Northside were formed at the beginning of 1989 in Blackley and Moston areas of North Manchester by Man United fan Warren 'Dermo' Dermody (vocals) and Man City supporter Cliff Ogier (bass). They were joined by Michael 'Upo' Upton (guitar) and Paul 'Wal' Walsh (drums) soon after.
At the time Moston was a typical working class area, suffering following Thatcher's recession, but with the arrival of 'E' around 1986/87 and the emergence of the Acid House scene, the mood began to change. Reflecting in 1990, Dermo explains, "it used to be all football and violence but now it's chilled."
Local heroes The Stone Roses were becoming a force to be reckoned with in popular music, bands like James were finally getting noticed after many years of trying, shops like Eastern Bloc on Oldham Street become the place to hang out during the day and then the Thunderdome on Oldham Road at night, listening to tunes and being seen. Often fuelled on drugs, alliances were made, many of which remain to this day.
These factors, mixed with a healthy dollop of punk DIY attitude, led to the formation of many bands, supported by their mates, their families, and with a desire to do something different, to tell the truth, to make people sit up and take notice.
Six months on from their first practice in February, Northside recorded their first demos in August at The Cutting Rooms, part of Abraham Moss College. These received regular plays on the show hosted by Tony the Greek's on Piccadilly Radio, as well as Craig Cash on KFM, Stockport.
With their popularity growing, the band made their debut live performance at Manchester's Boardwalk venue on September, which sold out by word of mouth. Not long afterwards the band received a visitor at their practice rooms, Tony Wilson (no 'Anthony H' back then), who offered them a recording contract. After agreeing in principle they were given a lift home in his Jag!
By the end of 1989 the band had played a now legendary gig with Happy Mondays at Manchester's Free Trade Hall (18 November) and the Haçienda Christmas Party (17 December, with support from Paris Angels). A deal with Factory was formalised in February 1990. They even managed to change guitarists along the way with Timmy Walsh (another Red) replacing Upo.
March 1990 saw the celebrated Granada Television documentary Madchester - The Sound of The North hit the screen. The programme featured a lengthy profile on Northside, and gave people a hint of what was to come, with a live performance of My Rising Star ("the first love song we've wrote") at Holland Street Sports Centre, Miles Platting.
Meanwhile in April the band headed off to London to record their debut single, produced by Ian Broudie (of Lightning Seeds and Three Lions fame).
Upon their return, with the Strangeways prison riot in full swing, Northside found their home town besieged by the media. More personally, a close friend of the band, Robo died in tragic circumstances, less than a year after Dermo's brother Steven, who'd named the band. The debut single was dedicated to them.
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11 videos
Macca is in the back ground M9
colmanchester9 4 months ago
I just uploaded the audio of 'Weight of air'
it's in my videos.. genius song from a genius album! enjoy
rapperzondernaam 11 months ago
yep cant wait got my ticket
wardy605 1 year ago
oct 1st northside gig manchester cant wait
wardy605 1 year ago
Nice track. Like it.
scratchliquid 2 years ago