CityLife

Party with Pierre

WHEN Pierre Hall organises a house party, you KNOW you're not going to get the usual fare of Pringles, cans of warm lager and a Now 54 compilation.

Two years ago, as part of an Akoustik Anarkhy celebration, Pierre held a party at his house in Withington, and invited up-and-coming Manc stars like The Longcut, Nine Black Alps and Keith to play on a makeshift stage (actually, just his kitchen).

The evening was a glorious and drunken success. Not only that, the whole event acted as a watershed moment for Manchester music emerging from the doldrums and mutating into the glorious DIY, underground gigging culture that we all know today.

"Those parties were amazing," enthuses Pierre, with typical giddiness. "The whole Akoustik Anarkhy scene is the most important thing that's happened in Manchester music in the last five years.

"All the bands in Manchester who've now become big and got deals played those parties back at my house in Withington. It seems strange to think The Longcut played in my kitchen! Legendary times."

If Manchester music really is going though a golden age of partying and cool DIY indie club nights, then Pierre Hall is unquestionably the city's chief party organiser. A self-appointed `Manchester scenester', he's the renegade party chief organising the cool bands, the venues, the booze and, in the morning, is most probably seen cleaning the vomit off from someone's living room carpet. He's that kind of bloke.

Having had a helping hand in Manchester's number one pioneering DIY club night, Akoustik Anarkhy, Pierre is now behind another cool club night, Friends Of Mine. Taking place monthly at Joshua Brooks, it's a worthy addition to Manchester's new DIY indie club night panoply, and absolutely typical of Pierre's hands-on approach.

Party chief

But much more than just a party chief, Pierre is also a songwriter in his own right. Having plied his trade on the Manc acoustic scene as a singer-songwriter for the last couple of years, he's finally got together his own band, the much-talked about and rather ace, Lead Balloons.

"I've always wanted to get a band behind me," explains Pierre. "A few years ago I went to watch a couple of acoustic songwriters play solo. I couldn't hold a candle to someone like Damien Rice, someone who can command an audience all on his own. I'm quite self-conscious as a performer, so I always wanted to get a band behind me."

Backed by Dan Stubbs (guitars), Craig Marchington (bass) and Scott Jackson (drums), The Lead Balloons are everything you'd expect from Manchester's number one party renegade; ie. they're just like Pierre but only in musical form: slight, hedonistic, full of joie de vivre and immediately lovable.

Songs like Lost And Found and No Friend Of Mine have traces of The Libertines' unkempt urchin rock ("Pete Doherty is the greatest songwriter of the modern age," enthuses Pierre), but there's another unlikely musical influence which Pierre is keen to extol. Erm, Michael Jackson.

He enthuses: "Until the age of 17, the only music I thought existed was Michael Jackson. He was my idol. I just wanted to be him ... I even started taking dance lessons because of him! I learnt how to play guitar by playing along to Ben and Jackson 5 records. Michael Jackson isn't an obvious influence on my music at the moment, but I'd like to make a pop album one day. Seriously, I plan to get Quincy Jones out of retirement and get him to produce me!"

Already cherished by Manchester, Pierre's music is finding the most unlikely of admirers.

Until last year, he was managed by Nick Bailey, the actor who played Anthony Trueman in EastEnders (he's the doctor who got mucky with Kat Slater, non-soap fans). The pair remain close friends, and Pierre was actually invited by Nick to perform at his wedding. In front of the entire cast of EastEnders.

"That was totally surreal," shudders Pierre. "It was proper celebrityville. Not my kind of scene at all. I remember waking up in some pub the next morning, still drunk.

"And the person sat opposite me was Les Dennis! I think the nicest member of the EastEnders cast was Shane Ritchie ... he was very complimentary to me about my music!"

Now far removed from the world of soap stars, Pierre is happily settled back into the bosom of Manchester's booming indie underground, organising stealth club nights and grabbing the spotlight for his own musical talents.

Pierre concludes: "The Lead Balloons are in the spirit of all those DIY club nights. It's music to soundtrack a great night of partying..."

Pierre Hall And The Lead Balloons play Joshua Brooks (as part of Friends Of Mine) tomorrow, and they also play Academy 3 on Tuesday. More info at the webiste listed below.

PIERRE HALL'S GUIDE TO ORGANISING THE PERFECT ROCK'N'ROLL CLUB NIGHT

1. FIND GOOD TALENT: "With a night like Friends Of Mine, everyone is welcome to play. There's no real music policy - if we like you, you can play. We want to give bands the exposure. People like Liam Frost, Fear Of Music, The Answering Machine, have all played some of their first gigs here."

2. HAVE A DECENT RECORD COLLECTION! "There's no snobbery with the music. I'll play anything, a good tune is a good tune. If you're out on a Saturday night, you wanna party and have a dance. The song which gets the biggest reaction at Friends Of Mine is Runaround Sue by Dion And The Belmonts."

3. DON'T DO IT FOR THE DOSH: "It's not about making money, it's all about bands getting exposure and having a good time. I've never made a profit. Liam Frost played Friends Of Mine just after he'd signed a big record deal. He didn't want to get paid, he played the night just 'cos he liked it."

4. DON'T BE ELITIST: "The best club nights shouldn't be cliquey. It's not about bands and their in-crowds. Everyone should feel welcome."