Cerysmatic.Factory

Space Monkeys live at Deaf Institute, Manchester 14 Feb 2020

2019-11-18T06:30:00.000+00:00

Space Monkeys return to live action at the Deaf Institute in Manchester on 14 February 2020.

Don't forget that the new Space Monkeys album, Modern Actions, is released on 1 January 2020 via the Supercool label.

Tickets go on sale at 10:00 on Monday 18 November 2019.

More info: Facebook event

Fac 2.09 Walks on Water

2019-09-12T06:30:00.000+01:00

fac 2.09
walks on water
hopper and the space monkeys on the fitzcarraldo
vini reilly and khalique on the princess catherine

sunday 3rd november
the boat will leave the landing stage on water street at 6.50pm
if you're not on the boat
you're not on the boat

--

Unused tickets for Fac 2.09 Walks on Water a live event on 3 November 1995 with The Space Monkeys, Hopper, Vini Reilly and Khalique.

Space Monkeys live @ Jimmy’s, Liverpool 1 Nov 2019

2019-09-07T06:30:00.000+01:00

Space Monkeys have announced a special one-off gig at Jimmy's in Liverpool on Friday 1 November 2019. This will be their first appearance in the city for 20 years.

Buy Tickets

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Jimmy's
130 Bold St
Liverpool L1 4JA

18+ show
19:30 - 22:30

Space Monkeys - 'Modern Actions' out 1 Jan 2020

2019-09-02T07:30:00.000+01:00

The new Space Monkeys album 'Modern Actions' will be released on 1 January 2020 on the band's own independent label Supercool distributed through Townsend Music.

This follows a lengthy saga during which the band crowdfunded the album's production via Pledge Music only to see that company fold and eventually go bankrupt sadly leaver many backers' money in limbo. Space Monkeys' message is anybody who ordered through Pledge Music will receive a signed CD copy and a Digital Download in advance of the release date as a thank you and at no extra cost. They will try to fulfil all other orders as soon as possible. If you can get a refund from your credit card company or bank now that Pledge Music has gone bankrupt please try to do so and re-order through TM Stores. Otherwise the band has to cover the full cost as Pledge Music did not pay us the money that you paid them.

As a thank you to anybody who pre-orders 'Modern Actions' through TM Stores you will instantly receive a free download of an exclusive new track 'Give Me Some Space' which will not be available anywhere else.

Merchandise is also available through the Space Monkeys TM Store which will be delivered straight away.

"Big love and thank you to everyone who has supported us so far on this journey. We Are Together."

Tracklisting

1. Modern Actions
2. We Are Together
3. Black Mirror
4. Soft Machine
5. Born To Ride
6. Yesterday's Rain
7. Wishing On A Daydream
8. Summer Thyme
9. Sunshine Blues
10. Red Flag
11. Remedy
12. Submarine
13. The Outsiders
14. Shadows Of The Sun

The album title 'Modern Actions' was inspired by a quote from Tony Wilson when asked about music and culture in Manchester.

"The industrial shapes, the angular lines, the steel, is and can be beautiful. It's beautiful outside and it's beautiful inside and I think Manchester has a sense of feeling, the great large vocabulary of modern dress and modern actions and the music is the music of the moment. And it exists here." - Anthony H Wilson

Album cover designed by Richard McNevin-Duff

Shiiine On Factory Allstars Update

2017-09-08T17:00:00.000+01:00

A quick update on the Shiiine On Weekender which takes place at the Butlin's Minehead Arena from 10-13 November. As previously announced, there are plenty of ex-FAC bands involved including co-headliners Happy Mondays plus Peter Hook & The Light, A Certain Ratio, Space Monkeys, The Wendys, Sons of the Descent (featuring Ian White of The Wendys) and Time For Action (featuring Dermo ex-Northside who also has a DJ slot) and DJ Bobby Langley.

Plus there's a screening / Q&A of the Do You Own The Dancefloor? documentary film.

Tickets are available now via www.shiiineonweekender.com and there's currently a discount promo code offer.

From Manchester With Love

2017-06-25T09:00:00.000+01:00

Following the tragic bombing on 22 May 2017, Manchester's music community bring you 'Manchester With Love', a 226-track charity compilation from all parts of the music spectrum.

"The city came together in the hours, days and weeks after attack at the Manchester Arena and this compilation shows the city's music community coming together. Previously unreleased tracks from 808 State and A Certain Ratio line up against new music from Anz and Finn, The Buzzcocks line up next to Levelz, showing Manchester's diversity through music. Available to buy for a limited time."

