SOUTHPORT STRIKES A CHORD
Southport has always held a special place in my heart. I’ve been going there for days out ever since I was a kid and it is somewhere I’ll still happily jump on a train to when the sun is out.
Obviously Southport has much more going for it than its seaside connotations. Maybe music wouldn’t be at the top of most people’s lists but a meeting I was involved in this week got me thinking about the role of music in a town like this.
I’ve got some musical memories of my own connected to the place including going to see the Tom Robinson Band with one of my sisters at the Southport Theatre in the late 70s. A decade later a bunch of Liverpool bands of the day took over the Atkinson for a memorable day which I wrote about for the NME. Around the same time I went to see Manchester indie band Intastella perform at Ainsdale beach. Their song People (which still sounds great) was also known as Southport Beach so someone obviously decided it would be a good idea to shoot a video and host a rave there. Looking back the whole thing was probably illegal but as far as I can remember a good time was had by all.
Southport/Ainsdale beach was also famously used by The Ruttles as the setting for their brilliant and hilarious Ouch’video from the mockumentary All You need Is Cash. Southport’s own Ollie Halsall was a key member of The Ruttles, featuring strongly on their recordings. Sadly in the film he only has a cameo as Leppo, the fifth Ruttle who gets lost in Hamburg. ( Thanks to Patrick Hurley MP for making me aware of this quirky Southport/Ruttles connection).
Marc Almond is probably the best known artist that hails from Southport having had a long successful career both as a solo artist and as one half of synth pop giants Soft Cell. Gomez are probably a close second and still making records almost 30 years after they won the Mercury in 1998. Their influence goes beyond just their music and they were one of the first groups to even think about carbon-neutral touring while guitarist Tom Gray is a well known industry figure after setting up the Broken Records campaign in 2020 to seek fairer renumeration for music creators.
Lapsley is another Southport born musician who has been massively influential in recent years both as a musician and songwriter. Billy Eilish apparently credited a Lapsley track as inspiration for her breakthrough hit Ocean Eyes and the Labour Party used Lapsley’s Better Times track as the entrance track for Kier Starmer during the 2024 general election campaign.
More recently the town has produced one of my favourite new artists of recent years in Astles. His debut album released last year Soundtrack For The Twenty One Bus Home is an absolute gem which I’d encourage everyone to give a listen to.
Through the work of Astles and Laspley I knew there was still interesting music coming out of Southport but didn’t know if there was anything else exciting happening musically there. So I was excited to find out more when I was invited by Southport MP Patrick Hurley to attend a meeting of music stakeholders, both from Southport, the wider city region including representatives from the music Board, and even national organisations like Music Venues Trust. The aim of the meeting was to see what could be done to support the growth and sustainability of the music ecosystem in the town. It was inspiring to hear the passion and commitment of local people around the table from venues like Coopers, through to recording studios/rehearsal rooms, promoters, and those involved in music education in Southport.
It was a really positive session and we left we a commitment from everyone to work together to build on the base that is already there and work together to build a stronger and more robust music industry infrastructure.
This meeting happened at around the same time that another Sefton town, Bootle, was declaring it would bid to become the UK Town of Culture in 2028. As someone who was born and lived most of my life in Bootle I can only say ‘It’s about bloody time’. Personally I think we should also be campaigning for it to become the official eighth wonder of the world but I know that may take a bit longer, require a few more forms to be filled in etc
I intend to write a lengthy academic paper on how Bootle has influenced the world but as we are focusing on music Ill just take a minute to highlight Bootle musical alumni which includes Billy J Kramer (born just a few mins from my mum’s house), The Real People (acknowledged mentors and inspiration for Oasis), Carl Hunter (The Farm) and John Murphy. John went to the same Bootle school as me but somehow he ended up living in LA and becoming one of the most sought after film composers in the world.
By Kev Mcmanus
