Photo: Wenn
Manchester's music scene has hit a bit of a drought since the 90s, there is no avoiding that very idea.
Who better to save it than the favourite to become the mayor, Andy Burnham?
In an interview ahead of his debate with local DJing legend, Dave Haslam, Burnham told MEN: “I am somebody who’s studied the Manchester music scene over many years. I regularly go to gigs here all the time.
“I notice just a bit of complacency really has crept in. We’re trading on the big names of the past too much
“I don’t see a music scene that was like the one I remember growing up here.”
The candidate has, rather oddly, said that he would like to channel Tony H. Wilson in an attempt to restore the city's glory days.
Now the idea of Andy Burnham sweating buckets back in the hey days of The Hacienda, is an image that everybody can probably take great pleasure in.
Wonder what Burnham would call his label? Would he run it with financial interests at heart, or the way Factory was with no interest in finances?
Who knows, but maybe Burnham might just find the new Joy Division, the next Mondays, or nothing at all.
Dave Haslam is probably looking forward to being reffered to as "darling", all the same ahead of his debate.
Haslam told MEN: “I’ll grill him on what he’d do to protect music venues, which are constantly under threat.
“I want to know what powers the mayor will have to stop closures to help revive the city’s music scene.
“Cheap spaces are important - not just venues, but practice spaces. They’re at a premium at the moment.
“We have to make sure creative young people stay in the city and don’t move to the south east. We have to stop the brain drain.
“To save Manchester’s music scene, the mayor will have to make sure they engage with the wider population.
“Andy Burnham clearly understands that Manchester has a very important music scene.
“But he understands it’s not just about history - it’s about protecting that scene now.”
The Off The Record event will feature both Burnham and Liverpool's mayoral candidate on the 4th November, in Manchester's Northern Quarter.
