Bradford’s alternative music scene celebrated
The alternative music scene in Bradford from the 1970s onwards will be spotlighted at an event held at a new city entertainment venue.
Alternative Bradford will explore Bradford’s alternative music scene from the 1970s, the present day and its future. It will be hosted and chaired by Nick Toczek, a poet, writer and performer and University of Bradford honorary graduate, on Saturday 7 June from 10:00 to 15:00 in the Boiler Room at Bradford Live, Thornton Road.
Nowt at MacRory’s Bar in 1993 (Image credit: Richard Ingham)
Who are the speakers?
The one-day symposium will feature speakers from across music genres including punk, indie, jazz, folk and spoken-word.
Keynote speakers are Alastair Gordon (DMU, Punk Scholars Network/Academic/Musician) and Annie Jamieson (Sound Curator at the Science and Media Museum).
Event panellists are Imani Hekima (of Spectre), Joolz Denby, Phil Manchester (The Invaders), Stan Greenwood (Skeletal Family, Psycho Surgeons), Bella Gaffney, Gus Bousfield, Dom Sheard/Richard Brass (No Hands Collective), Ato (Sigmund Void), writer Gary Cavanagh and Isaac Darby Vinci (young Bradford musician and promoter).
Requiem playing at Bradford’s 1 in 12 Festival in 1983. Image credit: Fritz The Cat
Taking alternative culture forward
Alternative Bradford is part of the University of Bradford’s programme of research events to mark Bradford 2025.
The event has been developed from research into alternative culture, particularly music, by Dr Mark Goodall, Associate Professor from the University’s School of BEACI: Faculty of Engineering & Digital Technologies.
Dr Goodall was part of the alternative music scene himself, as a singer and guitarist in post-Punk and Indie bands that played in Bradford during the late 1980s and early 1990s.
He said: “It is important that the voices of more marginal artists with a radical agenda are heard during Bradford’s City of Culture year.
“The event will be a space for people to discuss what’s needed and what can be done to take alternative culture forward. It will look back and see what’s been lost. We’re starting the discussion in the post-Punk era.
“I think it’s harder in the alternative music scene now, a lot of small venues have gone. There is a concern in the industry where the grassroots music is coming from.”
Go to https://forms.office.com/e/qHbbL4PDRi to register to attend the free event.
Dr Goodall’s book, ‘Bright Young Things – The Art and Philosophy of el Records’, looks at the cult Indie music label, el Records, founded by Mike Alway, which ran between 1984 and 1988, was released earlier this year.
Paradise Lost
Who is Nick Toczek?
Event host Nick’s links to the alternative music scene include as co-founder of Bradford punk band Ulterior Motives and the fanzine The Wool City Rocker.
During the early 1980s, he ran hundreds of weekly punk and indie rock gigs. In the late 1980s and early ‘90s, he and Bradford rock legend, Wild Willi Beckett, co-ran hundreds of alternative cabaret gigs.
In December 2023, Nick was given an Outstanding Contribution Award by the University of Bradford ‘In recognition of his long standing and diverse career within Bradford’s arts and culture sector as a poet, musician, writer, performer and journalist’.
The event complements other Bradford 2025 events such as the celebration of the 1 in 12 Club, a Bradford music club formed in 1981 which moved into its base seven years later.
The club’s legacy will be celebrated at the city’s Loading Bay venue on Saturday 14 June from 15:00 to 01:00.
New Model Army pictured in 1981. Images supplied by Gary Cavanagh and Matt Webster (bradfordnoise.com)