WORKING MEN’S CLUB + DJ MATTHEW HUM – O2 RITZ, MANCHESTER 12.11.21
Of all of the acts I witnessed performing live at the ‘Mutations Festival’ in Brighton from 4th to 7th November, Heavenly recording artists Working Men’s Club were my favourites.
When I first noted their name emblazoned across the event’s striking promotional posters, I became very excited indeed. Their self-titled 47 minute debut album hit the unsuspecting world on 2nd October 2020 and I have been playing my copy ever since, along with the arguably even finer single sided 12” Megamix that preceded the LP on 29th August 2020. I wanted to urgently see the live quartet again at my earliest opportunity and little did I know that a mere six days later my wish would come true.
I was attending the impressive ‘Louder Than Words Festival’ at the Innside Hotel in Manchester (which is opposite where the famous Hacienda nightclub used to be) from 12th to 14th November and on my way to the hotel, my eyes were drawn out of the taxi window to a poster outside a venue that was stating that Working Men’s Club were performing that very night. No sooner had I noticed the poster, when the taxi stopped. My hotel was only a few yards away from the event which was to happen at the O2 Ritz. I just had to go!
I had a hit list of ‘in conversations’ that I wished to attend at the ‘Louder Than Words Festival’ (including punk legend Jordan Mooney talking about the forthcoming ‘Pistol’ series and ace photographer Kevin Cummins in conversation with John Robb about his book ‘Joy Division: Juvenes’) and another one of these was titled ‘EVER FALLEN IN LOVE – The Lost Buzzcocks Tapes: Buzzcocks Panel Discussion’. This was featuring author Louie Shelley, former band drummer John Maher and graphic designer Malcolm Garrett in conversation with Louder Than War’s John Robb, who is a renowned journalist, TV presenter, regular TV and radio pundit. They were to be talking all things Buzzcocks in celebration of this superb new book, presented in collaboration with the Pete Shelley Memorial Campaign.
Sadly this clashed with the concert, what was I to do? I had heard that ‘Louder Than Words Festival’ events were going to be live streamed and so in the hope of somehow catching the Buzzcocks event later, I had chosen to go to the Working Men’s Club concert. As luck would have it, I had the opportunity of a one-to-one with Malcolm Garrett during the weekend. For those of you that don’t know, he was the chap that designed virtually all of the Buzzcocks singles and album covers. He was a very decent fellow indeed.
Myself and my girlfriend arrived at the iconic O2 Ritz (originally known as The Ritz) on Whitworth Street West and after passing the stringent covid documentation requirements, we entered the Grade II listed building, which was built in 1927. It first opened as an Art-Deco ballroom and has been at the heart of Manchester’s nightlife and music scene for almost 100 years.
This was our very first time in the Manchester Ritz. In order to compare it to the Brighton music venues that we know, it has ground floor capacity similar to CHALK in Pool Valley, but The Ritz has a fancy first floor balcony all around the three sides, which reminded me of Sherry’s back in the day (ask yer mum)! The Ritz is clearly geared for drinking, as there are bars on both sides and to the rear of the venue. The front has a crowd barrier the same as the Concorde 2 and the stage is about the same height as well, so everyone can see the band. According to the locals that we were talking to inside the venue, it has been used in the past for Ballroom Dances, Northern Soul nights, Country Dancing and the like. This evening, above either side of the stage there was a bank of six angled speakers as well as stage level speakers. It was going to be a full on performance.
There’s a buzz in the air as the support DJ (‘Matthew Hum’) plays dance and acid house tunes on his Pioneer decks. The stage venue is bathed in red and white light prior to Working Men’s Club coming on stage.
Working Men’s Club hail from Todmorden in West Yorkshire and were formed in mid-2018 by vocalist/guitarist Sydney Minsky-Sargeant, guitarist Giulia Bonometti, and drummer Jake Bogacki. After the release of their debut single ‘Bad Blood’, the band evolved towards a more electronic sound, with Bonometti and Bogacki leaving the project, replaced by bassist Liam Ogburn, and multi-instrumentalists Mairead O’Connor and Rob Graham.
