Fact #158435
When:
Short story:
The Smiths play at the Quando Night in Manhattan Sound, Manchester, England, UK, Europe.
Full article:
Mick Middles (Northern correspondent, Sounds) : Manhattan Sound was an underground cellar, but more like an electro-disco than a rock gig. If you had a band and hundred or so fans, this was somewhere you could book on a Tuesday and play on a Wednesday, so it was a great place to see up and coming young bands.
Rick Stonell (promoter) : It was a gay club, with a maximum capacity of about 250-300 people, and we were trying to do a sort of bohemian thing. The strapline on the fliers was, “Just the place to be for a decadent shit like you.”
Andy Fisher (manager, Stockholm Monsters) : X Clothes, where Johnny Marr worked, was just around the corner, so he drank in there regularly anyway. One of the attractions of the place was that it showed American road movies and porn films, which were very popular. It wasn’t ideal as a rock venue. The bar was about three yards from where the band played.
Rick Stonell : I’d worked with Joe Moss and I was pally with Johnny Marr, and there was already starting to be a buzz about the Smiths, so I booked them to play the Quando Club night at the Manhattan where we showcased new bands every Tuesday. It was a £1 entrance fee, and they had equal billing with a longer-established band called Beech Red, but the interest was definitely all in The Smiths.
Joe Moss (manager, The Smiths) : The Manhattan was a warm-up for the Hacienda.
Johnny Marr (guitarist, The Smiths) : Our second gig really was rammed … and that was when all the Factory people turned up and we did a full set for the first time.
Andy Fisher : Johnny hated Factory at that time. He despised all the Nazi paraphernalia that went with it, hated Joy Division and all that lot.
Andy Rourke (bassist, The Smiths) : The place had no stage, just a square we were allocated on the dancefloor, and people were stood two feet away from us, starring at us. It was a bit off-putting really. I’m sure the sound was terrible but apparently it was a great gig. We didn’t have any monitors so it was a nightmare to play.
Andy Fisher : I was taking the money on the door that night, and while the Smiths were playing, there was porn films running in a side room adjacent to the stage with a big screen and comfy leather sofas, so there were quite a few people in there.
As soon as The Smiths went on, they looked different. Johnny Marr was like a rockabilly and Morrissey had the quiff. As they started, there was somebody trying to video it, with really bright lights, and the club had all these mirrored walls, so the lights were bouncing off everywhere. They were far too bright, shining straight into the band’s faces.
Joe Moss : I got them to turn it out ‘cos it was just ridiculous. So the video never came out properly ‘cos it was too dark. They’d have been able to clean up on that later otherwise. So I wasn’t liked too much. Except by The Smiths, of course.
Mike Joyce (drummer, The Smiths) : We’d only done one gig, but we’d tightened up so much. The idea of performance became such a natural thing … I was totally taken aback by it.
Andy Rourke : We did about eight songs. There were about 300 people there, which wasn’t bad for my first gig.
Mike Joyce : While we were playing Miserable Lie Morrissey put his hands in his pockets and started throwing confetti up in the air. He hadn’t mentioned anything about that, it was a great masterstroke. Even then he was looking for an interesting angle. Normally, if someone does that, they tell the rest of the band, but he didn’t mention it at all, so it was as interesting for us as it was for the audience.
Rick Stonell : There were a lot of people up from London, AAndR guys and other music industry people that Joe Moss had dragged up, because that’s what he was all about.
Mike Joyce : There was a mate of Joe Moss there, also called Joe I think. He had this saying, ‘Fucking Ozone!’, when something was tops. He had a really strong northern accent, and I remember him saying ‘You’re fucking ozone!’ a lot. He was a really animated bloke, very funny. He was there ranting and raving.
Tony Wilson (owner, Factory Records) : I was there with Richard Boon, and I was blown away, it was fantastic. As we were leaving Richard asked what I thought of Morrissey now and I said, 'I take it back completely, he's amazing'. He already had that arrogant thing, behaving like he was Little Richard.
