Crispy Ambulance singer Alan Hempsall joins Manchester Scene Stories to talk about the band’s origins, Manchester’s late-1970s underground, the Musicians Collective and an unforgettable night performing with Joy Division.
Alan explains how Crispy Ambulance emerged from a group of school friends, supermarket jobs and a shared love of Gong, Hawkwind, prog rock and electric guitar experimentation. Before Crispy Ambulance, he briefly sang with a band involving Graham Massey, Graham Clark, Colin Seddon and Gary Madeley — until he was told, bluntly, that musicians were “born, not made”. Determined to prove otherwise, Alan formed his own band with Robert Davenport and revived Graham Massey’s suggested name: Crispy Ambulance.
We discuss the strange period after punk arrived, when Manchester was full of possibility but nobody quite knew what would happen next. Alan remembers seeing the Sex Pistols at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in 1976, while still listening to prog rock, and being part of a scene where dressing differently could make you the local freaks.
A crucial part of the story is the Manchester Musicians Collective. At meetings in the Sawyers Arms, Crispy Ambulance found themselves alongside Joy Division, The Fall, God’s Gift and the Vibrant Thigh. The Collective helped young bands move beyond youth-club gigs and onto city-centre stages such as Band on the Wall, creating an ecosystem where people swapped ideas, made contacts and opened doors for one another.
Alan looks back at the press, the comparisons to Joy Division and the sometimes cruel music writing of the era. He also talks about the practical advice Rob Gretton gave Crispy Ambulance: press a record, get it reviewed, put a telephone number on the sleeve and make sure John Peel hears it. The result was immediate interest, a Peel session and the beginning of the band’s wider story.
The conversation also includes Alan’s extraordinary account of standing in for Ian Curtis at the Derby Hall in Bury in 1980. With Ian unwell, Alan performed “Digital” and “Love Will Tear Us Apart” with Joy Division, while Section 25 and Simon Topping became part of a one-off, constantly changing line-up. The night ended in chaos, with glass thrown at the stage and a riot breaking out — but Alan also left with a lasting gift from Rob Gretton: a copy of the rare “Atmosphere” / “She’s Lost Control” single.
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