Cerysmatic.Factory

The Praxis XL Factory Records Anniversary badge

2019-11-26T07:00:00.000+00:00

Trevor and Trevor and Craig Johnson, who curated and designed the Praxis XL exhibition currently running at The Modernist Society in Manchester, have designed a special limited edition commemorative badge which is available in Plum, Pink and Red colourways.

Each badge comes on its own backing card and has a rubber butterfly fastening.

The badges are available to buy now priced £7.00 via the-modernist.org [->]

See also: Praxis XL - A Factory Anniversary Exhibition Review

True Faith in promotion

2017-06-07T08:21:00.002+01:00

Here we present the True Faith "leaf" promo badge/brooch (in gold and in silver editions) for special promotion of FAC 183 True Faith by New Order.

The promotional fun didn't stop there either for this release - there was also a poster and the True Faith Paperweight.

See also: Factory Records Badges and Factory Records posters.

The History Lesson - Stepping Out

2017-05-28T10:52:00.000+01:00

The full catalogue of Factory Records FAC numbers is loved by everyone for its patterns and idiosyncrasies. In 1979, the nascent label was planning the first real wave of releases following on from the FAC 2 sampler and various events at The Factory. This flyer, entitled "Stepping Out" provides more detail and whilst some is familiar there's a few curveballs indicating what might've been.

Notably it seems that "instrumental album" by The Durutti Column was once scheduled to be FAC 12 and The Distractions' first single was slated as FAC 14. These would eventually swap and get different titles ("Pillow Talk" was actually "Pillow Fight", the eventual FAC 12 b-side).

FAC 13 was also going to be a badge before turning into "Transmission", the first single by Joy Division. I assume that this was the same badge that came out as FAC 21.

Finally, FAC 15 was originally going to be a single by Elti-Fits but turned into the Leigh Festival/Zoo Meet Factory Halfway event held in Leigh.

Transcription

FAC 5 A CERTAIN RATIO "All Night Party" 7" 45rpm Out now
FAC 6 ORCHESTRAL MANOEUVRES "Electricity" 7" 45rpm Out now
FAC 9 FACTORY FLICK "No City Fun" 8' 16mm July
FAC 10 JOY DIVISION "Unknown Pleasures" 12" 33 1/3 rpm July
FAC 11 X-O-DUS "English Black Boys" 7" 45rpm To be mixed
FAC 12 THE DURUTTI COLUMN Instrumental album 12" 33 1/3 rpm August
FAC 13 BADGE Fac thirteen with pin July
FAC 14 THE DISTRACTIONS "Pillow Talk" 7" 45rpm August
FAC 15 ELTI-FITS "Thirty Miles" 7" 45rpm August

NEW COMMODITIES
EXCLUSIVELY FACTIONED FOR YOU
THEY ARE ALL YOU NEED;
THEY ARE IN THE SHOPS

Polite Postcards and Badges Competition Result

2013-05-18T21:37:00.000+01:00

The winner of the Polite Postcards & Badges sets competition is Adam Tate who correctly answered that the typeface used on the boxes used for the original Factory "hessian" cassette box series and the new Polite sets is Bembo.

He wins a Factory Records Postcard Set1978-82 contains 25 postcards documenting the early era of the label and the Factory Records Enamel Badges 2013 set which contains both black and red versions of a FAC 120 reproduction plus a new badge based on the FAC 47 anvil logo courtesy of Polite Cards and Factory Editions.

Both boxed sets are available now for 25.00 GBP each via Polite.

Well done to Adam (Polite will be in touch to arrange delivery) and thanks to everyone who entered the competition.

Polite Postcards & Badges sets competition

2013-04-29T22:09:00.000+01:00

Here's your chance to win two splendid Factory Records boxed sets of postcards and badges courtesy of those lovely people at Polite Cards and Factory Editions.

The Factory Records Postcard Set1978-82 contains 25 postcards documenting the early era of the label. This lovingly put together set was released late last year and was accompanied by 3 enamel badges which earlier this year were given the boxed set treatment too. Factory Records Enamel Badges 2013 contains both black and red versions of a FAC 120 reproduction plus a new badge based on the FAC 47 anvil logo.

Both boxed sets are styled on the classic Factory Records boxed cassette series in complementary grey tones and retail at 25.00 GBP each via Polite.

In order to win one of each boxed set, all you have to do is answer this simple question:

What is the typeface used on the boxes used for the original Factory "hessian" cassette box series and the new Polite sets?

