Music in Leeds
Think of Liverpool you almost certainly think of the Beatles. Birmingham? probably Heavy Metal. Manchester? could be Joy Division, Oasis, The Stone Roses & more. But, when you think of Leeds I’m not sure what bands you think of, if any. Something similar applies to the city itself. Most people have an idea of what a Scouser or a Geordie is like, however inaccurate their idea may be, but I’m not sure the same could be said of Leodesians or Loiners (obscure nicknames both). People might imagine a stereotypical Yorkshireman, but probably nothing specific to our city.
To be fair despite being born and bred here, I didn’t know Leeds very well myself, the city or its’ music. My formative music years were here, from the carnival in Potternewton Park through my first album, first gig, first festival even (the short lived Heineken Festival in 1995), but those years were brief. There were only a few years between my first gig and leaving to go to University. Some of my school friends were in bands, but I was too socially inept and musically talentless to become part of the the Leeds music scene, or perhaps more importantly too lacking in confidence to try.
I’m not sure those years were prime ones for music in the city, anyway. I was too late for the late 70s post-punk bands that sprang forth from the University, for the goth explosion of the 80s, or the clubbing boom of the early 90s. By the mid to late 90s, it felt like few great bands were coming out of Leeds (although no doubt there are some I am doing a disservice), and within a few years most of the music venues I had once frequented were shut down.
Leeds always felt to me like a bit of a poor relation, musically speaking to its noisy neighbour across the Pennines, Manchester. Not only did they have loads and loads of beloved bands (The Smiths, Happy Mondays & Take That to add a few more to those I mentioned above), but also all the touring bands played there. When US bands played a handful of UK dates, the North of England was covered by Manchester, so even in my teenage years I used to travel there on occasion for gigs, dashing back from the Academy or Apollo to catch the last train or National Express.
I moved to Manchester for University at age 18, and stayed until 29, so my prime gig going years were there. This is especially true of my first year at Uni, when I lived within a few minutes walk of 3 gig venues, The Academy, MDH, and Hop & Grape (now more prosaically named the Academy 1, Academy 2 & Academy 3). I went to three gigs in 3 days in my second week, and 4 in 6 days a couple of weeks later. I was the proverbial kid in the candy store. I saw hundreds if not thousands of bands in Manchester. I knew who the local bands were and was vaguely acquainted with some of them. Whilst I did not feel part of the music scene exactly, I knew it and understood it, and it felt like mine in a way that Leeds never had.
Still though, from the mid 2000s, my feelings about music in Leeds began to change. Gang of Four, one of the great Leeds bands were a massive influence on many of the new bands of the time, which piqued my curiousity about other Leeds bands of that era (The Mekons, Delta 5, Girls at Our Best). Some excellent new bands also started coming out of the city at the same time, led by Forward, Russia and Dance To The Radio records. I heard tell of a new music venue, the Brudenell Social Club (well actually over 100 years old, but it was around this time it became more widely known as a gig venue), and made a special trip over midweek to see one of my favourite bands of the time, Mates of State. This was a rare case of a band I loved playing Leeds but not Manchester, and a reversal of those teenage trips.
By the time I moved back to Leeds in late 2013 (after a few years detour in Brighton), I had a renewed appreciation for the city’s musical history, but I also had a baby on the way and very few chances to get out to gigs, so little opportunity to explore its’ musical present. Slowly though, my wife and I have started to get out more, and explore (or re-explore) what the city has to offer. Wonderful venues, not just the Brudenell, but Hyde Park book Club & Wharf Chambers & Howard Assembly Rooms. Great bands, like Crumbs, Nervous Twitch, Crake & the now massive Yard Act. We were lucky enough to move to a suburb of West Leeds where two new cultural venues have opened in the years we have been here, so we have music and the arts on our doorstep almost every weekend.
I remain a middle aged man with two fairly small children, so am not exactly out at shows every night, or even every week. I am unlikely ever to be part of the Leeds music scene, whatever that even means. I am however, filled with a renewed sense of purpose, to learn more about the musical history of the city I love, to discover its bands and sing its praises. I’m not going to be one of those people going around insisting my city is the greatest, but I do feel the music of Leeds should be valued as much as any other, and I want to help people understand its rich musical history, and present.
All of which is a very long winded way of saying expect more writing about music in Leeds from me in future.
Originally published at http://colourthecortex.wordpress.com on October 10, 2022.
