Following on from our Guide to Pontefract a few weeks back, we sent Jack Winn to Wakefield to take a look at the local music scene of what the Performing Rights Society describe as the 'third most musicl city in the UK'
Wakefield
Manic Street Preachers started a band because they had nothing else to do. Joy Division, a very similar story. There’s a huge number of bands in Wakefield. Almost everyone I know has a hand in our music scene, either being in a band, promoting gigs, starting labels, recording bands, usually a combination of these. And every band is completely incestual, it’s rare to find someone with their hand in only one project. And an inevitability of such a healthy, self-assured and prolific scene, is that some of the bands are really, really fucking good.
The example I think of immediately are The Spills, lumped by lazy music journalists as ‘grunge rock’ or whatever (I’m looking at you, Leeds Music Scene) but they’ve written some amazing pop songs, as well as some songs that catch you completely off guard and make you trawl through every mistake you’ve made. A band I’ve listened to a lot recently are called Nosferatu D2, who have a line that says ‘everybody has a song inside them that can make my heart break’. The Spills’ is ‘A Botched Goodbye’, which I don’t think they’ve recorded yet. The Compression’s is ‘Newsprint’, a song hidden away on a CD that comes with their debut 7” single, with no mention of it on the sleeve. Lapels’ was ‘Fine Black Ashes’, which they never released, and only ever demoed. The glaring fact being that every band in Wakefield has found that song.
What lets us down is our PR. I make extra effort to get out of playing the immediate surrounding area, play to new people. We have no way in, no leg up. Our press budget is spent on alcohol. We’re sitting on some amazing music that so few people will ever hear. Which in a way is wonderful, but another kind of heartbreaking. Some of my favourite music has been written by my friends, to the point where it becomes embarrassing how into them I am. But this has been created because our city, which I still love to pieces, is a shithole.
Wakefield won’t be alone in this. There’s so much music to find if you know your stuff, find the gig promoters that give a fuck about the music and not ticket sales, go and watch some bands. They’ll always be shit to sieve through, but once you find something all the effort pays off. Makes you look cool in front of your friends too, all this awesome underground music you’re into. Look in the right places in a shit city, and you’ll find something amazing. It’s probably not going to find you.
Wakefield
For a place as inconsequential as Wakefield, it is a milestone in our social standing that we have been in the news twice recently. The first being that, according to the Performing Rights Society, we are the third most musical city in the UK. The second being that, according to Travelodge, we are the second least attractive city to visit, as we are ‘dull and depressing’. Both accolades, we are incredibly proud of, but I believe these things are linked.
Manic Street Preachers started a band because they had nothing else to do. Joy Division, a very similar story. There’s a huge number of bands in Wakefield. Almost everyone I know has a hand in our music scene, either being in a band, promoting gigs, starting labels, recording bands, usually a combination of these. And every band is completely incestual, it’s rare to find someone with their hand in only one project. And an inevitability of such a healthy, self-assured and prolific scene, is that some of the bands are really, really fucking good.
The example I think of immediately are The Spills, lumped by lazy music journalists as ‘grunge rock’ or whatever (I’m looking at you, Leeds Music Scene) but they’ve written some amazing pop songs, as well as some songs that catch you completely off guard and make you trawl through every mistake you’ve made. A band I’ve listened to a lot recently are called Nosferatu D2, who have a line that says ‘everybody has a song inside them that can make my heart break’. The Spills’ is ‘A Botched Goodbye’, which I don’t think they’ve recorded yet. The Compression’s is ‘Newsprint’, a song hidden away on a CD that comes with their debut 7” single, with no mention of it on the sleeve. Lapels’ was ‘Fine Black Ashes’, which they never released, and only ever demoed. The glaring fact being that every band in Wakefield has found that song.
What lets us down is our PR. I make extra effort to get out of playing the immediate surrounding area, play to new people. We have no way in, no leg up. Our press budget is spent on alcohol. We’re sitting on some amazing music that so few people will ever hear. Which in a way is wonderful, but another kind of heartbreaking. Some of my favourite music has been written by my friends, to the point where it becomes embarrassing how into them I am. But this has been created because our city, which I still love to pieces, is a shithole.
Wakefield won’t be alone in this. There’s so much music to find if you know your stuff, find the gig promoters that give a fuck about the music and not ticket sales, go and watch some bands. They’ll always be shit to sieve through, but once you find something all the effort pays off. Makes you look cool in front of your friends too, all this awesome underground music you’re into. Look in the right places in a shit city, and you’ll find something amazing. It’s probably not going to find you.
WORDS BY JACK WINN, PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDY SUNLEY
3 comments
As a Wakefielder, I was confused at the PRS' accolade, as the Wakefield music scene seems a bit dull to say the least - the only decent bastion of live music in the city centre is the Escobar. The Cribs are Wakefield's proudest sons but haven't played a date here for years, and recently there are no other bands reaching recognition outside 'the scene'. The independence of the Wakefield scene is to be admired, but as a city we should be reaching for a widespread cultural independence, instead of just being a 'town near Leeds'.
There's also The Hop, though my favourite promoter doesn't put gigs on there anymore, and a new place called Bodega, who do free gigs every Monday and get some really good lineups. Philophobia do launches at Inns Of Court too, which are generally amazing. I agree about no bands breaking out though. All in time, hopefully.
Post a Comment