BlueMoonRisin’
Well-Known Member
Easy enough if you are from Manchester or London or even Liverpool to point to your musical heritage but what if you are from one of the hundreds of smaller towns around. Macclesfield has been my home for over 30 years and we don't do too bad, starting with Joy Division, even if all the members didn't originate here Ian Curtis was a local and I believe that one or two of the surviving members live in the villages around.
Macclesfield was also the birth place of John Mayall, not my cup of tea but a musical heavyweight all the same.
Nowadays the Virgin Mary's attract a lot of good press. I've never listened to them to be honest, I expect I should
Years ago I used to write the music column for the local rag and produced a fanzine for a while. My favourite band of the time were the Big White Stairs whose peak was a couple of very good live reviews in the NME for their Syd Barrett/ Pink Floyd influenced sound and light shows. Having failed to make headway though they evolved into a sub Coming Up era Suede pop band although I'm not sure that they would have claimed Suede as an influence. Anyway, a couple of their better efforts
Around the same time the apparent heirs to the Smiths were Marion who made it onto Top of the Pops and had one of their tracks on a Peugeot advert. I think that is as good as it got. Guitarist Phil Cunningham went on to work with Electronic and New Order as a touring member.
Before moving to Macc I lived in Burnage. Don't think any successful bands came from there but I did know Max Beesley, slightly, who besides being an actor has played a bit, apparently. Robbie Williams, Take That and Brand New Heavies amongst his credits.
You didn't even mention a band that actually come from Macclesfield and they are the Macc Lads. Not everyone's cup of tea but i think they're funny as fuck.