Joe Moss : The reason James (Maker) only did one more gig was because of me. He just detracted from Morrissey. He didn’t really have a function. It was just well - why? This is a real fucking band. Was he a precursor of Bez? Well, the difference is Bez was universal. He was a rover, he covered every inch of the stage, whereas James was glued to Morrissey’s side. I was just protecting the band.
(Source : not known)
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Rick Stonell (promoter) : It was a gay club, with a maximum capacity of about 250-300 people, and we were trying to do a sort of bohemian thing. The strapline on the fliers was, “Just the place to be for a decadent shit like you.”
Andy Fisher (manager, Stockholm Monsters) : X Clothes, where Johnny Marr worked, was just around the corner, so he drank in there regularly anyway. One of the attractions of the place was that it showed American road movies and porn films, which were very popular. It wasn’t ideal as a rock venue. The bar was about three yards from where the band played.
Rick Stonell : I’d worked with Joe Moss and I was pally with Johnny Marr, and there was already starting to be a buzz about the Smiths, so I booked them to play the Quando Club night at the Manhattan where we showcased new bands every Tuesday. It was a £1 entrance fee, and they had equal billing with a longer-established band called Beech Red, but the interest was definitely all in The Smiths.
Joe Moss (manager, The Smiths) : The Manhattan was a warm-up for the Hacienda.
Johnny Marr (guitarist, The Smiths) : Our second gig really was rammed … and that was when all the Factory people turned up and we did a full set for the first time.
Andy Fisher : Johnny hated Factory at that time. He despised all the Nazi paraphernalia that went with it, hated Joy Division and all that lot.
Andy Rourke (bassist, The Smiths) : The place had no stage, just a square we were allocated on the dancefloor, and people were stood two feet away from us, starring at us. It was a bit off-putting really. I’m sure the sound was terrible but apparently it was a great gig. We didn’t have any monitors so it was a nightmare to play.
Andy Fisher : I was taking the money on the door that night, and while the Smiths were playing, there was porn films running in a side room adjacent to the stage with a big screen and comfy leather sofas, so there were quite a few people in there.
As soon as The Smiths went on, they looked different. Johnny Marr was like a rockabilly and Morrissey had the quiff. As they started, there was somebody trying to video it, with really bright lights, and the club had all these mirrored walls, so the lights were bouncing off everywhere. They were far too bright, shining straight into the band’s faces.
Joe Moss : I got them to turn it out ‘cos it was just ridiculous. So the video never came out properly ‘cos it was too dark. They’d have been able to clean up on that later otherwise. So I wasn’t liked too much. Except by The Smiths, of course.
Mike Joyce (drummer, The Smiths) : We’d only done one gig, but we’d tightened up so much. The idea of performance became such a natural thing … I was totally taken aback by it.
Andy Rourke : We did about eight songs. There were about 300 people there, which wasn’t bad for my first gig.
Mike Joyce : While we were playing Miserable Lie Morrissey put his hands in his pockets and started throwing confetti up in the air. He hadn’t mentioned anything about that, it was a great masterstroke. Even then he was looking for an interesting angle. Normally, if someone does that, they tell the rest of the band, but he didn’t mention it at all, so it was as interesting for us as it was for the audience.
Rick Stonell : There were a lot of people up from London, AAndR guys and other music industry people that Joe Moss had dragged up, because that’s what he was all about.
Mike Joyce : There was a mate of Joe Moss there, also called Joe I think. He had this saying, ‘Fucking Ozone!’, when something was tops. He had a really strong northern accent, and I remember him saying ‘You’re fucking ozone!’ a lot. He was a really animated bloke, very funny. He was there ranting and raving.
Tony Wilson (owner, Factory Records) : I was there with Richard Boon, and I was blown away, it was fantastic. As we were leaving Richard asked what I thought of Morrissey now and I said, 'I take it back completely, he's amazing'. He already had that arrogant thing, behaving like he was Little Richard.
Joe Moss : The reason James (Maker) only did one more gig was because of me. He just detracted from Morrissey. He didn’t really have a function. It was just well - why? This is a real fucking band. Was he a precursor of Bez? Well, the difference is Bez was universal. He was a rover, he covered every inch of the stage, whereas James was glued to Morrissey’s side. I was just protecting the band.
(Source : not known)