Striking black and white photographs of musicians, music fans and actors have been released in a new book that captures the hedonistic days of the late 80s and early 90s dubbed Madchester.
Madchester was a musical and cultural scene in Manchester and was closely associated with the indie rave scene which saw artists fuse indie music with elements of acid house psychedelia and 60s pop, and photographer Richard Davis was there to capture it all .
Richard’s photos have now been published for the first time in a photo book titled The Madchester Years 1989 – 91, which features photographs including snaps of The Stone Roses, Clint Boon, Bez, Caroline Ahearne, A Certain Ratio, Northside, Steve Coogan, 808 State, Flowered Up and Terry Christian.
The Madchester years are widely considered to be heavily influenced by drugs, especially ecstasy. At that time, the now infamous Hacienda nightclub was a major catalyst for Manchester’s distinctive musical ethos, known as the second summer of love.
Captivating black and white photographs of musicians, music fans and actors have been published in a new book that captures the hedonistic days of the late 80s to early 90s dubbed Madchester (pictured, Bez dancing on stage )
One of the photographs shows the band Flowered Up at the legendary PSV Club in Hulme (formerly The Factory/The Russell Club) in October 1990.
Richard called them a “great live band”, adding: “Because they were from London they probably didn’t get the press they should have had.” Meanwhile, another snapshot, which appears on the cover of the book, shows Bez dancing on stage. Richard explained: “Even nowadays I still tend to think back and thank my lucky stars for arriving in the city of Manchester at the end of 1988.
“I had no idea as I was about to step into the global phenomenon that the media was calling Madchester, talking about Right Place Right Time.
“These years in Manchester have been full of positive vibes and have seen an incredible explosion of creativity in many art forms and it’s certainly not just the music scene that has benefited.
“If you think Madchester only meant Happy Mondays & the Stone Roses, think again.
“There were poets, comedians, designers, entrepreneurs, journalists, DJs and photographers.
Source: tuptup.org
