Tag: Preston Mill

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.

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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!

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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.

Preston Venue 23 – The Mill Part 1

There used to be a plethora of pubs in the Plungington/Brook Street area of the city, many such as the Royal Oak, the Tanners, Plungington Tavern, General Havelock, The Cottage and the Brookhouse have all now bitten the dust.

Around the corner from there is Aqueduct Street where there used to be a couple of further boozers, Prince Consort a Whitbread house run by an ex-wrestler which closed in the 90’s. The other being the Lime Kiln, a small, homely pub that subsequently turned into a slightly chaotic Chinese restaurant. Located between those two hostelries was a landmark Preston venue called the Mill.  

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The Lime Kiln pub. Image Credit Flickr.

For about three years around 2003-2005 this venue burned very brightly and attracted some big indie names to an unprepossessing back street venue. It is located near a West Coastline railway bridge and opposite a dance club I cannot recall the name of but subsequently become a LGBTQ venue called the Boiler House in 2019.

It was originally a venue between 1993 and 1996 called the Mill where Oasis and Pulp played early gigs, annoyingly I have also just discovered Buffalo Tom played there in 1993, which I was wholly unaware of at the time. It then had different signage under Club Sugar and the Marquee before closing in 2002. A year later the owners of Leeds Cockpit were looking to open a gig site in the North West and chose this location under its original name. The opening of a bigger rival venue called 53 Degrees precipitated its subsequent downfall in about 2007 as Preston was not big enough to justify two main venues, I believe it is still operational as a recording studio.

There were steps leading up to the entrance which brought you into the centre of the venue with a large dance floor, stage to the right and a long bar facing opposite. Somewhat bizarrely in about 2005 they launched a split room approach to try and create a separate bar and gig area which personally did not work for me. On non-gig nights they opened as a nightclub which I frequented a few times, and this was where Paddy Finch and I used to pogo around the dancefloor.  

This former cotton mill in Aqueduct Street has undergone a number of changes as a venue and has recent incarnations, featuring a Shisha bar and the newest addition the Escape Room Preston, where players take part in prison-break type experience. The Mill opened as a nightclub/music club focusing on alternative music in 1998
Preston Mill venue. Image Credit Lancashire Evening Post.

I saw 15 gigs there in totality which places it 8th on the all-time visited venue list and joint 2nd in the Preston venues list. I attended there twice in its original incarnation. The first in 1995 to see Cement, which was a band formed by lead vocalist Chuck Mosley who was previously in Faith No More and the legendary and influential Bad Brains. I recall them creating a rambunctious slab of noisy garage rock.  

My second appearance was the following year was to see a Battle of the Bands event and we witnessed Wunjo Station, Tripitaka, King Mambo and Fervid.

There was a seven-year hiatus before my next visit in 2003 at which point it was becoming increasingly evident that the venue was beginning to attract a decent calibre of bands to play there. I missed an early performance by Snow Patrol as I was attending an alternate gig that night, doubly regretful as I was a big fan of the material produced by their spin off band Reindeer Section, especially their terrific second album Son of Evil Reindeer.

On 23/09/03 the Swedish band Wannadies were in town and they produced an excellent set with their quirky lead singer Par Wiksten in full flow. It was a poignant gig for me as I was still recovering from a particularly unpleasant sustained bout of shingles and some noisy poppy guitars only served to aid my recovery!