Cerysmatic.Factory

Things That Go Punk In The Night @ The Railway, Whaley Bridge

2019-10-03T07:00:00.000+01:00

Home Truths present 'Things That Go Punk In The Night' at The Railway in Whaley Bridge on 31 October 2019 from 19:30.

The event is an exploration of three books on the Manchester Punk Scene with David Nolan, Martin Ryan and Gareth Ashton.

There will be a rare screening of 'I Swear I Was There', David Nolan's documentary on the Sex Pistols concerts at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester in 1976.

Please note that this is a free event for which you don't require a ticket.

More info: Facebook Event [RSVP if you would like to attend as it gives the venue an idea of expected numbers]

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The Railway
33 Market Street
Whaley Bridge
SK23 7AA

Facing The Other Way

2013-11-03T09:04:00.000+00:00

'Facing The Other Way: The Story of 4AD' is the new definitive history of the 4AD record label by Martin Aston. Established in the early Eighties, 4AD, under the visionary tutelage of Ivo Watts-Russell held many similar ideals to Factory Records. This fact is not lost on the author and indeed the Introduction begins with the following paragraph:

"True, the story of 4AD doesn't feature a TV presenter-cum-entrepreneur who starts a record label whose most iconic frontman commits suicide and initiates a Che Guevara-style cult; nor does it involve the decision to invest heavily in a nightclub that goes on to become an epicentre of the biggest dance music boom in UK history, rejuvenating both youth and drug culture, the combined legacy of which soon enough bankrupts said label."

The extremely detailed and lovingly assembled book is a great and contains many more Factory Records references. Fans of both labels are in for a treat.

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Facing The Other Way: The Story of 4AD
Martin Aston
ISBN: 978-0007489619
650 pages
Hardcover

See also: 'visceral pleasures'.

What Planet Is He On?

2013-10-30T08:51:00.000+00:00

'What Planet Am I On?' is the new book by Shaun Ryder to accompanying the previously-announced 'Shaun Ryder on UFOs' television programme programme starting soon on History UK.

Broadly mirroring the series it tells the story of Shaun's obsession with UFOs from an early age and he gets to explore various famous sites from around the world during the course of his investigations.

Available from Amazon.co.uk and other booksellers.

What Planet Am I On?
Published by: Constable
Hardcover
208 pages

FAC Yeah!

2013-10-29T09:09:00.000+00:00

Cerysmatic's bookfest continues with a recommendation for all you Facsters out there to grab a copy of Bob Stanley's excellent new tome 'Yeah Yeah Yeah'. Tracking the history of modern pop music in nearly 800 pages it touches on Factory Records at a few key moments in its own unique history: the birth of the label ("with Bauhaus-inspired designer Peter Saville and pharmacist-by-day producer Martin Hannett, Factory had an integrated and entirely distinctive look, feel and sound"), Joy Division (commenting that their album Unknown Pleasures' sound "revelled in space - in this instance the underpasses, the empty streets of post-industrial Victorian Manchester"), the Haçienda ("its denizens were inspired to go home and create more of the music they wanted to hear") and Happy Mondays ("They looked like drug dealers from a run-down Manchester estate because that's exactly what they were.").

Yeah Yeah Yeah is published by Faber and Faber (ISBN 978-0-571-28197-8) for 20.00 GBP (RRP). More info at bobstanley.co.uk

visceral pleasures

2013-10-28T09:01:00.000+00:00

After finally catching up with the excellent Vaughan Oliver/23 Envelope monogram 'visceral pleasures' by Rick Poynor (think FAC 461 for 4AD if you're not familiar) a paragraph which compared Oliver's working influence to Peter Saville caught my eye:

"Oliver is a designer whose most characteristic work is about music. At their most expressive, his designs embody his intense emotional responses to his sensations as a listener. This is by no means always the case with designers of music graphics. Reid Miles, creator in the 1960s of many classic covers for the Blue Note jazz label, never had much enthusiasm for hard bop, even though fans regard his graphic rhythms as perfectly in sync with the music. Peter Saville, designer of sleeves for Factory Records, was engaged more by the subcultural, stylistic and fashion aspects of the post-punk milieu than by the music itself, and this detachment can be seen in the conceptual control of his designs. For Oliver, the connection with music is much more visceral and intimate. Music is a way of twisting the moment, leaving the mundane reality of the here and now, the world of bills on doormat, and attaining a more vital state of being beyond rational understanding, beyond the comfortable habits and orderly procedures of everyday life, where reality can be experienced anew, as if looking back from the other side."

