Who the Fuc? (reprise)

A flurry of emails 'outing' Fuc51 have landed in our inbox of late (one even suggesting this was all an elaborate marketing campaign for Fuc251 itself, which if true would be mind-bendingly amazing).

The more boring truth is that Fuc is not any one person. A number of people have the login details, and the majority of our posts come from submissions from people in Manchester via our email address.

We'll leave you with the frightening news that "Gideon Conn has written a great world cup track with guest vocals from Clint Boon."

Rock Family Trees

Jeremy Deller: 'The History of the World 1997-2004'

Elliot Eastwick: 'By the way, everyone, I played the last record'. Date unknown.

Pete Frame: 'Rock Family Trees' 1969 - late 70s

A row between Elliot and Urbis as to which came first was brought to Fuc's attention on Twitter
recently.

Which came first? More, why does it even matter?

Remember the Hindenburg

This blog's gripe is as much with the continued perpetuation of tired Manc folklore as it is with the various cartoon characters that will continue to flog the same old horse, paying no mind to the fact that it was well and truly interred over a decade ago.

So, once again, we turn our attention to the Guardian's 'new bands' page. This time, they're featuring the band Airship. To lazily sum them up ourselves, they sound like everyband 90s American alt-rock. The Guardian can't help itself though. You see, Airship recorded their first demos in Macclesfield. Not just in Macclesfield, but in a warehouse in Macclesfield.

Quick, my article needs a hook. Can you think of anyone famous musically who's from Macclesfield? No, not Marion, no-one remembers them. Wait a minute... "...they continued to practise in this dingy, dank warehouse, dimly lit by a lightbulb dangling from a dirty ceiling, not dissimilar to the epically bleak, oppressive space immortalised in the video to Love Will Tear Us Apart"

Warehouse...Macclesfield... it's obvious really.

"They won't, they insist, be "donning black overcoats or contemplating suicidal thoughts to music journalists in the hope of shifting a few more records"

No, and why would they? Nowhere - apart from here, within this article written by Paul Lester (never afraid of a quick and lazy 'Dylan jamming stoned with a falsetto Beck' rock cliche) in the Grauniad, would anyone associate a band whose only crime is to have visited SK10 at some point to get some cheap studio time, with Joy Division.

[thanks to For Folk's Sake]

Bernard Speaks

Fuc51 spotted this interview with Bernard Sumner from the excellent Quietus site by Jude Rogers yesterday, and the contrast with his ex-bandmate is stark. Bernard talks fairly candidly about some of the objects of Fuc's past ire, and it's refreshing to hear a faint air bemusement at it all. On Delphic, he mentions 'This ’80s revival is bit weird for me, because if I was to do a track that sounded like it was from that time, I’d get crucified!' - indeed.

We'll let the interview speak for itself. It's plainly obvious from it why Bernard isn't about to hit the road to play Unknown Pleasures to empty venues, or would ever sign his name to anything like this:

Love Will Tear Us Apart....again!
NOW a hit West End musical
featuring the songs of New Order and Joy Division
with Toby Anstis as Ian Curtis
Peter Kaye as Rob Gretton
Peter Hook as himself

(Be still, beating heart. It's not real. Yet.)

"Everyone dancing along Mr Curtis style"

FUC51 received an invite to a gig on Facebook and, well... we'll let it speak for itself.

"on the 18th May 1980 the country lost a legend, to mark his life and music.. Boon Army Army bring you a very special night... TRANSMISSION THE ULTIMATE JOY DIVISION TRIBUTE BAND...

Devoted to recreating the atmosphere of a live Joy Division gig, Transmission emulate the sound of one of the most inventive, evocative and influential groups of their era. Joy Division were formed in the late 1970s and dissolved in May 1980 after the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis.

The remaining members went on to form New Order and have achieved much critical and commercial success. The influence of Joy Division, however, was far reaching. They were considered the pioneering band of the post-punk movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s. More than 30 years on you can still relive the dark cavernous sound of Joy Division through Transmission one of the leading UK tribute bands.

Tickets are an absolute bargain at just £7 as we want this night rammed and everyone dancing along Mr Curtis style... So come down, reminisce and let the music live on..".

Unknown Depths

We'll pass this over to the good people of the DJ History Forum.

