BRASSIC

BRASSIC.

Showcasing the richness of Northern culture and talent

9LiVES

An exploration of art and music.

‘It’s a London thing’ Why are Northern creatives having to move to London?

Disco Love

An interview with the creator of the print Ian Mitchell

‘Feel the Bern’

An interview with Bernie Connor

Abridged

Seven call for the comma

Newcastle, Gateshead in their location.

Seven crossed without thought of the hundreds of hands in the fingertips of the word: man-made.

Steel-work

Iron-work a heart’s hard-work in our attempt to get to the Other’s side.

Such a framework of need and curiosity it is to have more than a single way to do so.

It’s not just the River’s blue which makes us Northerners coo Tyne, all mine, all mine.

On the train, on the metro we all look in awe.

We Pisa and Pantheon and Eiffel for this city’s softy oiled joints.

Saying it’s areet pet and sorry flower and whey aye man that’s a lush view.

Laura Kasongo (Poetry in the North)

Editors note

Brassic. was created to showcase all the talent and culture we have in the North of England.

Often misrepresented and stereotyped, Brassic. contradicts this, showing it’s riches.

Thank you to all the creative and talented Northeners who have agreed to be apart of this project.

Big up the North.

Bebe x

All photos used with permission from photographers.

Instagram- @brassic.mag

The Greater Manchester town that was once dubbed a ‘shithole’ has now been labelled the ‘new Berlin’- but is Stockport really on the rise?

After DJ Luke Unabomber labelled Stockport as ‘the new Berlin’, many of the locals took it as a joke. With the closure of many shops, which seemed to be replaced with pound shop after pound shop, the town centre of Stockport really didn’t have much going on. The town has been put more in the spotlight since the Stopfordian band Blossoms became bigger, with the members always voicing their love for their hometown, and Stockport County FC who compete in EFL League Two.

As someone who grew up in the area, with a dad who always went on that it would be the ‘next big thing’, it was also impossible to see it other than what it was- a bit of a shithole. However now, a few years later, there has been an increase of independent food and drink vendors scattered across Little Under-

bank in Stockport’s Old Town. The area has now blossomed into a trendy town, with magazine shops, plant shops, and a vinyl store, it has been compared to Manchester’s Northern Quarter in the 1990’s- up and coming whilst still relatively affordable.

The area has become a lot more community-based, with their ‘Foodie Friday’ that’s hosted on the final Friday of each month becoming popular amongst families, with food and drink being supplied by local suppliers.

One notable business on the Underbank is the independent record shop SK1 Records, which throw free street parties with live music from DJs across the year, making it a cheap and accessible event for music lovers. It is this that many people believe was the reasoning behind the former Cheshire town being voted Greater Manchester’s ‘Town of Culture’ in 2023.

First set up by international DJ Joe McBride in 2018, the shop sells first and second-hand record vinyl records along with

CDs, cassettes and accessories such as art prints and label merchandise. The record shop has been met with a lot of success since, surviving the 2020 pandemic, it has now made a name for itself locally and across the North-West.

Last year, the store celebrated its fifth birthday, alongside regular Manc music event Aficionado’s 25th birthday. The event set up by DJs Richard ‘Moonboots’ Bithell and Jason Boardman started as an alternative to the superclubs that began dominating the industry back in the 1990s and have continued to bring accessible and fundamentally free-to-enter club nights to the masses for over two decades now- it comes as no surprise as to why SK1 Records was chosen for the special occasion. So, back to the question, is Stockport on the rise?

STOCKPORT

The answer is a clear yes. SK1 Records next event will be held on the 11th May 6pm-11pm.

a town on the rise?

Instagram- sk1records 17 Little Underbank, Stockport SK1 1LA

9LiVES is a Liverpool-based project exploring and exhibiting the music and art produced by the local talents in the city.

Created by Warrington’s Megan Green, more famously known as her DJ name Miggs, back in July 2023, 9LiVES provides a space and platform for creatives to express themselves and showcase their work and talents. She was soon joined by her good friend Patryk Baumann, who took on the role of co-owner, his talents in graphic design immensely helping the project.

