John the Duck (who has now grown into a beautiful swan): The first time I worked for Anthony and Chris was at the big Live the Dream rave. They asked me to go in to the middle of the nearby lake to hand out a flyer. I did it, going beyond the call of duty. I officially became part of the firm that day and remain a good friend.
Gordon Smart, The Sun, XFM: Manchester has a thing for producing brothers with a bit of swagger. I’m proud to call myself a friend of the most infamous the city has ever produced. My only regret is that I never knew them when they had hair. Did they ever have hair?
Stephen Graham, actor: I first heard about the Donnellys when I was a ‘Raver’ back in the day, when I was a teenager jumping around in a field in an unknown location. Me and my mates always thought they were an urban myth! Many, many years later, after my raving shoes and whistle had been well and truly hung up, my mate Brownie called me up out of the blue and asked me would I do a music video for a DJ [Deadmau5]? When I asked who was involved in production, he said, ‘The Donnellys’ … my response was, ‘No fucking way, they’re not real!’ In the video I had a chunk of dialogue that consisted of ‘The Ten Commandments of Rave’. This sums the brothers up to me – they are a cross between Robin Hood and Laurel and Hardy and for that reason alone I fucking love ’em!
James Barnes, Director, Pete Doherty In 24 Hours, MTV: As the entertainment industry grows ever more corporate and cautious, very few real rock ’n’ roll characters remain. Anthony and Chris Donnelly are two such characters. Despite working with the most unpredictable star in music – Pete Doherty – and having to marry TV production with their somewhat unorthodox methods, not for a second did I think they wouldn’t deliver.
Juliet Denison, Executive Producer, Pete Doherty In 24 Hours, MTV [now Head of Development, Talkback]: It’s been said that ‘Life is either an adventure or nothing,’ but for most of us life isn’t one long adventure, more a collection of incredible moments we accumulate, giving us great memories that we’ll talk about forever. I worked with Anthony and Christopher on MTV’s Pete Doherty In 24 Hours, but to describe the event in a step-by-step account simply won’t do it justice. What I will say is that the making of Pete Doherty has taken its place in my collection of moments. The Donnelly Brothers took me on a one-off, unconventional, funny, reckless and brilliant adventure that I’ve never repeated and will never forget.
James Barton, Cream: Going to their first offices at Imex House was like going to a gig, music pumping out and Ian Brown hanging around. Andy Carroll and me were the main guys running clubs and playing house music in Liverpool, and the boys had connected with us. Everything is a little hazy from back then, but my overriding memory of both of them is loyalty. They are the type of people that once you become friends, it would be for life! Which is exactly how it panned out when they reconnected with me many years later for the re-launch of Gio. Anthony was telling me that he was planning to sue Giorgio Armani for using Gio for his cologne range. I was thinking, ‘Fuck he’s still got the biggest balls around.’
Stuart & Mark Knight, Toolroom Records: Working with your family can be tough … but it can also create one of the strongest forces in business. Myself and Mark can draw parallels with the relationship Chris and Anthony have, and I think this is what made it so easy to get along and work with the guys. They hustle to make things happen and are constantly ahead of the curve – something we have massive respect for at Toolroom.
