Tag: Jacuzzi Boys

Manchester Venue 107 – AATMA

One of the continuing delights of Manchester is the proliferation of different and unique venues that continue to spring up on the gig circuit. One such venue is Manchester AATMA, which when I first visited it was known under its previous moniker as Kraak Gallery. It is literally buried deep in the back streets of the Northern Quarter and was once a derelict former textile mill. It is arguably comparable to Islington Mill with its commendable DIY ethic and industrial vibe and is a multipurpose event space with a 150 capacity.  

I first became aware of its existence in 2012 and I have visited eleven times in total. The first challenge I faced was finding the venue, it is located at 14-16 Faraday Street off Stephenson Square and is accessed via an unmarked door in an alley off an alley! You then climb up to the first floor to find the venue and as you enter you find the stage to the right and a pop-up bar down to the left with a battered old sofa providing the sparse seating area.

AATMA entrance. Image Credit youtube.com

The act that night was the Jacuzzi Boys who are an excellent three-piece garage/surf rock band from Miami. Their debut album in 2009, ‘No Seasons’ caught the attention of none other than Iggy Pop who invited them to be opening slot on his tour. They have been quiet for a few years but have just released a new EP.

My next visit was in December of the same year when there was a punky bill taking place that we on the hoof decided to dive in to watch the noisy Canadian opening band called Sounds of the Swarm. Due to the warehouse setting the room was icy cold and the can of Boddingtons Bitter purchased nearly moulded itself into my hand!

The old sofa! Image Credit headbox.com

We then headed to our scheduled gig at Academy 3 to watch God is an Astronaut before returning to Kraak to see the headliners Victories at Sea who provided a sonic outro to complete an aural assault of an evening.  My only one regret with the venue is that I was unable to attend when the Nottingham noiseniks Cult of Dom Keller played as I had thoroughly enjoyed them when I had unexpectedly caught them in Brussels when visiting the Belgian city.

Many of my visits here have been part of the numerous Northern Quarter multi venue festivals.  On one such visit in 2014 I saw the Leeds post-hardcore trio Unwave. I then witnessed Tacetmusic there and the following year caught a singer songwriter called Sarah Walk from Chicago who was a former graduate of the Berklee College of Art.

Victories at Sea. Image Credit withguitars.com

In 2016 I saw some doomy hardcore from Berlin band Rope. A year later a caught a London three piece called False Heads, who had just released their debut EP. They were discovered and subsequently mentored by the former Ramones manager Danny Fields who has form in spotting a good un! Support slots followed with The Libertines and Queens of the Stone Age before releasing their debut album in 2020.  

In 2018 I witnessed the punky sounds of the Nectars who thoroughly embraced the sound from their home city of New York. Later that year I saw an enjoyable set from the all-female three-piece Peaness from Chester who had originally met at the University in the town. Next up was a lo-fi soul singer from Manchester called Darcie. My latest attendance last year resulted in seeing a band called Hup and a Latin tinged artist with the memorable moniker of Carlos Loverboy. 

Manchester 74 Soup Kitchen – Part 2

I recall being sat in the Soup Kitchen bar in early 2017 when I knew that we would soon be relocating to Manchester, in the background I could hear the distinctive intro theme song to Marc Reilly’s 6 music show and for some odd reason that very event made the upcoming move feel infinitely more authentic!  

In Feb 2015 I unearthed a diamond when we saw Ex-Hex there, coincidentally my 550th gig. They are an all-female garage rock trio from Washington DC and had just released their terrific debut album ‘Rips’.  Uncle George’s reaction was priceless, he watched silently for the first three tracks and then spun round and exclaimed ‘where the hell did you find this lot Jim?’. The justification for his infectious enthusiasm was due to a compelling performance by the band, inciting memories of previous forbearers The Runaways and the Slits.

Ex-Hex. Image Credit The Daily Telegraph

They had supported the legendary Rocket from the Crypt and I also saw them on a later tour double billing with the Jacuzzi Boys. On this night they were supported by Princess, an arty American band who could be loosely labelled in the ‘math rock’ category.

The next band on the roster was The Cheatahs, who unusually had Canadian, American and German members but were based in London! I had first picked up on them via their excellent self-titled debut album evoking highly favourable comparisons to the seminal Sugar album ‘Copper Blue’. After releasing their second album, they sadly disbanded in 2016.

For the first half of the gig the sound was shambolic as it could not cope with their sonic attack. The second half was very enjoyable and perhaps their finest track ‘The Swan’ was especially glorious. They were supported by a Brighton psychedelic rock band called Novella.  

The Cheatahs. Image Credit Genius

In May 2016, Babeheaven were on the roster. The London duo produced introspective electronic pop music and finally issued their debut album in 2020 called ‘Home for Now’. Later that year I witnessed Trudy and the Romance, a three piece from Liverpool, previously they were simply called Trudy. They were perhaps best quantified in the country blues bracket. 

In February 2017 the weather gods did not smile on us as there was a huge storm that evening, but we just about managed to navigate into and out of Manchester on the infrequent trains left available. I am glad we did because Julia Jacklin was excellent with her uniquely soothing voice. She was brought up in the Blue Mountains outside Sydney in Australia which we have fortunately had a chance to visit. She deservingly now receives a lot of radio airplay.

I then saw Jakl (Hughie Gavin) who was a singer/songwriter from Margate. I have just read a story about him where his dad was hospitalised with a Covid coma, he wrote a specific song and played to him every day, his father woke up a week later and sang the melody of the song back to his son as it was the only thing he could recall when he was in the coma.

Next up was multi-instrumentalist Jacob Allen who was originally a bedroom recording artist from South London who plays under the stage name of Puma Blue. He was followed six months later by Fizzy Blood, an indie rock band from Leeds.

I made two further visits in 2019, the first being a six-piece synth band from Manchester called Mealtime. They were in the LCD Soundsystem mould and have been garnered quite a bit of media attention since then.

The second was a four-piece named Two Weeks in Nashville, whose sound leaned heavily into the 1970’s genre. Their moniker derived from an inspirational holiday they took in Tennessee’s capital city which reinvigorated their musical ambitions. My latest attendance was on 02/04/22 as part of the Fair Play Festival to see a local artist called Tyler Crude.