In other words, Vaughan Oliver actually listened to the music but Peter Saville didn't.

Cheers Andrew @ Irk The Purists for the book.

A life-giving source

2013-10-27T09:30:00.000+00:00

Morrissey's Autobiographical FAC-related Musings #4:

After receiving a hand-typed letter from Tony Wilson following ticket price controversy, Morrissey agrees to play FAC 151 The Festival of the Tenth Summer. However, he contends that AHW wasn't happy with The Smiths upstaging New Order...

"Onstage, the Smiths are greeted as a life-giving source, and this begins to enrage Wilson so much that he flutters and fumes backstage, demanding to technicians that the Smiths' power be cut off. No backline crew will comply with Wilson, who is effectively gagged at his own festival. At the base of it all, general opinion assessed Wilson's rage to be the blustering fury in realizing that the Smiths had meant more to the crowd than his nurtured protégés New Order. Suddenly Wilson's divine right to be Mr Manchester is scuppered, and he spends the rest of his life with a Morrissey/Smiths wasting disease of the lower limbs, whilst oddly admitting that his big mistake in life was that he didn't sign the Smiths to Factory.

"Yes, well, there we go."

All this Byrds stuff has been done and done

2013-10-24T09:15:00.000+01:00

Morrissey's Autobiographical FAC-related Musings #3:

"Having latched on to the Sex Pistols and Iggy Pop for his television show So It Goes, Wilson now assumed the cognoscenti cloak and found himself blessed with the need to assess, judge and grade - like a war general plastered with ribbons but who had never actually seen battle himself. At an early Smiths night Wilson offers and opinion that no-one has asked for:

"'I'm not sure about Johnny. Hand in Glove is Rebel Rebel. All this Byrds stuff has been done and done.'"

Disfigured disco dancers

2013-10-22T19:33:00.000+01:00

Morrissey's Autobiographical FAC-related Musings #2:

[on the occasion of the opening night of FAC 51 the Hacienda]

"... disfigured disco dancers and goblinesque pork-pie chubbos with carroty-red curls smelling of pickled pig who claimed the Hacienda as their own public toilet."

Urmston's answer to nothing

2013-10-21T21:06:00.000+01:00

Morrissey's Autobiographical FAC-related Musings #1:

"'You must call your next album Steven,' says Manchester luvvie Tony Wilson, and I stare back at him - wondering if he had ever actually had a good idea in his life.

"Wilson repeatedly turns up at Morrissey concerts and then automatically lambasts me in print or on radio almost as if he enjoys his hatreds as much as he enjoys his joys. 'Let's face it,' he says on Australian radio, 'Morrissey really IS a horrible person.' Weeks later I am behind the wheel of my sky-blue Jag in Los Angeles, stalled at traffic lights. I spot whom I think to be Jerry Springer walking across the street in front of me (Miller Drive, should you care), but of course it is Urmston's answer to nothing, and Wilson bows his head towards me and offers a smile - as three-faced as he ever was."

And there's more where that came from!

Morrissey's 'Autobiography' is out now via Penguin Classics.

Barney's autobiography due autumn 2014

2013-06-15T21:22:00.000+01:00

The Bookseller has announced that Transworld has signed a deal to publish an autobiography from New Order lead singer Bernard Sumner in autumn 2014.

Bernard Sumner is quoted saying: "Joy Division and New Order have both left quite a legacy but up until now I've been happy to let the music speak for itself. Somehow it feels like the right time to give my personal perspective both on my own life story and the many bands I've been in."

Cabaret Voltaire #8385 Collected Works

2013-06-15T09:54:00.000+01:00

Limited edition deluxe 6CD, 2DVD & 4LP box set set for release in November 2013 via the Cabaret Voltaire shop.