Mike Pickering, DJ, M-People, A&R Sony: I’ve known them from the early ’80s and they’re not a million miles away from what they were. Still lovable scallywags, but they’re clever in their business dealings. They almost know instinctively which artists are going to bring them the most publicity and who will represent the clothes the best. The thing with Doherty, for example – if you think that the only two brands that collaborated with him in the height of his fame were Gio-Goi and Dior, that really sums it up. Look at the Chase & Status video. It’s absolutely brilliant. When I first saw that, I didn’t realise Chris and Tracey were involved, I remember going mad saying to people, ‘Who has done this, who’s the director?’ It was so real. The Donnellys always had a reputation for organising the best events, great attention to detail, even when they first started Gio and the T-shirts had ‘Dodgin’ the rain ’n’ bullets’ on the inside. Anthony always looks for an angle or a way to forward his business. Chris is very stylish and quite artistic, that’s why it works. When they do things it’s done with a lot of tenacity. They just keeping moving on, I never see them moping around … they’re always on to something bigger and better. I was at Ibiza Rocks with Kasabian and Noel Gallagher, all of a sudden this big Range Rover flies round the corner at breakneck speed and it’s Anthony and Chris with a car full of clobber. It was hilarious, they can’t just arrive there like everyone else …
Pete Doherty: I have written a libellous account of the Donnelly/ Doherty collaborations in sartorial and social history and will send it soon. Here’s a taste … As the TK Maxx buyer hit the kerb, a Mancunian voice said, ‘Just checking I still had it in me.’ [Doherty never got round to sending his full libellous account – quelle surprise!]
Andy Rutherford, Music and Sports Industry Management: I first met Anthony and Chris in the Gio-Goi office in about 2007. One of my best memories is of a video shoot we did in an old warehouse in Manchester. Your Own Clothing sponsored the shoot. It was a great day and amazing creativity from the Donnellys.
Gordon Mason, Filmmaker – They Call It Acid: I travelled up to Joy from London on a coach for North meets South. It was a really friendly vibe and an amazing venue. Seeing people dancing on stone walls and worshipping the sun as it rose over the hills on the Sunday morning remains a favourite party memory.
Mani, Primal Scream/The Stone Roses: Anthony and Chris have my utmost respect. They’re shaking up the fashion world like we want to shake up the music world.
Mike Moran, MD Mojofuel: It was about 2004/5 when I met Anthony and Chris. It was through some fashion designer friends. I remember being told, ‘Be careful. They’re very connected and not to be messed with.’ I had heard the urban legends about the Quality Street Gang, but on that day they were just two fellas – one was loud and brash, one was quiet and creative. Both had incredible presence. In the years since we’ve filmed and photographed all sorts – we’ve blown up cars, broken into warehouses, filmed on scooters, bikes, jeeps, whatever it took to get what we needed! I love working with them over any other fashion brand. Red tape doesn’t exist, rules are meant to be broken and we won’t ask for forgiveness or permission. That said, they do also have a soft side. I was lucky to be the producer for the ‘I Remember’ Deadmau5 video and on the day of the shoot I got a manic phone call from my wife, saying that my infant son was being flown in an ambulance to Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. He was really sick, on death’s door. I had to drop everything and leave. Sixty extras, twenty-five crew and a really tight deadline! The Donnelly family gave my wife and I so much support that day. The video didn’t matter, and I will always remember that. These days I’m proud to say that I count them both, and the rest of their family, as very good friends.
Keith Allen, Actor: My first words to Anthony were, ‘Can you untie me, please?’ We have been close friends ever since.
Scully, international man of mystery: As long as I’ve known them, Anthony and Chris have been great fun. They have smashed the fuck out of an industry that can at times be a snotty closed shop. Good on ’em – I know as long as they are about I’ll be laughing too. Anthony’s relationship with money even makes me laugh; the first deal I ever did with him he said, ‘We can split the readies right down the middle three ways.’ It was proper Del Boy stuff. Anthony has the ability to sniff money out like a pig looking for truffles. He seems to be able to tell that I’ve got a deal lined up or am on the brink of doing one and wants to be involved, even though he doesn’t know what it is – like a psychic Donald Trump.
Carl Barat, The Libertines: The Prince of Wales was alway
s a beacon of debauchery. When the beacons of Camden finally dimmed, my last memory of that place was a fashion show in which my dear old buddy Pete Doherty strutted his stuff on the catwalk in Gio-Go for Anthony and Chris. It was quite a place for a while when the brothers had it. It was the same place Adam Ant used to drink – also where he shot a gun through the window. The thing I remember is they never had any ice in there.