Along with the speculation that we might see Norman Collier as vocallist for this exciting project, someone also points out that it's 'very odd to have a tribute with two of the original members boycotting it'. Yes, it is very odd. Very odd indeed.

Yes, it's for charity. Or some of it is, exactly how much isn't disclosed. Feel free to donate here and save yourself the bother.

"It was a nightclub, not the fucking Berlin wall"

Fuc51 is about much more than the Hacienda, as we've detailed in previous posts. But with this kind of thing landing in the Fuc inbox almost daily how can we ignore it?

Imagine how many ltd. edition mousemats you could carve out of, say, a coffin?

(Thanks to Eddy R for the submission)

Pills, Thrills and Wedding Cake

Here's a nice picture of Mr Ryder getting wed to some woman called Joanne. Note, the lovely haircut and fire extinguisher in the background.

Congratulations Shaun! Reception do at Hooky's new club?

(And, your captions please)

We wish them all the best, though for some reason the late Brookside actor Bill Dean springs to mind. Are they by any chance related?



[via]

The blind leading the blind

Which Manc musician of yesteryear used to sign records with all the band members' names to make a few quid? The story goes that the person in question wandered into a record store many years ago and caught sight of one of these 'collectors items' up for sale for £200, and was soon signing everything in sight faster than you can say 'a licence to print money'.

FUC51 hears on the grapevine that there's an exhibition of 'recently unearthed memorabilia' of this band planned for later in the year. Could the two be related? Can you say 'pension plan'?

TV: Inside Out and Factory Records

"Is Manchester caught in a Hacienda timewarp?" asks Oliver 'Tony Wilson's Son' Wilson.

Click here to watch the Inside Out show on iPlayer. Featuring Hooky, Pickering, Ryder, yadda yadda...

FAC are spying on you!

This landed in the FUC51 inbox:

"Hello Fuc 51

I'm thoroughly enjoying and thanking the presence of your blog - entirely necessary.

I just thought I'd let you know that a number of us have started receiving text messages promoting events at Factory, yet we have absolutely no idea how they got our numbers nor how to unsubscribe to them. I presume they bought them or got them off other mailing and
promotion lists, but I've never received texts of this ilk before and neither has anyone else.

So not only do they believe their own hype, but they're spamming people to death for the privilege. We're trapped!"

£600 Book From Mr Hook

There's been a fair few of you getting in touch about Peter Hook's latest product. What's that? It's a book that will cost you £600.

One irked reader said "Speaking as an ex-Hacienda attendee in the late 80's and also a Joy Division and New Order fan, I really do feel that Factory should be left in the past. It was great at the time, but the 50-somethings (in particular, Mr. Hook) should let the Factory mystique go. It was great 20 odd years ago, but not now. It's not helping any new bands out there. Imagine my dismay when I saw this - Hooky still milking it for what it's worth. A £600 edition of his Hacienda book....*groan*"

So what's in this thing? Well, it's a limited edition run of Hooky's 'The Hacienda: How Not to Run a Club'.

The press release says:

"Each hand bound boxed set of the book will include previously unpublished chapters, an exclusive vinyl record of tracks unavailable elsewhere, photographs of rare memorabilia and more."

"Two versions will be published ­ a Regular Edition of 400 copies and a Deluxe Edition of 100 copies. All copies will be signed by Hooky, and genuine pieces of the bar and dance floor rescued by him from the Hacienda will be incorporated into the packages."

"The Deluxe edition will incorporate a holographic cover, an exclusive coloured vinyl 10" record, a numbered piece of the Hacienda's bar top and more"

When people rob graves, some cunt tends to die of some hex or mosquito bite... so we can only keep our fingers crossed that Hooky's cock falls off or something (we're not total animals).

This festival is sponsored by Mike and the Mechanics' 'Lookin' Back Over My Shoulder'

Oh! Whoopee! The Warehouse Project hosting a festival at Platt Fields! So, who to expect? Well, on the 11th June we'll be given a forward thinking treat in the form of...

Ian Brown, Bad Lieutenant (which features New Order's Bernard Sumner), Haçienda DJ Mike Pickering, ex-New Order bass player Peter Hook (DJ set), and Factory deadbeats A Certain Ratio. Eastern Bloc alumni Mr Scruff will appear, along with Justin Robertson and a whole load of slightly balding thirtysomethings all asking for Es.