Cerysmatic.Factory

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.

FAC 491 Urbis launch party people

2007-07-19T17:42:00.000+01:00

A diverse crowd of Hacienda regulars, Manchester musicians, Factory Records illuminati, friends and hangers on descended on Urbis last night to celebrate the launch of Hacienda 25: The Exhibition - FAC 491.

Rather appropriately as we waited outside some wag commented "it's just like the Hacienda itself - a large queue for no apparent reason".

Once inside and bolstered by a free drink courtesy of Stolichnaya (unfortunately it wasn't a typo on the invitation and it was only "a free drink" and not "free drinks") an energetic Peter Hook was DJing in the main space.

Gradually people filtered upstairs to the freshly-completed exhibition space itself. Spread out over several rooms and grouped both chronologically and thematically, it contained just about everything and anything from the history of the Hacienda.

Original artefacts began with the original '51' doors, Kevin Cummins's portrait of Tony Wilson, Hacienda 1 by Peter Saville and as such it evoked strong memories of stepping into the club itself.

A rather splendid Hacienda family tree by Elliott Eastwick charted the links between all the people who were ever linked to the club.

Films and videos of live performances, TV documentaries (including FAC 104) and original scratch videos by Claude Bessy and Swivel were available for your own viewing pleasure.

A whole section was devoted to the Visual Brand Signifiers of the Hacienda through the years. From original conceptual sketches for birthday posters to a brand new pair of FAC 51-Y3 trainers (via a bottle on Vin D'Usine) this was a particular highlight.

Downstairs the crowd spilled out to the popular smoking and drinking area to the sounds of Sasha and finally Graeme Park (who was introduced by Oliver Wilson who had just auctioned a pair of FAC 51-Y3s to a lucky lady for a cool grand).

[By the way, if you want to get your hands on a pair at the slightly-more-reasonable price of 345 quid then get yourself to the new flagship Y3 store in the Triangle, Manchester, on either Monday 23 or Monday 30 July. These are the only two days that the limited edition trainer is being sold.]

Proceedings came to end at a respectable midnight but continued into the wee small hours at One Central Street.

A non-exhaustive list of those in attendance: Ian Brown (sporting a pair of FAC51-Y3s), Pat Carroll, Pete Carroll, Andy Connell, Paul Cons, Terry Hall, Peter Hook, Karen Jackson, Trevor Johnson, Ben Kelly, Ang Matthews, Bruce Mitchell, moist, Damian Morgan, Martin Moscrop, Liz Page, Graeme Park, Suddi Raval, Lindsay Reade, Gonnie Rietveld, Matthew Robertson, Andy Robinson, Rowetta, Shaun Ryder (sporting a Y3 bomber jacket), Sasha, Peter Saville, Tim Sinclair, Ian Tilton, Oliver Wilson, Andrea Zapp.

Special Cerysmatic shout-outs to Andy Brydon, David Sultan, Iain Smedley (hope you caught your flight), Alex the Red and his mates, Rebecca, Damian Morgan, Suddi (I wanna see those pix!), the King's Arms, the Marble Arch and Tampopo, for pre-match entertainment, moist for beer, Jan Hargreaves, Liz Page & Andy Connell, Pete + Pat + Karen + Sam, Leroy Richardson and all at One Central Street for post-match entertainment, Colin (wish you coulda gone), Tim 'the greatest lover and photographer in the world' Sinclair & mates and Matt Robertson.

Factory Undone: Tiller Boys v The Factory Editions

2005-09-16T19:17:00.000+01:00

More in an occasional series on the FAC numbers that didn't make it. In these two cases, as far as can be determined at this stage, a FAC number was not, even notionally, allocated to the items.

i) TILLER BOYS: Big Noise from the Jungle (single)

A single intended/recorded (in January 1979) for Factory Records, later released on New Hormones in March 1980. More from the liner notes to the recent Eric Random release ('Subliminal') on LTM:

"...a teenage Random first recorded as part of The Tiller Boys, an experimental trio formed with Buzzcock Pete Shelley and drummer Francis Cookson. Often referenced, yet seldom heard, the group reflected shared Krautrock / Fripp and Eno avant-rock preferences and were a regular feature on Manc-centric post-punk bills in 1978/79, making their live debut supporting Joy Division at the Factory (Russell) Club on 9 June 1978, a gig immortalised on Peter Saville's iconic Fac 1 poster.

The Tiller Boys also supported Joy Division and Cabaret Voltaire at the Factory on 20 October, Gang of Four in York, and cut a single intended for Factory Records at Arrow Studio in January 1979, although these tracks - three slices of pounding percussion and Neu! - like guitar clangour - were destined not to appear on the new Manchester indie ..... New Hormones proved a bold and eclectic label. Its second vinyl release (ORG 3) came courtesy of The Tiller Boys, whose posthumous Factory extended play 7" (now titled Big Noise from the Jungle) was released in March 1980."

ii) THE FACTORY EDITIONS (Book[s])

This was to have been a "set of three books" as mentioned the NME 18 October 1980, which lists Factory's "autumn worksheet", including a number of the "usual suspects" (Joy Division 'Atmosphere' 12", A Certain Ratio 'Flight' 12", Crispy Ambulance 'Deaf' 10", 'A Factory Quartet', plus releases by John Dowie, The Names, Minny Pops, Section 25, JD 'Transmission' 12", New Order 'untitled single', ESG single [Factory press description: "PiL meets Motown on the wrong side of the Triborough Bridge!"] and the first Factory video) and then, tucked away at the very end of the very last line...