Highlights for FAC fans include:

A Certain Ratio - Nostromo A Go Go (Original Soundstation Demo)
Space Monkeys - Only The Good Die Young

From Manchester With Love is available to buy now via Boomkat.

All proceeds will be donated to the Red Cross We Love Manchester Emergency Fund.

Shiiine On Factory All-Stars

2017-05-16T08:00:00.000+01:00

This year's Shiiine On Weekender at the Butlin's Minehead Arena from 10-13 November is shaping up to be a quite a bit of a FAC fest what with Happy Mondays being one of the three headliners and Peter Hook & The Light, A Certain Ratio, Space Monkeys, The Wendys and Time For Action. Plus there's a screening / Q&A of the Do You Own The Dancefloor? documentary film.

Tickets priced from 219 GBP (earlybird) are available now via www.shiiineonweekender.com.

Oui Are The Supercool

2017-05-15T07:00:00.000+01:00

Space Monkeys play live at L'Aéronef, in Lille, France on Saturday 10 June.

Tickets are priced 5 Euro (7 on the door) and are available direct from aeronef.fr.

Follow Space Monkeys on Facebook and Twitter for more info including on other gigs later in the year including the Shiiine On Weekender (with The Wendys).

Space Monkeys Summer of Love 2015

2015-02-28T12:43:00.000+00:00

Space Monkeys will kick off the summer in style with their 'One Day Pop Up Music Festival' at The Hopwood Arms in Middleton on Saturday 4 July 2015.

There'll be a main outdoor stage, special guests, live DJs, food, late bar and much more.

The Hopwood Arms
Middleton
Manchester M24 2RA

Strictly limited availability tickets priced 10.00 GBP (6.00 U16) plus booking fee are available now via Skiddle.

More info via Space Monkeys Facebook (Official)

"Sunshine and love. It's gonna be a good day for the dreamers."

The Daddy Of Them All - now on iTunes UK

2014-09-13T18:49:00.000+01:00

The classic debut album by Space Monkeys, originally released on Factory Too and featuring Acid House Killed Rock and Roll, Blowing Down the Stylus and Sugarcane plus 8 special bonus tracks, is finally available to download via iTunes UK.

Tracklisting

Acid House Killed Rock and Roll
Blowing Down the Stylus
Sugarcane
Inside Your Soul
Ready For the Rampage
Dear Dhinus
Cream Judge and the Clown
Smile America
Let It Shine
We Are the Supercool
Sweetest Dream
March of the Scarecrow
Awaiting Mr Crow
Keep On Tripping On
Sitting On A Cloud
Cream Judge & The Clown
King Monkey
Fantasy Island
Crash and Burn
Pin Up Boy
Obeying the Master

Space Monkeys Escape from the 20th Century

2013-12-12T21:44:00.000+00:00

A lost Factory Record is out now after 15 years in the attic. Escape from the 20th Century is the second album by Space Monkeys which was never released.

Available now via iTunes.

Tracklisting

Brave New World
Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?
Dark Star
The Great Space Race
Maniac
California
Space Invaders
Subterfuge
Speeding In the Chillout Room
Sound of Music
All the March Hares
Ulysses
The Ark

Year of the Snake album launch party

2013-08-25T20:12:00.000+01:00

Friday 18 October
Ruby Lounge
Manchester

Giant Star
+ Special Guests

Year of the Snake
Album Launch Party

Tickets available now from seetickets.com, ticketline.co.uk and Piccadilly Records 0161 832 1111

Escape From The 20th Century

2013-08-01T09:12:00.000+01:00

Limited edition Space Monkeys release - 'Escape From The 20th Century' announced by Richard McNevin-Duff on Twitter replete with ZX Spectrum graphics.

From Space Monkeys Official Facebook: "The previously unreleased second Space Monkeys album is finally available late 2013 on iTunes and 500 limited edition numbered vinyl. Recorded in 1998:99 between Manchester and New York. Produced by Prince Paul and friends. Share the love."

In The Year of The Snake

2013-05-25T20:37:00.000+01:00

Giant Star is the new band featuring Richard McNevin-Duff (ex-Space Monkeys) on vocals plus John Whittaker (Guitars and Electronics) and James Ritchie (Keyboards, Beats) and vocal contributions from Denise Johnson (A Certain Ratio, Primal Scream) and others.

