Chapter and Verse - New Order, Joy Division and Me

  Bernard A blues.

  Alan A blues.

  Bernard So Don Tonay had retired from all these piratical activities by this time.

  Alan No, he hadn’t retired, he was still up to his old ways. He was a fence. The police used to come round to his house and he’d say, ‘How’s things, guys?’ and they’d say, ‘We’re broke, Don’: they used to openly come round to take money, so he was still involved. But the club was making no money at all. He had two clubs: the Russell Club, which was built by the council, and the Mayflower. He had a partner called Rudi, a Jamaican guy, and Rudi and Don had these two clubs, the Mayflower and the Russell, and decided they could put music on, people like Dillinger, reggae …

  Bernard So was Don a licensee of the club or the owner?

  Alan He was the owner.

  Bernard He was the owner of the Russell Club.

  Alan Yes.

  Bernard So Tony and Alan Erasmus used to put Friday night …

  Alan Tony and Alan hired the club one night a week.

  Bernard I remember going there, yeah. It started off one night a week, didn’t it, and then went on all through the week.

  Alan I came in and started doing Thursdays, and then we’d do a Wednesday, and then we got together. Tony came down, and Don said, ‘Look, I don’t really want to run this club any more, you’re doing better with your new wave groups than I’m doing with the Jamaican groups. I’ll give you the keys to the safe’—

  Bernard He gave you the keys to the safe!

  Alan He gave me the keys to the club and said, ‘You know, you run the beer, the club, run everything, just pay me so much a week.’

  Bernard How did that go?

  Alan To start with, we were very successful, we got a lot of people through the door.

  Bernard Why did it close in the end? I remember going in …

  Alan It closed in the end because there was a lot of sound leaking through its roof and there were objections from people living nearby. It was also losing on the bar. Although it was incredibly busy, the bars were run by amateurs – ourselves. A lot of the drinks were being stolen and taken out to the Nile and the Reno during the day, the booze was being ferreted away to the shebeens, which were making money.

  Bernard But what was your connection with Tony? You said you had—

  Alan ‘Well,’ Don said, ‘you’d better get together and run it, because he’s a bloody idiot’ – pointing at me – ‘but I like him the most, so he’s in charge.’ I got together with Tony and Tony was very keen on the club and wanted to run more than one night a week. I already knew Tony from when I was running Rafters, and his wife was my friend. Because of that he suggested we become partners. Me, him, Alan Erasmus. Tony and I started a company, which was the original company running the Factory Club, Shop Floor Entertainments Ltd, trading as The Factory – not Factory Records, The Factory – pre-dating the record company. The club ran seven days a week, although Tony would only come on a Friday because, to be fair, he had a full-time job at Granada. We all liked him, because he had a lot of charisma and charm, but it was Alan Erasmus and me running the club and drawing a wage, a small wage, each.

  Bernard What was Alan Erasmus’s background? He was always this quiet man of Factory.

  Alan I wouldn’t say quiet man. Alan and Tony had a very close friendship.

  Bernard He was an actor, wasn’t he?

  Alan An actor, yes. He was quite a nice guy, I liked him, and I liked Tony very much as well. The thing is, Tony was surrounded by people who weren’t very erudite or knowledgeable and used to worship him – sycophants, ‘yes’ people. He wasn’t sure whether they liked him or not. I had a similar education to Tony, but I got on with the groups better because I had the common touch. I quite admired the fact that they could play, and make instruments and stuff. I’d be very poor at – where’s my glass of wine?

  Bernard Oh, here, sorry. But, Alan, if we were summing you up in a couple of paragraphs …

  Alan I was a scholarly bloke who drifted due to ill health into entirely the wrong occupation. I think I was built for the film industry. Because I had a neurotic illness I drifted into a place I was allowed to be …

  Bernard Your neurotic illness, I remember you telling me, was caused by being struck by lightning.

  Alan Perhaps it was because I was struck by lightning, it struck very close to me and seemed to fuck up my nerves forever afterwards.

  Bernard You were at university …

  Alan Yeah.

  Bernard … which university did you go to?

  Alan I went to Oxford and Manchester.

  Bernard And you were studying …

  Alan Theology. I was planning to become a priest.

  Bernard Er, right!