The idea came from Miggs’ close relationships with other creatives in her life, she said, “I started this project last year because of a conversation me and my boyfriend were having. We realised that we were very lucky to be surrounded by so many creatives, like everyone we knew did something creative, whether that be music, art, photography, everyone had a little side hustle they were passionate about. This made me realise that all these things can be combined, the arts scene is struggling at the moment, and I wanted to give everyone a place to come together and showcase their passions”.

Although only hosting two exhibitions so far in 24 Kitchen Street’s Greenroom, the pair were faced

9LiVES: an of art and

with two great turnouts, both raising money for the charities associated with the chosen themes, “the first theme of body positivity came about because it is something I have always struggled with. I wanted to be able to create something that could bring people together to feel confident about themselves, including myself, but I wasn’t sure how, as it needed to be a relaxed atmosphere and not invasive to people’s privacy. This is how 9LiVES came about, I wanted people to feel like they could come and get involved and express themselves at any level, from creating an art piece and openly sharing their perspectives, to an attendee coming and just looking at everything and leaving feeling more confident”.

“I also started this because I wanted to bring a refreshing point of view to raving; it didn’t have to be about going out and getting intoxicated, it can be so much more than that. I wanted it to have layers, art, music, meaning, and get everyone together to explore important topics, raise awareness, and support charity”.

The second theme Save Our Scene, came from the crisis the nightlife and artis industry is in at the moment. I wanted to raise awareness not only to how much it is struggling and underfunded, but to how much it means to people in so many different ways, and why we should continue to support grass roots venues and on another in the scene”.

As well as 9LiVES, Miggs is a DJ, recently supporting Skream and Benga in their Liverpool Boiler room and jungle duo 4am Kru, as well as her current supervisor role at independent club 24 Kitchen

andexploration music

“We are stereotyped, underfunded and especially in Liverpool, sometimes seen as a last thought by big touring companies. But despite that, we are bursting with talent, and we have so many amazing creatives working past the boundaries and obstacles put in place by the Government. We also have a strong community, and are always willing to help each other and connect rather than step on toes.”

Street. She had previously run a project called The Girls Crib, which aimed to create safe spaces and platform artists from communities that are not well represented in the music industry.

Unlike her past projects and current DJ role, her gender hasn’t become an obstacle with 9LiVES, “that is only because I am lucky enough to carry this event out in a venue that I care about and am respected in, and already have a community of like-minded people who attend”, she explained. “But with Girls Crib it was much trickier, I found

that a lot of people did not take us seriously because we were women and had just started out. We also got a lot of backlash for putting on female only events and female only lineups, but that just further proved that what we were doing was so important. When 9LiVES develops into new venues with new themes and grows, I know there will be obstacles to do with my gender, but I am lucky because I am at a stage in my life now where I am experienced and confident enough to push past them”.

The next 9LiVES is still yet to be announced, but if anything like the last two, it should be another huge success.

For more news and a chance to discover creatives based in Liverpool, follow them on social media. Instagram: @ 9lives.____ or to get in contact with: business.9lives@hotmail. com

Positioned in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle, Dorothy is an independent studio selling and exhibiting their own and other artist’s prints, products, and artworks locally and internationally. Ran by Ali and Jim, the pair worked together in an advert agency before starting to sell their own prints and artwork in 2010.

14 years later and the duo have been met with masses of success, collaborating with brands such as Tate Galleries, Barbican Centre, Design Museum, Moog, Liverpool FC, and Google. Many of their prints are pop culture based, focusing mainly on music and film, with their Blueprints being the most popular, and time consuming, product.

Their most recent piece, the Disco Blueprint, celebrates the evolution of disco music, looking at the history and what it has since developed into. The print features over 600 names of artists, DJ’s, producers, clubs, and record labels, all connected on the circuit diagram of a Klipschorn speaker, which was used apart of New York club The Loft’s legendary sound system.