Their debut album, The Year of the Snake is due out this summer. Meanwhile more info is available on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out their Soundcloud streams...

Route M62

2009-06-23T08:00:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday 23 September 2009 two blue plaques will be unveiled in the Borough of Rochdale to commemorate and recognise two uniquely important recording venues/music buildings that influenced rock and pop music locally, nationally and internationally.

From 1974-1990 some of the most influential and celebrated recording artists of the era recorded or bought equipment at Kenion St in Rochdale (Tractor Music/Cargo Studios, then later Suite 16) and Tractor Sound Studios in Heywood. These include Joy Division, New Order, Inspiral Carpets, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Chameleons, The Charlatans, The Fall, The Mock Turtles, The Teardrop Explodes and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.

Less famous, but no less influential local bands such as John Peel's 70s favourites Tractor also recorded in the studios, and all were intrinsically linked to the local and regional live music scene and to a world-wide audience. Technicians, engineers, managers, roadies, journalists and fans of note also passed through the doors of Tractor Music, Tractor Sound Studios, Cargo Studios and Suite 16 Studios. Equipment for the Haçienda sound system and Peter Hook's Joy Division and New Order bass set-ups were designed and built in that little building in Rochdale. He still uses the equipment today.

The event on the 23rd will consist of the two unveilings: the first in Heywood at Tractor Sound Studios, Dawson St / Market St (a studio financed by John Peel), followed by a music exhibition at Heywood Library featuring the pop music history of Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale, then on to Cargo / Suite16 / Tractor Music in Rochdale. Guests will travel between the two towns and studios, finally heading to the Backdoor Music Project for a reception and live performance from bands - including young musicians from the town. A number of high profile guests from the music industry, many of whom are linked directly to the studios' past, have already confirmed their attendance. The guests will also include journalists that will be in Rochdale to cover the story. Plans are being made to improve the immediate environment (planter boxes and general tidy up of the area) around the studios and a large outdoor mobile video screen will be playing footage of the studios and the bands that recorded within.
During the reception at the Backdoor project there will be an opportunity for young local musicians involved in the project to meet guests from the music industry, promote the Backdoor project and perform to agents, managers and the national media.

Most of the unique musical heritage of the borough may come as a surprise to local people and indeed to the local authorities. Tractor Music, Cargo / Suite 16 and the Deeply Vale Festivals attracted attention from far and wide and hugely influenced the now world famous Manchester music scene. Factory Records was intrinsically linked to the Cargo/Suite16 studio and both studios were supported and aired by John Peel on Radio 1. The studio was used for location shots during the filming of the movie 24 Hour Party People.

The obvious links between what is happening in the borough today and this rich vein of heritage are already being drawn together. The Back Door Music Project has submitted a bid to Heritage Lottery Fund for £25,000 for their young people to undertake a year long research project into the musical heritage of the borough. The Blue Plaque project has been the inspiration and start for the young people and it is this initial investment that will make the application extremely favourable and attractive to the HLF.

This will produce an exhibition at Heywood Library and Touchstones; music workshops for young people; activities and training for those taking part; an oral history project recording memories and stories of the time and some high profile public events in the town centre. The project will also produce a musical heritage trail around the borough that will encourage people to visit and share in the borough’s unique cultural heritage. In terms of project beneficiaries the HLF project (working title "Rockin’ Roots") will engage up to 25 young people in directly running the project, some 50 or so members of the community involved as interviewees, volunteers and workers and ultimately around 250 different young people in activities, workshops and performances. The final number of beneficiaries is hard to estimate as it will be the sum total of website users, visitors to tourist information, Rochdale residents and musical tourists who explore, experience and learn about the fantastic musical heritage Rochdale Borough has to offer.

The exhibition at Heywood Library, commencing 1 September 2009 which is currently being researched by Chris Hewitt, will cover the history of Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale pop music - including the history of The Seven Stars as a 60s and 70s live music venue; Alan Duffy and the now defunct Hopwood based label Imaginary Records (that even received an application letter from an unknown Kurt Cobain of Nirvana), Tractor Sound Studios Heywood, Deeply Vale, Machine Gun Feedback /The Space Monkeys, and the history of Wigwam - the church youth club / music venue that developed into local music employer and international sound specialists company Wigwam Acoustics. The exhibition will also cover lots of other Heywood and Rochdale pop music connections. Lots of Joy Division and Martin Hannett related items will also feature in the exhibition.

