In this long-form interview, Debs looks back on her experiences at Pips Nightclub — one of Manchester’s most important and influential underground clubs of the 1970s and early 1980s.
For Debs, Pips was the first club she ever went to — and the one that shaped her musical taste, sense of identity, and connection to Manchester’s wider alternative scene. At a time when discovering music often meant listening alone in your bedroom, Pips offered something rare:
a shared space where music was played loud, late, and without compromise.
Inside Pips, you could hear David Bowie, punk, glam rock, early electronic music, and experimental sounds — all part of the same underground world.
Located beneath the streets near Manchester Cathedral, Pips felt like stepping into another reality. Debs describes descending the steps into a space filled with dry ice, mirrored stages, multiple rooms, and a crowd unlike anything seen above ground.
It was a club where Bowie fans, punks, art students, and future musicians mixed freely — often crossing paths with people they would later recognise as key figures in Manchester’s music history.
The conversation explores how Manchester’s scenes naturally overlapped. Punk gigs, Bowie fandom, and early post-punk all fed into the same nightlife ecosystem. Debs recalls seeing Joy Division in their earliest days as Warsaw, long before international recognition. These were not distant stars — they were people you saw regularly in clubs, record shops, and on the streets.
Fashion played a central role in the Pips experience. Debs talks about angular haircuts, bold makeup, pencil skirts, vintage clothing, men’s jackets worn with dresses, and outfits inspired by film, art, and album covers. Pips encouraged creativity and self-expression at a time when mainstream culture offered very few safe spaces to do so.
Importantly, Debs also reflects on the social reality of the time. Outside the club, Manchester could be hostile — particularly for people exploring gender expression or sexuality. Inside Pips, the atmosphere was open, inclusive, and welcoming. It became a refuge where people could belong, experiment, and gain confidence without fear.
The interview also connects Pips to later venues such as Rafters, Berlin, Legend, and The Haçienda, showing how the same community of clubbers, DJs, musicians, and creatives moved together as Manchester’s nightlife evolved. Debs discusses Pips reunions decades later, and how the spirit of the club continues to live on through music, friendships, and shared memory.
This is not just a nostalgic look back.
It’s a first-hand account of how an underground club helped shape Manchester’s alternative culture — and how, for many people, Pips was the place where they first discovered who they were.
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