Cabaret Voltaire #8385 Collected Works will include remastered versions of The Crackdown, Micro-Phonies, Drinking Gasoline, The Covenant, The Sword And The Arm Of The Lord and also feature B-sides, remixes, 2 live concerts, Gasoline In Your Eye and unreleased material by Cabaret Voltaire.

Meanwhile, a new book Assimilate: A Critical History of Industrial Music is available to pre-order and is the first serious discussion of industrial music and comes replete with a foreword by the Cabs' Stephen Mallinder, PhD.

The North (and almost everything in it)

2013-05-31T19:14:00.000+01:00

To mark the publication of his new book The North (And Almost Everything In It), Paul Morley will be reading from the work, discussing his ideas, life, and career with Dave Haslam, taking audience questions, and signing copies at Gorilla in Manchester on Friday 14 June at 7.30pm.

Plus, there's an afterparty in the bar with DJs Jason Boardman (Aficionado), Abigail Ward (MDMArchive) and Chris Hawkins (6Music).

Tickets priced 7.00 GBP available via Quay Tickets.

Joy Division - Their only tour abroad

2013-04-29T08:53:00.000+01:00

As work continues on the English/Dutch book project about Joy Division's only tour on foreign soil there will be a lecture / visual presentation at the Metropol in Hengelo, The Netherlands on 18 May 2013.

The 'Ian Curtis Memorial Night' will feature a lecture, a documentary, a film, DJ and a covers band.

For more info see metropol.nl [Dutch] or joydivisionbook.com [Dutch/English]

Unknown Pleasures - Inside Joy Division

2012-08-21T19:44:00.000+01:00

Peter Hook has announced a nationwide book signing and event tour to accompany the publication of his second book 'Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division' on 1 October 2012. The tour (with some dates featuring talks/Q&A) includes Manchester, London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Dublin.

In the book, Hooky will tell the story of Joy Division's friendships and fall-outs; their rehearsals and recording in the way that somewhere who was there can.

October book tour

Mon 1 - HMV, Manchester (Signing), 90/100 Market St, Manchester, M1 1PD (6pm)
Tue 2 - Foyles, Charing Cross (Talk, Q&A & Signing), 1st Floor café, 113-119 Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0EB (6:30pm)
Wed 3 - Fopp, Bristol (Signing), 27-29 College Green, Bristol, BS1 5TD (6pm)
Thu 4 - WH Smith, Birmingham (Signing), 29 Union St, Birmingham, B2 4LR (12:30pm)
Thu 4 - Waterstones, Liverpool (Talk, Signing & Q&A), 65-67 Bold St Liverpool L1 4EZ (7pm)
Fri 5 - Ilkley Literature Festival (Talk, Q&A & Signing), Kings Hall, Station Rd, Ilkley LS29 8HB (7:30pm)
Sat 6 - Morley Literature Festival (Talk, Q&A & Signing), Morley Town Hall, Queen St, Leeds, LS27 9BD (7:30pm)
Mon 8 - Easons, Dublin (Talk Q&A and Signing), 40 Lower O'Connell St, 1 Dublin, Ireland (7pm)
Tue 9 - Waterstones Glasgow (Signing), 153-157 Sauchiehall St, Glasgow (12:30pm)
Tue 9 - Waterstones Edinburgh (Talk Q&A & Signing), 128 Princes St, Edinburgh EH2 4AD (6:30pm)
Tue 16 - Off The Shelf Literature Festival, Sheffield (Talk, Q&A & Signing), University of Sheffield Student’s Union, Western Bank, Sheffield (7:30pm)
Wed 24 - Chester Literary Festival (Talk, Q&A & Signing), The Laugh Inn Station Rd, Chester CH1 3DR (7:30pm)

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Title: Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division
Author: Peter Hook
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publication date: 1 October 2012

For more info see Facebook

Unknown Pleasures in print and on tour

2012-07-29T21:19:00.000+01:00

Peter Hook's second book, 'Unknown Pleasures: Inside Joy Division' is set for publication in the UK by Simon & Schuster on 1 October 2012. The band's bassist will tell the story of the band's friendships and fall-outs; their rehearsals and recording in the way that somewhere who was there can.

Speaking about the book, Hooky said "It's very strange. Over the years Joy Division has become a huge part of music culture. A lot of people think they know what happened. But they don't. Anyone who's ever written a book or made a film about Joy Division, unless they were sat in that van or car with us, they don't know anything about it. Me, Barney, Steve, Ian, Rob, Twinny, Terry and Dave. Only us lot know what really happened..."