Ian Mitchell, the main creator behind the print, spoke about the long, complex process behind it, “It’s a lot of reading and highlighting tracks, artists, following up and listening to stuff. For something to appear on the map it’s got to have a real significance to the genre and the story getting told. But it is all reading stuff, then the translation from that into the map is really daunting.”.

“It started with the New York space and making an attempt at that, and then you move out of that and work on a certain area in quite a bit of detail and then go ‘right I’ll stop that’ and move on to another one.

When I was younger and a bit more of an artist, I’d paint or do a portrait or a landscape.

I suppose it’s sort of similar because you flip in and out of getting really obsessed with a little detail and then think ‘hold on I’ve got to stop and have a look over here’ so the whole thing builds up together. And then ideally, you’re hoping you’re not

spending too much time on one area to realise it’s in the wrong space and you’ve got to move it to somewhere else because that ends up being a real big waste of time and makes it messy, but there wasn’t too much of that.

Although it’s based on the Klipschorn circuit diagram, it’s not because

really through Top of the Pops and Saturday Night Fever, and it was the precursor to what we know as dance music now. When I was going to Acid House clubs you could tell disco was the forerunner and there was certain disco tunes that weren’t the wellknown ones that infiltrated peoples sets and

DISCO LOVE

An interview with the creator of the print, Ian Mitchell.

it’s way more detailed than that diagram, so there was a lot of moving around and creative licence taken to fit everything in where it is.”.

The process took 9 months, on top of years of research and reading, with Mitchell not being an expert on the genre; “I only knew of disco

were stands of what you would call Balearic and Acid House, so I dabbled in knowing about it in certain tracks at that time- that was my foundation”.

More information on Dorothy’s work and products can be found on their website

www.wearedorothy.com

Disco Love Blueprint

Mapping a brief history of disco music.

Available as a print from www.wearedorothy.com

dorothy_uk

dorothy_uk

theworldofdorothy

‘It’s a London thing’

Why are Northern creatives having to move to London?

Despite the North’s more recent inclusion in arts and culture over the last few years, like hosting Eurovision (Liverpool), the Chanel Fashion Show (Manchester), and Channel 4 studios (Leeds), creatives still struggle to find success and opportunities up North.

Born in Warrington, Harry Laing makes music and poetry under the name’ Tarstayne Teeth’, returning to Liverpool from London two years ago in the post-punk DIY scene.

We spoke to him about how opportunities in London compares to the North West, “The most obvious difference is going to be in the financial situation of the two cities and there’s a lot to be said for Liverpool and I’ve always really believed in Liverpool as a city and thought of the art that gets made here is incredible. But unfortunately, London is a land of opportunity if you can afford to live there or waste enough of your time working to afford to live there.

We’ve got a lot of really good stuff in Liverpool that gets ignored, whereas in London, I’d say because purely simply because you have got so many people who work nine to fives and can afford to go out on a night and just see whatever’s at the local bar, whatever local music is going on, you have a lot more acts. There’s some really, really good stuff, but because there’s so much more opportunity for people to just sort of be seen and be heard, there is a lot of drivel as well.

I think Liverpool as well is a culture of go out on the weekend and people don’t really think about what they’re going to. So, in London maybe there is a little bit more opportunity for more left field acts and people who are a little bit weirder to be heard.

I think it’s definitely driving quite a big exodus out of Liverpool just purely because people need to go somewhere to be heard somewhere that has enough support from the local powers that be to work functionally as a healthy scene.

It’s a shame because the birthplace of the Beatles, the city that introduced the UK to Blues, the city that potentially introduced the UK to Caribbean music. We had even a beat poet who was a Scouser who brought Alan Ginsburg around the city in the, in the 1960’s.

It’s unfortunate that not just the music scene, but the art and creative scene has been given so little attention from

the wider creative industry and has so little opportunities for the creatives around here who really are amazing.

