CityLife

Twisted Circus - festive fundraiser

Scott from the Vipers, Nathan from the Vipers and Jon from ManchesterMusic.co.uk

"ARE we staging Manchester's answer to Live Aid?" laughs Nathan Whittle, frontman of Manchester rockers The Vipers, and organiser of this weekend's Twisted Circus fundraiser event. "Maybe it is. Only with our event, the bands are just a bit better."

There's nothing like the festive season to unite any large family. And as far as Manchester music goes, you certainly don't get as broad or wide-reaching a family as the many disciples of the Manchestermusic.co.uk website.

Nearing 10 years since it first launched, the website has long been an essential HQ for all goings-on in Manc music world: loaded with news, reviews and advice, it's invariably the first destination for all young bands eager to stamp their name on the Manc music map.

Infamous message board

Run by Jon Ashley and Mike Gray, the Manchestermusic website was possibly the first Manchester vehicle – predating the likes of MySpace and Facebook – to harness the web to create a true 'Manchester music community'.

It's a place for new bands to swap contacts, promote themselves, and even have a bit of a bitch about each other (on their infamous message board).

But like any big, over-demanding family, they've hit upon tough times of late (well, there is a credit crunch after all).

Financial hard times have left the website in trouble with their operational costs, and as a completely non-profit organisation, Manchestermusic's long-term prospects look bleak.

All guns-a-blazing

So that's hopefully where the Manchester music family charge in, all guns-a-blazing and save the day. When news first broke of the website's financial woes, there was no shortage of Manchester bands eager to step in and help.

As support gathered momentum, and with hundreds of bands keen to repay their debt to Manchestermusic, there seemed like only one course of action – plan a massive fundraiser festival and raise cash in true Live Aid style. But all given a Manchester dirty rock'n'roll twist.

"We'd been planning to do a festival for quite a while," explains Nathan Whittle, frontman from local garage rock heroes The Vipers.

"But when we heard about the trouble Manchestermusic were in, we knew we had to step in and help.

"The website has been an invaluable resource for so many bands over the years. When you're first starting out in a band in Manchester, you're pretty clueless about all the little things. Like contacts for promoters, for music venues, for studios, for good rehearsal room. The Manchestermusic site has always been a great place to get all that information. There's so many bands in Manchester who've been given their first break from that website."

True rock'n'roll menace

The result of all this fantastic good will is Twisted Circus – a Manchester festival packed with true rock'n'roll menace, but (most crucial) all done with a brilliant cause in mind.

Taking place tomorrow at Saki Bar, the 12-hour event is one half-special fundraiser, another half an enticing ticket into Manchester's gritty DIY rock underworld.

It makes perfect sense that the event has been commandeered by a band like The Vipers – a band CityLife described earlier this year as 'Manchester's dirtiest, grimiest garage rock band'.

The Vipers stand at the forefront of a Manchester underground scene which firmly touts old-fashioned DIY punk principles.  

Dirty, old school punk

 "Well, this festival is primarily about raising money for Manchestermusic," says Nathan. "But it's also about showcasing a bunch of Manchester bands who've got something in common – bands with a definite, dirty, old school rock'n'roll feel.

"There is this amazing underground punk scene in Manchester, but it's one that probably doesn't get as much media or publicity."

 Twisted Circus festival seems like the perfect place for that underground punk world to finally peep their heads overground.

Headlined by The Vipers, the event will feature performances from Kid Voodoo, The Witches, The Dead School, Kutosis, with DJ sets courtesy of Fiction Non-Fiction, Disco Apocalypso and Liam Revenge.

In keeping with the dirty rock'n'roll theme, the whole event kicks off with a special screening of the lost MC5 documentary, A True Testimonial.

    For Jon Ashley, the head honcho of Manchestermusic.co.uk, the sheer volume of the support has been hugely humbling.

    "It's wonderful that all these bands are prepared to chip in and help out," Jon gushes. "I mean, the website has been up and running for nearly ten years now, so I guess there are possibly thousands of bands who've all used the site as an outlet for advice. That's the thing I'm most proud of – how approachable we are. I'll get emails from about forty bands a week, and because our website is so comprehensive, I'll respond to all of them. We are a true A-Z of every new band in this city."

    This weekend's fundraiser is just the start of Manchestermusic.co.uk's fight for survival. Early next year, Jon is planning a series of events to mark ten years of the website, and most excitingly, he's promised to revive his Chairsmissing band night, the seminal event which helped launch the careers of early-noughties Manc starlets like Fi-Lo Radio, Oceansize and Moco.

 "It's weird to think the website has been up and running for nearly ten years," says an exasperated Jon. "It's really rewarding, but there's a lot of work involved."

Cocky, temperamental, restless

 He needn't worry. Cocky, temperamental and maybe a little reckless they might be, but this is one Manchester music family who'll always step in and help when the chips are down.

The Twisted Circus festival fundraiser takes place tomorrow (Saturday, December 6) at Saki Bar, kicking off at 4pm.