The book's cover art is based on Peter Saville's original classic black and white album cover.

Title: Unknown Pleasures - Inside Joy Division
Author: Peter Hook
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Publication date: 1 October, 2012
Cover price: 20.00 GBP
ISBN: 978-0-85720-215-4

Peter Hook and The Light go out on tour again in November during which they will play Unknown Pleasures in full.

November itinerary

Fri 16 - Kasbah, Coventry
Sat 17 – 53 Degrees, Preston
Sun 18 - Chimneys, Southend
Tue 20 – Phoenix Theatre, Exeter
Wed 21 – Waterfront, Norwich
Thu 22 – Wedgewood Rooms, Portsmouth
Sat 24 – Sugarmill, Stoke
Sun 25 – Guildhall, Gloucester
Mon 26 – 02 Academy, Leicester
Wed 28 – Concorde 2, Brighton
Thu 29 – Cockpit, Leeds
Fri 30 – Academy 2, Newcastle

You're Entitled To An Epinion

2012-02-08T08:22:00.000+00:00

David Nolan's book You're Entitled To An Opinion - The High Times and Many Lives of Tony Wilson, Factory Records and The Hacienda has just come out on Kindle for a bargain price.

New Order - From Heaven To Heaven

2011-10-19T18:28:00.000+01:00

As trailed back in March, and slightly later than expected, Dec Hickey's lavish photo book, From Heaven to Heaven New Order Live The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters will be published in January 2012.

The book, which is priced at £30, contains over 400 unpublished photos of the band and 200 plus images of rare memorabilia. There are Forewords by Peter Hook and Stephen Morris and the Introduction is by Moby.

The first 750 copies only, will 1) be hand numbered and signed by the author, 2) include a genuine unused ticket from New Order's 24 May, 1984 gig at Leicester Palais and 3) enter the buyer into a free draw for one of three A2 size Limited Edition prints. Two of the best photos from the book, plus another unpublished shot of the band, exclusive to this print, will each be produced on archive paper, signed by the photographer, in a numbered run of 20.

More info at www.fromheaventoheaven.com

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Title: From Heaven to Heaven: New Order Live - The Early Years (1981-1984) at Close Quarters
Author: Dec Hickey
Format: Hardback 198 full colour pages - 268mm x 325mm, landscape, art book-style format.

Shadowplayers paperback competition winner

2011-07-02T20:46:00.000+01:00

The winner of a copy of James Nice's Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records book in paperback is Sean Connors who, along with many others, correctly knew that Caesar out of The Wake was previously in Altered Images and was lucky enough to be first out of the Cerysmatic hat. Congratulations to Sean and thanks to everyone who entered.

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Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records
Format: paperback book
Number of pages: 560 pages
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
Publication date: 1 June 2011
ISBN-10: 1845136349
ISBN-13: 978-1845136345

Shadowplayers paperback competition

2011-06-15T20:27:00.000+01:00

To celebrate this month's publication of James Nice's rather excellent Shadowplayers book in paperback we are proud to present the factually-titled Shadowplayers Paperback Competition. Containing 560 pages, a shiny blue cover and the chronological story of Factory Records in immense detail. the new edition is well worth checking out if you don't already have a copy of the hardback (which is also still available).

Simply answer the following question to be in with a chance of winning:

Q: Which post punk pop band did Caesar play in before forming The Wake in 1980?

Usual Cerysmatic rules apply: 1 entry per person. Entries by email. Closing date 10pm 30 June 2011. Winner will be selected at random out of the Cerysmatic hat.

Thank you and good luck!

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Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records
Format: paperback book
Number of pages: 560 pages
Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd
Publication date: 1 June 2011
ISBN-10: 1845136349
ISBN-13: 978-1845136345

Shadowplayers - the paperback

2011-05-14T10:13:00.000+01:00

Shadowplayers: The Rise and Fall of Factory Records by James Nice is out in paperback (in blue cover) on 1 June 2011 according to Amazon.co.uk. The book was first published in hardback in (pink cover) May 2011 by Aurum Press.