“It’s often a tossup between fuck off and go where there’s more people, more money and more connections, or do you stay and die with your local scene and live the punk ethos to the max? But then obviously you never make any fucking cash.”

Harry moved to London when he was just 18 and worked in a bar, pursuing his music career on the side. Despite admitting to not managing as much as he would’ve liked in them years, he did say having to fend for himself helped find his own voice. It was when he moved back to Liverpool when he began to push it, playing gigs and even supporting Liverpool rock band The Mysterines. However, Harry was still faced with limitations, “a lot of the gigs in Liverpool aren’t as representative of the music that I make and the art that I enjoy, so a lot of the time I have to venture further afield and do big trips down South. It’s unfortunate because I genuinely do believe that the creatives in Liverpool and the people in Merseyside as a whole, because there is so much less to be made from it, have to give themselves so much more to the art that they’re making and have to commit to it so much more and it can’t be a silly little pastime for them. Although we have these creatives who really live and die for what they do a lot of the time, a lot of us, if we want to be heard and be seen in scenes, we have to leave the city, which has a knock on effect because then we’re not supporting our local scene”.

Harry’s work can be found here

Instagram- @tarstayne_ teeth

Spotify- Tarstayne Teeth

Zombies on the Dancefloor

You’ll find many individuals at music events who use substances to enhance their experience, with music sounding better, visuals and lights creating a more immersive experience. This has become normalised over the last few decades, becoming popular in the 1990’s amongst ravers, and even in the 1960’s and 70’s in the psychedelic rock scene. However, there is one drug not endorsed by many musicians- ketamine.

The Class B drug has the ability to produce dissociative sensations and hallucinations, with many users being compared to zombies.

Manchester-based DJ salute wrote online,

“There is far too much Ket on dancefloors in the UK imo. It sucks seeing people kind of just standing around like zombies and not dancing.”

The drug became popular in the 1990’s, it’s rise in the dance culture becoming most rapid in Hong Kong. Now, the appeal for many users is the cheapness and accessibility of the drug, with a gram of Ketamine being considerably cheaper than other popular substances like MDMA and Cocaine. In a survey conducted on Brassic.’s Instagram page, people were asked whether Ketamine would be their first choice of substance (not including alcohol) for an event. 83% of people voted no, with only 17% voting yes.

Many DJs now are very critical of the drug, and find the effects of it disheartening at their shows. However, with the substance already illegal, there is no way to ban it from venues and events. Perhaps over the next few years the popularisation of it will decrease with the amount of criticism from musicians, or until it has finally killed our dancefloors.

‘This is a man’s world’

The need for more space for women and queer people in Liverpool’s club scene.

Despite improvement over the years, women and queer people are still faced with my obstacles in the club scene- whether this be spaces for them to enjoy and embrace themselves safely, or a lack of inclusive line-ups for events. It is clear there is still a long way to go.

Myah Phelan is a 22-year-old queer DJ based in Liverpool, originally from Birmingham, going by the name MYOHMY. They spoke to us about the issues around inclusive spaces, “There’s no doubt there are more inclusive events spaces popping up all over. In regard to if there’s enough, I’d have to say a hard no. All hope is not lost though, there are some great events and collectives pioneering the way. To name a few, The Haus of Chans spew nights are a great example, the event is queer led and also platforms queer POC (people of colour) performers and DJs. Groups like The Queensway, who put on queer focused events in spaces like The Quarry and Meraki are working to bridge the industry inequalities by hosting a 10-week DJ workshop for female and non-binary people. The real benefits of all their hard work I think will be seen over time as they support and guide female and queer DJs into Liverpool’s electronic music scheme”.

“I feel the events mentioned definitely work to curate spaces where I feel safe to express myself. Not only this but they are some of the few spaces that actually set out club rules to help educate potential club goers on how to respect everyone in and out of the dance. I think the onus has fallen on the promoters to push for this, but I hope in the future we see more clubs leading in safe space house rules as well as training their staff and booking more diverse lineups”.