  Alan But I dropped out.

  Bernard And you moved back to Manchester and moved into the music industry.

  Alan Well, it wasn’t an industry, I didn’t think of it as a job. There was a scene, there was a scene happening.

  Bernard And you were a kind of mover and a shaker.

  Alan I became a central figure who knew lots of people and they could come to me and talk to me.

  Bernard I think we were all movers and shakers, but we didn’t realize it at the time.

  Alan Because I could communicate with people, I could put on shows. We weren’t just putting on shows in our clubs; we were doing it at the university as well.

  Bernard You eventually became a promoter and, to me, you were one of the kind of unseen people everyone on the music scene in Manchester would know …

  Alan People would know me.

  Bernard So you’d describe yourself as an impresario of …

  Alan Well, I’m an impresario of Manchester people, but that came later. At this stage, I was a local promoter and eventually became a tour promoter and became involved with managing various groups.

  Bernard So you managed The Fall …

  Alan I wasn’t the manager of The Fall, because Mark manages himself, but I’ve managed several people. But, at that stage, the early days, ’76 to ’80, we were putting on concerts and then after that I was a club runner. I ran clubs. You know me from that. I’ve known you …

  Bernard But, as a promoter, you promoted lots of concerts.

  Alan A lot of your concerts, a lot of concerts in general, in and out of the club.

  Bernard And compered a lot of concerts as well – you’re quite famous for getting up and saying a few words before we’ve stepped on stage.

  Alan Well, the Factory Club meant I could perform myself, and I often used to get up and sing along …

  Bernard Do you think you might be a frustrated performer?

  Alan Definitely.

  Bernard You told me once that you’d love to run away to the circus.

  Alan Oh, I’d love to, I love the circus.

  Bernard I can see you as a ringmaster.

  Alan Well, I went for the job.

  Bernard You went for the job?

  Alan Hoffman’s Circus – they offered it me.

  Bernard You’d be really good at that.

  Alan Here’s something really sad: I went to Hoffman’s Circus and a guy had just joined them to play the organ. I didn’t take the job because the elephant stank. Thirty years later, Hoffman’s Circus came back. I went to see them to see if anyone would remember me, and the guy on the organ was still there and he remembered me. He said, ‘What’s your life been like?’ I said, ‘What’s yours been like?’ He said, ‘I married the girl on the high wire.’

  Bernard Why didn’t you take the job?

  Alan It would have been lonely, and the elephant really stank. The circus life would have been the truer one. It was also more ambitious, because you had to leave home and everything, whereas the club was cosy and nestling, and I had an office. I liked having a club.

  Bernard You managed Nico, didn’t you?

  Alan She was the most famous one. I loved Nico.

  Bernard What was it about Nico that you liked?


  Alan She was a genuine bohemian. She didn’t give a damn about making money, or distinguish between people as to whether they were famous or whether they were not. All she cared about was whether they were interesting or not. Nico was the real McCoy, so that’s why I liked her. And then, later, I loved her.

  Bernard And John Cale, did you …

  Alan He was very nice; I thought he was very friendly. But when he sobered up and became proper, I think he thought we were like Hal in Shakespeare; he thought we were foolish, Falstaffian figures. We had to be dispensed with because we didn’t take things seriously.

  Bernard Perhaps he wasn’t a bohemian any more.

  Alan He wanted to make money, and when people want to make money and do it properly, they have to do it a different way.

  Bernard But you need money to live, don’t you? We have to conform to a role where you have to earn money to live.

  Alan I wish I was like that, it’s true. But as a gentleman …

  Bernard I wish you were like that too, because maybe then you wouldn’t owe me six hundred quid.

  Alan [coughing fit]

  Picture Acknowledgements

  Author’s own: here; here; here; here; here; here; here; here.

  Herman Vaske: here, Kevin Cummins: here

  Mark Reeder: here

  Andrew Catlin: here, here, Anton Corbijn: here

  Kevin Cummins: here, Andrew Catlin: here, author’s own: here, here

  Kevin Cummins: here, here

  Kevin Cummins: here, here

  Kevin Cummins: here, Eileen Feighny: here, Andrew Catlin: here

  Kevin Cummins: here, author’s own: here, here, here, here.

  Donald Christie: here, author’s own: here, here, here, here, here.

