Post by Designer Magazine on May 29, 2007 21:38:12 GMT 2
UNSIGNED BAND SPOTLIGHT
Each night in Manchester there's a great selection of unsigned bands playing venues such as Night & Day or The Roadhouse or being promoted by the likes of High Voltage, Blowout, VMan Events or our own Designer Magazine monthly nights. How do you decide which ones to go to? The Designer Magazine unsigned band spotlight which gives you the bands in a quick spurt of name, venue and who they sound like so you can click and listen away
The Vortex @ Bar Amp - March 1st
Until the Kaiser Chiefs pretended to be Blur, The Killers thinking they were Manchester and Snow Patrol masquerading as being Scottish you always knew where a band came from the first few bars. Despite latterday confusion there's no mistaking where The Vortex are from with the Mancunian swagger, rombust heavy as f**k riffs and the techno stylings. More importantly these songs are massive with Messiah dwarfing the whole of Kasabian's career and most of Ian Browns solo output. This gig for Club Designer Magazine @ Bar Amp will see the band play a stormer before they return to the City Centre for our 8th Birthday Party on June 5th at Night & Day
www.myspace.com/thevortexmanchester
Linchpin @ Retro Bar - March 18th
How Linchpin have remained unsigned for so long is probably one of the biggest connundrums that Carole Vorderman has ever tried to workout. With fans including Good Charlotte and Dave Grohl, tour supports with Fightstar and Lil Chris and early backing from Designer Magazine the band should have been signed to a major label a couple of years back but after seeing what SonyBMG have done to The Vacancy (now called Go:Audio) you're thankful that these guys remain independent. Whether it's an intimate gig at the Manchester Retro Bar, or the sell out gigs they played earlier last year, Linchpin approach each gig with intent and confidence of veterans doing their 10th worldwide stadium tour
www.linchpinrock.com
Carlis Star @ Night & Day - March 26th
There's the several reasons why Carlis Star are great and one of them is that they kept fans waiting for 6 years for their first ever gig tonight. It's a period where they'd amassed about 200 songs but Brian Wilson like they didn't dare let themselves out of the studio until they'd perfected every single song. The other reason is that they don't sound like any band out of Manchester, hell they don't even sound like any band out of Britain. Ask them to list their influences and they'll list off the Beach Boys, Weezer, the Pixies and Elliot Smith - a combination of the great artists of the past 40 odd years bundled into one package. With just a small warm up show to friends, this marks the official debut gig, but you wouldn't be able to tell. Moogs fire off, distorted guitars crunch and the 3 part harmonies swell with each and every song. For those that haven't heard the songs before it must be disconcerting because Carlis Star are far from conventional making a wall of sound that often resembles white noise rather than Phil Spector's glossy sheen. F**king amazing! (Note: This gig is supporting the equally amazing Paul Steel who we tipped at last years In The City showcases...repeat - honking on your crack pipe)
www.myspace.com/carlisstar
Ryna @ Night & Day - March 29th
This is what Designer Magazine wrote about the band in June 2006. Since then they've played showcases for Channel M, supported hotly tipped Scottish band the Hussy's and been backed by BBC Manchester amongst others. Returning to their natural home of Night & Day the band play a showcase gig alongside Belief System, The Fifths, and new band The Nightshift. "Last time RYNA played a gig they barely had enough material to last 20 minutes. It wasn't that they had writers block or lack of material, it was just the fact they strip out anything unneccessary in the writing process. 1 minute long intros - out. Extended guitar solos - out. Essentially RYNA are a punk band who have a instintive love of Motown which creates tight melodies and tort abrasive guitars. New track "Bootgrip" is a perfect example of this and a complement to their first fruits "Plastic Hands" and "Ghosts". With those initial nerves gone the band have a confidence, Caroline flails along like a female Morrissey, Alf's a mad f*ck with bright red hair and Beards bought a new jacket just for the occassion and hides behind a mop of floppy hair. With many looking to Beards past with the Marion reformation dates perhaps those in the know are more interested in the future with RYNA and what a promising future it is"
www.myspace.com/rynamusic
Doug Walker @ Night & Day - April 17th
Back in the day Doug Walker used to take a break from his songwriting to have lunch with the then unknown Paul Abbot who went on to write Shameless. From an early age Walker surrouned himself with creative people touring the world on a Legs Akimbo style theatre company and to this day people have flocked around him. In the last twelve months it's all gone a bit mental with Popworld inviting him on tour, Rockworld declaring him one of the people to look out for in 2007 despite the fact he doesnt even play guitar and prior to going in the Celebrity Big Brother house Dirk Benedict spend his days as a recluse listening to "Stranger Than Fiction". With label interest from Vertigo Records (Razorlight / Dirty Pretty Things etc) this gig at Night & Day alongside Rambo & Leroy, The Dirty Soul Club and Sophie's Pigeons should be a career defining moment
www.myspace.com/dougwalkermusic
The Naughtys - St Georges Day Special @ Night & Day - April 23rd
Come the middle of March Manchester will be full of drunks rolling around in comedy irish hats declaring their love of Guinness. Most of these people wont even be of Irish descent never mind being Irish. It's with this idea firmly in place that Designer Magazine decided to book a St Georges Day special at Night & Day with some of the best bands in Manchester. Headlined by The Naughtys who are fast becoming the most talked about band out of Stretford since Johnny Marr tapped on Morrissey's window on King Roadm, Stretford and the Smiths were formed. Raucous load ska pop is the order of the day and with support from Blind IO, The 100 Club, The Dirty Waltz and an acoustic set from Rangan this should be a classic gig
