Institute prepares for Beepfest
BEEPFEST ORGANISER: Jack Cooper
BEEP Seals co-singer and guitarist Jack Cooper has a bit of a reputation. Fortunately for him, it’s a good one…
Because he and his band are one of Manchester’s most innovative gangs of pickers and players.
This weekend, they raise the bar further by staging Beepfest – an all-day show at The Deaf Institute (CityLife.co.uk’s Bar Of The Year) boasting no fewer than 18 live performances, three poets and two literature readings in two rooms for less than the price of the average round.
“Our album’s been out for a while now and just doing another gig would feel like treading water,” explains Jack about the method behind the Beepfest madness.
“We wanted to do something a bit more interesting and get lots of bands on the bill that we liked. A lot of the bands we’re putting on are still fairly under the radar to people, but none of them ought to be.”
Most CityLife readers, though, will be familiar with a good portion of the planned entertainment: Jim Noir, The Answering Machine, Glasto New Band winners The Travelling Band, Magic Arm, Liam Frost and John Stammers have all featured in our pages recently. On now they’re all on at Beepfest, alongside: Sea Devils, The Junipers, The Maladies Of Bellafontaine, The Soundcarriers, Ten Bears, Ivan Campo, Simon Connor and Denis Jones.
The literature contingent includes Richard Barrett, Luke Yates, Chris Killen and Jenn Ashworth and a host of DJs complete the bill.
Celebrated
“We wanted to put something on that celebrated music from Manchester,” says Jack.
“Manchester isn’t all about attitude, swagger and bands influenced by Oasis.
“There’s lots of wonderful music being made by people who don’t really care about trends or making a living out of being in a band, and I think consequently there’s a lot of really optimistic skewed pop music coming out of Manchester that people should know about.
“The hope is that people will come for the whole day. We’re going to try and keep away from the standard ‘smallest band on first, biggest band on last’ format in the hope that people get to see things that they normally wouldn’t see.
“And The Deaf Institute is the perfect place to do it, too. We played there when we released our album. It’s just such a great venue.”
Beepfest takes place on Saturday, October 18 at The Deaf Institute (near Oxford Road Station), from 3pm-late. £10.
Published: Wed, 15 October, 2008
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