Tag: Manchester Night and Day

Preston Venue 26 – 53 Degrees Club Part 1

Following the closure of the old Preston Polytechnic venue back in the 90’s it took a fair period of time before a new venue was incorporated into the updated University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN).

On the original site on Fylde Road the new £6.5million venue 53 Degrees was launched in 2005, with the first gig being an AC/DC tribute band and the first proper band was a very young Subways. The venue closed in 2015 with the final gig responsibility being given to the Inspiral Carpets.

There were two separate halls, the main downstairs venue with a capacity of 1500 but in this particular blog, I am going to concentrate on the Preston 53 Degrees Club venue located upstairs with a capacity of 400.

Access was gained from the rear of the building up a flight of stairs that dropped you into a corridor reminiscent of Manchester Hop & Grape. The doorway to the left took you into the venue with bar opposite and the stage down to the right. It was a fairly intimate venue but was located in a thin level room which made viewing a challenge when it was heavily populated. The beer as at many venues was of a pretty foul quality.

I have witnessed 15 gigs there in total and my first foray there was in June 2006 to see a full roster of bands. First up were the Architects followed Komakino, a five-piece band from Derby who were a regular support band at that stage to the likes of Bloc Party and the Editors. They subsequently split up in 2008.  

The main support was Love Ends Disaster! formed whilst at University in Loughborough and Nottingham. They were a decent live act and a couple of years later were receiving airplay from the likes of Colin Murray and Huw Stephens on Radio 1, when I saw them again at the Rescue Rooms in Nottingham. They subsequently disbanded in 2012.

The headline act was Cooper Temple Clause hailing from Wokingham and their first two albums in 2002/2003 received some considerable acclaim. I would put them in the post-hardcore mould, and they created a fine clattering racket!

See the source image
Cooper Temple Clause. Image Credit YouTube.

My second visit there was on a Bank Holiday Sunday on 06/05/07 following attending Preston North End’s last game of the season where we beat Birmingham 1-0 but just missed out on the play-offs by a single point, probably a blessing in disguise!

The band on show was Mumm-Ra who I had witnessed the year before when I went to see Amusement Parks on Fire at Manchester Night and Day. They were a tad fey and lightweight for my tastes.     

Three days later I went to see 65 Days of Static who I had first picked up on via their multiple inclusion in John Peel’s Festive Fifty off their 2004 debut album ‘The Fall of Math’. They are in the post rock genre but with a more electronic bent and emanate from Sheffield and are still now ploughing their trade.

See the source image
65 Days of Static. Image Credit blogspot.com

They have always been good value live and were supported by Josh T Pearson from Texas who was previously in the lauded Lift to Experience. He was performed as a solo act at this time and was a slightly odd act as his singing was more in the vein of a stream of consciousness!   

On 26/09/07 I went to see one of the perennial stalwarts of the last 20 years Idlewild who as ever were consistently good. They were supported by Twilight Sad who are a fellow Scottish post punk shoegaze band and they had only just released their debut album on Mogwai’s label Rock Action Records. They had a fearsome live reputation and they lived up to that mantle as a thunderously loud act.

Preston Venue 23 The Mill – Part 2

For the three-year golden period of 2003 -2005 at the Mill, I was living a handy 15-minute stroll away at Lane Ends, and post gig would happily tumble up Tulketh Brow or Shelley Road in a warm glow after a top night of music.

I had a very noisy double bill of gigs at the tail end of 2003, the first being the old influential stalwarts Killing Joke who formed in Notting Hill in 1979. I was in attendance with super fan Tony Dewhurst who has seen them over 100 times. I recall Tony saying he had a chat with lead singer Jaz Coleman that night and there was a possibility Tony could be hired to write his autobiography, but the interesting offer never reached fruition. They produced a very noisy industrial set.

The second was the Irish punk band Therapy? and I recall them playing their cover of Husker Du’s Diana.

See the source image
Therapy? Promo picture. Image Credit conversationabouther.net

In between those two gigs, I saw Brighton band Electric Soft Parade who I had picked up on initially from their stellar debut album ‘Holes in the Wall’ which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. They were very accomplished and enjoyable on the night.  

Next up in April 2004 was to see Marky Ramone. Originally born Mark Steven Bell he was originally a drummer for Richard Hell and the Voidoids. When Tommy Ramone stopped drumming to become the manager in 1978, he stepped in as the new drummer and changed his name to Marky Ramone. The show consisted of a slide presentation talk with Q&A which was amusing as had a bone-dry wit and there were many Ramones tales to impart. The second part consisted of playing a selection of Ramone songs drumming behind of UK Subs, which was the weaker portion of the evening’s events.  

In April 2004, I saw a Cardiff post-hardcore band called Mclusky led by Andrew Falkous and they produced an urgent slab of noisy rock. After the band split up Falkous created the bands Jarcrew and Future of the Left, I was a fan of the latter band’s off-kilter sound. The support bands on the night were Papa Boon and My Code Name is Milo.

On a very warm Friday night during Euro 2004 we sauntered down to watch Longview, an indie rock band from Manchester. They had formed in 2002 and honed their craft with many gigs at the Night and Day café. They also had the German musician/record producer Ulrich Schnauss in their ranks from 2005 to 2010. Remarkably despite them being in existence for 12 years they only ever produced one album. I recall they were very melodic in the mould of Nada Surf with House of Love tinted vocals and were a perfect summer night band. Just listening to their music now and it still sounds remarkably fresh.

Five months later I saw Hope of the States, a post rock band from Chichester. They were good value and were supported by The Open. When the headline band subsequently disbanded the members ventured into bands such as The Northwestern and Chapel Club.

In March 2005 a group of us went to a multi punk bill and we saw Mere Dead Men (MDM) and Broken Bones who evolved from the band Discharge. Also, on the bill was the local punk legends Pike, one of seven times I have seen them. I recall they played a rarely heard cover of a Naked Prey track, which I think was ‘Train Whistle Blows’ from their lost gem album ‘Under the Blue Marlin’.  Naked Prey were from Tucson, Arizona and in the desert rock genre and subsequently were members of Green on Red and Giant Sand and you can hear distinct similarities in their sounds.  If I have got the name wrong of the covered track, I am sure Pike’s bassist and music encyclopaedist Jez Catlow will graciously correct me!

See the source image

Naked Prey ‘Under the Blue Marlin’. Image Credit Amazon.

In the gap between bands, we headed up to the local pub Moss Cottage, known as the Hogshead for an aperitif before returning to see the headliners Conflict, who formed in Eltham in South London in 1981. They were always combative souls and highlighted issues around animal rights, anarchism and class war. During their gigs in the 80’s in the particularly dark days of Thatcherism they regularly stoked up the crowd leading to riots and disturbances post-gig. Even 25 years on, they still cut an aggressive and spiky presence on stage.