The night will begin at 8.30pm… Three slots each. Just turn up and sign your name up to play. It’s in the area downstairs.

The Bay Horse is an excellent venue for gigs and open mics, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how this night turns out. Hopefully see you there later on this evening!

The organisers say:

We will bring both hardware and computer based recording systems, and give a tutorial covering the basics of multi-tracking with particular emphasis (of course) on recording acoustic guitars followed by a Q&A session. Let me know in advance if you have specific questions

I also hope to invite the local Roland/Boss Hi-Tec demonstrator Mark Hassall to bring some demo kit along (an hopefully do a feature spot with his current band “John The Dancer”) to illustrate what is available to suit a range of budgets (or that last minute Christmas present request?).

Anybody who wants to go along, can get in contact with them via their website.

I’ve not been to the night myself yet, but I’ve heard it’s pretty good..

1. Josephine Oniyama – Closer
2. God’s Little Eskimo – The Sea Shall Not Have Them
3. Mel Uye Parker – Red Skies
4. Sons Of Noel+Adrian – The Wreck Is Not A Boat Damiani live session:
   1. Gypsy Boys
   2. Fragile
   3. Ravens And Crows
   4. Broken
5. Crooked Rooks – Hi-Ho The Carrion Crow
6. I Am Three – I Try
7. April Maybe May – Back To Me
8. Huw Jacob – Higher Every Day
9. Leo Brazil – Take it East
10. The Miserable Rich – Monkey
11. The Loose Kites – Shoot Me
12. Zoe Mulford – The Earth and the Sky
13. Tiki Black – Oye
14. Denis Jones – 17

Our next show is on Monday, 14th December, 11pm-1am, when we have Leo Brazil and the Disco Nasties (TBC) live in session.

Chorlton Arts Festival

Please feel free to pass the flyer on to anyone you know who may be interested in getting involved, we would love to see them there. The launch party is an opportunity for visual/performance artists, venues and volunteers to find out more about the festival by meeting members of the team, picking up an application pack and asking questions. There’s also a jazz band and food.

The launch event is usually pretty fun – so it’s well worth going to if you have an interest in getting involved with the festival.

Tom

Eventful page

Facebook event page

I’m on stage about 9pm

View Larger Map

Party back in Manchester afterwards from 1am. Drop me a Facebook message, or a comment on this blog post, for details!

Tom

I’ve created a Facebook group for our weekly open mic at Trof Northern Quarter in Manchester. Please join the group if you’re in Manchester and enjoy the weekly open mic there!

Tom

I’m playing in Joe’s Bar tonight (Monday 6th October) as part of In the City Fringe festival… I’m on at 7.30pm… Should be a good night. More info can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/joesbarmanchester … Here’s the full lineup:

NUCLEAR – In The City Official Fringe Venue! Listings announced!
Current mood: artistic
Category: Music

STAGE TIMES & BANDS

Friday 3rd October

DJ 11pm – onwards

10pm – 11pm – Circus Animals Dissertion
www.myspace.com/circusanimalsdissertion

9.10pm – 9.40pm – The Counter Culture
www.myspace.com/thecountercultureareyourfriends

