A MANCHESTER COLLECTION (Bands of The Manchester Musicians Collective [OBJ 003] - Object Records).

THE COLLECTIVE
As the name suggests, the Manchester Musicians Collective (MMC) was a disparate band of groups and musicians; gigs were based around the legendary 'Band On The Wall' venue on Swan St., Manchester.

The initial meetings were held at the North West Arts Centre on King Street, Manchester, run in the main by Louise Alderman. Louise also played in 'Property of' and 'Manchester Mekon.'The moto for the collective was "Keeping Control."

There was a lot of cross-pollenation with individuals being members of more than one band and this breadth of styles is well showcased on this seminal compilation "A Manchester Collection" released in 1979.

OBJECT RECORDS.
Object Records grew more or less directly out of the Manchester Musicians' Collective, which initially included Dick Witts [Passage], classical and electronic composers (respectively) Simon Holt and Trevor Wishart, and Tony Friel, whose band, The Fall, had their first gig at a 'Collective meeting.

Contact, then, was a duo of Object label-mates Friel [Fall, Passage, Teardrops] and Duncan Prestbury [Steve Miro/Eyes, Spherical Objects, Future Primitives, Warriors] and Louise Alderman.

INTERESTING FACTS
Anthony Tabak, the drummer from Property Of... was, briefly, a member of Warsaw (Joy Division) but left just before the demo recordings of An Ideal For Living.
Click HERE for a great Joy Division reference.

Both Joy Division and The Fall were briefly involved with the MMC.
Here is an extract from 'Joy Division to New Order' - The true story of Anthony H Wilson and Factory Records by Mick Middles, (page 83) "Mick Hucknell's Frantic Elevators could often be found, noisily employing either the stage or the front row, as could Burnley's hilarious Not Sensibles, the dull, hippyish Manchester Mekon, the Buzzcockian Fast Cars, Blackburn's answer to Devo, IQ Zero, and Joy Division."

John Bisset guitarist / vocals in "Grow-up" has gone on to form a career as a musician / artist

Another member band, Frantic Elevators, didn't appear on this album but featured Mick Hucknell on vocals.

Kevin Eden, (gtr/vcls) with Slight Seconds, wrote the official biography of Wire.

Mick Duffy from IQ Zero went on to be a Journalist at the Manchester Evening News, & several music papers.

MMC gigs were both regular and cheap and always had at least a couple of the bands on.

Click here to see the New Musical Express (NME) review of "A Manchester Collection"

The album reached no.6 in the "Sounds" alternative album chart.

FAST CARS TRIVIA
Taken from the NME: "Fast Cars with Why? and What can I do, are less Buzzcocks fixated than the group name and song titles suggest; healthy new pop."

Kevin Cummins who took the photo used on the cover also did a shoot of us in Moss side in 1979.

The Mediators drummer Phil Rathbone joined "The Two Tone Pinks" when Pete Bates left to join Fast Cars.

Steve Brotherdale was a drummer with Warsaw / Joy Division before joining V2 and then Fast Cars.

Several members of Steve Murray's first band, The Sirens, went on to be members of The Fall (Marc Riley, Craig Scanlon, Steve Hanley).

Steve was member no. 166 in the collective - see his membership card at the top of this page !!!

Dick Witts organised our appearance on Granada TV's "What's on" programe co-hosted by Mike Riddoch & "Margox" (Margi Clarke).

THE ALBUM
A MANCHESTER COLLECTION (OBJ 003) - VARIOUS ARTISTS:
Side 1
GROW-UP - You Are The One
GROW-UP - Night Rally
I.Q. ZERO - I'm In Love
I.Q. ZERO - I Must Obey
FAST CARS - Why
FAST CARS - What Can I Do ?
MEDIATERS - Monotony
FIREPLACE - Fireplace
FIREPLACE - Dutchman

Side 2
PICTURE CHORDS - First Floor Exercises
PICTURE CHORDS - Levitating Ladies
MANCHESTER MEKON - The Cake Shop Device
PROPERTY OF... - Property Of...
VIBRANT THIGH - Wooden Gangsters
F.T. INDEX - Working On The Line
SLIGHT SECONDS - Double Face
SLIGHT SECONDS - New Me