Born from a desire to inspire, The Honest Youth (THY) have been making their way around the country in a restored Bailey caravan – providing an innovative way of enjoying and creating music.
Founder, George Carson, launched THY back in 2015 after having to rethink his dreams of owning his own bar. Following a long, hard graft saving enough money to buy a venue, he realised he didn’t quite fancy being tied down.
So, in 2017 he used the savings to buy an old caravan instead – transforming it into a little pop-up festival stage, offering the ideal music venue for any occasion complete with sound-system, lighting and (perhaps most importantly) a fully-stocked bar with beer pumps.
Soon enough, THY were getting hired to do small local festivals and events. They even got to host Blossoms’ ‘Cool Like You’ album signing which George says was a pinnacle moment.
Then came lockdown.
ADVERTISEMENT
But not all was lost. Over the past year, George has been able to put the caravan to good use to keep spirits up at home.
“In the caravan we would have people round on a winter night, wrap them in fairy lights and have mini gigs on my drive,” George told us.
ADVERTISEMENT
“I have such good memories of this time. Everything was so new and exciting the talent was unreal and I wouldn’t have to pack up and drive home so I could have a drink with everyone and relax.”
The Honest Youth stage
As so many of us found ourselves with a little extra time throughout the pandemic, George used it to develop and future-proof his THY concept.
He admits the journey hasn’t been easy. George had to hone and grow his skills from starting as a bartender to becoming a jack of all trades.
ADVERTISEMENT
Now, THY is on a new venture to offer a mobile recording studio. With the hire comes delivery, set-up, PA, equipment and live sound engineering. It’s the full package – and for a very reasonable price, too – starting from just £70.
“I took to the opportunity this year to adapt my skills and equipment and start doing mobile recordings,” George said.
“Really, my goal has always been to surround myself with creative people learn from some maybe teach some others.
“I have learned so much – I thought this would be easy. ‘Build it and they will come’. I started almost 10 years ago as an experienced barman looking to open a bar and since I have had to become a sound engineer, a joiner, an advertiser, a roadie, a cameraman, an accountant, a cleaner, the list goes on – I just need to learn how to be a businessman now.”
Not only does THY allow George to fulfil his own career ambitions, but it provides musicians all over the city with the opportunity to create music wherever they are. Be that in their living room, a field or by the beach.
ADVERTISEMENT
George says the studio aimed at people like him – people who are bored of stuffy and windowless studios and rehearsal rooms and for people who get to the studio and their mind goes blank with a lack of creativity.
By taking the studio to wherever people want, he wants musicians to feel comfortable and inspired by their surroundings. So, he’s created a space that adapts and works for everyone.
“There is a big thing in recording where people are judged by the size of their desk and equipment and it’s easy to think that the million-pound studio will get the best from your song because they have it all.
“But studios are like hairdressers sometimes. You can go in, tell them everything you want and get the same short back and sides as the five people before you. You want to find the one that will listen to you create something with you and share the passion you have for your own music.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CNHpPcChTQ3/
George wants anyone who is considering hiring THY studio to just get in touch for a chat. Over the years, he’s spent too much of his own time deliberating over lyrics he’s written, too scared to perform them for fear of someone telling him he’s got it all wrong.
ADVERTISEMENT
“If you have a passion for something that’s sick, even if you just have a few lyrics written down and no idea how you want it to sound, or if you don’t play any instruments or are just sick of the same four chords on every song, just ping us on Facebook or Instagram.
“I love what I do – and the advice is always free. A lot of music is deeply personal to people and sharing can be difficult. I have written some dreadful songs, but there is no right and wrong in music.
“So, don’t be shy!”
Find more information about hiring The Honest Youth studio or pop-up venue via their website.
Music
Chatting the return of Northern Soul live and Orchestrated with radio legend Stuart Maconie
Danny Jones
Ahead of the wildly successful and cult-favourite Northern Soul Orchestrated UK tour returning to the likes of Manchester, Liverpool and more, we were lucky enough to get some time with the man curating the latest run of sensational shows.
Following the success of its debut at the Royal Albert Hall as part of last year’s BBC Proms, what was intended to be a one-off night of music is now a fully-fledged live production coming to the O2 Apollo this winter alongside a small handful of select and equally special venues.