In very recent news, the UK government has rejected the recommendations suggested by the Misogyny in Music report to improve gender equality in the music industry. The report, that was published in January by the Women and Equalities Committee (WEC), described the industry as a “boys’ club”

where sexual harassment and abuse are common, and the non-reporting of these incidents is high. It said that victims who do speak out struggle to be believed, or may find their career ends as a consequence, and said “urgent action” was required to tackle the issue.

When the argument of ‘not enough diverse line-

ups’ is brought to light, many people claim that it is just because these people aren’t as good as male DJ’s. However, this is false- it is the obstacles women and queer people face in not just

the music industry, but even day to day life. Your gender, identity, and sexuality do not alter your musical performance.

“Granted I am fairly new to DJing, I’m not sure I have fully experienced the industry yet. But having worked in venues and experienced a number of lineups I can confidently say there are way more opportunities for cis het men than there are queer people and woman”, Myah said.

“Undoubtedly, this is an industry wide issue, but I feel queer people can feel and see this and so there is a strong sense of community that really gets to support one another. Events put on by Queensway, Haus of Chan Spew, Eat Me, and Noire Gayze do work really hard to seek out new and existing queer talents and when they find you they really try hard to platform and support you. Often, the opportunity I’ve found have been from my own community but hopefully in the future more mainstream club spaces also see the immense value in this queer talent. Because a lot of the genres these venues profit from come from our communities and so we should be better represented in lineups. Disco, House, Techno all have queer origins, and we shouldn’t forget that”.

Myah’s Instagram- @its_curls_

Events mentioned- @queensway___ @haus_of_chan @eatmeclub @noiregayze

POETRY in the North

Laura Kasongo is a 21-year-old spoken word poet, writer, and photographer, and incredibly talented at all three. Born in Brzeg Dolny, Poland, she moved to Manchester at age 3, before moving to Newcastle to study English Literature and Creative Writing. We picked at her creative mind to find out more about poetry and spoken word in the North.

When did you get into spoken word?

I always like to think my first encounter with spoken word was through Rap music, growing up listening to artists like Tupac, A Tribe Called Quest and later Kendrick Lamar. Rappers really taught me the rhythm of words and how I could use them to relate to people. I technically started doing spoken word in secondary school, after my English teacher found some of my own creative writing in the back of my exercise book. She told me it was poetry, made me read it out in assembly all week and then I figured I should carry on doing it. The first real open mic I did was whilst I was in university, studying in Newcastle, and after slowly making a name for myself, I started to perform paid sets. Everything happened pretty quickly after that initial open mic in February 2023 because my first real gig was in June of that same year.

How did you find the spoken word community? This sounds cliché but I truly did find the community just as I was about to give up on my studies at Newcastle and myself entirely. On the verge of running back to Manchester, my mate took me to this poetry night in a part of the city I hadn’t properly explored before (Ouseburn) and everything spiralled out after going to ‘Out of Your Head!’. I met people like Amy Langdown (OOYH! Producer), Donald Jenkins (Born Lippy Producer) and Haley (Yellow Line Poetry Producer).

What is the Northern spoken word/poetry scene like?

Poetry in the North-East has flourished whilst I’ve been a student and I’m eternally grateful for it. I already mentioned OOYH!, Born Lippy and Open Platform, but there are so many now they’re springing up like poetic mushrooms. Charlie Care’s Zoetrope on Tyne, which began at Tyneside Cinema to help raise profits for its fundraiser, is a cinematic spoken word night and Lewis Brown also hosts online writing workshops as part of his Spooky Poet Club.

Poetry in the North is another one of my favourite nights. Ran by students Will, Kat and Oscar, I’d describe it as less of an open mic in the traditional sense and more of an open space. A space to freely express and I feel like my words can really breathe there. Their ground rules, as found on the Instagram page, are that ‘there is no such thing as bad poetry. There is only you and your words. Come, be respectful, and allow others to share their voice’. I think this captures the nature of the Northern poetry scene generally too. If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t have known about Newcastle’s rich poetic history, with the Morden Tower poets (Basil Bunting, Tom Pickard, Barry MacSweeney etc) who initially inspired the students to start the night.

