were appearing live in session for the Janice Long show and their music has been used as the soundtrack for Match of the Day. They released their debut album ‘Mystery’ in 2019 and have since released two further albums and even played at the Tan Hill Inn (Britain’s highest pub).

What impressed me most was their engagement and inclusivity with their fans resulting in an avidness and dedication within their fanbase that you don’t witness very often, the last time I sighted that was with Hold Steady and their followers. The other band I saw there were called the Mottleys.   

Apollo Junction. Image Credit radio30org.fr

In 2022 a reorganisation took place, and the ground level area was closed as a working bar area and is now used more as a rehearsal space. The downstairs room was originally an events space that could be hired out for functions and regular club nights called Girls on Film took place there. This area has now been recalibrated into a smaller gig space called the Lodge, a venue I have not yet visited.  

Within the 2008 reopening the upper floor area was converted into the Deaf Institute Music Hall complete with a huge disco ball, parrot patterned wallpaper, raised stage and a small outdoor smoking balcony. There is an upper viewing balcony and there are wooden blocks to perch on at the rear of the venue that are reminiscent of the layout of the University of Central Lancashire’s original venue back in the 1990’s.

It has an intimate capacity of 260 and the likes of Kate Tempest, 1975 and Florence and the Machine have played there. Additionally, Johnny Marr held a residence there in 2011 when he was relaunching his solo career.

I have attended gigs there on 11 occasions, though I did miss one of my favourite bands Sennen playing an early tour date there. In retrospect, that turned out to be a blessing as speaking to them a couple of years later they outlined that it had been a promo event and they had only been allowed to undertake a very late post-midnight short set in front of an unresponsive corporate audience.

Manchester Venue 59 Sound Control – Part 3

There was an understandable backlash when the closure of Sound Control was announced, and a petition launched by one Preston punter (not me!), but they obviously do have damn fine tastes in that city! However as is often the way against commercial organisations, it was all in the end ultimately futile.

The next gig in the Sound Control Music Room in May 2013 was an interesting one. As we exited the station around 6pm we witnessed some activity outside the venue and grabbed the opportunity to check on stage times as the gig that evening was a dual headlining tour. As we enquired, a transit van rolled up and an intrigued observer jumped out and joined in the chat for us to then discover it was Patrick Stickles, the lead singer of Titus Andronicus.

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Titus Andronicus on stage. Image Credit buffablog.com

I first picked up on this unique band in 2008 via their remarkable but somewhat demented debut album Airing of Grievances, which was favourably reviewed at the time as the sound of a ‘violent, overblown and irreverent’ indie band, I have read many lesser appraisals. The band themselves were once in a Shakespeare musical question clue on University Challenge, unsurprisingly unrecognised by the University team. Titus was also the name chosen for the lead character in the remarkable Gormenghast Trilogy.

They were formed in New Jersey in 2005 and have cited Neutral Milk Hotel as an influence and you can hear that very band pervading through their musical output. They were strange but enjoyable and to exemplify this, their bassist in the middle of the set proceeded to impart a rambling surreal tasteless gag and without any preamble after it launched straight into the next thunderous tune.

In the gap between bands, we retired to the bar and whilst endeavouring to get served we were assailed by a random but regular holler of Hold Steady, the shouts emanated from a chap called Nigel who had recognised us from a recent gig, and we proceeded to see him sporadically at further gigs and chatted about music and his allegiance to Charlton FC. It was rapidly turning into a slightly odd evening.

Now I was once referenced in the NME review as one of a ‘couple of dodgy individuals pogoing at the front’ at a Snuff gig at Preston Caribbean Club in 1990, a quote I will be eternally proud of! However, I had never yet been featured in an NME photo, just missing out at a Screaming Blue Messiahs gig at Manchester International as I must have stepped back from stage as the camera clicked.

The main band this night was again F##ked Up who were in good nick with their lead singer Pink Eyes who has a habit of marauding the moshpit. There was a panoramic picture of him in the crowd in the famous music magazine next week. I hungrily scoured the hundred people pictured but would you credit it I was a yard to the left off camera; it was obviously never destined to be!

Three years later in 2016 I went to see the Connecticut post rock band The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. They were in the mould of luminaries such as Maybe She Will and Explosions in the Sky. They had entered my galaxy via their debut album ‘Whenever, if Ever’. They were an enjoyable interesting proposition live.

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The World is a Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid to Die. Image Credit godisinthetvzine.co.uk

My final gig was my own sabbatical to the venue as it took place 15 days before its closure on 01/12/17. I had only been resident in Manchester for three months so was still somewhat in a bit of a haze, so it was good to have a merry band of six over from Preston to see the legendary Rocket from the Crypt. We made the obligatory visit to the Noodle Bar down Oxford Road before discovering Refuge bar for the first time as it always thought previously it was part of the hotel!

Rocket were understandably a step down from the level of their astounding gigs in the mid-late 90’s but as ever were good value and my pal Paul Wilson obtained a selfie with the frontman Speedo post-gig. The boys headed back on the Preston train whilst I was still encountering the strangeness of a 10-minute commute back to the rental, though there was a detour to the midnight Tesco that evening for much needed unhealthy snacks!