Similarly, the classic Northern Soul tracks being pulled out of the archives are just as carefully hand-picked by radio legend and the event’s much-loved host, Stuart Maconie, a revered veteran broadcaster for the best part of three decades.
Set to take his baby and the brilliant BBC Orchestra on the road once again for four nights only, we sat down with Stu to break down why people are once again going mad for the music and dance movement.
Northern Soul Orchestrated returns this November, how are you feeling ahead of the tour?
Oh, really excited. I mean, the shows so far have been incredible. People always talk up things obviously, but I couldn’t have predicted the level of excitement we’ve got from the crowd.
I mean, it all comes out of that one performance, as you know, that Northern Soul prom at Albert Hall last year, which was just a triumph and almost immediately we all thought, “We can’t only do this once.”
And so we did we did a string of dates in April, including at Factory International in Manchester, and the audiences have been incredible. I mean, this music is music that it’s hard not to love, you know what I mean? It’s passionate, it’s dramatic, it’s brilliant, and people don’t just quite like Northern Soul, you know what I mean? They love it.
There are some real devotees who know every song, and you can see that they know every word of these songs even though they were never hit records.
Yeah, it’s always had a real cult-like following, right?
For sure. These songs mean so much to them because they’ve been the soundtrack of their life since they were teenagers so they’ve grown up to them: they got their first job to them, they got their first partner to them; they got married, they got divorced, they’ve lost loved ones, they’ve lost jobs etc.
I also think they speak about the things that really concern people in their lives. Heartbreak, work, family, and you can see it in their eyes just how much this music means to them.
Having said that, if you’ve never heard a note of Northern Soul, if it’s a baffling mystery to you – less these days than it used to be because back in the day, in the 1970s, it was very much an underground thing; little clubs, people exchanging records almost in secret. That was part of its allure, I think.
You went to these clubs and heard this music that nobody else knew about. You met like-minded people from all around the country so, yeah, it was a real cultish scene. But now, thanks to the internet – although the internet’s got many things to answer for – it’s been great for putting people together like Northern Soul fans.
You can now buy compilation CDs of records that would’ve been as rare as hen’s teeth back in the 70s, so it’s helped ‘keep the faith’ as the phrase goes and spread the word and I’m really excited about it.
Absolutely, and you kind of have the ideal role as curator, don’t you?
Oh yes, I mean, the shows like the April were astonishing, emotional and thrilling, and I’ve got such a great day ahead of me, it’s fantastic.
I’ve got the best job there because yeah, most of the work’s already done; I just sit back and enjoy it basically, yeah. I come on five or six times, I wave and people go mad, you know. The crowd’s having a great time and loving it – I just get a chance to be part of this fantastic party.
It is good and useful to have me there though [he laughs] because you need to set the music in some kind of context and it’s good to go to places and talk a little about their time and their experience of Northern Soul.
All the places we’ve been so far have got their own rich bit of Northern Soul heritage. Manchester, obviously, with the Twisted Wheel [nightclub] – arguably the birthplace of the movement – and I guess there might be one or two people that actually went there then and are now reliving it.
Yeah, I think it’s also having a real renaissance at the minute too – like Northern Soul Nights are a thing once again all over Greater Manchester and beyond, be it in Stockport or under the arches at Thirsty Scholar as it has for years...
—You know it and, more importantly, new generations are hearing it now. It’s a bit like folk music or the Beatles or whatever: new generations hear it and there’s something just so brilliant about the music, it transcends genre, it transcends generation.
Anybody who likes music hears ‘Do I Love You’ by Frank Wilson or these records, and goes “God, this is good”, and it transcends those usual boundaries. I think it’s just quintessentially brilliant pop music.
What is it you think about the genre and maybe the era as well that you think makes it so special? Because like you say it’s not just the music, it’s the aesthetic, the style of movement, the fashion…
Yeah, everything. I think that a lot of it has to do with that cultishness we mentioned. You’re not just getting into a style of music, you’re getting into a way of life in a way, of like-minded people. There’s a lot about friendship and a lot about class, I think, in the best sense of the word.
