Monday's Long Songs

The Duchess Of York was a small grass roots venue in Leeds that opened in 1985, held 250 people and hosted pre- fame gigs by Nirvana (October 1989) and Oasis (September 1993) as well as early gigs by Manic Street Preachers, PJ Harvey, Radiohead, Verve, Green Day, Pulp and Blur. One of those venues where there could be two people watching on a wet Wednesday night or a packed and sold out sweatbox. A stepping stone to bigger things. Back in the 80s and 90s these venues were in almost every town and bands would frequently play twenty or thirty gig tours, trouping round the country playing in the big cities but also in Northampton (Roadmenders), Buckley (Tivoli), Greenock (Town Hall), Widnes (Queen's Hall), Bath (Moles) and Burnley (Mechanics), not to mention the numerous polytechnic and university rooms and halls. 

The Duchess is long gone but the Leeds Civic Trust put a blue plaque up in 2024 to mark the site (now a branch of Hugo Boss) and the work of the man who opened and ran it, John Keenan. Carl Airsine has recently released an EP on Leeds label Paisley Dark named The Duchess, a tribute to the venue and its underground spirit. Carl's track, The Duchess, is a celebration, noisy, chuggy, disco- punk with distorted guitars and bass, thumpy drums and voices appearing out of the mix. It pulses and throbs with that energy that live guitar bands in small spaces do. 

There are three remixes. Ian Vale strips the track back, toughens the drums and darkens the mood. Belfast's Viper Patrol go acid- full on bassline squiggle and 303s with disembodied vocals and a post- midnight feel. The pick for me is by South London dub specialists Rude Audio, who take an alternative route to/ from The Duchess, finding a cosmic/ dub/ Balearic vibe with twinkling synths, dub space and drums and a letting in of the light. The Duchess is at Paisley Dark and can be found here. 

Nirvana's gig at The Duchess on 25th October 1989 was bootlegged and widely distributed on the bootleg cassette market. My friend Ian Lawton (Meanie) photographed the band for Kerrang and interviewed them in a nearby McDonalds. The tour was to promote Bleach, pre- Dave Grohl with Chad Channing on drums. This is the gig with one of Meanie's photos to illustrate it. Highlights include Love Buzz, Polly, About A Girl and Blew but they do not particularly sound like a band who within two years would become the biggest band in the world.