Music venue goes back to the future

Putting the musicians on a high shelf earned the venue the nickname, the 'Band on the Wall.'

by Phil Howarth, site contributor

The re-opened Band on the Wall is aiming to use the internet to carve a fresh niche for itself in Manchester's nightlife.

The music venue is one of the city's oldest with a history dating back to the early 19th century.

But its £4 million revamp includes a 21st-century audio-visual system that will film each performance and offer gig highlights via the website.

In pictures: see inside the Band on the Wall

Together, we'll be creating a nationally important music archive - no-one else is doing it at this level. Malcolm Duffin, marketing manager

And anyone with fond memories or mementos from past Band on the Wall gigs can upload pictures onto the site and chat online with people who were also there.

The venue's marketing manager Malcolm Duffin said it is the first time this has been done in the UK.

"We're based in a 150-year-old building and we put on some types of music that some people think of as traditional, such as jazz, but we've embraced new technology.

"Fans can go on the site, register for events, put up details on the music they like and meet like-minded fans. We'll put photographs and video up there and they can do the same.

Adding: "We're talking about the past as well as the future, so if you came to a Fall gig here in 1982 and took some photos on your old Kodak then you can scan your photos and put them up there."

"Together, we'll be creating a nationally important music archive - no-one else is doing it at this level."

Popular

Bands' record companies will have to give permission for footage of their gigs to be streamed on the site but Malcolm is confident that the idea will prove popular with visiting acts.

A state-of-the-art system will be used to record gigs

'With the collapse of record buying, the labels know the money is in live music now and this is a great way to get the message out that you're a good live act," he added.

"Playing in an intimate setting with a state-of-the-art sound system is the perfect backdrop for that."

Despite being closed for more than four and a half years, the venue's eclectic booking policy gives the impression it has never been away with jazz, world music, reggae and folk still featuring heavily.

Venue organisers are hoping that the online community will also introduce people visiting the site to different kinds of music.

History

Innovation has served Band on the Wall well in the past dating back to when it was still called the George & Dragon.

The venue when it was still called the George & Dragon, 1959

Landlord Ernie Tyson built a series of small platforms high on the back wall of the pub, allowing the house band to perform six nights a week safely above the fists and glasses that would regularly fly.

Popularly known as 'the band on the wall', the pub became popular with allied servicemen during World War II, with American squaddies bringing over the cutting-edge jazz sounds of the day.

This link with jazz brought about a radical new direction for the venue after the pub had fallen on hard times.

Saxophonist and local entrepreneur Steve Morris took over the lease and the pub was officially rechristened 'Band on the Wall' in 1975 at the suggestion of local jazz legend Johnny Roadhouse.

Embracing the radical sounds of punk provided another timely shot in the arm with bands including Joy Division, The Fall and Buzzcocks regularly playing on Mondays at the New Manchester Review nights.

Another band of Monday night regulars A Certain Ratio return to play on Saturday as part of the re-opening celebrations.