The Haçienda Page 25
As it all fell apart, Rob and Tony fought like cat and dog. Tony resented the club because it sucked up Factory’s money. I remember him saying to me, ‘If it weren’t for your club, I’d still have my record label.’
Once Factory went bump, Tony all but gave up on the Haçienda because he didn’t have either the investment money or the heart to keep up with Rob and me; he turned his attentions instead to In the City, a series of music seminars he held in Manchester. He attended directors’ meetings occasionally and was very verbal when it came to offering ideas – even towards the end, when he couldn’t do anything about the Haçienda from a financial point of view – but I think his interest had waned.
Aside from the emotional fallout it caused, the collapse of Factory had direct impact on the Haçienda because the label stopped bailing it out. Ang once told me that at least £16 million passed through her hands during the time she worked there, but the Haçienda still required external funding on a regular basis. Profits on ticket and drink sales alone couldn’t keep it open and pay the costs.
Where did it all go? Ang would open the doors at nine p.m. (the queues having started to form at seven fifteen),and after forty minutes she’d lock us in the building because she’d let in too many people. She oversaw eighteen staff and eight tills at the bar, three door staff and door takings, too. Her job for that first hour involved taking pound notes out of the tills and putting change back in. After that, she’d fill up cardboard boxes with money – with no time to count it – then dash to the offices and lock the money in the safe. It was mind-boggling.
We were surrounded by a fortune we couldn’t keep and thugs we couldn’t control. When a gangster from the Salford lot celebrated at the club one night Ang received a shock: he walked into her back area, a bottle of champagne in hand, looked around and told her, ‘One day I’ll be telling my son that this is his to inherit.’
It made her wonder how much power the gangs truly had over us, or at least how much they thought they had.
JANUARY
Friday 3rd SHINE! Mike Pickering; Russ; plus guests
Saturday 4th Graeme Park; Tom Wainwright
Thursday 9th BEAUTIFUL 2000 Dave Haslam; Jason Boardman
Wednesday 29th FLESH ‘QUEERSEXY’ Tim; Luke Howerd; PA by MC Kinky
FEBRUARY
Friday 7th SHINE! Mike Pickering; Mr Fingers
Wednesday 12th Sasha; Mike Pickering; PA by Joey Negro
Friday 14th VALENTINE SHINE! Mike Pickering
Wednesday 19th The Brand New Heavies; Ashley and Jackson Marco; Dean
Friday 21st SHINE! Mike Pickering; Allister Whitehead
Wednesday 26th FLESH Tim; Luke Howerd
Friday 28th SHINE! Mike Pickering; PA by E-lustrious
MARCH
Wednesday 4th ROBS RECORDS PARTY ACR; Anambi Jon DaSilva; Andy Robinson; Dave Rofe; Peter Robinson
Set-list (ACR): Manic – ‘Good Together’, Shack Up – ‘Won’t Stop Loving You’, Spirit Dance – ‘Teckno 4 An Answer’, Wonder Y – ‘Mello’, 27 Forever – ‘Be What You Wanna Be’, Si Firmi – ‘O Grido’
Set-list (Jon DaSilva): Sounds of Blackness – ‘The Pressure’, Tramaine – ‘Fall Down’, Gypsymen – ‘Stoppin’ Us’, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam – ‘Let the Beat Hit ’Em’ (The Paradise Garage Club Mix), Cookie Watkins – ‘I’m Attracted to You’, Photon Inc. – ‘Generate Power’, Blow – ‘Cutter’, New Grooves Vol. II – ‘2 A.M.’, Joey Negro – ‘Do What You Feel’, The Emotions – ‘I Don’t Want to Lose Your Love’, Korda – ‘Move Your Body’, Simone – ‘My Family Depends on Me’, Little Louie Vega and Marc Anthony – ‘Ride on the Rhythm’, S.L.Y. – ‘I Need a Freak’, Clubhouse – ‘Deep in My Heart’ (Red Zone Mix), Jomanda |‘Got a Love for You’, D-Rail feat. Randy B – ‘Bring it on Down’ (Dub Mix), Cool House – ‘Rock this Party Right’, Julian ‘Jumpin’ Perez – ‘Relight My Fire’ (Mike Dunn’s Mixx), K Klass – ‘Rhythm is a Mystery’, DSK – ‘What Would We Do’, Ralphi Rosario – ‘You Used to Hold Me’, Chris Cuevas – ‘Hip Hop’ (MAW Dub), DSK – ‘What Would We Do’ (Eight Minutes Of Madness Mix), Ralphi Rosario – ‘You Used to Hold Me’, The Bassheads – ‘Who Can Make Me Feel Good’, Kym Sims – ‘Too Blind to See It’, Ce Ce Peniston – ‘Finally’, First Choice – ‘Let No Man Put Asunder’, Members of the House – ‘These Are My People’ (Rainbow Mix), Rochelle Fleming – ‘Love Itch’ (Acapella), Band of Gypsies – ‘Take Me Higher’