It’s a common misconception to think that London is the only place with a thriving, diverse poetry community and I understand where that comes from. Ever since I started telling people I want to be a writer; most have told me to move down South. So naturally I chose the most Northern English city to study Creative Writing in and I’m glad I did. Poetry itself has always been a genre for people on the ‘fringes’ of society and if that’s how the North is characterised, then that’s where the best poetry can come from.

What/Who is your muse?

I think the idea of a muse is a little complicated when it comes to poetry. In many ways, it’s like songwriting but I rarely write with particular people in mind, let alone a romantic partner. I never shut up about the poet Raymond Antrobus, who’s been the biggest source of inspiration. On a dayto-day basis though, I’d like to think the human experience is my muse. I’ve recently been fixated on how we communicate to one another. For my undergraduate poetry dissertation, I wrote a collection all about language, sound, and our psychological relationship with such communication. I

think it stems from my struggle to acknowledge the fact that I’m not just writing for myself anymore or that I was ever writing just for myself. It can’t just hide in my notebook or the back of my schoolbook anymore; maybe it never did. Spoken word and poetry is conversational, it’s not a lecture. There’s something so intimate about sharing words. I mentioned earlier how music is an inspiration for me and I highly doubt any of our favourite artists write songs just to hoard them in studios. Film is also something I value highly and feeds into my poetry. The Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski is possibly my favourite, as well as Agnes Varda, since his films always have distinct symbols and not one detail is included without further purpose. Poetry’s kind of inescapable to me. It’s probably because I’m a big overthinker.

How do you use poetry to express yourself?

Not only does it teach me empathy, but I’m also writing for an audience after all, poetry helps me explore and understand my identity. Whether it’s my biracial heritage, being Polish and Congolese, or my Queerness, it gives me an outlet to express thoughts that would have otherwise bottled up inside and left me overwhelmed and bursting at the seams to escape from it all. My mates who are also writers like to joke and call it free therapy but in all honesty that’s what it is. It’s especially comforting when people resonate with your work, because firstly you can build a relationship with your audience but more importantly, its confirmation that you’re not going insane. Or maybe we all are. Either way, I always keep a notebook in my bag/pocket in case I think “huh, I’ll write something about that”.

Laura’s Instagram can be found here for more of her work: @ laury.zbiory

‘Feel The Bern’

Resident DJ in The Merchant, hosting a show on the late Melodic Distraction Radio, a chef, and a writer of his own blog- Bernie Connor is a name you’re likely to be familiar with in Liverpool. Despite being sat in a quiet café outside the city centre, multiple people approached him to say hi and cheers him- he appeared to be like Scouse royalty.

Born in Speke, Bernie got his first paid gig in February 1980; “I used to work in Probe, which was downtown on Button Street and there was a club behind it called Lincolns Inn. And I was in there one night with a bag of records and they had some old-fashioned double decks at the end of the bar. And I just said to the bloke behind the bar who ran the place, ‘can I put some records on?’ because I had

An interview with Bernie Connor

some records. So, I just put some records on and, the following week, he came in the shop and asked me if I wanted to go and put some records on again. Back then the fiver I got would’ve been an extraordinary amount of money to pay an 18 year to just play music at the end of your bar”.

In the 1980’s, Bernie began to move around, living in London, San Francisco, and New York, before moving back to Liverpool where he has resided for the last 34 years. When

asked if the North-West city was the place he wanted to be, he replied, “I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else, it’s a pretty unique and fantastic place. It’s a great place, there’s so many veins that make it great- the culture, the enthusiasm, young people getting involved in music, its buzzing.”. Despite many DJ’s, Bernie doesn’t stick to one genre, believing that it shouldn’t be necessary to be the same tempo and volume during the set, “there’s an awful lot of music out there.

