On April 5th, 2012, Manchester’s Patterns are set to perform a one-off special show, promoted by Beta, at the Grade I listed Victorian Gothic masterpiece that is John Rylands Library on Deansgate!

Here’s some hypey visuals that will get you saliva glands going

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The awe-inspriring surroundings of this beautiful building will play host to Patterns’ first headline show in Manchester for some time and will see them joined by the fantastic Jewellers and the much hyped, Shinies.

To gain FREE ENTRY to this one-off event, simply hit the ‘Like’ button on the Patterns Facebook Page! But be warned, this is a first come, first serve affair so get down early to avoid a teary night outside a library, we’ve been there, it hurts.

The same thing we do every month Pinky…film the bands at Underachievers!!!

That’s right, and what a corker this was! Last month’s Underachievers, Please Try Harder played host to two of Manchester’s most exciting bands…G R E A T W A V E S & Brown Brogues, and they didn’t disappoint!

Here’s our humble footage of some of the devastatingly good tunes that were performed, first up, the intense sounds of  G R E A T W A V E S, swiftly followed by your favourite Wigan noise machine, Brown Brogues! Enjoy if you can!

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Wow! That was fun, now this…

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Be sure to head down to the next Underachievers at The Roadhouse, with performances from Victories At Sea and The Longcut, plus the usual outstanding clubnight!

1st concert played with The Atlas Mountains : “Folk House Bristol spring 2004.”

1st book : “Le Chamoix d’or, a story about a young boy looking for a golden goat in the mountains.”

1st cassette/CD/record bought : “President of The United States of America.”

1st exhibition : “Franics Bacon retrospective at le centre Pompidou.”

1st travel abroad : “California in 1996.”

1st fight : “I never fought.”

1st kiss : “I was in Year 8,, right in the middle of the school yard, with about 10 friends escorting me towards Céline’s lips.”

1st hangover : “In Spain during a school trip the same year. We all went to a restaurant and the teachers were sat at another table. They didn’t realised we were served Sangria instead of water!”

1st movie watched at the cinema : “Some Walt Disney film.”

Check our session with Francois & The Atlas Mountain filmed earlier in the week:

Click here to view the embedded video.

or more  of Camille Dionisi’s ‘Ten First Time Interviews’, check out her blog!

1st concert seen : “Lou Reed with my mum when I was 13. I instantly loved him.”

1st concert played : “It was at the School assembly when I was 15. I was on my own in front of the whole school. I insulted the headteacher and had to apologise later.”

1st book : “Stig of the Dump by Clive King.”

1st cassette/CD/record bought : “There was this girl at school who I really liked. She looked like one of the members of Steps, and apparently so did I. In order to chat her up, I bought their CD!”

1st exhibition : “I took Art as an option for my GCSE and really got on with my teacher who saw potential in me. Having said that, I can’t recall my 1st exhibition but I bought a Basquiat book as he’s one of the artists who struck me most.”

1st travel abroad : “My family and I went to a campsite in Brittany when I was 10.”

1st fight : “I was about 8/9. We were playing football and one of the boys from the other team started to wind me up. It all followed up quickly: he kicked me in the face, I pushed him, his head hit the concrete, he had to go to hospital. I basically just knocked him over!”

1st kiss : “My 1st girlfriend was when I was in reception, although we never hugged!”

1st hangover : “When I was 12, I used to hang out with year 9 boys. We would skateboard and smoke weed. Once they made me drink Jack Daniels. (I decided to censor the rest of the story, sorry folks!)”

1st movie watched at the cinema : “Spacejam.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more  of Camille Dionisi’s ‘Ten First Time Interviews’, check out her blog!

Manchester’s noisey fun time band SEX HANDS have released a gloriously FREE album entitled ‘Season 1′, it’s pretty great, and well worth upping your stingy ‘pay-what-you-want’ “£0.00″ to at least £4.50.

Here’s ‘Janice’ from the album to wet your whistle!

Head over to the Sex Hands Bandcamp to grab yourself a download. Or if your so into it that you want a physical version of the album, hand over just £2 and your address and Sex Hands will hook you up!

It’s always nice when great things come together to make something beautiful. Like when Mr Peanut Butter met Lady Nutella, or when the first salty drops of Lee & Perrins cascaded onto melting cheese on toast.

Continuing that long line of harmonious pairings comes Patterns‘ remix of Bring The Sun by Young British Artists. God it’s lovely…

YBA’s fuzzy, driving juggernaut of a track sounds like it has been swept up into the tranquil, dreamy epicentre of a tornado, slowed and soothed by the warm, gentle Patterns production.

You can catch both bands live at the following:

Young British Artists

11 February ’12 – Sheffield –  Queens Social Club with The Twilight Sad.
21 March ’12 – Leeds – Nation of Shopkeepers

Patterns
04 February ’12 – Tanned Tin Festival – Castellón, Spain
08 February ’12 – Salford – with Niki & The Dove, Islington Mill
10 February ’12 – Liverpool – Mello Mello  Free Entry
03 March ’12 – Preston – The Ark presents, Mad Ferret
06 March ’12 – London – with Youth Lagoon, Electrowerkz
28 March ’12 – Wakefield – Hepworth Gallery

Garage/punk would best sum up what you should expect from this Wigan duo. It’s messy yet structured, in other words, I love them! They played recently at The Roadhouse in Manchester, which, I think, was the perfect venue for them: a dark basement venue with a PA that leaves your ears whistling for days. Pure bliss!