Answers please by email to reach us no later than 22:00 GMT on Sunday 12 May 2013. Usual Cerysmatic Factory competition rules apply - only one entry per person and the winner will be pulled out the Cerysmatic hat shortly after the closing deadline.

Good luck!

Factory Records Enamel Badges 2013

2013-03-14T23:46:00.000+00:00

This slipped out whilst we weren't looking - it's a boxed set version of the three Factory badges issued by Polite / Factory Records in December 2012.

Presented in a boxed based on the classic boxed cassette series in a colour tone complementary to the Factory Records postcard set (also by Polite) this boxed contains three enamel badges and retails at GBP 25.00.

The first edition has sold out but pre-orders are being taken for when it comes back in stock at politecards.com.

Factory Records pin badges via Polite

2012-12-18T20:09:00.000+00:00

Three badges available to buy direct from Polite in collaboration with Factory Editions.

The re-edition of the FAC 120 badge in black/red colour variants is accompanied by a now-official badge based on the FAC 47 anvil logo (which was previously issued as a fan-created limited edition of 47 in 2008).

Polite states that a boxed set version of all 3 badges will be available in late January 2013, but meanwhile they are selling individually for 10.00 GBP each.

Visualised in bleak monochrome

2010-11-08T00:06:00.000+00:00

Joy Division is the long-awaited and lavishly hardbacked collection of photographs by Kevin Cummins published by Rizzoli. Whereas 2007's Juvenes (To Hell With Publishing) was clearly, by virtue of its two hundred pound plus price tag, an art book, Joy Division, priced at forty-five US Dollars is pitched at a wider audience.

Despite the lower price, no expense has seemingly been spared on the book construction or the design and layout by Farrow Design. The orange-on-white text is mighty stylish if just a tad difficult to read. At a hefty 208 pages with over 100 photos there is a good balance between the stunning portfolio of black and white photographs and the supporting material comprising a foreword by Jay McInerney, preface by Kevin Cummins and an extended conversation between Joy Division's Bernard Sumner and Cummins.

In the Foreword, Jay McInerney, the author of Bright Lights, Big City, recalls how he had Joy Division's Closer on heavy rotation and at high volume during the writing process. He notes that it provided him with "a far richer emotional palate" than the Sex Pistols (the band who famously were the catalyst for the formation of Joy Division). Furthermore, he asks us to consider the track titles: "Failure, Disorder, Isolation, The Eternal, Something Must Break, In a Lonely Place. Joy Division indeed. In those pre-Internet days, I imagined that the name was purely ironic." McInerney's shrewdest observation though is that Kevin Cummins' photos are there for those of us not lucky to have been "there".

At the beginning of the conversation with Bernard Sumner, Kevin Cummins confesses that he kinda knows the history of Joy Division but that he would like to hear it from Bernard. So even the most basic band interview question "How did the band come about?" is lent a new angle. Who would have thought that Bernard was a Santana fan but it turns out that an early performance of theirs was "one the most amazing performances I've ever seen"!? We also learn that Bernard gives the Campaign for the Ian Curtis Bridge the thumbs-up. But perhaps the most appropriate exchange goes: Cummins - "I didn't want to do rock 'n' roll pictures"; Bernard - "I don't think we did, interestingly."

Kevin Cummins most certainly was "there". He notes in his Preface that he didn't always take his camera along with him because he didn't always want to be working when he saw the band and he wanted to "enjoy his youth". Another important detail was that taking his camera and shooting photos necessitated remaining sober but being one of the audience didn't. Fair enough! We can also perhaps deduce from the memorabilia photos which act as a preface to the book proper (and which also include other images of access passes, artwork, badges, lyrics, NME, notebooks, a postcard, setlists and tickets) that the gigs Cummins attended but didn't photograph included February 1980 at the New Osbourne, Manchester, November 1978 at the Check Inn, Altrincham, December 1979 at Les Bains-Douche, Paris, and September 1978 at The Band on the Wall, Manchester.
As a novice photographer in his first year out of art school, Kevin Cummins had no money and had to pay for his own film and processing. This set of circumstances could have proved to be a hindrance for most photographers but Cummins believes that the constraints forced upon him were a blessing in disguise: "Without the restrictions posed by film, I doubt that the photos would achieved such iconic status."