ADVERTISEMENT
One of the things I love about the music, and I say this a lot, is this was music primarily made by working-class Black people in Detroit and New York and American industrial cities in the late 1960s, mid-60s, then embraced by working-class white people in the north and the middles in the early 1970s.
I really love that sense of kinship between those two communities. I think that they have a lot in common and I think it’s important to showcase that. They were people who worked hard, often in demanding jobs that were not well paid, and I think they sang about the things that were true to them, like their lives, their jobs; their heartbreaks, their love lives and their families. I think that’s why people relate to it.
It just looks good too; the dancing’s great and it has a whole associated aesthetic, as you say – a real built-in subculture and you can buy into different bits of it as well. Like, I know some of the big Northern Soul DJs never dance. Yeah. I mean, they’re into the collecting and the curation, but they don’t dance.
In fact, I’ve only very rarely seen some of the top DJs dance. Some people are into it for the dancing, some people are into it for the clothes, some people are into it for just the music.
There are even people who actively track down everything on the Revilot or Ric-Tic label and stuff like that. There’s so much to enjoy and it has a real sense of joy and community at its heart I think.
Yeah, it’s a very upbeat and uplifting scene. Will we be seeing you pulling out any moves at all?
You know what, I think I might do. I’m not sure if I’ve done that yet. The trouble is, it’s a bit difficult for me because, with the best will in the world, if I go out into the crowd while it’s happening, people then want to stop and talk. I’d love to but I’d be there forever, you know, but it is a lovely atmosphere.
At the prom, I snuck out into the bit where the promenade is for a bit during ‘The Night’ by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, brilliantly sung by Darrell Smith. It was an amazing moment, I’ll never forget it. The whole other hour that I was on their feet.
I love that. I mean, obviously, you mentioned the debut at the Proms – what’s changed in the production since then?
We’re still talking about what to do for the event dates and it’s a nice dilemma to have. It works so well and you’re taking it to new audiences, so we have been debating do we freshen it up or ‘if ain’t broke don’t fix it’?
ADVERTISEMENT
We dropped and added a few songs between the Prom and the live show but we’re still in discussion about what to do because these are new audiences and also a lot of people saw that performance because it was the most watched televised Prom after the annual Last Night of, I believe.
So a lot of people watched it and recorded it; you also don’t want it to disappoint and people do want to have that experience recreated in a live setting, so you don’t want to disappoint them. Last year it was very important to me and Joe [Duddell] that we had the same singers and BBC Concert Hall Orchestra,
I think if people had come along and seen, frankly, an inferior orchestra or an inferior set of singers, maybe they’d have felt shortchanged, so it was important that we replicated as much as we could and that’s what we’re doing. To those who come along and help, we can guarantee you a brilliant night out.
Stu at the helm on stage for the Northern Soul Orchestrated debut in 2023 (Credit: Andy Paradise via supplied)
Yeah, obviously the classics are gonna be a mainstay and you just touched on Joe there, a very talented Manchester local – how special is it to have him on board?
Yeah, so it’s weird now thinking that when we go out and we go on stage and there are waves of love and passion from the audience. I remember in our early Zoom calls where we were just with a big spreadsheet going, “What should we do? What about this Should we put that there?”
ADVERTISEMENT
I remember us having those discussions and very quickly realising these songs are really short and that we were going to be doing about 34 songs, so a lot of it was thinking how do we pace it? Because obviously, you could just have banger after banger and have people exhausted after an hour and a half.
Sometimes, you know, you need a little bit of texture – a little bit of tempo change – but by the end, it’s just one big party. It’s amazing to think that we started swapping emails and sending Spotify links to see if this would work and specifics like whether we’d need bassoons, and now we’ve brought it to life.
A lot of it was me saying, “Well, you know Joe mate, I’ll leave that up to you!”
Fair enough haha – but yes, there has to be a lot more hard work that goes into building the set on both ends, surely?
One of our great decisions early on, I think, was we have a band, we have the orchestra, we’re fantastic, but at the centre of the stage we have another little band, so we have a bass a drummer and electric guitars, and that’s really neat because the record themselves had those elements.