"... and a series of three books, the 'FACTORY EDITIONS'."

--

Thanks to OMNY. Discuss this topic on the Cerysmatic Factory Message Board.

The New Nightlife @ Design Museum

2005-07-19T07:33:00.000+01:00

Ongoing at The Design Museum in London is an exhibition called 'Designing Modern Life 1920s–2000s'. One element is 1980's: The New Nightlife and this features a small recreation of part of The Hacienda, as designed by Ben Kelly with graphics by Peter Saville posters and graphics.

The Ben Kelly Design website has more details and a photo gallery.

Referential

2004-06-30T22:46:00.000+01:00

Whilst ostensibly taking a Fac-break on holiday in New York City it was impossible to completely detune. On the condensed tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) the painting Ariadne, 1913 [Oil and graphite on canvas] by Giorgio de Chirico [official site in Italian] fell into view. Famously, Peter Saville borrowed one of de Chirico's works [The Evil Genius of a King] for the cover of Fac 103 Thieves Like Us. In his book, 'Designed by Peter Saville' he recalls, "Trevor (Key) and I had long wanted to do a metaphysical piece, and I decided Thieves Like Us would be the last piece of straight historical referentialism. 'It's called "Thieves Like Us", so let's just do it.'.

Another day, another museum: this time Frank Lloyd-Wright's 1950s masterpiece the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum. Towards the end of the 'Speaking With Hands' photography exhibition, there was a piece by Barbara Kruger who once designed a poster for The Perfect Kiss for New Order:

[from the Of Factory New York catalogue]
"The Perfect Kiss film poster, 1985
red, white & black
24 1/2" x 24 1/2"
Designed by Barbara Kruger"

Inevitably museums end in the shop and in the Guggenheim's there was a Lawrence Weiner book entitled 'Nach Alles / After All', which documents the exhibition of the same name at the Guggenheim in Berlin.

Thanks to OMNY for hospitality.

And you wondered why it is Fac 511...?

2004-05-07T12:01:00.000+01:00

And You Forgotten: A Memorial Event for Rob Gretton which will be held on 23 May 2004 at The Ritz, Manchester, was given the Factory catalogue number Fac 511 by Tony Wilson because Rob would have been 51 this year.

A number of posters for the event are now available from Colin at Vinyl Revival - contact him directly for more info. The posters (52" x 32" and [edit] A3 size) are designed by Peter Saville and Trevor Johnson and are £15 each for the large ones and a fiver for the small ones with proceeds going to the charity of the choice of Rob's wife Lesley.

All the king's horses...

2004-04-12T22:00:00.000+01:00

One more image added to the Peter Saville At Home collection (four out of eight ain't bad), this one is of the famous 'Two Situationist Cowboys'. Peter Saville's commentary goes as follows: "This is the first image used by Tony Wilson for the first Factory poster in early 1978 before I became involved in the project. I wasn't able to appreciate the philosophy at the time, but it seems almost biographical to me now." And the credits: "Image appropriated by Andre Bertrand. Speech bubble text appropriated from a novel called 'Tous les Chevaux du Roi' by Michele Bernstein".

Systems of Romance

2004-03-24T13:46:00.000+00:00

The Shareholders' Analysis continues with Fac 3: Second Factory poster: CV, JD, & TB's [Tiller Boys]. White on Black, simultaneous to Systems of Romance cover [?]; 250; October '79, all put up, One gig.

In this interview with Rick Poynor published in Eye 17/95, Peter Saville expands on the influences for Fac 3 including the 'Systems of Romance' reference:

[Rick Poynor] At what stage did you become aware of post-modernism as a cultural idea?

[Peter Saville] In 1978, while working on the second Factory poster. On a trip to London I picked up a book of Philip Johnson's proposals for the AT&T building in New York. On the cover was the broken pediment. It made me think that maybe I wasn't wrong in wanting to use Tschichoid's later work - that and a John Foxx album cover for Ultravox [Systems of Romance] with serif type on a black background. Within 12 months, neo-classicism and the influence of architectural post-modernism were everywhere. People in New York were buying columns to put in their apartments. My contribution was the graphic equivalent. It was always an emotive feeling and after a year or so I began to trust in my senses. I didn't need to wait for supportive signals and became brave enough to take a step myself, but nearly always informed by some historical reference.

It's Necessary

2004-02-18T17:25:00.000+00:00

Peter Saville's flag for the Necessary Group which is campaigning for political devolution in England's North West can be viewed at the official website (along with posters, desktops and other downloads) and on Aidan O'Rourke's excellent photography website.