Emerald Sapphire Gold

I got an offer from my brother who had a spare ticket for ESG at Band On The Wall on Saturday night- a sold out gig in a small venue by New York dance/ funk- punk legends. That's not something to say no to. The sun shone on Saturday, town was busy with shoppers, drinkers, fans coming and going to and from Old Trafford and the general buzz of the first nice day of the spring. Unfortunately having a drink at Night And Day meant we arrived at Band On The Wall at 8.45pm only to be told the group had been on stage since 8.30 so we missed the first few songs but walking in it was clear that ESG were delivering the goods to a very enthusiastic crowd. 

ESG's history with Manchester dates back over four decades, to 1981 when Tony Wilson saw the Scroggins sisters and friend Tito Libran playing at Hurrah in Manhattan. Three days later they were recording with Martin Hannett, a three track single released on Factory in June 1981 (FAC 34 catalogue fans). You're No Good had three songs on it, the title track, Moody and UFO, the last one recorded quickly because Hannett saw there were three minutes of master tape left unused and two minutes fifty four seconds of that tape went on to become one of the most sampled songs in hip hop history, its sirens, beats and descending guitar line recognisable in hundreds of records. ESG supported A Certain Ratio in 1980 when ACR played in New York (at least two Ratios, Martin and Jez, are present in the audience tonight) and Hannett was producing ACR's To Each... at the same time as the three ESG songs that came out on the Factory single. ESG played the opening night of the Hacienda. Accordingly they're welcomed here tonight like long lost relatives, honorary Mancunians. 

Renee Scroggins is centre stage, seated, rapping and singing in her unmistakeable Bronx twang, a spit and snarl where necessary- 'I got sampled so often I decided I was gonna sample myself', she tells us by way of introduction to one of her songs tonight. Around her is that skeletal but funky, New York, mutant No Wave dance/ punk funk sound, all bass, drums and percussion, with the basslines clear and crisp and sounding huge through Band On The Wall's sound system. Stage right Nicholas Nicholas plays congas, cowbell, shakers, tambourine and woodblock, frequently breaking away from the percussion to dance around and across the stage, arms raised and with a big grin. Moody, from FAC 34, is played mid- set and the years are rolled away as the bass pumps and the rhythms clatter.

Moody

It's as much a celebration as a gig, ESG clearly enjoying themselves and the crowd completely onside. There's very little in the way of treble or melody, it's all about the bass and drums, music stripped down to a minimalist sound, a gleeful kinetic groove. Towards the end an audience member is helped up onto the stage to dance. She brings her friend up and they co- ordinate spontaneously, switching places on stage. At the end, as Renee is helped off stage, the bass and drums continue, Mike Giordano rolling round the kit and bassist Nicole exhorting us to join in the chant of 'ESG, ESG'. 

V-Funk

Earlier on this year I wrote about Manchester band Rig, one of the groups making a noise thirty years ago, caught up in the excitement of being in a city which had become the centre of the world for a while. Rig formed in south Manchester, the Didsbury/ Withington/ edge of Stockport part of the city and signed to Cut Deep Records. They supported Inspiral Carpets on a nationwide tour and contributed songs to two well received compilation albums, Home and Hit The North. Home had songs by Mark E. Smith, Milltown Brothers, New FADs, Paris Angels, World Of Twist, Rainkings, Swirl, What? Noise and Peter Hook's Revenge. Hit The North split it's two sides of vinyl into rock and dance sides had several of the above as well as The Man From Delmonte, Rowetta, Ruthless Rap Assassins, Krispy Three and a few others of whom I know nothing/ remember little (The Australians, The Bedflowers, The Jerks, All Of My Life). Between them they sum up something of the spirit of the times, lots of bands exploring new ideas, dance rhythms moving into rock music, guitar bands growing their fringes out, DJs and rappers, and some of the bigger players on the scene doing something on the side. 

Killing time in lockdown Rig's guitarist Darren began to go through his archive of posters, flyers, music press clippings and photographs and put it all into one place (a blog, here). As he began to write about the story of the band and Tweet links to the posts, Rig's former record company Dead Dead Good got in touch and said they were interested in re- releasing the band's singles digitally. Dead Dead Good was set up to release The Charlatans early records by Northwich's Omega Records shop owner Steve Harrison but also had a massive hit in 1991 with the pop- rave classic Insanity by Oceanic. 