Friday 6th SHINE! David Morales; Mike Pickering; Russ
Friday 13th Sasha
Wednesday 18th FUNK WITH A SHORT FUSE Dean; Peter
Thursday 19th LAST OF BEAUTIFUL 2000
Friday 20th Sasha
Wednesday 25th FLESH Tim; Luke Howerd PA by Daryl Pandy; fashion show by Billy of Emporium
Friday 27th Sasha
Saturday 28th Graeme Park
Set-list: Bump – ‘I’m Rushing’ (Acapella), Shawn Christopher – ‘Don’t Lose the Magic’ (Morales Mix), Little Louie Vega and Marc Anthony – ‘Ride on the Rhythm’, Sounds of Blackness – ‘The Pressure’, Frankie Knuckles – ‘Workout’ (Workin’ Dub), Sinnamon – ‘I Need You Now’ (Disco Brothers 7” Remix), Todd Terry – ‘I’ll Do Anything’, Partners Inc. – ‘Hustle Ain’t Over’, Fire Island – ‘In Your Bones’, Double FM – ‘Illusion’, Queen Latifah – ‘How Do I Love Thee’ (Extended Club Mix), Daisy Dee – ‘Pump it Up All the Way’ (Pumped Up Mix), PM Dawn – ‘Watcher’s Point of View’ (Todd Terry Melody Remix), Eleanore Mills – ‘Mr. Right’ (The Superb Parkside Mix), Kathy Sledge – ‘Take Me Back to Love Again’ (Shelter Me Mix), Bump – ‘I’m Rushing’ (Big Bump Mix)
APRIL
Wednesday 1st APRIL FUSE DAY Dean; Peter; Norman Jay
Friday 3rd SHINE! Sasha; Mike Pickering
Friday 10th Mike Pickering; Sasha
Sunday 12th Sasha; Altern 8
Friday 17th Mike Pickering; Sasha
Monday 20th BANK HOLIDAY FLESH Tim; Luke Howerd; Kinky Gerlinky
Friday 24th Mike Pickering; Sasha
Wednesday 29th FLESH WITH LOVE FROM LIVERPOOL PAs by Liverpool’s ‘8’ Records; Coloursex; Whole New Dream; Connie Lush; Jane Casey Tim; Luke Howerd; Princess Julia
MAY
Monday 4th TEN: THE FASHION Tom Wainwright; fashion shows by Michiko Koshino; Vivienne Westwood; John Richmond; Body Map
Wednesday 6th FUSE Don-E Dean; Peter
Friday 8th SHINE! Sasha; Mike Pickering
Wednesday 13th Pet Shop Boys; Derek Jarman; Cicero Sasha
Thursday 21st TENTH BIRTHDAY PARTY Mike Pickering; Graeme Park; David Morales; Frankie Knuckles
Friday 22nd BIRTHDAY SHINE! Mike Pickering; Russ; Frankie Knuckles
Saturday 23rd Graeme Park; Tom Wainwright; David Morales
Wednesday 27th Tom Wainwright
Set-list: Perception – ‘Feed the Feeling’ (Slam Mix), Black Sheep – ‘Strobelight Honey’, Little Louie Vega and Marc Anthony – ‘Ride on the Rhythm’ (MAW Dub), So Damn Tuff – ‘Pleasure & Pain’, Lil Louis – ‘Club Lonely’, Underground Mass – ‘Music (Takes Control)’ (Pucci Mix), Blake Baxter – ‘One More Time’ (Red Planet Mix), Soul II Soul – ‘Move Me No Mountain’ (Dum Dum Dub), Grace Under Pressure – ‘Make My Day’, Code Red – ‘Deep Beats Vol. 1 Track B1’, Urbanized – ‘Helpless (I Don’t Know What I’d Do)’, Tito Puente – ‘Para Los Rumberos (Kenlou Remix)’, Frankie Knuckles – ‘Workout’ (1992 Vocal Mix), A Man Called Adam – ‘Bread, Love and Dreams’ (Parkside Mix), Virgo – ‘Mechanically Replayed’, Inner City – ‘Pennies from Heaven’(Tony Humphries Norty Boy Mix),Joey Negro – ‘Love Fantasy’, Clubland – ‘(I’m Under) Love Strain’ (Lost in the Jungle Mix), Pet Shop Boys – ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ (Red Zone Mix), MK – ‘Burning’ (MK Extended Remix), Degrees of Motion – ‘Shine On’
JUNE
Friday 26th SHINE! D-Influence, Sasha; Russ
AUGUST
Saturday 8th Graeme Park
Saturday 22nd Graeme Park