8.30pm – 9 pm – The S R Gents
www.myspace.com/srgents

7:50pm – 8:20pm – Kni9hts
www.myspace.com/kni9hts

Saturday 4th October

DJ – 11pm onwards

10.pm – 11pm – The Huw Wilcox Band
www.myspace.com/thehuwwilcoxband

9.10pm – 9.40pm – CrazyDaze
www.myspace.com/crazydazemusic

8.30pm – 9pm – El Policia
www.myspace.com/elpolicia

7.50pm – 8.20pm The Fayre
www.myspace.com/busfayre

7.10pm – 7.40pm – Strange Ways
www.myspace.com/thestrangewaysband

6.30pm – 7pm – Tori Bragg
www.myspace.com/ToriBraggMusic

5:50pm – 6:20pm – Disco Jane Doe

Sunday 5th October

DJ – 11pm onwards

10:30pm – 11pm – The Strands
www.myspace.com/thestrandsmusichull

9:50pm – 10:20pm – Strange Ways
www.myspace.com/thestrangewaysband

9pm – 9:30pm – Purlin
www.myspace.com/purlinuk

8:20pm – 8:50pm – Tidal Fury
www.myspace.com/tidalfury

7:40pm – 8:10pm – Calvinball
www.myspace.com/thisiscalvinball

7pm – 7:30pm – Antihero
www.myspace.com/therealantihero

6:20pm – 6:50pm – The Project

Monday 6th October – Acoustic

10:30 – 11pm – The Perrys (Electric)
www.myspace.com/theperrys1

9:50pm – 10:20pm – Dys
www.myspace.com/withdoublebass

9pm – 9:30pm – Paddy O’Hare
www.myspace.com/patrickoharemusic

8:20pm – 8:50pm – Gareth Wandless

7:40pm – 8:10pm – Tom Kerswill
www.myspace.com/tomkerswill

7pm – 7:30pm – Jonny Dobbs
www.myspace.com/jonnydobbs

6:20pm – 6:50pm – Oliver J Brooke
www.myspace.com/oliverjbrooke

5:30pm – 6:10pm – Troubadour
www.myspace.comtroubadour2007

Just to let everyone know about a really interesting looking event for musicains / promoters – called unconvention, running as part of the In the City festival. I’ll be dropping along to the daytime events. Check out the unconvention website for more information…

Tom

Building on the other open mic guides for the North West, here’s a run-down of open mic nights happening in Lancaster. Post a comment if you know of any more…

(Thanks very much to Rob Thompson for his help with the info on this)

• Every Tuesday – open mic at Golden Lion in Lancaster.
• Every Wednesday: Acoustic Sessions at The Stonewell Tavern, Lower Church Street, Lancaster. Free
• Last Sunday in every month – The Gregson Centre on Moor Lane, Lancaster.
• Last Wednesday every month

– The Kenlis Arms “singers’ night” open mic. Usually gets very busy – country pub just a couple of miles east of Garstang

I’ve got lists of other open mics elsewhere on the site, including ones in Manchester and in Liverpool.

The session is acoustic – they have congas, djembes, bongos, tambourines etc set up as well as a bass amp and a good PA/mics etc. They’re also looking to get a good percussion section together – anyone can join in. Also acoustic artists and bands are welcome to come and do a short set/jam.

EXR are running an acoustic competition at the same time. For more details on all this see: http://exr.org.uk/

Tom

2007 dates are from 9th- 18th March. (Music part starts on 14th March)
Official SXSW site is available here.

Here’s a list of many of the open mic nights happening in and around Manchester, UK. Please drop us a comment if you spot any ones not on this list, or ones that are no longer operating. Goes without saying, but do remember to always phone the venue before heading out to make sure it’s on – and make sure you’ve got the right venue (there are two different Trof venues listed below, for example!)

Monday Nights

• Monday Open mic at Trof Northern Qt. Friendly atmosphere. Usually pretty busy, so get down there before 8.30pm to get a slot!.
• Open mic – original: Blue Cat Café Mondays 8pm
• Open mic: The Bank Sale (each Monday, we think!)
• Open mic: Mondays. Atlas Bar, Deansgate, Manchester centre
• Open mic: every Monday Uluru, Chorlton – Uluru has sadly closed down…
• Open Mic: M19 bar, Levenshulme Every Monday evening – no longer running, apparently (June 09)

Tuesday Nights

• New for March 2010: Open mic at the Bay Horse, Manchester. In the downstairs bar. Every Tuesday from 8pm.
• Jam night: Bar 480, Chorlton from 8pm every Tuesday – 1 song each
• Open mic: Iguanna Bar, Chorlton Tuesdays
• Open mic: Trof, Fallowfield Tuesdays
• Acoustic guitar night: Urmston Cricket Club. Third Tuesday of each month, 8.30pm. £2 entry for everyone, which subsidises their live music nights.
• Open mic: The Nelson – Occasional Tuesdays (last Tue of month??)

