Sweet Harmony
I was a Hacienda baby. Just a few months after I turned up in this city, drawn from a provincial nowhere town, like so many other mad moths to the proverbial flame, Madchester and the whole Second Summer Of Love seemed to explode beneath my feet. I was 18 and I never looked back. During the 90s I discovered & studied photography. I photographed the notorious Hulme housing estate as it was bulldozed flat around us as we tried to live, love & party as best we could. My very first exhibition was on the graffiti artists I found there. Then I moved my camera further into the city centre. I had an idea to photograph one year in a nightclub, to photograph all the different club nights, the DJs, MCs, punters, bouncers & bar staff. That project was supposed to take a year but, almost 20 years later, I find that I have shot very little else.
I watched as Acid House turned into Techno, Jungle became Drum’n’Bass, UKHH was supplanted by UKG, Dubstep and Grime. I saw the youngsters who supported & promoted these club nights become headline acts in their own right. Members of the audience morph into performers onstage. As a raver I attended Hot at the Hacienda, Bugged Out! at Sankeys Soap, Sleuth at Paradise Factory. Then Fire Island, the Number One, Strangeways and Flesh at the Hacienda during what was hilariously dubbed Gaychester.
As a photographer I shot Fat City and Grand Central Records nights Counter Culture and Friends & Family, Drum’n’Bass nights Spellbound and Metropolis, and the mighty musical ship that is Hit-&-Run.
It has been an interesting journey, never boring. Just when you think there’s nothing new under the sun you know that somewhere some kid is making the most amazing music in their bedroom, and they’ll soon be what everyone is talking about. These days I’m a big fan of DRS, Levelz, Children Of Zeus. An ex girlfriend once said to me ‘You don’t listen to much music outside of Manchester do you?’ My answer was: ‘I don’t need to.’
I always loved documentary photography, street & war photography. I found my own street, my war zone in Manchester clubs. I’m still searching for that ‘Decisive Moment’ which Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about. Like any (image) junkie I’m still chasing that original high.
I watched as Acid House turned into Techno, Jungle became Drum’n’Bass, UKHH was supplanted by UKG, Dubstep and Grime. I saw the youngsters who supported & promoted these club nights become headline acts in their own right. Members of the audience morph into performers onstage. As a raver I attended Hot at the Hacienda, Bugged Out! at Sankeys Soap, Sleuth at Paradise Factory. Then Fire Island, the Number One, Strangeways and Flesh at the Hacienda during what was hilariously dubbed Gaychester.
As a photographer I shot Fat City and Grand Central Records nights Counter Culture and Friends & Family, Drum’n’Bass nights Spellbound and Metropolis, and the mighty musical ship that is Hit-&-Run.
It has been an interesting journey, never boring. Just when you think there’s nothing new under the sun you know that somewhere some kid is making the most amazing music in their bedroom, and they’ll soon be what everyone is talking about. These days I’m a big fan of DRS, Levelz, Children Of Zeus. An ex girlfriend once said to me ‘You don’t listen to much music outside of Manchester do you?’ My answer was: ‘I don’t need to.’
I always loved documentary photography, street & war photography. I found my own street, my war zone in Manchester clubs. I’m still searching for that ‘Decisive Moment’ which Henri Cartier-Bresson talked about. Like any (image) junkie I’m still chasing that original high.
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