Alan Erasmus, legend & Factory co-founder: ‘It seemed like a good idea at the time.’ Buona sera. AE
Kenny McGoff, Head of A&R Sony NY: I first met Anthony at Ibiza Rocks. It was when I was head of A&R at EMI Music Publishing and I had the Arctic Monkeys and Kasabian playing. I knew I had met a friend for life when we walked through the kitchens and blagged a table full of booze at Pacha. I met Chris shortly after and have been family ever since. They work hard and play hard. Every time we meet it makes me smile. The working relationship is always second to the friendship. I’ve always loved that. When my brother took ill and we needed to get him into an emergency hospital, the guys were the first to put their hand in their pockets, and that is something I will never forget.
Karl Nielson, Director AEI Media: There are two key aspects to Anthony and Chris’s success. The first is that they are men of their word; if they say they are going to do something then that is that, final, they deliver. The other, and probably the reason for their longevity, is that they remain current because they care, and are always working with the latest acts destined for big things.
Dean Skarratt (Will Not Be Televised) Manchester’s No.1 Hip Hop promoter: The only men I simultaneously fear working with yet can’t avoid … Chris and Anthony Donnelly – Don 1 & 2
Peter Hook, New Order/Joy Division: The Donnellys are a HUGE part of Manchester’s history. If this book contains ANY of the stories I know about Chris and Anthony, it will be a very entertaining read! These two rascals are a big part of what I, and the world, love about Madchester’s music and fashion!
Colin O’Toole, filmmaker: Anthony and Chris have a genuine interest in things and a unique way of going about things. They keep reinventing themselves and their drive and enthusiasm doesn’t ever seem to waver. They have that uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time. They worked with Deadmau5 before anyone knew who Deadmau5 was, and a couple of years later he was the biggest electronic artist on the planet. At the time I just thought, ‘What? This kid’s a joke, he’s got this stupid mouse head on,’ and Chris convinced me he was going to be this big DJ and artist and it turned out to be true. Some of the schemes you think, ‘Why are they interested in that’ and then it turns out to be massive. It’s really interesting to watch.
Bez, Happy Mondays: I’ve known Anthony and Chris for over twenty-five years. The explosion of Acid House brought loads of different people together and there were a lot of lads going out in town from different areas. We all came together through the love of dancing, believe it or not. Chris and Anthony are proper characters. The most amazing thing about them is where they are now, proper entrepreneurs. It just goes to show what you can achieve with a lot of hard work. You can come from nothing and build something important that’s relevant to the rest of the world. As kids growing up we were all into our fashion – they came along and had such a good understanding of the market, the lads and where we were all coming from, that they were able to capitalise on it early on to make the clothes that were relevant for the time.
Leo Stanley, Identity: … AND ON THE SIXTH DAY, GOD CREATED MANchester ( … and then Chris & Anthony Donnelly). Thanks for twenty-five years of mayhem, love and dance. Nice one!
Matthew Greenhalgh, screenwriter, Control and Look of Love: I was on the scene in ’88/’89 so I’d heard of the Donnelly brothers – but only being sixteen I was never part of the cool crew in The Hacienda which they definitely were with the Mondays. So we share that mutual experience of those ecstatic years that lasted ’til about summer 1990. Those years changed our lives – I wouldn’t be a writer if they hadn’t have happened. We got lucky that that was our youth culture – especially when you consider all this corporate fucked up festival shit that kids get rammed down their necks today. When I first saw their Gio-Goi stuff I was like, ‘Gimme some of that,’ it was like our own label for Manchester. They fitted perfectly, as in baggy and vibrant – I had one of those sweatshirts with ‘Dodgin’ the rain ’n’ the bullets’ on and never had it off my back. We met properly and became friends a few years back when I heard they were behind the ‘Blind Faith’ video for Chase & Status that Dan Wolfe directed. I’ve got a film script with a similar theme that I wrote in the late ’90s and was interested in what they thought. So I gave them the spiel: story lines, character arcs, plot twists, cast suggestions … and at then end of laying it on thick I looked at them both for a reaction. I was trying to read them but both were poker-faced, then Chris went, ‘So … does that mean you want some dough?’ I cracked up – because he was right. When I chat with Chris and Anthony they remind me why I’ve never felt comfortable in London.