There’s not a lot of music that doesn’t get heard by at least someone. When I used to do a radio show back when I was on commercial radio, I used to jokingly have this thing where I used to say, ‘if I didn’t play this music, you’d probably never hear it.”.

“There’s

a huge music scene out there that doesn’t involve guitars and drums that sneaks under the radar because its not ‘real music’ ”.

However, not all his audience are fans of this approach, and he confessed that he has dealt with some complaints in the past, “I explained to a young woman in The Merchant once that there’s about 200 bars in centre, about 195 of them exactly, that probably play the music you want to hear. This is one of the five bars that doesn’t. If you don’t like the music, go to a different bar instead of being angry with me. She hated it and that’s okay. You can’t please everyone, and the other thing is nowadays I just play for myself.”

“When I’m in The Mer-

chant from six-nine on a Friday, I play music that I like dead loud through a very good sound system and then get paid for it. I’m under no obligation to make people dance or anything. I always say it’s like loud

Bernie opened up about some of the people he has lost in his life who have had huge musical impacts on him, the first being his mother who sadly passed when he was a child. He recalls her often buying records for him and his older siblings, and distinctly remembers her playing them- this would be the foundation for his deep musical interest.

When asked about musical inspirations, he spoke about his close friend Andrew Weatherall, a British musician, DJ, and record producer known for Primal Scream’s ‘Screamadelica’, who suddenly died in 2020. “He was a really good friend of mine, and he was a great inspiration”.

“He was like some sort of ninja master, you know? The way he played music was astonishing in quite a way, more than anybody else in that genre at that time or even ever perhaps. He was a great inspiration”.

Although being 62 years old, Bernie shared that he had never been to a job interview or filled in an application form despite having many different occupations, including his current role as a chef, to past jobs like a real estate agent. “People are very kind, you know? people you know, know people, and I just got this far. I think it’s more to do with ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Some people are really, really good and go out of their way to help people. That’s the great thing about it. And they don’t require or demand anything in return.”.

Before closing in September 2023, Bernie used to host his own show on Melodic Distraction, alongside his

son, Buddy. He expressed his condolences to the bar/ café/ radio station in an Instagram post, thanking them for allowing him the space to play ‘whatever music he saw fit on the radio’, before criticising the expenses for a small venue to be forced to pay to survive, an ongoing issue in the UK currently particularly for independent venue

Despite the many places, the many people, the many occupations, it’s Liverpool where Bernie wants to be.

“Liverpool is full of music, and it always has been, and one thing I’ve always done is follow the music and you meet some fascinating people and do some fascinating things. Liverpool is a great place to do it”.

THE YORKSHIRE PUB

“The

difference is these places that you come to, it’s like a party at my house”

MADE FOR RAVERS

The Golden Lion in Todmorden, West Yorkshire, may look like your average boozer from outside, however most weekends, you will find the place packed with the most eclecticbunch of people- all dancing .

Ran by the incredibly charismatic Gig, a local celebrity, The Golden Lion opened in March 2015, after the success of her other venue just down the road Three Wise Monkeys, which was opened in 2010. We asked Gig what’s made her keep doing what she’s been doing for the last 14 years, “I like the music, I like to party, I like community things. So when we was at The Three Wise Monkeys, which is only about 40 people capacity, it’s people asking, ‘Can I put my birthday on?’ ‘Can I DJ here?’ ‘Can we help these people? Her house has burned down, can we do a charity thing’.”

“Around here in this valley there are so many

talented music artists who already have a name for themselves, but it’s nowhere for them like you know like a small venue because you’ve got to be a 200 capacity to book something more serious and you have to make the money back to pay them. But for us it’s like oh 20 people, 30 people, whatever or a hundred people or a wedding. We don’t mind if you don’t have a money. It’s trying to just put it on. We try to help out the small groups of people who have a common interest in music”.