The iconic photos of Joy Division by Kevin Cummins can roughly be broken down into three main categories: the NME-commissioned shoot in Hulme/Manchester on 6 January 1979, the ones in T.J. Davidson's rehearsal rooms and, lastly, the gigs.
There are 17 photos from the famous snowbound session on that freezing cold Saturday in January 1979 which only took place because Manchester City's match was postponed. Everyone remembers these photos for the group shot on the footbridge in Hulme and the one of Ian Curtis smoking a cigarette and looking directly into the lens. Those are included here but so are fifteen others shot before and after. The band wanted to pose in front of a curved building near Victoria Station (it looks eerily prescient of rounded corner of the building which would later house the Hacienda) whereas Kevin suggested the bridge shots as it was on the "road out of Manchester". The other shots of the group, such as the band waiting for a bus or hanging around outside Manchester Cathedral have not quite attained such iconic status but they are fascinating historical documents. When viewed with the assistance of Cummins's note that the band kept on playing around trying to make Ian laugh (woe betide the editor who would ever include a photo of Ian smiling though!) it makes you wonder how, with such limited resources, Cummins got the moody shots he and the band were after.

Cummins visited Joy Division at their T.J. Davidson's rehearsal rooms on numerous occasions but his shots of them there all come from one day in August 1979. The darkness and shadows (the black compared to the snowbound Hulme's white, notes Cummins) are the perfect setting in which to have captured the band in a key moment of their development. Ian is pictured alone in the foreground of the room which is empty apart from isolated pieces of equipment and debris strewn everywhere. Ian is in suitably contemplative mood. There are further shots, both informal and posed, of Ian plus others of Steve, Hooky and Bernard and the famous group shot which adorns the sleeve of the UK version of the Joy Division film. There are 21 shots in all and not a smile to be seen!

The gigs section comprises 13 July 1979 @ The Factory but also De Montford Hall, Liverpool University, 2 October 1979, Futurama, Queen's Hall, Leeds, 8 September 1979 and the fabulously-named Stuff The Superstars Special, The Mayflower Club, 28 July 1979, the Last Night at the Electric Circus, 2 October 1977 and the Leigh Open Air Pop Festival (aka the Leigh Rock Festival), 27 August 1979. My favourite of these shows Ian Curtis flanked by Bernard and Hooky wielding their guitars and it's just a great shot of a rock group.

There's just one colour shot. According to Kevin Cummins he only ever took six such shots and those were sneaked in on the end of a roll of film featuring Buzzcocks. It was just "pointless" (and also a waste of money) to do Joy Division in colour. As Hooky would later point out to Cummins: "I only visualise them in bleak monochrome".

After FAC 47

2009-08-04T17:22:00.000+01:00

Cerysmatic was intrigued last week to receive a small jiffy bag containing a small silver badge and a business card saying "(Almost) a Factory Records product. The badge is based on the FAC 47 anvil (first used on FACT 45 Always Now) logo.

But, hang on, I hear you say there WAS no FAC 47 badge. Quite right. Hence the "Almost" designation. This is in fact a limited edition of 47 badges created as an affectionate tribute. Some of you may have been lucky enough to buy one on eBay recently.

Buttoned up in Dublin

2009-03-27T20:38:00.000+00:00

A Certain Ratio play The Button Factory, Dublin, Republic of Ireland tomorrow night. This is the first of a few dates spread across March, April and May.

Doors open at 19:00 and new ACR badges will be on sale.

The rest of those ACR tour dates in full...

10 Apr - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium [Doors 20:00]
11 Apr - Motel Mozaïque Festival indoor, Rotterdam, The Netherlands [Doors 20:00]
27 May - Ninkasi, Lyon, France [Doors 20:00]
28 May - Leposteagalene, Marseille [Doors 20:00]
29 May - Primavera, Barcelona [Doors 20:00]

Cheers to Tim B.

1 Top Class Competition

2009-03-06T14:00:00.000+00:00

Cerysmatic Factory, in association with 1 Top Class Manager and the Manchester District Music Archive, brings you a chance to win a copy of 1 Top Class Manager: The Notebooks of Joy Division's manager 1978-1980 together with a special pack of goodies.

The full prize is:

- the book 1 Top Class Manager signed by Lesley Gilbert (with personal dedication if required)
- a unique A1 artwork print proof
- a full set of 1 Top Class Manager badges
- a limited edition postcard

All you have to do it send an email to info@1topclassmanager.co.uk with the subject "Rob Gretton competition". The closing deadline for entries is Friday 27 March 2009. At the close of the competition a winner will be picked out of the hat at random.