Jon McClure, Reverend and The Makers: Well there’s an old quote, isn’t there? ‘If you’re all right with them, they’ll be all right with you.’ This definitely applies to the Donnellys. Their whole life reads like a movie script. They are old school men’s men.
Pat Carroll, Central Station: We met Anthony and Chris in the late ’80s when we were working on all the Happy Mondays and Factory artwork – we got on like a ‘negligee’ on fire (this will make sense in a bit). They were fucking hilarious and proper ambitious. Pretty much straight away we started talking about setting something up together … which ended up being Gio-Goi. We started doing Tee’s, got the right people wearing ’em and created an instant myth – with everybody talking about a clothing company that hadn’t made any clothes. Eventually we were ready to launch at London Fashion Week. We wanted to make a statement, so we decided to make the show an art installation on a massive scale. The only problem was we needed a space big enough to create it in. Anthony and Chris knew about this old, abandoned church on the edge of town. Pitch black – fucking candles and everything. We brought the paint and boom box, they supplied the fizzy drinks and the Colombian party food. We created these giant paint bombs and ended up dragging each other about in bin liners like human paintbrushes. It was like a Jackson Pollock, acid-fuelled, cultish, sacrificial ritual that makes the end of the film Kill List look normal.
One of our other ‘business’ meetings started out in Dry Bar … we moved on to The Hacienda, while Anthony jibbed back to the hotel he was staying at, where he accidently set fire to his wife’s negligee and burnt it off her! Anyway, no harm done, and Anthony turns up at The Hacienda in time for last orders and to offer us a lift home – his mate was driving. So we were halfway home doing 120mph, running every red light, when he tells us the mate who’s driving has dropped fifteen window panes!
Shaun Ryder, Happy Mondays: I was at one of the Donnellys’ legendary parties … I said, ‘Why not have a go? You know what we like to wear.’ The rest is history.
Adrian Hunter, Pete Doherty manager: I first met Anthony and Chris at the Birmingham Academy on a Babyshambles tour when they had come along to shoot Peter for a Gio-Goi campaign. They drove past the tour bus and straight to the top of the multi-storey car park. This perplexed me a little until I realised that they simply didn’t know where they were going. They were running Gio-Goi and I was managing Babyshambles. Peter was the face of Gio-Goi so I became involved with them professionally. Obviously after all the business was over we have kept in touch socially – always good to see the boys. Criminal history?!?!? Is there something I should know about?
Keith Dyson, solicitor: Anthony and Christopher have been arrested by the police on several occasions and have used me as their solicitor. I have been involved with numerous high-profile court cases like the one against the Donnelly brothers. I also acted for Curtis Warren at the time he was the UK’s and Interpol’s number one target. Curtis was eventually arrested in H
olland and reputed to be worth £145 million, appearing in The Times’ ‘Rich List’. I thought that the ‘Operation Bluebell’ case against Anthony and Chris was an improper use of police powers and as such was an abuse of the courts process – the police targeted Anthony and Chris on a speculative basis. They posed as wealthy businessmen with cash to spend.
Curtis Warren, entrepreneur: A great book by the Donnellys showing what life was like in northern citities after years of government neglect and indifference in Thatcher’s Britain.
PROLOGUE
‘STYLE PAIR ACCUSED IN DRUG RAID’
Manchester Evening News – front cover splash
Thursday, 6 October 1994
Two fashion gurus were due in court this afternoon following the seizure of Ecstasy, heroin and guns by armed police, who raided several homes. Brothers Anthony and Christopher Donnelly, bosses of trendsetting Gio-Goi at Ardwick Green, Manchester, were charged with drug offences last night. The pair, billed as the UK’s answer to Dior and Yves St Laurent, joined top designers at a Paris exhibition last month.
Still Breathing Page 2