  Author’s own: here, Mark Reeder: here

  Kevin Cummins: here, Anton Corbijn: here, here, author’s own: here

  Sue Dean: here, Joel c. Fildes: here, author’s own: here, here

  Kevin Cummins: here, here, Neilson Barnard: here

  Index

  The page references in this index correspond to the printed edition from which this ebook was created. To find a specific word or phrase from the index, please use the search feature of your ebook reader.

  A Certain Ratio 122, 135, 185

  acid house 190–1, 197–206

  Afrika Bambaataa, ‘Planet Rock’ 169

  Albrecht, Bernard, BS as 85–6

  album covers, as artworks 114–17

  Alfred Street, Lower Broughton, life at 1, 9–30, 41, 43, 45, 64, 72–3, 301

  Alkister, Mr (headmaster) 36

  Allen, Keith

  and ‘World In Motion’ 228–30

  ‘Northern Industrial Gay’ 175–6

  America

  Eastern tour 138–42, 144–6

  1989 tour 206, 207–10

  success in 156–7

  Amiga 145

  Amnesia, Ibiza 192, 193

  AMS samplers 110–11, 112

  Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, 2011 gig 287

  Anderton, James, and raves 203–4, 234

  Animals, The 60

  animation work 52

  ARP synthesizers 125, 151, 160

  Atencio, Tom 176, 177, 207–8

  Bad Lieutenant 276, 279

  and Eyjafjallajökull eruption 283–4

  Never Cry Another Tear 276, 283

  Bagley, Nigel 325

  Baker, Arthur 169, 173–5, 182–3

  Balearic beat house music 191, 196–7

  band, first, forming 63–70

  looking for drummer 67

  looking for singer 64–6

  bands, life at close quarters 211–12

  Barnes, John 228, 229

  Barrowlands, Glasgow, gig 120

  Bartos, Karl 243

  and Raise the Pressure 219–20, 222–3

  Bataclan, Paris, 2011 gig 287

  Beach Boys 7

  Beach Club, Manchester 138, 161

  Beardsley, Peter 228

  Beatles 36, 60

  Belushi, John 177

  Benitez, Jellybean 173–4

  Best and Marsh, theme tune 225

  Best, George 225

  Bigelow, Kathryn, Touched by the Hand of God 168

  Bins 201

  Birmingham University gig 133

  Black Sabbath, songs 37

  Blunt, Anthony 236

  Bolton College of Art 47

  Bonfire Night 20–1, 44

  Boon, Clint, XFM show 274

  Boon, Richard 89

  Bosanquet, Reginald 51

  Bosanquet, Simon 51

  Boston gig, riot 161–2

  Boulton, Rebecca 256, 272, 275, 277, 283–4, 287

  Bowie, David 150–1

  Breakfast Club 157

  Brierly, John 154

  Britannia Row studio 124–9, 163

  Brotherdale, Steve, drummer 76–7

  Broughton Baths 48, 122

  Brown, James 171

  Burroughs, William 80

  Bury gig 131

  Buxton Festival 56–7

  Buzzcocks 59, 61, 109, 129, 323

  1979 support tour 120–1

  Electric Circus gig 68, 72

  help from 68–9

  Cabaret Voltaire 100

  Cale, John 332

  Callari, Frank 145, 146, 150

  Canna to Barra sail 296–7

  Cannes Film Festival, Control at 274–6

  Cargo studio, Rochdale 154

  Carnegie Hall, Tibet House benefit 282–3, 288–93

  Cetinsky, Karol, House of Dolls 83

  Chapman, Tom, and New Order 286–7, 294

  Chappell, Richard 229

  Chic 7

  Childs, Harold 183–4

  Chiswick Records, Rafters gig 88–9, 91, 104

  Clarke, John Cooper 72, 109

  Cliff, Jimmy 298

  Coachella festival 2010 283

  Comic Strip Presents 228

  Control 261–3

  at Cannes Film Festival 274–6

  soundtrack work 273–4

  Coogan, Steve, as Tony Wilson 258–61

  Corbijn, Anton, Control 261–3, 273–6

  Corgan, Billy 212