Wednesday Nights

• Open mic: RVP, Liverpool Road, Irlam – every Wednesday from 8.30pm
• Open mic: Fuel, Withington Wednesdays
• Open mic: Town Hall pub, Eccles Every Wednesday

Thursday Nights

• Open mic at the Whitworth, Rusholme. New open mic (Aug 2009) every Thursday. Arrive before 9pm to get a slot.
• Open mic: Chill factor, Manchester – Thursdays – inside Chillfactor, the indoor ski centre. Thanks Rox for letting us know about this one!
• Open mic:Thirsty Scholar, Oxford Rd Thursdays – a slightly bluesy open mic 9pm till 2am. Run by local institution Rory McKee.
• Open mic at Solomon Grundy’s, Withington. Thursdays. Run by Kay and Dom… get in contact with the venue to book a slot! (Not sure whether this is still running – Nov 2009)
• Open mic / jam night at the Brunswick / B-Lounge in the centre of Manchester each Thursday. Run by Josh McClurg and his band.

Friday Nights

• Open mic at Eighth Day, Oxford Road, every Friday. Run by the people behind Black Dog

Saturday Nights

• Open Mic: Station Pub, Warrington Street, Ashton-u-Lyne. This is a monthly event on a Saturday Night Everyone is very welcome. Check out www.myspace.com/christinaacoustic for dates.

Sunday Nights

• Open Mic: Sunday evening – Deaf Institute – Manchester. Trof Northern Quarter’s sister venue also had an open mic on Sunday. I think they may have now canceled it though.
• Open mic: Sundays – Joshua Brooks – this one is now back up and running for Autumn 09.
• Open mic: Last Sunday of the month – Eden bar on Canal Street, M1 3PJ. Thanks, Alan, for the tip-off!
• Open mic: Bar One, Withington. New open mic every Sunday from 8pm, run by Tom Kerswill. Cheap drinks, including a pint of Becks for £2. At the moment there’s space for everyone to play four songs each. 20th Jan 2010: Bar One has now closed down, I’m afraid…
• Open mic: Uluru, Chorlton. Every Sunday. December 2009: Uluru has now closed down, sadly.

Please check with the venue before making the trip, to make sure the night is actually on…. and drop me a line or a comment if you discover that a night has changed before I do!

Open mics that used to be in Manchester

• Open Mic: Castle, Oldham St Every Monday. Small, friendly night, with a leaking roof! … note, the Castle closed autumn 2008, but re-opened April 09. Keep checking to see if they start an open mic!
• Open mic: Glass, Fallowfield Saturdays – now the venue has been rebranded to BarBaa. Not sure if they still run it…
• Sunday afternoon, 3pm-6pm Revise Bar, Chorlton . Revise as now become a new venue – Elektric. No news as yet of any open mics. But I noticed the Guardian waxing lyrical about it the other day in their (April 2009) Secret Britain guide.

Open mics in Lancaster

I’ve started a new page on open mic nights in Lancaster, which lists details about the Stonewall Tavern, the Gregson, and more open mics in the Lancaster area.

Open Mics in Dukinfield, Bury, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and further afield

• The Bury Winelight Club at the Met, in Bury, also does occasional open mic nights – check out their myspace.
• There’s an open mic / jam night at the Canal Duke in Astley every Tuesday from 9pm.
• Songwriter night Astley Arms, Dukinfield last Sunday of each month
• Sunday open mic at The Fox Inn, Up Holland on the last Sunday of each month, usually hosted by the Big Fish Band, a local country-rock band.
• Open mic and Jam night every Monday night at the Q Inn, Stalybridge. (Thanks, Stu, for sending this one).
• Stu also sent the following suggestion: Sunday night at The Railway in Greenfield. This has the benefit (for heavy drinkers) of being next to Greenfield train station…
• There’s an open mic at Harrop’s Bar, Stalybridge, Thurs 7 pm kick off

– Thanks to Carl for the tip-off.

• White Horse on Liverpool Rd (Gildabrook Rd near Hope Hospital). 7:30AM Tuesdays (thanks, Carl)
• Open mic at The Plough, Cadishead, Wed evenings. Carl says: “Landlord is putting on some free food…. ” (sounds good. Might have to check that out!)