1 Top Class Manager is still available to buy direct from 1topclassmanager.co.uk priced 20.00 GBP + p&p. The book is a collection of Rob Gretton's working notebooks kept during his time as Joy Division's manager.
It condenses twenty notebooks into one volume, and also contains posters, letters, invoices, diaries and studio notes, dating from August 1978 to late 1980. It is a full-colour, 220-page softback with a foreword by Jon Savage.

Mojo's 80 From the Eighties

2007-07-11T13:31:00.000+01:00

The August 2007 issue of Mojo magazine contains an '80 From The Eighties' supplement detailing the decade's 80 best albums. Factory Records inclusions are Closer by Joy Division, Low-Life by New Order and Bummed by Happy Mondays.

There are also new interviews with Shaun Ryder and Johnny Marr. Oh, and a screen capture of Bernard Sumner dancing to Fine Time on Top of the Pops.

Finally, no Eighties nostalgia trip would be complete without some button badges. There are five, including one of Ian Curtis.

Peter Saville Birthday Party badges

2005-03-23T19:57:00.000+00:00

The Manchester Evening News reports that the organisers of new multi-venue club night Birthday Party have persuaded Peter Saville to design five (count 'em) badges. The next night is at the King's Arms in Salford on 9 April when none other than F4 Records supremo Tony Wilson will be DJing.

www.birthdaypartynight.co.uk

Kings Arms
11 Bloom St
Salford
Lancashire M3 6AN
Map

The F4 Records catalogue numbers

2005-03-18T15:51:00.000+00:00

How to follow the legendary system of Fac numbers used by Factory Communications, Factory Too and (albeit minimally) Factory Records Limited? That was the task facing F4 Records when launching late last year.

The first release, 'Switch / Ego' by RAW-T, was given the number R1 M15. And this is why:

'R' is the generic prefix for releases, so items will be numbered consecutively R1, R2, etc. The suffix M15 is an artist identifier which is derived from postcode associated with the artist in question. With RAW-T, it's M15 which covers part of the inner city including Hulme.

The first release by The Young Offenders Institute has been assigned the catalogue number R6 M40 with the M40 suffix relating to the Collyhurst area of Manchester from where the band hail.

At the moment there are no plans to assign catalogue numbers to other items such as the F4 badge and the digital releases from the F4 Download Shop but doing this retrospectively has not been ruled out.

--

Thanks to Tom @ F4 for info and OMNY for instigation.

The Factory catalogue parts 17 to 24

2004-10-29T13:45:00.000+01:00

In the ongoing occasional serialisation of the Factory Shareholder's Analysis brings us to the END OF YEAR '80 edition:

[Fac 17, promised at the end of the September 1979 analysis is mysteriously omitted]

FAC 18 Section 25/"Girl's Don't Count". Reissued early December in 12" version. Horrendous sleeve courtesy of musicians. Nice collage though. S25, "most underrated ...... in the country" ....re K.Hewick. S25 also FAC BEN and video; next project for them, an album, recording February. Single 12" 45 rpm

FAC 19 John Dowie/"hard to be an egg" this has taken a long time to get out, but it has been worth it. Factory's first major assault on Radio Two. Secret deely sleeve concept. Of note: Hannett/Hopkins cello effects plus, Easter single tactic. Out late Feb early March.7" 45 rpm

FAC 20 "Too young to know...too wild to care". The film has become a video.. has become a series of surrealistic sketches. Will change again. No date No time.

FAC 21 The badge; April '81. Enamel and chrome "F" as in "fractured. Small. Black or maroon with silver/cream. Possibly. Contact Better badges, Jolly, Portobello Road..... and ask him about bootlegs. He can be embarrassed.

FAC 22 A Certain Ratio/"SFlight". Fine. Out now. Don't you feel bad about not buying FAC 5 when you had chance. Label on 22 was wrong due to consistent mind-changing over just what was the single track side. The one with the Bonne engraving IS "Flight". 12" 45 rpm

FAC 23 Joy Division/"Love will tear us apart" Available in 7" or 12". Sound quality on double B-side much better on 12". Obviously.

FACT 24 A FACtory Quartet/The Durutti Column, Kevin Hewick, Blurt, the Royal Family and the Poor. Double album.. Bit late; sleeve delays, lots of embossing. Four very different approaches to the idea of saying something. Vini&Kevin may do joint 4-set gigs in New Year. Blurt doing something for FAC BEN next and the Royal Family may get into xxxxxxxxxx. O.K. 2@ 12" 33 rpm

Thanks to Sebfact for transcription.