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Created 19th March 2015 by Abigail

Exhibition

The Roadhouse closes its doors

This is an online exhibition dedicated to the Roadhouse, Manchester. You can contribute by adding your own scans, photos and memories to the main MDMArchive website. I will then add them to this exhibition.

(Article below taken from Manchester Evening News 19th March 2015)

The Northern Quarter venue, on Newton Street, has been hosting live music for 22 years, but has announced it will hold its final show on May 31st.

The basement club on Newton Street, Manchester, which was opened 22 years ago by John McBeath as a blues club, has hosted gigs by Coldplay, Fleet Foxes, The Kills, and The White Stripes.

It was the first place that Manchester band Elbow played live after they graduated from Roadhouse bar men to rock stars. The group have regularly returned to the venue, most recently for a charity show in aid of War Child.

Kate Mountain, who bought the club 16 years ago with business partner Steve Lloyd and is also co-owner of Aumbry restaurant with Mary-Ellen McTague, said she is pleased The Roadhouse was able to remain a place where people got their start on the circuit throughout its history.

She said: “The Roadhouse has championed thousands of local musicians who dreamed of rock and roll stardom.

“It was a commitment we have always taken seriously, offering a stage and an opportunity to local bands from the first week we opened the doors and will do so until the very last.”

he venue will host its final show on May 31 before closing for good.

Kate confirmed that the team are now working on programming some “memorable send off gigs and club nights throughout May”. Details will be announced on the venue’s website at theroadhouselive.co.uk.

The Roadhouse has been a landmark venue for bands and gig goers alike, and has also been a cornerstone of Manchester's clubbing circuit.
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Distractions
The Roadhouse
Photograph, 1995
Original uploader writes:

In 1995 Mike Finney and Steve Perrin briefly joined forces once again under The Distractions' banner. Mike takes up the story: "In 1995, Steve and me got together with Nick Garside (Manc producer), on bass, Bernard Van Den Berg (The Distractions after Alec Sidebottom left, then Secret Seven) on drums, Kevin Durkin (ex-Direct Hits, who we knew from TJM records at the beginning, and Escape Committee) on guitar (bass on Good Girls Don't Get To Paris) and played half a dozen gigs in and around Manchester and Liverpool."

"All the songs from the 1995 demos (
www.thedistractions.co.uk...) were in the set, with many other new songs, but only Still It Doesn't Ring and It Doesn't Bother Me from the old stuff. We were tempted to do Looking For A Ghost for an encore, but settled for Valerie and a few Lou Reed songs, which is in keeping with what we would have done originally. Good Girls Don't Get To Paris was written in 1979, but unrecorded until 1995 at Chiswick Reach (Joe Meek's Studio where Telstar and My Generation were recorded). The other four tunes were recorded at Manchester’s Out of the Blue Studio in 1995" (the original 'Madchester' studio, owned by Nick Garside).

Photo by Mark David Cooper.