Tag: Pains of Being Pure At Heart

Manchester Venue 95 to 97 Chorlton – Part 2

In May 2009, we watched PNE lose again in the play offs, this particular time to Sheffield United and post-match the discussion turned to attending another event on the weekend of the play-off final. Thus, a couple of weeks later Uncle George, John Dewhurst and I took a car down the old M63 to South Manchester and found some cheap digs near Old Trafford football ground.

We then purloined a cab over to Chorlton and I recall visiting the Sedge Lynn Wetherspoons pub which used to be an old billiards hall. The venue we were gravitating towards was the Irish Club on High Lane, which was originally founded in 1956 to serve the local Irish community. In more recent times, it has had numerous financial difficulties and was put up for sale in 2020, and its future remains very uncertain.

It held numerous community activities and also hosted comedy nights with Peter Kay and John Bishop performing in the building. It also periodically had gigs on and the week before our attendance Sad Day for Puppets played there, whose debut album I thought was a decent output. I do recall however the NME reviewing the gig and inexplicably scoring it 0 out of 10, which withstanding the fact of personal preferences aside as there are bands I really do not like, I would never provide a score of zero for a live performance!  

The venue reminded me of a large doctor’s surgery house, in a good way. Firstly, there was Chorlton Irish Club Acoustic room where I saw a set by Manchester band Bugs in Ember who were at that point crafting their debut album ‘Take These Bones’.

Chorlton Irish Club. Image Credit the businessdesk.com

Next to there was the Chorlton Irish Club Downstairs stage and first up was a five-piece from Matlock called Bicycle Thieves. They were followed by Marple boys the Dutch Uncles who had only formed the year before and were just releasing their self-titled debut album. They have links to the afore-mentioned local football club of West Didsbury and Chorlton and have in fact performed a promo on the pitch and their post-punk sound is still going strong as they are now six albums in. 

The Dutch Uncles on the pitch. Image Credit The Quietus

On the Chorlton Irish Club Upstairs stage we initially saw LoveLikeFire who were an enjoyable San Francisco dream pop band.  The main act was Pains of Being Pure at Heart, a shoegaze band from New York. I was always a huge fan of this band and treasure their self-titled debut album and this performance was very early in their career and about their sixth date in England and first in Manchester.

Refreshingly and in the spirit of old Manchester International days, they only took the stage at 11.45pm and were leaning on the wall next to me just prior to their performance. They were always best where they had oodles of volume and they were thankfully pretty thunderous in that regard that night.

They opened with my fave track ‘Contender’ and were spellbindingly good and were clearly taken aback by the hugely favourable and noisy audience reaction, at subsequent performances they always referenced this special night. They understandably only played about a 35 minute set as that encompassed all the tunes they had at that stage. After the show I managed to sweet talk a bouncer into letting us into a local late bar for a last drink before our 1am taxi pick up.   

  

Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Image Credit beardedgentlemenmusic.com

I have thought about this event after the fact and it ticked so many boxes for me with the multiple self-contained venues, a discerning likeminded crowd, great music, and late performances which  places it firmly as a Top 20 gig in my all-time list!    

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?