Kevin Rowland is a compelling character who brought soul and passion to post-punk music with a series of stunning albums with Dexy’s – including ‘Searching for the Young Soul Rebels’ (1980), surely one of the great debut albums of all time. Post-punk historian Simon Reynolds describes the Dexy’s story as “remarkable”. After three Dexy’s albums in the 1980s, and a series of financial and personal problems in the 1990s, Kevin Rowland was signed by Alan McGee to Creation but his career as a solo performer stalled; nevertheless, his legendary status among both post-punk aficionados and Northern Soul fans remains.
Saturday 20 March; Mark E Smith (The Fall) in-conversation with DJ/writer Dave Haslam
Dave Haslam: ‘Close Up’…
Thursday 11 March; Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) in-conversation with DJ/writer Dave Haslam
Saturday 20 March; Mark E Smith (The Fall) in-conversation with DJ/writer Dave Haslam
‘Close Up’ at the greenroom is a series of exclusive opportunities to get up close and personal with musicians, poets, artists and actors discussing their life and work in-conversation with DJ/writer Dave Haslam. The first two events feature Kevin Rowland (Dexy’s Midnight Runners) and Mark E Smith (The Fall), two iconic frontmen with cult followings and uncompromised opinions.
Kevin Rowland is a compelling character who brought soul and passion to post-punk music with a series of stunning albums with Dexy’s – including ‘Searching for the Young Soul Rebels’ (1980), surely one of the great debut albums of all time. Post-punk historian Simon Reynolds describes the Dexy’s story as “remarkable”. After three Dexy’s albums in the 1980s, and a series of financial and personal problems in the 1990s, Kevin Rowland was signed by Alan McGee to Creation but his career as a solo performer stalled; nevertheless, his legendary status among both post-punk aficionados and Northern Soul fans remains.
Mark E Smith formed The Fall in 1976 at the age of nineteen, since when The Fall have had an infamously ever-shifting roll call of members, while being prolific in the extreme; as of now (January 2010) we’re awaiting the arrival of what’s thought to be their twenty-eighth studio album . John Peel proclaimed The Fall as his favourite band, explaining, “They are always different; they are always the same.” Smith has something of a cantankerous reputation, which much of his autobiography and many of his TV appearances have often confirmed, so this ‘Close Up’ event is not for the faint-hearted!
Each event will start at 8pm promptly, with an approximate end time of 9.30pm; to be followed by an official after-party in the greenroom bar, featuring DJs Lee Speed (‘All that Jazz/ Out of the Blue’) on March 11th, and Stefano (Disco Outcasts) after the Mark E Smith event on March 20th.
Tickets £9 / £6
Box Office: 0161 615 0500 / www.greenroomarts.org
Venue; greenroom, 54-56 Whitworth St West, Manchester, M1 5WW
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Dave Haslam is a veteran ex-Hacienda DJ and author of three books, including ‘Manchester, England’. In the past he has hosted in-conversations with the likes of Guy Garvey (Elbow), the artist Jeremy Deller, screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce, and the writer Jackie Kay. Here he explains the ‘Close Up’ series; “I’m very pleased to have such brilliant guests for the first two events. They’ve both made a huge impact on music but they’re both mavericks, and this what makes them so intriguing. I really believe in the power of the uniqueness and the intensity of live events. I have some exciting names signed-up for later in the year, but these two nights are a perfect start to the series. They’re going to be insightful, maybe even controversial. There’s a sense of event building around both these nights; they’re one-offs aren’t they, up close, and never to be repeated.”
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