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Set-list: Nightmares on Wax – ‘Set Me Free’, Kathy Sledge – ‘Heart’ (Hardubb Mix), Nightcrawlers – ‘Push the Feelin’ On’ (MK’s Dub of Doom), Double F.M. – ‘Illusion’, Planet X – ‘Once Upon a Dancefloor’, Sunscreem – ‘Love U More’ (Parkside Mix), Sheer Bronze – ‘Walkin’ On’, Mombassa – ‘Cry Freedom’, the Reese Project – ‘Colour of Love’ (Deep Reese Mix), Mental Instrum – ‘Bott-ee Rider’ (Smack that Bott-ee Mix), Pamela Fernandez – ‘Kickin’ in the Beat’ (Acapella), Pamela Fernandez – ‘Kickin’ in the Beat’ (AIM Dub), Meli’sa Morgan – ‘Still in Love With You’ (Meli’sa in the House Mix), Malaika – ‘So Much Love’, Kathy Sledge – ‘Heart’ (Revival Mix), FPI Project – ‘Feel It’, TC 1992 – ‘Funky Guitar’, Urban Jungle – ‘Bad Man’, Solution – ‘Feels So Right’, Club Z – ‘I Wanna Be Someone’ (12” Vocal Mix)
Friday 28th SHINE! Mike Pickering; Russ; David Morales
SEPTEMBER
Friday 11th SHINE! Tyrrel Corporation; Mike Pickering; Russ
Monday 14th FANTAZIA COMES TO THE HAÇIENDA (part of the In the City music convention)
NOVEMBER
Saturday 7th Graeme Park
Set-list: Suzanne Vega – ‘Blood Makes Noise’ (MAW Mix), House of Gypsies – ‘Samba’, Lionrock – ‘Lionrock’, DV8 – ‘C’Mon’, Nightmares On Wax – ‘Happiness!’, KXP feat. Cybil Jeffries – ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ (The Accapella), The S.O.U.L.S.Y.S.T.E.M. – ‘It’s Gonna Be a Lovely Day’ (Palladium House Anthem I), Trilogy – ‘Good Time’ (Robi Robs House Anthem Mix), Bizarre Inc. – ‘I’m Gonna Get You’ (Todd Terry Rave Dub), East Side Beat – ‘Alive & Kicking’ (The Ken Wood Dub), Cynthia M – ‘Everything I Do’, Rapination feat. Kym Mazelle – ‘Love Me The Right Way’,Kathy Sledge – ‘Heart’(Uplifting Dub Mix),MK – ‘Always’, UFI – ‘Understand this Groove’, Uncanny Alliance – ‘I Got My Education’
Friday 13th SHINE! Daniele Davoli; Mike Pickering; Russ
Monday 23rd Factory Communications Limited goes into receivership
DECEMBER
Friday 4th Sasha; Altern 8
Friday 18th SHINE! CHRISTMAS PARTY Uncanny Alliance; Mike Pickering; Russ
FAC 51 Limited
Trading as: the Haçienda
ASSUMPTIONS FOR PROFIT AND LOSS (forecast for February to April 1992)
Trading Account
Gross profit for all three months has been assumed at 53 per cent based on average to date.
1. February trading account is based on results for the first three weeks of the month, pro-rated to four weeks.
The actual results for the first three weeks include two Wednesday-night openings (Sasha and the Brand New Heavies). The estimated fourth-week result includes Tuesday-night hire,Flesh night with a four a.m. licence and estimated attendance of 1400 @ £6 and a fifth Saturday in the month with attendance of 1400 @ £8.
2. March trading account is based on the following attendance figures:
Wednesdays: three nights open
ACR/Robs Records Party (3 March):attendance of 950 people @ £7 Sasha (18 March): attendance of 850 people @ £6 Flesh night (25 March): attendance of 1400 people @ £6 with a four a.m. licence
Thursdays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 550 people per night @ £2
Fridays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 700 people per night @ £6 (From March, Sasha will be DJing)
Saturdays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 1400 people per night @ £8
3. April trading account is based on the following attendance figures:
Easter Monday open: attendance 1200 @ £10 with a four a.m. licence
Wednesdays: three nights open
Fashion Cabaret night: attendance 900 people @ £6
Sasha: attendance 800 people @ £6
Flesh night: attendance 1400 people @ £6 with a four a.m. licence
Thursdays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 560 people per night @ £2
Fridays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 750 people per night @ £6
(Mike Pickering and Sasha will be DJing)
Saturdays: four nights open
Assume average attendance of 1400 people per night @ £8
Bar takings are based on attendance figures and average results for the previous three months. Saturday bar prices include an extra 20p on all drinks.
