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ADAM MOSS on IN THE CITY
THERE'S no other city in the world where you could group Graham Gouldman with a serious music business debate entitled 'Cool Britannia. My Arse!' and get away with it. That's why In The City is back home this year, in Manchester where Britannia is always cool (so is Graham Gouldman) and the punters know when the hype-merchants have left town and the dust has settled, it's only rock 'n' roll after all. It's not called In The City for nothing, y'know. Despite a two year absence _ a political, not a cultural decision _ Britain's only music convention is back on home turf, in THE city. Manchester's prodigal son is here and it feels like it's never been away. It had to be Manchester for ITC 98. A seminar entitled 'How To Handle Bands When They're Behaving Like Arseholes' (Monday, September 14, Midland Hotel) just wouldn't work as well anywhere else. Yes, it's a serious matter, pop stars with egos like inflated pay cheques can be the ruin of this business, but there's also a great deal of real humour in this subject too. It takes a city like Manchester to give the comic underbelly of the industry a good old tickle. London, Edinburgh, Birmingham, even Glasgow take themselves too seriously. Mancs don't mind taking the mickey out of themselves or, for that matter, anyone else who raises their head above the safety of the trench. And so the slogan for this year's event is "More Music, Less Mud'' and ITC 98 is being billed as the Urban Glastonbury. The big names in rock and pop are here and include Republica (Saturday September 12, Manchester University), Puressence (Tuesday, September 15, The Ritz), Delgados and Six By Seven (Wednesday, September 16, Hop & Grape), Sinead Lohan (Sunday, September 13, Hop & Grape) and Eliza Carthy (Monday, September 14, The Boardwalk). There's also the debut live show by former Take That star Howard Donald at Prague 5 (Monday, September 14) and Mark Bolan's son, Rolan Bolan, at Discotheque Royale (Sunday, September 13) for the incurably curious. Former 10cc man Graham Gouldman is holding a songwriting masterclass while DJ superstars Andrew Weatherall and David Holmes will be taking over the decks at clubs around the city and various venues will host special nights like The Big Bang 1998 Label Collective (Saturday, September 12, The Boardwalk), Grand Central Label Party (Monday, September 14, Roadhouse) and a Twisted Nerve Showcase (Sunday, September 13, The Bierkeller). In just five days and nights there wll be 500 bands, DJs and artists flogging their wares at 50 venues across the sprawling metropolis to a captive audience of 2,500 music industry delegates, and a captivated audience of thousands more. While the lifeblood of ITC 7 is no different from its predecessors _ a battery of new talent mixed with a heady cocktail of established acts, all live _ the beauty of the event is that year on year it pushes the boundaries forward just a bit further. It is more than a little ironic than ITC is a music convention because there's very little that's conventional about it. ITC is much more about challenging convention |
than celebrating or taking part in it. So while the nights will be filled with the passionate and sweaty tones of a hundred would-be's and a bounty of going-to-be's, the days will see the industry's intelligentia play thought-tennis with topics like 'Will The New Deal Mean A New Dole?' (Sunday, September 13, Midland Hotel) or 'Turning Your Songs Into A PLC' (Monday, September 14, Midland Hotel). Then there's the future. ITC gives us master classes on the super-information-highway billed as 'Cyberlegging And Protecting Rights On The Highway' and 'The Real Impact Of E-Commerce' (both Tuesday, September 15, Midland Hotel) _ it's important, it's groundbreaking, so it's got time and space at ITC 98. One not to be missed is the Shock City event (Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, Manchester Cathedral). Showcasing the best of nineties electronica will be some of the biggest exponents of the electronic age. Not everyone has the same reasons for taking part in the ever-increasing beast that is ITC, of course. Some come to see the talent, musical or otherwise, some to socialise, some to do business. The bands have their own agenda. Tim Dorney from Republica says: "I think it's good for unsigned bands _ but mostly it's a social thing. About drinking. I don't know how much business is done. It's excellent for Manchester and very good week's entertainment.'' The real spirit of In The City though is personified by the lucky unsigned bands _ carrying the torch for the country's as yet undiscovered pop talent _ who'll be playing gigs under the In The City Unsigned umbrella. Those fortunate, and talented enough, to take part wll be paying their dues at venues throughout the city, especially in the reborn Northern Quarter in a series of gigs free to the public. This year also sees the launch of the new Black Music Unsigned event, encompassing all genres of black music _ soul, hip hop, raga, garage, jungle and gospel. And Acousiticity is back with yet more established and unsigned acts from around the country _ including the likes of the much-acclaimed Jane Weaver (Monday, September 14, Dukes 92) and Ricky Ross, formerly lead singer with Deacon Blue (Monday, September 14, Dukes 92). If it's in, it's In The City. The Manchester Evening News is playing its part in the Unsigned event this year too. Our music experts have selected nine Manchester bands who are all showcasing at this year's In The City Live Unsigned event. And we reckon there's a few among them who are capable of following in the footsteps of other ITC Live Unsigned successes _ like Oasis, Kula Shaker, Catatonia and the rest. We'd like Go readers to play their part in helping our bands along the road to that elusive record deal too. Listed below are all nine bands we've selected to appear at the ITC Unsigned event and the date and venue where they are appearing. Beside each band name is a code number. We'd like you to go and see as may of the nine as possible and then vote for your favourite by calling the hotline number. The band with the most votes will get the chance to appear live at the prestigious Generation X gig on Tuesday, September 15. |
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