Your chance to go cavorting before The Courteeners at exclusive pre-party
| 3rd March 2018
The Courteeners at Old Trafford last year
At the beginning of the year the Courteeners announced their St. Jude Re:Wired + Teenage Cancer Trust, gigs at the Royal Albert Hall (Friday 23rd March) and Manchester Arena (Saturday 7th April).
With a decade of cavorting both gigs were sold out in minutes. A month later Liam Fray and the boys announced they would be playing a couple of warm up gigs in Blackburn and Sheffield, again the tickets sold out in minutes.
So to celebrate everything Courteeners; Hunky Dory promotions, Vital Publicity and VIVA Magazine have joined forces to host the ultimate Courteeners pre show party at the Liquor Store in Manchester.
Tracey Donnelly from Hunky Dory Promotions has been hosting successful events and parties for years which have included pre and after show parties for the likes of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays.
Tracey also plus runs the successful Happy Festival brand, and worked within the management of the iconic Hacienda and Factory Records.
Tracey said : “During 2018 Hunky Dory will be putting on a variety of very special pre and after shows to celebrate certain artists and bands who are performing in the city.
The Courteeners have a huge, vocal and loyal following, and i am delighted to start the ball rolling by creating a fun filled event at The Liquor Store, for all their fans, before they head over to the Manchester Arena.
We want everyone to be singing along to the songs we play, to put them in a great mood for the gig later that evening. This will be a proper rock and roll knees up centred around The Courteeners and their music.
VIVA Ems played outside Malmaison to entertain the residents who were staying there before the Courteeners gig at the cricket ground last year, and it went crazy!
A friendly crowd formed singing and dancing outside the hotel, so we want to do this on a bigger scale at one of Manchester’s best bars, which is only a 10 min walk to the Arena.”
And another major brucey bonus; DJing alongside VIVA Ems will be Oldham rock n roller and lead singer of Twisted Wheel, Jonny Brown.
Twisted Wheel have supported the likes of Oasis, Kasabian, Paul Weller, The Happy Mondays, Ian Brown and, of course, the almighty Courteeners.
The Wheel is back from a long break with new songs and a new line up joining Jonny on their ‘Snakes And Ladders’ tour.
Jonny also recently announced on social media that original drummer Adam Clark “Clarky” will now be joining them on tour too.
So Jonny and VIVA Ems will be raising the roof off the Liquor Store on 7th April from 2pm with their collection of rock n roll records, expect plenty of Courteeners anthems and B-sides and some classic Madchester hits.
VIVA Ems and Jonny Browns’ pre gig chats;
VIVA Ems: Excited to be DJing with you Mr Brown it’s been a while! You used to put on your own nights in Oldham back in the days right? Tell me about these as I never went to one?
Jonny: Around 2006/7 I decided to run a club night called ‘Hop Skip Junk’ ironically. At the time we had been frequently going to The Castle on Union Street and Jackson’s Pit. There was a great buzz in Oldham at the time and you could say a youth culture. Loads of girls and boys all into rock n roll and decent dance music. It was like a completely scaled down version of the Hacienda in its own way. Loads of narcotics , dancing, sex and rock n roll. You couldn’t fault it at the time.
Anyway as I started to get my head round it, Jackson’s Pit asked me to put a night on and I was thinking the same thing anyway so ahead we went. The first one was a success and crammed back to front with young people and the odd party veteran going absolutely mental.
I had recently left my band The Children to pursue The Wheel (Twisted) I thought of an Idea. If I put some bands on that pull a crowd at my night and then bang out new band on slap bang in the middle then we will have an instant fan base and so I did.
Not only did this inspire many a young band it inspired people to put other club nights on too. I was swiftly out of there to then tour the world. We would go back to Jackson’s Pit and The Castle when we could, when we were back home from gigging. Sadly The Castle was knocked down and I don’t go out in Oldham any more. Amazing days though. Anyone involved will agree.
VIVA Ems: Favourite tune to play on the decks?
Jonny: I love to play ‘Lets Dance ‘ by David Bowie. Anyone who likes dancing can’t not dance to that, so it gets the room going nicely.
VIVA Ems: Got any stories about hanging out with the Fray?
Jonny: One time we (the singer from the children) Ben Carcamo, Liam Fray, Campbell (the Courteeners drummer) were all out in 42nd street in Manchester. Many a drinks later we popped some super strength disco biscuits and ended up at our singers house in Droylsden where I chewed Campbell’s ear off in the cellar whilst playing twisted ping pong and sung him my song ‘Big Issue’, think he thought I was a crank, but our crew were all head cases at the time. We then went on to drink into the day light hours together and then we made Liam a gas mask to go home with. Maybe he still has it I don’t know.
Also we went on tour with The Courteeners as Twisted Wheel, but those days are a bit of a blur to me!
VIVA Ems: Best song Liam Fray has ever written and why?
Jonny: ‘You Over Did It Doll’. Yep that one! I definitely over did it and I’m a sex pissed up doll.
VIVA Ems: You just announced that Adam Clarke (Clarky) the original drummer is back on board with Twisted Wheel, how did this come about, was it a hard sell or was he well up for it?
Jonny: Basically he heard my new songs and was sold instantly. As with me he has battled addiction and demons and come out the other side almost in one piece. We both thought it would be stupid not to get rock n rolling again as we had something not many partnerships have.
VIVA Ems: As you know I’m a massive Twisted Wheel fan, so I’ve been introducing your music to a few mates recently that hadn’t heard the songs before, and a couple of them have asked what’s ‘You Stole The Sun’ about?
Jonny: It’s a mad one for sure. I’ve found a lot of people who don’t like it initially, end up loving it, but whatever.
It’s a song I did and thought nothing of and it stuck. Basically it’s about being selfish. I thought; what’s the most selfish thing you could probably do. Steal the f*****g sun!?!? Haha.
The verses are based on true events, some of which my girlfriend had dumped me on our way out to Spain for a holiday. I went on my own in the end with my guitar and it pissed it down every day. I thought selfish bugger, sat in the rain on the balcony and wrote ‘You Stole The Sun’.
Funny, as there are similar song titles from Manic Street Preachers and one called ‘Put The Sun Back’ by The Coral.
VIVA Ems: Jonny Brown I love you, bring on 7th April it’s going to be fun!
Jonny: YES Ems!
You can book advance tickets for the Courteeners pre show party which is April 7th 2-8pm at the Liquor Store in Manchester HERE ON SKIDDLE.