Expenses and Overheads
Expenses and overheads for the three months are based on:
Average results for the previous three months, pro-rated.
Number of nights open plus any expected special nights.
FAC 51 Limited
Trading as: the Haçienda
FROM THE REPORT AND ACCOUNTS (23 June 1992)
Following the balance-sheet date the company’s nightclub outlet ceased operation due to operational problems.The closure was during January 1991 and is anticipated to be only temporary,such that no permanent curtailment of the company’s activities is anticipated. The nightclub licence was also withdrawn shortly before the balance-sheet date. However, the withdrawal was appealed and a temporary extension was further extended on appeal for the first half of 1991,to provide a probationary period of trade.
If the nightclub should fail to reopen or should the licence be permanently revoked, then the company would cease to trade.
This year marked a rare sighting of the Haçienda cat, which was pictured in an NME feature on Factory. Instead of a name the stray had been given its own Factory catalogue number, FAC 191, and was pictured with the caption ‘Feline groovy at the Haçienda’.
After a long wait the question of the basement was once again addressed.
The conversion was budgeted at £250,000 (comparatively cheap for a Haçienda project, but Ben Kelly was to put that right!).
I can’t remember what we did to get the money. Did Rob/New Order put it in? Whatever happened, it went ahead, was built and the takings literally . . . didn’t change.
The conversion did increase the club’s capacity, though, which on big nights proved to be quite useful. The downside was that it made policing the Haçienda a lot more difficult, there being more dark nooks and crannies.
The club struggled on but attendance was tailing off. The crime was driving customers away.
It even scared off the hot-dog seller. He had been a Haçienda institution, a lovely old geezer, there for as long as I could remember. I never got one off him – my body is a temple – but everybody loved him. It happened one night when Damien threw one of the Salford lot out of the club and the hot-dog seller got in the way during the affray; ended up with a tipped-over cart and a bad beating. Completely unwarranted.
The doormen rushed up to save him but he left and never came back. ‘It’s over, Hooky,’ they chorused. ‘It’s like the ravens leaving the tower of London.’
We’d entered a very sad phase, during which the club changed too much to ever return to its roots. Bit by bit we lost elements that we’d once cherished. The bonhomie, the friendliness, the specialness – they’d all gone.
It became a very nervy time.The staff came in one morning to find the safe – which must have weighed a ton – dragged halfway across the
basement on its way out to the canal towpath. The thieves must have run out of steam midway through the job. They’d also downed a few too many drinks, judging by the empties we found nearby.
We reported it to the police.‘Know any big guys? Weightlifter types who might have the alarm code?’
‘Er, no.’
‘Oh well. Bye.’
So much for persistence.
In 1993 the boom in dance-music culture brought about two major openings in Manchester.Paradise Factory,initially a gay club,opened in Charles Street in the old Factory building in May that year;while September saw the launch of Home, which was owned by Tom Bloxham and run by none other than Paul Cons.
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bsp; Ang’s assistant, Anton Rozak – into the Smiths when she took him on, but we can’t hold that against him – found the madness of it all unbearable.He’s never mentioned in articles about the club because he wasn’t a director,but he did a very good job:he was a nice bloke,just straight up and down the line. Rare for us. He’d been hired on his eighteenth birthday,in 1989,as a pot-washer and was subsequently promoted to assistant manager. He also DJed on the Stone Love night, on Tuesdays.
He and Ang did everything together and if she went on holiday he ran the place in her absence. He also ran things on Thursdays, when Ang went to the Paradise Factory with me on her night off – our busman’s holiday.
Anton was always freaked out about guns. Once the police came into the building saying they were searching for a dead body. What had happened? Bear with me – it’s a long one . . .
This guy had come to the door trying to get in. He was clearly off his face, so the doormen fucked him off. Now, for the sake of their own safety, the doormen always parked their cars right outside the front door. Obviously the more senior you were the nearer your car would be, so Damien’s car was right outside. This jerk was mouthing off but they were ignoring him,so he decided to go one better:he jumped on the nearest car’s bonnet and started leaping up and down to make his point.
Unfortunately for him the car he chose was Damien’s brand-new Ford Cosworth,the apple of his eye.Damien grabbed him and sparkled him in front of the queue. He didn’t get up, so he lay there a few minutes in front of the murmuring queue. Then the bouncers thought they’d better do something. So they picked him up by his legs and dragged him into the club. Why they did that we’ll never know. But obviously someone in the queue panicked and phoned the coppers, saying that the Haçienda doormen had just killed a guy then taken him inside the club so they could later dispose of the body, throw him in the canal, or something.