The Wendys for The Prids

2008-11-12T14:15:00.000+00:00

Ian White out of The Wendys touches in with Cerysmatic for a bit of news: "We have just recorded a cover of a song by The Prids. It's for a benefit album for the band who were in an accident on tour recently. We have been in contact with them for some time and just thought it would be a good excuse to force ourselves out of inactivity. On the bright side it looks like we can work while geographically separated."

Thanks to Ian and best wishes to The Prids for a speedy recovery.

Spookily, following this news Cerysmatic unearthed this story about the Space Monkeys being involved in a similar accident about 10 years ago:

"Space Monkeys miraculously escaped with minor injuries after being in a horrific accident in which their van overturned and skidded along the motorway for over a quarter of a mile. The Manchester-based band were on their way back home after appearing at the Dour Festival in Belgium when a tyre blew out, and - in the words of bassist Dominic Morrison - 'the bus tipped over, the window smashed and I was dragged along the road. Sparks were flying through the bus and we seemed to slide along forever'.

"Morrison, guitarist Neil Walsh and sound engineer Trevor Brown were all taken to hospital and treated for cuts, bruises and shock, but all have now been discharged."

- From Melody Maker, 25 July 1998

Tony Wilson interview in the NME

2005-02-19T17:22:00.000+00:00

There's a highly informative and amusing interview with Tony Wilson in the NME of 12 February. He explains how 30 grand is enough to break a band (10 for recording, 10 for marketing and 10 for manufacturing) and that if you spend 300 grand on a Space Monkeys video directed by David LaChappelle it's gonna end in tears whereas both RAW-T vids cost 800 quid. Tony also elaborates on his 13-year-cycle theory and why it didn't quite deliver in 2002. Oh, and yes, he has a dog too.

Thanks to OMNY.

Archived

2004-06-13T15:23:00.000+01:00

Due to popular request here is a link to the old Durutti Column page on the Fac 2.07 Factory website courtesy of our friends at the Wayback Machine. The page includes info on the (aborted) launched of the Kiss of Def single, the Sex and Death CD-ROM and "some small files to spruce up your desktop" including short .wav sound samples of Vini's guitar.

You may say "hey, what about Space Monkeys and Hopper and the Sixths!?", in which case here's a link to the generic Wayback page containing all the archived versions of the whole site. This contains (at the moment) the various updated versions from Dec 96 to July 97.

Thanks to Bruce (not THE Bruce) for inspiration.

Douches bags

2003-11-18T17:01:00.000+00:00

The new Joy Division limited box set on Bertus which was lined up to be released this week has been pulled.

The black box contains 3 live cds (Preston, Les Bains Douches and Paradiso), a reproduction poster and a t-shirt and would have sold for around 40 GBP. The first two discs are previously-released live recordings of classic gigs packaged in Peter Saville artwork.

However, it seems that the third disc, which actually includes three tracks included as bonuses on the Les Bains Douches ('Passover', 'New Dawn Fades' and 'Atrocity Exhibition'), has not been officially licensed for release, doesn't have Saville artwork and is already available as a bootleg that most hardcore Joy Division fans will have anyway.

A note on catalogue numbers. The first two discs were allocated official Factory Too catalogue numbers (Facd 2.60 and Facd 2.61) despite being unofficial releases on the NMC label. The new third disc has been allocated the number Facd 2.63. Confusingly, on Amazon.co.uk where the box set is listed for sale, the label credit for all these live albums is listed as 'Factory'(!) The obvious number to have allocated to the box set would be Facd 2.62 as this remains vacant. Facd 2.63 was previously used for the Space Monkeys' March of the Scarecrows cd single.

That's not to say that Factory never allocated duplicate catalogue numbers in the good old days. Indeed it happened many a time but that's another story.

Space Monkeys in Hollywood

2003-10-09T21:33:00.000+01:00

Factory Too, in an attempt to crack the US market, released a "US Remix" of the Space Monkeys' classic Sugar Cane (FACDR 2.53). This features the US Remix itself, courtesy of Patrick McCarthy at Record One, a couple of extra tracks plus the phenomenally-titled Sugar Cane "The Mark 1 (And Only) Reconstruction".

As an aside, I believe I am correct in saying that the Space Monkeys are completely different from Space Monkeyz (sometimes also seen as Space Monkeys) who remixed the Gorillaz [Flash required] album under the title Laika Come Home. If anyone knows otherwise, please let me know...