Gig’s success and popularity with The Golden Lion has given her many opportunities of managing or owning bigger clubs in neighbouring cities Manchester and

Leeds, which she has continued to turn down, “it’s never been an interest for me because I think you lose this vibe when it’s bigger than 300 people. I don’t think the intimacy is there anymore when you go to a big club. I think they’re still great fun, and there’s lots of people and the energy is amazing but you don’t have the intimacy anymore. Here I can say hi to everyone and say, ‘how you been’ and keep in touch on Facebook. The difference is these places that you come to, it’s like a party at my house”. Recently starring in Channel 4’s Four in a Bed, Gig is a name everyone seems to know around Todmorden, and amongst some bigger names in music, such as Jarvis Cocker (Pulp), Danielle Moore (Crazy P), Neil Barns (Leftfield), and Goldie (producer and DJ), all of who she is friends with.

Despite having her foot very much in the music industry door, Gig has still faced issues, “We are in a world with men driving every industry. Men go to work to feed their women, women stay home, look after the kids and everything, right? So, in every in-

dustry of course you’ll feel it, but it doesn’t mean that women hasn’t done a good job.

“I feel like a lot of the time the lineup is all men. Yeah. I think maybe on the Wikipedia or something, you’ve got 57 women DJs on it compared to the whole world, which is not enough. Nothing stops anyone to put women on the lineup. When we have a birthday party, we always make sure we have women on it, and like on International Women’s Day, we always try to support them. It’s not that we’re against men, we just want to create a little space to say we can do it just as good as everyone else”.

The Golden Lion also has their own record label, Golden Lion Sounds, selling vinyls and merchandise.

Fielden Square, Todmorden OL14 6LZ

https://goldenliontodmorden.co.uk/

Manchester’s street art scene

Manchester’s Northern Quarter has always been known to home the street art of many local and international artists. However, over the last few years, the art has become a subject of controversy with many pieces being covered over with advertisements.

The issue first properly arose back in 2022, when a mural of Joy Division’s Ian Curtis was painted over by an advertisement for Manchester rapper Aitch’s debut album ‘Close to Home.’ The mural was created by world-renowned street artist Akse P19 in October 2020 to mark World Mental Health Day. The artist took to social media, writing: “I don’t have anything against hand-painted advertising as this is how I make a living, but this mural was painted in collaboration with @headstockuk and supported by @manchestercitycouncil and @sweetnothingmcr to raise awareness for Mental Health and support @giveusashoutinsta a free text messaging services to help people with mental health issues.”

He added: “It had become a cultural landmark and meant so much to people from Manchester and beyond; it doesn’t take much common sense to understand that this mural should have remained for what it represented and stood for.”

The mural has since been redone on the side of the Star and Garter pub, which can be found outside Depot Mayfield (Warehouse Project).

However, artists in the city are still dealing with the issue of bigger brands and cooperation stealing their space. Last year, there was controversy after craft shop Fred Aldous used stickers to decorate spaces in Stevenson Square, which for years has displayed street art.

Jay Sharples, a local street artist, has had his work displayed over Manchester, and many other cities over the country. He shared his thoughts, “The street art mural scene in the city centre has changed over the past few years, partly due to established artists now getting more commission work and therefore not hitting the streets as much - and partly due to advertisers taking over what were once frequently used painting spots. Fly posters and advertising dressed as street art murals are discouraging artists from painting in certain areas, as their work has an even more limited shelf life than usual. The graffiti writers are still out in force, and will no doubt continue, but the regular changeover of large street art pieces has definitely decreased”.

Jay is a known name in the Manchester street art scene, and has done many pieces of work over the city in the last few years. However, there is one thing he has to keep one thing in mind with this art form, “Everything in life is temporary, so painting on the streets has taught me not to be too precious about what I create and just enjoy the process as some pieces can stay up for years and others a matter of minutes. Being fortunate enough to be able to do something I love whenever I want is enough for me”.

Instagram- @jaysharplesart Website- https://jaysharples.bigcartel.com/

Next months issue...

The Manchester edition

Warehouse Project- is it taking away from smaller venues?

The gentrification of Ancoats

Is Manchester the next fashion city?