Prior to the headliners taking to the stage, I was endeavouring to study the equipment that they use and I spied an ARP Odyssey, Behringer MonoPoly Analog Synthesizer, Akai, Korg Prologue, another Korg, several more keyboards, Fender guitar, bass, another two guitars. Mairead’s Korg Prologue equipment brought a chuckle, as the Korg lettering had been amended to read ‘Orgy’.
The punters were an eclectic lot ranging from aged 16 to those in their 60’s. Most people are sharing northern banter with each other during Matthew Hum’s DJ set which ceased at 9:14pm.
The loudspeakers then blasted out the intro tape which was ‘Fernando’ by ABBA and at 9:16pm heavy synth sounds signalled the beginning of the performance. The young quartet consisting of Sydney Minsky-Sargeant, Liam Ogburn, Rob Graham and Mairead O’Connor were there live in front of us. Sydney was sporting a hooded overcoat, that was discarded in a short while as was his jumper later on in favour of his vest. He is very much the central character of the outfit and it’s hard to move your eyes away from him as he struts around the stage, whilst his trio of bandmates remain relatively static for the duration.
They were to perform eleven numbers for us this evening, which was one more than at the Mutations Festival in Brighton. The difference being track nine, the as yet unreleased ‘Rapture’. In fact this was not the only currently unreleased tune of the night, there was to be a trio of others, with the remaining seven tunes to be found on their debut self-titled album.
The opening song ‘19’ was gratefully received by the crowd and it flowed almost seamlessly into ‘Valleys’ from their album. I say almost seamlessly as it was noticeable on its start that ‘Valleys’ heavy bass made your eardrums rattle.
The rockier ‘Cook A Coffee’ followed as both Sydney and Mairead picked up their guitars in favour of the various synths. Normal electronics service was resumed with song four, an unreleased number called ‘Widow’ which had a wonderful retro sound akin to a heavy vintage Numan, coupled with Liam’s rumbly bass. This was totally awesome and clearly one of the highlights for me of their 55 minute set.
The unusually titled ‘A.A.A.A.’ was up next and saw Sydney playing with his vest and making suggestive movements in front of his groin. The funky ‘John Cooper Clarke’ (their tune, not the man) was to follow with Mairead heading back on guitar and that twanged to perfection.
The unreleased ‘Money Is Mine’ was given to us next and anyone present that was or is into acid house would have no doubt have been most pleased with this number. ‘Be My Guest’ was the next choice and its intro reminded me of Neneh Cherry’s ‘Buffalo Stance’ and has the catchy lyrics “Let me in, let me out, let me scream now”.
‘The only tune I hadn’t heard in Brighton six days earlier, namely ‘Rapture’ came next. This explodes with a wall of noise after about a minute or so. Their penultimate number was ‘Angel’, which is a retro synth monster of a tune in the vein of a hypnotic Germanic classic. The closing number could only really ever be their longest tune ‘Teeth’, which is a serious banger! For this finale Sydney decided to join us and go crowd surfing. This heightened the crowd’s excitement and at 10:09pm they were sadly done. It’s fair to say that they make it their own and have bundles of raw energy and you never know what’s coming next. A must see live act!
In September the band announced that their second album has been recorded and I for one can’t wait for its release!
Working Men’s Club are:
Sydney Minsky-Sargeant (vocals/guitar/drum machine/synth)
Liam Ogburn (bass)
Rob Graham (guitar/synth)
Mairead O’Connor (guitar/keyboards/vocals)
Working Men’s Club setlist:
‘19’ (unreleased)
‘Valleys’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Cook A Coffee’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Widow’ (unreleased)
‘A.A.A.A.’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘John Cooper Clarke’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Money Is Mine’ (unreleased)
‘Be My Guest’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Rapture’ (unreleased)
‘Angel’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
‘Teeth’ (found on 2020 ‘Working Men’s Club’ album)
Purchase Working Men’s Club music at store.workingmensclub.net
Find out more at workingmensclub.net