Other good music events in Manchester

I’ve also got a guide on other non open-mics and acoustic nights in manchester

Here’s some info on where to go if you’re looking to play an open mic in Birmingham, UK… If you come across any new open mics in Birmingham, let us know by adding a comment, and we’ll add it to the open mic guide.

Always call the venue before travelling!

• Mondays – Revolution Bar, Wolverhampton. Weekly open mic night with guest slots, run by KinkiSour.
• Mondays – Open Mic at The Cross, Moseley, Birmingham. Every Monday from 8.30pm.
• Tuesdays – Open Mic Night at the Three Tuns, High Street, Sutton Coldfield B72 1XS. Every Tuesday from 8.30. Tel 0121 354 9217 / 07798740504 for details . All musicians welcome.
• Wednesdays – Every Wednesday from 8pm till late at Old Orleans Restaurant & Bar, Broad street.

Choosing which to go and see is always a tricky business. Things kicked off on Friday the 30th. My top choice was to see up-coming band Fleeing New York, followed by Eighties Matchbox… but as is often the case in Manchester, it had started bucketting with rain.

A queue formed outside Dry Bar in the Northern Quarter, and it soon became clear that the event would sell out, with us not making it inside. So we went to nearby Night and Day – which is a well-respected venue for new music.

In there we caught sets from Tricky Nixon, Children, and 3rd Dan. There were some good, tight performances. But something about a room full of record company types, and a pressurised atmosphere, took a bit of getting used to. And though the bands were good, there were no really memorable tunes to speak of. It’s hard to put your finger on what makes a good atmosphere, but in Night and Day there was certainly something a bit tense or hectic which didn’t add to the night.

The next afternoon we returned to Night and Day to gatecrash an industry party to celebrate the launch of a new Manchester XFM. It had a free bar. Much fun indeed!

But in the evening I decided to try somewhere a bit different. The Font Bar – which was free to get into – played host to the best acts from local Indie label Fat Northerner. There was some really good stuff, and the atmosphere was superb. Also met quite a few people I’d talked to the night before… turns out it’s a surprisingly small community of people who enjoy discovering good music.

There was also the chance to natter briefly to some of the guys behind Fat Northerner – and it restored my faith in the music scene here to know that there are people actively pushing new or innovative music.

There was a huge amount of other good music happening – and my own experience was probably a bit atypical. On Sunday I headed to Jabez Clegg for an indie-style festival. It was pretty empty to start with – no A&R types out here – but the atmosphere soon built up. It’s a surprisingly large venue – and I reckon it would be pretty good if filled with some large headline acts. A lot of fun watching some of the acts on here.

Finally, Bedlam that evening played host to some fantastic acoustic acts – including Emmy the Great, Man from Cov and lastly “Son of Dave”. This last was an incredible performance. The guy beatboxes, plays harmonica, rattles a shaker, and sings – all at the same time. With the help of a couple of delay pedals he’d set the place on fire. Sounded like a full deck and a drum machine to me – but no, all those beats had really come from his mouth. Has to be seen to be believed really.

A good end to the festival for me. Monday’s technically the last day… but instead I chose to wonder around Manchester, discovering random venues. Ended up going to Temple Bar and finally “Big Hands” with some mates. Both venues have supplies of interesting beers and – interestingly – are half-owned by the guys from Elbow.

Roll on next year!

Well worth a look for anybody who is in the area.

It includes the Acousticcity event. Here’s some of the bands you can see there:

Selfridges, Exchange Square

Saturday 1st October
Starting at 12.15pm

• Elizabeth Phillips
• James Roper
• Maria Miller
• Tom Cartledge
• Isobel Heyworth
• KT Forrester

Bedlam
Sunday 2nd October

Starting at 7:45pm

• Peter and The Wolf
• Emmy the Great
• Sumladfromcov
• Tom Grant
• Son Of Dave

Monday 3rd October
Starting at 7:00pm

• The Boy And Girl Who Trapped The Sun
• Catherine Tran

It will be a six-day event, taking in a wide range of different genres. This includes day 1 – World and Folk music, and day 5 – rock, pop and dance music. Last year’s event was excellent – there was a range of useful workshops, and opportunities to talk to people who’ve been involved in the industry.

It promises to be a really useful event. More details are Here