www.myspace.com/naughtys
Each night in Manchester there's a great selection of unsigned bands playing venues such as Night & Day or The Roadhouse or being promoted by the likes of High Voltage, Blowout, VMan Events or our own Designer Magazine monthly nights. How do you decide which ones to go to? The Designer Magazine unsigned band spotlight which gives you the bands in a quick spurt of name, venue and who they sound like so you can click and listen away
The Vortex @ Bar Amp - March 1st
Until the Kaiser Chiefs pretended to be Blur, The Killers thinking they were Manchester and Snow Patrol masquerading as being Scottish you always knew where a band came from the first few bars. Despite latterday confusion there's no mistaking where The Vortex are from with the Mancunian swagger, rombust heavy as f**k riffs and the techno stylings. More importantly these songs are massive with Messiah dwarfing the whole of Kasabian's career and most of Ian Browns solo output. This gig for Club Designer Magazine @ Bar Amp will see the band play a stormer before they return to the City Centre for our 8th Birthday Party on June 5th at Night & Day
www.myspace.com/thevortexmanchester
Linchpin @ Retro Bar - March 18th
How Linchpin have remained unsigned for so long is probably one of the biggest connundrums that Carole Vorderman has ever tried to workout. With fans including Good Charlotte and Dave Grohl, tour supports with Fightstar and Lil Chris and early backing from Designer Magazine the band should have been signed to a major label a couple of years back but after seeing what SonyBMG have done to The Vacancy (now called Go:Audio) you're thankful that these guys remain independent. Whether it's an intimate gig at the Manchester Retro Bar, or the sell out gigs they played earlier last year, Linchpin approach each gig with intent and confidence of veterans doing their 10th worldwide stadium tour
www.linchpinrock.com
Carlis Star @ Night & Day - March 26th
There's the several reasons why Carlis Star are great and one of them is that they kept fans waiting for 6 years for their first ever gig tonight. It's a period where they'd amassed about 200 songs but Brian Wilson like they didn't dare let themselves out of the studio until they'd perfected every single song. The other reason is that they don't sound like any band out of Manchester, hell they don't even sound like any band out of Britain. Ask them to list their influences and they'll list off the Beach Boys, Weezer, the Pixies and Elliot Smith - a combination of the great artists of the past 40 odd years bundled into one package. With just a small warm up show to friends, this marks the official debut gig, but you wouldn't be able to tell. Moogs fire off, distorted guitars crunch and the 3 part harmonies swell with each and every song. For those that haven't heard the songs before it must be disconcerting because Carlis Star are far from conventional making a wall of sound that often resembles white noise rather than Phil Spector's glossy sheen. F**king amazing! (Note: This gig is supporting the equally amazing Paul Steel who we tipped at last years In The City showcases...repeat - honking on your crack pipe)
www.myspace.com/carlisstar
Ryna @ Night & Day - March 29th
This is what Designer Magazine wrote about the band in June 2006. Since then they've played showcases for Channel M, supported hotly tipped Scottish band the Hussy's and been backed by BBC Manchester amongst others. Returning to their natural home of Night & Day the band play a showcase gig alongside Belief System, The Fifths, and new band The Nightshift. "Last time RYNA played a gig they barely had enough material to last 20 minutes. It wasn't that they had writers block or lack of material, it was just the fact they strip out anything unneccessary in the writing process. 1 minute long intros - out. Extended guitar solos - out. Essentially RYNA are a punk band who have a instintive love of Motown which creates tight melodies and tort abrasive guitars. New track "Bootgrip" is a perfect example of this and a complement to their first fruits "Plastic Hands" and "Ghosts". With those initial nerves gone the band have a confidence, Caroline flails along like a female Morrissey, Alf's a mad f*ck with bright red hair and Beards bought a new jacket just for the occassion and hides behind a mop of floppy hair. With many looking to Beards past with the Marion reformation dates perhaps those in the know are more interested in the future with RYNA and what a promising future it is"
www.myspace.com/rynamusic
Doug Walker @ Night & Day - April 17th
Back in the day Doug Walker used to take a break from his songwriting to have lunch with the then unknown Paul Abbot who went on to write Shameless. From an early age Walker surrouned himself with creative people touring the world on a Legs Akimbo style theatre company and to this day people have flocked around him. In the last twelve months it's all gone a bit mental with Popworld inviting him on tour, Rockworld declaring him one of the people to look out for in 2007 despite the fact he doesnt even play guitar and prior to going in the Celebrity Big Brother house Dirk Benedict spend his days as a recluse listening to "Stranger Than Fiction". With label interest from Vertigo Records (Razorlight / Dirty Pretty Things etc) this gig at Night & Day alongside Rambo & Leroy, The Dirty Soul Club and Sophie's Pigeons should be a career defining moment
www.myspace.com/dougwalkermusic
The Naughtys - St Georges Day Special @ Night & Day - April 23rd
Come the middle of March Manchester will be full of drunks rolling around in comedy irish hats declaring their love of Guinness. Most of these people wont even be of Irish descent never mind being Irish. It's with this idea firmly in place that Designer Magazine decided to book a St Georges Day special at Night & Day with some of the best bands in Manchester. Headlined by The Naughtys who are fast becoming the most talked about band out of Stretford since Johnny Marr tapped on Morrissey's window on King Roadm, Stretford and the Smiths were formed. Raucous load ska pop is the order of the day and with support from Blind IO, The 100 Club, The Dirty Waltz and an acoustic set from Rangan this should be a classic gig
www.myspace.com/naughtys