I had a quick chat with singer/guitarist Mark Vernon before their soundcheck…

Concert promoted by Underachievers.

1st concert seen : “Oasis at Old Trafford with Richard Ashcroft.”

1st concert played with Brown Brogues : “We played in Leeds at the PackHorse with Former Bullies in 2010.”

1st book : ” When I was a child, Where the Wild Things Are, and when I was older, the book I really enjoyed was The Rum Diary.”

1st cassette/CD/record bought : “The double cassette of Michael Jackson ‘History’ and Marc Morrisson ‘Horny’.”

1st exhibition : I can’t recall the 1st one but the one I can remember vividly is John Piper at the Tate Britain when I was 16.”

1st travel abroad : “Florida in 1992.”

1st fight : “It was against a guy called Daniel Baldwin. He had called me a ‘bastard’ so I headbutted him and battered him. His gandmother had to stop me!! I was 9.”

1st kiss : “It was round the back of an old council office in Wigan. I was 8.”

1st hangover : “I drank Pernot and whisky at a friend’s house. I threw up everywhere and left.”

1st movie watched at the cinema : “Muppet Christmas Carol.”

Ps: On a fashion note, I simply LOVE Mark’s boots..!!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more  of Camille Dionisi’s ‘Ten First Time Interviews’, check out her blog!

After a 2011 that saw them tour with The Kills, play at SXSW and on a boat in Sweden, Brown Brogues return with the next single ‘Anyone But You’, to be released on 7″ through one of London’s most exciting new labels Italian Beach Babes. Having been tipped as ones to watch for 2012, the new single sees the Wigan twosome in slightly more melodic form.

Drawing on their usual lo-fi garage reference points such as Black Lips, The Beets and Thee Oh Sees’ the anger and angst of earlier single ‘Wildman’ is stripped back to reveal a rough sense of yearning.

Released on 7″ Flexi, the single ‘Anyone But You’ is joined by AA side ‘I Drove For Miles Just To Hear About The Book That You’re Reading’. Both tracks and other Brown Brogue smashes can be dined on HERE!

The video, directed by Plastic Zoo sees the duo take to the beach, and feels like equal parts Cormac McCarthy’s The Road and a lost VHS of a forgotten family holiday. As a follow up to the much loved “Treet U Beta” video, this was lovingly filmed through a 17 year old Hitachi VHS Camera.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The boys will be touring the UK around the single’s release date, before heading back to the US and a return to SXSW. Dates as follows:

February

24th – Edinburgh, Henry’s Cellar Bar

25th – Sunderland, Independent

28th – Sheffield, Bowery

29th – Leeds, Nation Of Shopkeepers

March

1st – London, Shacklewell Arms

3rd – Manchester, venue TBC

10th – Baltimore

11th – Philadelphia

13th-18th – Austin, SXSW

20th – Virginia

21st – North Carolina

23rd – New York, Cake Shop

Brownbrogues.co.uk
Italianbeachbabes.bigcartel.com

When you interview a band, people usually expect to get comments for the lead singer. I don’t know why but it’s a fact. Well, for my Airship interview I spoke with Steven, the drummer, who’s as important as any other member of the band and very sweet too (that one’s for the ladies!!).

1st concert seen: “Leeds Festival in 2002. ”

1st concert played: “It was at The Roadhouse, Manchester in 2007.”

1^st book : “Dogger by Shirley Hughes.”

1st movie at the cinema: “Jurassic Park or Jumanji, I can’t remember, with my grandmother and my sister.”

1st record/cassette/CD bought: “Travis ,The Man Who, on CD.”

1st exhibition: “The National Portrait Gallery in London.”

1st travel: “I went to the Greek Islands with my parents when I was 1.”

1st kiss: “It was at the school disco when I was 11. I lissed 3 different girls in one night !”

1st fight: “I got into a fight with my best friend when I was 3. I punched him in the nose because he was pulling my hair !”

1st hangover: “I drank Cassini when I was 11.”

Click here to view the embedded video.

For more  of Camille Dionisi’s ‘Ten First Time Interviews’, check out her blog!

The always brilliant Sounds From The Other City Festival returns to Salford on Sunday 6th May!

Continuing their divine mission of uniting the best national and international music with some of the city’s finest and most progressive promoters, collectives and clubnights, SFTOC is back, better than ever!

Mind on Fire Collective, Drowned in Sound, Faktion, Trash-O-Rama, Now Wave and Hey! Manchester are amongst the brave souls hosting stages at this years festival.

Venues taking part this year include The Crescent, The Old Pint Pot and The Rover Returns pubs, the beautiful St Philips and Sacred Trinity Churches, and of course Islington Mill as well as some new additions!

Check out our fast and furious film of last year’s festival, featuring some acoustic sessions filmed around and about Salford!

Click here to view the embedded video.

The full line up of promotors, stages and venues will be announced on Monday, Janueary 16th with the individual line-ups being announced over the following weeks.

Tickets for this year’s adventure go on sale on Tuesday, January 24th, priced at a very reasonable £18 with an intimate launch party at The Gaslamp Bar on Bridge St, where you you will be able to purchase Early Bird Tickets at the insanely cheap price of £14!

You can grab your general release tickets from the following portals:

Quaytickets

Skiddle

The Gaslamp

Piccadilly Records

Islington Mill

Be sure to check the SFTOC Website from Tuesday January 24th for all the links and details.

See you down the front y’all!!!