  Cosgrove, Brian 51–2

  Cosgrove Hall Animation 52, 85

  Costello, Elvis 325

  Crumpsall hospital 1, 9

  Cummins, Kevin 89, 104, 261

  Cunningham, Phil

  and Bad Lieutenant 276

  and New Order 273, 286–7, 292, 294

  Curtis, Debbie 107, 126, 127, 130, 134

  Touching from a Distance 261

  Curtis, Ian 66–9, 77–82, 89, 91, 92, 98–9, 117, 150

  and Annik Honoré 125–7, 129, 130, 131

  and Closer 124–5

  and French journalist 123–4

  and grand mal epilepsy 103–8

  and ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ 79, 81

  and Unknown Pleasures 110, 113

  Corbijn’s Control about 261–3

  death 116, 134–5, 136–8, 262, 263

  hypnotic regression 131, 301–20

  lyric writing 79–82

  not replaceable 137–8, 141–2, 143

  suicidal 129–35

  Vox Phantom guitar 79

  Curtis, Natalie 81, 127

  Curved Air 57

  Dallas, Eat 190–1

  Danceteria, New York 204–5

  Deep Purple gig 55–6

  Demme, Jonathan, The Perfect Kiss 168

  Devoto, Howard, at Sex Pistols gig 59

  Dickin, Bernard, BS as 27–8, 86

  Dickin, Jimmy (BS’s stepfather) 16, 26–8, 86, 119, 237

  Donnelly, Anthony & Chris 202–3

  Donnelly, Tracey 203

  Dow, Gerry 51

  Dowie, John 100

  Dry, Oldham Street 204–6

  Duddell, Joe 290

  Dudley, Anne, and Electronic 214

  Durutti Column 100

  Ears, Trenton, recording 138

 
Easy Rider 39

  Echo and the Bunnymen, at Haçienda 189

  Ecstasy, deaths from 198–9

  808 State, ‘Spanish Heart’ 228

  Electric Circus, first gig at 68–74

  Electronic 283

  BS and Johnny Marr 210–11, 213–24

  Electronic 213–14, 219

  ‘Getting Away with It’ 214

  guest artists 219

  Raise the Pressure 219–20, 222–3

  Twisted Tenderness 219, 251, 286

  US promotional tour 215–19

  electronic music 151–8, 243–4, 247

  Electronics Today 151

  Elliot, Denholm 193

  Emerson, Lake and Palmer 60

  Emulator 1 sampler 155–6, 160

  encores, New Order and 160–2

  Eno, Brian 151

  Epstein, Brian 78

  Erasmus, Alan 92, 115, 252, 257, 327, 328–9

  and Haçienda 185–7

  Eric, BS’s mother’s friend 237

  Evans, Jake, and Bad Lieutenant 276, 286

  Eyjafjallajökull eruption 283–4

  Factory Club 185–6

  Alan Wise on 321, 323–5, 327–32

  Factory Records 145, 92–3, 100–1

  A Factory Sample 100–1

  and Haçienda, 24 Hour Party People about 258–61

  and Manchester Town Hall purchase 238–9

  and Unknown Pleasures 109–14

  financial difficulties 242–3, 250

  Factory, The 164, 168, 229, 328

  Factory Too 264

  Fairlight synthesizer 189

  Fall, The 330

  Family, gig 56–7

  Ferry, Bryan, ‘A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall’ 51

  Few Dollars More, soundtrack 38

  Fistful of Dollars, soundtrack 38

  Fleetwood Mac, songs 40

  Floaters, Float On 97

  Flowers, Brandon 77

  football songs 227, 230–1

  Free Trade Hall, Manchester, going to gigs 54–6

  Freeez, ‘IOU’ 170–1, 175

  Fuji Festival 2005 270–1

  Funhouse club, Manhattan, video shoot 173–4

  Gabriel, Peter 197, 247, 266

  Garry, Mike, ‘Saint Anthony’ 290

  Garside, Graham 52

  Gascoigne, Paul 228

  Gay Traitor bar, Haçienda 236

  Gaye, Marvin 92

  Genesis P. Orridge 126

  Genetic 93

  Geoff the Chef 193

  Gibson 335 guitar 141

  Gilbert, Gillian

  and Haçienda 248–50

  and New Order 147–8, 285–7, 294

  and ‘World In Motion’ 228