ADVERTISEMENT
The difference is that when people put orchestras on pop music nowadays, this is how the people who made these records would have wanted them to sound if they had the money back then. The people who made these records back in Detroit in 1966 would have loved to have them sound like this if they could have afforded the BBC Concert Orchestra, so really we’re giving this music the treatment it deserves.
I love that. And yeah, there are obviously some stunning venues to play like the Apollo at the Philarmonic Hall in Liverpool and the beautifully refurbished Stockton Globe – how magical is it for you guys to be playing these venues like so many before you?
Yep, The Beatles and The Stones, Paul Robeson and many others have tread those boards and they’ve all got a really rich and storied history. It’s going to be great and I hope there’ll be many more to come after this as well.
Fingers crossed. Lastly, if you could sum up Northern Soul Orchestrated in three words, what would those three words be?
Featured Images — Charles Patch/Andy Paradise/Press Images (supplied)
Music
Inside Sifters Records, the time capsule record shop that inspired Oasis
Harry Quick
The date the world never thought was coming is set. Manchester’s most famous brothers have against all the odds put their differences aside for music’s greater good. Oasis are BACK.
I suppose it is only good news at the moment if you were one of the lucky few who managed to secure a ticket to one of the 17 gigs (actually, now 19 with two new dates added) in the Oasis 25′ Tour. If you didn’t – hard luck – but there is arguably one shop owner who deserves one more than most.
Fans of our most iconic band from all around the world should show their gratitude to a little record store in Burnage for helping to make that happen. Some might say, Sifters Records is the home of the Gallaghers’ love for music. The two brothers were brought up just a stone’s throw away from here on Cranwell Drive and were regular visitors of Sifters throughout their teenage years.
Noel has previously mentioned how he used to stroll around to Sifters on Fog Lane and pick up records by the likes of The Smiths, Joy Division and The Happy Mondays, which would help inspire some of the world-renowned anthems Oasis would later go on to create. The relationship between the Gallaghers and Sifters Records is emblematic of their deep roots in Manchester’s music scene.
If you feel like you’ve heard the name before, you probably have as Liam mentions the store in the song ‘Shakermaker’. In the final verse of the song – before the closing Shake Along with Me / Them interlude – he gets his special mention.
The lyrics “Mr Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen, now he stops at traffic lights but only when they’re green” pay homage to its main road location and the lads’ musical upbringing before the international stardom.
Sifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc GroupSifters Records inspired Oasis’ love of music – and gets a namecheck in Shakermaker. Credit: The Manc Group
If the lyrics alone don’t put an image in your head, the official music video for the song pictures Liam stereotypically swaggering towards the shop front in a parka and shades on the hunt for some new music. After flicking through a few 12″ vinyls he shows Red Rose Speedway to the camera by Paul McCartney’s – Wings. I wonder if he bought it that day or could it still be in there?
In a brand new 30-minute interview filmed ahead of the 30th anniversary of Definitely Maybe, Noel revealed how he wrote the infamous lyric in an off-the-cuff moment directly outside the shop.
“I have to say this shop has not changed a bit. I bought a lot of my records in here, it’s where I discovered my love of ‘best of’ albums.
“Every time I hear Shakermaker I remember pulling up in that car and looking over and seeing the song.”
It’s no wonder this was Noel’s favourite place to scope out new tunes growing up. It’s still one of Manchester’s most impressive collections with hundreds, if not thousands of vintage LPs.
Most of these are from the personal collection of ‘Mr Sifter’ himself Pete Howard who has run this musical mecca since 1977. The building itself has an unchanged charm – a time capsule of fading band posters, windows of unrelated local advertisements and well-trodden carpet from the thousands of feet on a pilgrimage from far and wide.
Fans from across the globe have rocked up for a word with Pete and the admiration for his store only keeps growing, which he sometimes struggles to believe how fortunate he got. If you pop in looking for any Oasis discography, good luck, it doesn’t stick around long.
When ‘Definitely Maybe’ dropped in ’94 he said he recognised the members of the band straight just from the album cover.
Now, with a deluxe edition re-release 30 years later, and a reunion tour around the corner, it’s undeniable that the whole world does – let’s just hope they stay mates this time!
Hannah Starkie -
16th April 2021 
