The ‘Madchester’ indie band maelstrom – Middles was the man in the middle

He was a quintessential figure at the heart of the explosion of the Manchester indie music scene in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Music journalist Mick Middles wrote about them all – Stone Roses, Inspiral Carpets, Oasis, The Charlatans, James and many more you won’t have heard of.

Amid the insanity pervading the music business – t’was ever thus – Middles touched the city’s upstart bands grappling for exposure and gave them the kudos and credibility they craved by writing about them.

There were other influential figures of course, not least, broadcaster and Factory Records man Tony Wilson, who Middles credits with getting him his ‘gig’ for the Manchester Evening News, his Friday column The Word.

Wilson famously didn’t like the Stone Roses and without assistance from a figure of such influence, their commercial success looked most unlikely at the time.

Middles’ knowledge straddles the period from when the super-cred band were Manchester outsiders who had been plugging away for years, unable to get arrested, let alone a record deal, to their miraculous rise to enigmatic stardom. But I digress.

Middles, a former writer for the music magazine Sounds and the author of 25 books including biographies on New Order, The Fall’s Mark E Smith, Mick Hucknall, Stone Roses and Elbow among others – has re-emerged as the author of the 20,000-word sleeve notes of the box set of seven CDs Manchester North Of England, billed as the ultimate tribute to Manchester’s indie bands released last week be Cherry Red Records, currently enjoying strong reviews in the music press.

The 61-year-old, who saw the birth of the punk explosion in Manchester in 1976 right through the Britpop and beyond, might be a skilled interviewer himself, but he’s also a fascinating interviewee.

Middles agrees that while it’s easy to pigeonhole Manchester music from the 80s and 90s as a single entity, in reality, the ‘scene’ was much more complicated and divided than those who weren’t there would imagine.

The likes of earthy guitar bands like the Roses grated against dance-orientated venues like the Factory-run Hacienda club, where their ilk simply didn’t fit.

Typical of many journalists like him, Middles is not bedazzled by stardom or glitz.

He’d much rather go and watch a band in pub than Manchester Arena. And although he bemoans the absence of a decent outlet for bands on TV (“Jools Holland is past its sell-by date,” he says), he’s not a grumpy cynic.

Seated in one of his favourite city centre hostelries, The Britons Protection (“Manchester would die if they pulled down places like this”), Middles said: “I’ve no idea where music is going, now. But to some extent my wife Vicky and I go to more gigs than we ever did.

“You can go to one a night – 10 a night if you want to – they’re all over the place. I’m a pub man. Small venues. That’s what punk did.

“You sort of became friends with them by accident, not just the bands but everyone.

“Manchester pre-punk was pretty sparse music-wise – not much going on at all.

“In some ways, it’s more like punk now. There’s lots of scenes. Most of the bands we go and see are of the mindset that they don’t care if they get anywhere or not.”

Middles remembers the days when he was working for Sounds when reviews for bands in such music magazines were like gold dust – the gateway to record deals and national recognition.

“There have been times when bands have befriended you because they want a review,” recalled Middles. “I remember reviewing for Sounds in the 1970s. You’d go and see a band and about three days later, you’d put your review in the post, it would get to the office two days later and about four ikssues later it would appear – about two months later.

“I gave up writing for the Sounds website last year. I did 27 articles in three months for no money at all. Then the phone rang and it was John Reed from Cherry Red Records.”

The extensive sleeve notes were a project which sent him down memory lane and trawling through cuttings from his days writing for the MEN.

“I remember the Roses when they were the most un-Manchester band there ever was,” he said. “In a way I preferred them before. They were very much outsiders.

“I remember for many years I thought it was never going to happen for them. I remember Gareth Evans (then manager and former hairdresser who also ran The International venue in Rusholme) of all people. They only got in with him for free practice space at The International

“When Sally Cinnamon came out they were nowhere. He came round to our flat at 11pm at night, and sat there.

“He said the lads are outside in the van. I said bring them in and let’s give them a cup of tea. They were really quiet and let Gareth do all the talking.”

He goes on: “I remember Morrissey, before he was Morrissey. I remember him in Chorlton, There was Howard Devoto (ex-Buzzcocks and Magazine), and Linda was there, she was his girlfriend.

“The Drones, a couple of Nosebleeds, Morrissey was in that band for one gig, were also there. If you’d taken a picture of them and said one person out of all these people here is going to reach national superstardom, which one would it be? You would never in a million years say it would be him.”

Disarmingly humble about his work, Middles said: “Nowadays, I take the dog for a walk.”

However, he then mentioned he’s in writing a book on Salford Jets front man and now Radio Manchester presenter Mike Sweeney.

“It’s not going to make any money,” he said. “I did a Frank Sidebottom book for Empire, a lovely publisher because they’re just on their own. They do a really nice job.

“I said to Mike, do you fancy it, and he’s absolutely gone made for it. I’d like to re-cast the Salford Jets and write about that period, just for something to do, because they had big audiences and crowds.

“Mike always says, you’re the only person ever to do a live review of the Salford Jets, and they played hundreds of gigs.

“At the time, they were like a pre-punk band in post-punk times. I remember when they played the Factory Club, it was never going to work. People were going there with long overcoats like they were in Cabaret Voltaire. It and the Salford Jets weren’t compatible.

“The Salford Jets should’ve gone to London in 1975 or 74, and would’ve done, but they wouldn’t give up their jobs. They would have so suited that.

“What I did love about it was, he had me on his show talking about Queen – I can’t stand Queen – he wanted me to talk about Bohemian Rhapsody. I can’t stand it.

“We’re sitting there in MediaCity, like something out of J G Ballard (novelist and essay writer). He said he was born in abject poverty about a quarter of mile from where we’re sitting now. That’s a great story isn’t it? Who would think that – the media coming to him. Weird.

“I’ve given myself until the end of the year to get it done. I’ve got a lot to do. It’s the 40th anniversary of the Jets. They can’t play the Duke of Wellington because it’s a church now, and they played there every Monday for four years. Some 400 people every Monday for four years – a band that didn’t get a single mention in the NME or any of the magazines.”

Middles reflects on the time when music journalists were inundated with at least 100 singles a week released and arriving at the offices,

“You just couldn’t listen to them all,” he said. “But the situation’s changed now.

“In the old Sounds days, you’d go to London and go into the office you’d get four jobs, each paying £100 to £200, which was a lot of money then when you’re 21 years old and it’s 1978.

“You could just pick and choose. You’d say, I’ll just go and see Stiff Little Fingers, at Fulham tomorrow and interview them. It was dead easy. It was all just there.

“It took a long time to get Manchester through to them. It was nothing to do with me, it was because of Joy Divison and The Fall started getting exposure.

“What would really sticky in my craw a bit, you’d do about six reviews of a band, could be Joy Divison or whoever, and then there’d be a double page feature on them, written by one of the staff people in London. That used to get on my nerves.

“Like they’ve said, they’ve got a bit of press let’s do a cover story on them. Well, they only got a bit of press because of me or someone in Leeds had done it.

“Suddenly they’d become the experts on something. Like someone did a four page write on The Fall, but what they did know about The Fall? But that’s the way it was.

“But Joy Division, it took a lot of pushing them through. Then suddenly they come back to you saying ‘Can you get an interview with New Order?’ But New Order wouldn’t speak to them at all for the first three years.”