Mani Talks Manchester

Manchester is a music city.

Where once the Northern metropolis thrived on cotton mills today Manchester's streets are full to the brim with guitarists, DJs, producers and other mad nutters intent on doing things their way.

Encapsulated in the story of Factory Records, Manchester's story of outsiders and mavericks has lacked a nucleus since the closure of the Hacienda.

Occupied in the label's former office space, FAC251 - The Factory is a new venue which aims to take inspiration from the past in order to propel the city into the future. With one time New Order bass player Peter Hook on board, Tokyo Industries' Aaron Mellor was on hand to help launch the club at a recent press conference.

Manchester music legend Mani is set to christen the club with a performance as part of Peter Hook's ad hoc collective Freebass on February 5th. Speaking to ClashMusic the Primal Scream star revealed his thoughts on what makes Manchester such a creative place.

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Have you seen inside the new venue yet?
I’ve seen inside and it looks great. Mate – they ripped the heart out of Manchester when the Hacienda shut down and this place wants to put the heart back in. It’s important to me, because when I started going to see bands back in 1977 I used to go to The Factory Club in Hulme. That’s where I got my ideas about wanting to be in a band, I met people like Ian Brown there. So hopefully this will have the same function, becoming a place where creative and artistic people can hang out and maybe start the next generation of Mancunian bands.

What was your first clubbing experience then?
It was gigs I want into. The first thing for me was punk, going to The Factory Club. I saw Joy Division’s early gigs there, ACR played there. I was watching bands like The Damned, I saw Public Image’s first tour there. It filled my mind with creative thoughts and led to me doing different things with my life and I want to see history repeat itself. The new Factory club is for new talent.

I’ve read that you were a big fan of reggae.
Yeah. Absolutely. Always been about the basslines for me, my friend!

How did clubbing culture in Manchester work? Was there a divide between traditionally black and white forms of music?
There’s always been a crossover. You know white guys used to go and hang out in the Shabeens on the Moss Side, in clubs called The Reno and The Nile. We used to go down there, as well as illicit blues – there was a place in Oldham called Kittymans where we used to go. It was full of Rastafarians but we were accepted. There was never any colour bar in Manchester, or anything like that. The attitude was: we’re all in the shit together no matter what colour you are. There’s always been a cross pollination between black and white culture. The Rastafarians used to come to the punk clubs, because they were regarded as being outsiders just like the punks were. So there was always reggae even in the punk clubs - that kind of thing opened your eyes and turned you onto something new and I’ve been into reggae ever since.

What was your experience of the Hacienda?
Yeah I was there from the year dot – I was a member of The Hacienda when it first opened. I used to go and watch bands there, and sometimes it would be empty. The Hacienda struggled a bit in the early years, but then things began to happen, in part thanks to Mike Pickering bringing over the sounds of Detroit and Chicago. So Acid House was happening but as well as that a lot of bands would go and hang out in the Hacienda. I used to hang out there, you’d always see bands there. The Roses used to go there, The Mondays used to hang out there. Tons of bands and different people used to hang out under one roof and it’s amazing what can happen afterwards.

What do you make of the new breed of Manchester acts?
I’ve been hearing about people like Delphic a hell of a lot. Every generation throws up something special and I hope it’s them. They’ve done something with the electronic side of things. The last true rock ‘n’ roll band of genuine greatness was Oasis, so it’s really down to electronic music. I wish Delphic all the best! In Manchester the music scene is so varied that we always throw something up. I’m vibing up a band called The Travelling Band right now, who are really folky. Weirdly enough they’ve done the most beautiful version of ‘Waterfall’ I’ve ever heard – it’s outrageous. Check it out. They’ve done a good version of a great song, totally done it justice. It’s like recycling Roses music and turning it into something else.

Manchester has a reputation for being very open minded, where do you think that comes from?
Do you know what? You’re Scottish. You take a train from London to fucking Glasgow. In London they’re all so far up their own fucking arses it’s fucking untrue, by the time you get to Birmingham people will be talking to you. By the time you get to Manchester people will be buying you drinks at the bar. By the time you get to Glasgow people are inviting you out to a club and all sorts. In Manchester we know how to have fun, we know how to throw two fingers up to the people who are trying to put you down. We’ve got that ‘fuck you we’re doing this’ attitude. But I suppose being Scottish you’d know all about that?

You’re helping open the club as part of a new group with Peter Hook, how did that come about?
I think we’re just going to play three tracks which won’t be making it onto the Freebass album. There’ll be a few guest vocalists though. It’ll be interesting to see what happens, Hooky was pushing for us to do them so we’ll have another rehearsal and see what happens.

How did the Freebass project come about?
Well what happened is that we were all in Manchester and there wasn’t much going on, so we just decided to hang out for a few days. Me, Hooky and Andy Rourke. It started off as just a joke, we were hanging out together then we started laying down tracks on the computer. It’s been a long process as New Order were out on tour, then Primal Scream were out on tour. So finding the time has been difficult. We’ve found a vocalist, we’ve had some top guys playing guitar and it’s just about putting it all together. There’s no pressure to put it out, it’s not about labels it’s about music.

Are Primal Scream working on new material?
Yeah well it’s just going to be a writing year for the Scream this year. We’ve been out on tour doing the ‘Beautiful Future’ album for the last year and a half. Now it’s time to work on new tracks – I’m off down to London this very afternoon to do just that. Hopefully that buys enough time to get some Freebass gigs in as well. It’s supposed to be downtime but I’ll be spending it in the studio. I need to keep busy me, mate!

With the members being spread far apart how do Primal Scream arrange writing sessions?
We’ve got our own studio space where we just hang out with each other and throw a few ideas about basically. It’s as simple as that. We’re not working to any definite game plan, we just keep thrashing away until we find something we’re happy with.

Have you begun writing yet? Is there any sign of new influences?
There’s always stuff left over from the last album, which we pick up first and see what we’ve got. We just hang out really and see what ideas we’ve got.

The new venue is informed by the legacy of Factory Records – what do you think makes that story so potent?
The important thing for me is to keep alive the spirit of the original Factory club for 1977. Where people like ACR and New Order and Joy Division used to hang out. It’s good to have like a base camp where creative talent can just hang out. If we can put a space there which is responsible for Manchester’s next big thing then that’ll be us, as musicians doing our job. Keep the spirit of Manchester moving.

FAC251 - The Factory opens on February 5th.