One thing led to another and Darren began to tidy up Rig's back catalogue and got hold of the original master tapes, boxes containing DATs, reel to reel tapes and cassettes. He then came across the mini- album they recorded in the spring of 1990 at Suite 16, a recording studio in Rochdale previously used by Joy Division, Gang Of Four, The Fall and Teardrop Explodes. For some idea of the blue plaque worthy history of the place, Joy Division recorded Atmosphere there. Between February and April 1990 Rig recorded at Suite 16 with Manchester legend Stuart James producing and Swing Out Sister (and ex-ACR) Andy Connell playing keyboards on some of the songs. The songs were then shelved when Cut Deep Records were bust and Rig moved on to Dead Dead Good, re- recording some of the songs while also moving onto new ones.

Lost albums, thirty years old, recovered and restored are a great story, all part of the fabric of music. Rig's tapes were baked to remove the moisture from them, digitised and then Italian producer and engineer Matteo Cifelli remastered them. The six songs recorded in Rochdale, never previously released, have compiled alongside their cover of ESG's Moody which came out as a white label (produced by ACR's Martin Moscrop), the pair of songs from Home and Hit The North (B.R.O. and Thud) and another unreleased one called Spoilt Bastard. I posted Moody (Dance) back in September, a 1990 take on the Scroggins sisters early 80s punk- funk with a sample from My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts but it's well worth another airing. 

On May 30th 1990 Rig played at the Richmond in Brighton. This video catches them playing V-Funk, all youthful energy, frenetic rhythms, noisy- funk and wah- wah guitar while singer Adam's stream of consciousness rides over the top. V- Funk in it's Suite 16 form opens the album, a big, brash blast of  mutant south Manc indie- funk. 

Rig's album, ten songs in total, was released by Dead Dead Good last Friday and with some typical Mancunian confidence is titled Perfect. It was recorded when the group were all twenty and is being released as they all turn fifty. It's available digitally from all the usual streaming sites and some download ones too here. It's funny how sounds and styles swing in and out of style. There's much on Perfect, given a buff and polish this summer, that really doesn't sound three decades old, that actually sounds very contemporary-the heavy duty rhythm section, the off kilter mutant sax and keys and the rapid fire, choppy guitars, Rig sounding like a band who have arrived thirty years too late but bang on cue. 

Very Moody

Thirty years ago a second wave of Manchester bands came through following in the footsteps of The Stone Roses and Happy Mondays, who as far as guitar bands go had made 1989 their own. The city's practice rooms, rehearsal spaces and recording studios buzzed with people eager to get their sounds out into the world. The second wave included The Charlatans (not actually from Manchester), Northside, Paris Angels, World Of Twist and Rig. Looked at now these bands have little in common with each other musically. Rig, from the south side of the city, the Didsbury/ Withington/ Stockport area, were young and fired up by Talking Heads, ACR, the Mondays, ESG, Tackhead, James Brown, Public Enemy- noise plus funk is what they were aiming for. Several sessions in Stockport's Strawberry Studios and a record deal with Cut Deep and then with Dead Dead Good saw them put out some singles that have just been made available digitally for the first time. Debut Dig (on Cut Deep) in an eye catching, day glo pink and yellow sleeve, followed by Spank in 1991, a white label release for Moody and then the catchy Big Head in the same year. 

Moody, produced by A Certain Ratio's Martin Moscrop, is a cover of ESG's 1982 NYC proto- house/ disco/ hip hop classic. Rig's version, with a sample from Brian Eno and David Byrne's My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts, is a dancefloor groove, house rhythms and percussion, piano, wah wah guitar, cowbell and singer Adam's vocals floating on top, the sample weaving in and out. Sounds like a bit of a lost gem to me. 

Their back catalogue is on all the digital services and guitarist Darren is reliving the band's past in a blog here with stories, photos, posters, gig tickets and flyers. Dig in. 

Moody

E.S.G.'s skeletal post punk-funk came from three sisters- Renee, Valerie and Marie Scroggins plus friend Tito Libran- whose mother bought them musical instruments to keep them off the streets of the South Bronx. Moody came out in 1982 and along with other of their songs (especially U.F.O.) has been sampled umpteen times. It still sounds as fresh as you like.

Moody

What She Came For

While in Helsinki the other day I tried to find a record shop. Stupidly I'd forgotten to research this before going to Finland. Eventually, with the help of several passersby, I ended up in Antilla, a department store with cds and - shock, horror- a fairly random selection of vinyl. I ended up with the recent e.p. of cover versions of Franz Ferdinand songs (only 9 Euros) and a nice re-pressing of The Ramones' Rock 'n' Roll High School album. The Franz Ferdinand e.p. features Debby Harry with the Franz boys, LCD Soundsystem, Peaches, Stephen Merritt, and ESG. ESG's cover of What She Came For is the pick of the bunch, their skeletal post-punk funk still rocking and bouncing thirty years after the Scroggins sisters first picked up instruments, paid for by their mother to keep them out of trouble and off the streets.

What She Came For