Us Kids know

The legacy of Tony Wilson and highly proclaimed “future of the music industry” about their life and passion in the rainy streets of Manchester.
Interview by SirDorian | Pictures by Same Teens&XOX

To grow up in Manchester also means that you get in touch with the likes of Joy Division & New Order, The Smiths, Happy Mondays, The Fall and loads more from the city’s music history. It´s a vibrant city since Hacienda opened and finally closed its doors. Nick, from Manchester’s most important underage club night “Same Teens” was just featured at Dazed and Confused Teenager Takeover where he projected a few acts who really should made it in 2009. Here is our lil chat with him…

First of all, please introduce yourself to our readers!
We’re Ryan (DJ and graphic design), Hannah (fashion stylist and DJ) and Jade (DJ and Editor) – we have our own fanzine called XOX which is in the blog of our myspace - and we DJ organise gigs, play at festivals, do fashion shoots and generally have a good time.

There was a time, in the 80ies and 90ies where fanzines got printed and shared all around in schools and clubs etc, but then comes a time and it all goes online. So what was the reason to start with a Fanzine, put it online without a physical release but do it in an old school way with a full and ace design and layout?
Well, money is one of the main factors, if you produce it you have to print it and sell it – then there’s bills to be paid and we’re all still at college. Also we have writers in LA, Rome and Tokyo and it’d be difficult to include them if it was sold on a rainy street corner in Manchester . The ace design and layout is down to our Ryan - he’s the best designer we know and he takes it very seriously – he says he would physically attack anyone who used Comic Sans and he would go on a date with Helvetica if that was at all possible.

But things started out with a club night?
Yep. It’s grown organically – like mould in a fridge or something like that. We were all under 18 when it started (2007 ‘back in the day’ as we like to know it) and it was for purely sefish reasons so we could dance with our friends . Sure, we all had fake ID and could get in most clubs but lots of them are full of lechy old men who don’t leave you alone when you look as cool as we do. So from the club night we got asked by bands like Black kids, Cajun Dance Party and Los Campesinos to DJ for them - we even played backstage for Iggy and The Stooges. We were hearing about cool new bands like Foals and we wanted them to play an under18s gig and they were phenomenal - we were talking to them all and thinking that poeple might want to read about it so we started XOX. Festivals heard of about us and Mixmag did a feature saying our night was the best Under18s night in the UK so everyone got to hear about us one way or another.

The underage club idea is taking over the UK at the moment? I´ve heard about the underage festival in London. Do you also plan a festival?
Yeah, we went down to Underage and we know the kids who put it on – lots of the bands they champion are on at their gigs way before the over18s kids get to know about them. We’ve actually got a stage a festival – we DJ’d there last year and it was a sell out of 4000 that needed the Same Teens touch. We thought of doing our own festival but we don’t like building fences and have you tried carrying one of those portaloos? Yew! Also Hannah will be having her vintage clothes stall there like last year too, so it’s music and fashion all the way.

Would you say that the credit crunch is a reason why the whole music and entertainment industry in the UK has seen an increase in the last quarter in 2008?
Well music’s been a bit of rip off for a while and people seem to be seizing control back – our fanzine is free and gets read around the world where a music magazine is four pounds and out of date when you get it. Credit crunch that! Just read XOX and download the tracks from our Singles Club.

I was just stunned after a look at your “What they say” area on Myspace. So many fab people said ace things about “Same Teens”. How was it for you to get all these great quotes?
It’s cool to know that people know about us. As well as those Tim Burgess left a comment about XOX too which really got us excited. They tend to say that they remember being our age and not being taken seriously and they offer all sorts of help.

We’ve had a few cool dedications on stage at gigs and mentions in some of the best places – Dazed and Confused just used our feature on bands to watch for 09. All the bands we mentioned were really pleased and will probably give us a nod when they are big and famous.

Let´s talk about Manchester. I was born in the year 1979, a bit more than a year before Joy Division released their debut single. Since them many great things came from Manchester. So what do you think makes this city so important for music lovers?
Well it’s small for starters London is just huge in comparison. Word spreads quickly. If you’re not a nice person, it soon gets known so people get found out. It’s got a brilliant history but those same people always look after you aswell Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce from The Smiths were happy for us to interview them really early on, Oasis producer Owen Morris is a big supporter of ours, Peter Saville the Factory design guru loves our stuff, Clint Boon from Inspiral Carpets let us take over his radio show – he’s the John Peel odf our generation and he really looks after us . It’s a pretty small place and we’re not saying Morrissey comes round for tea but upcoming cool bands like The Answering Machine will stop and have a chat in town, in the rain.

And to grow up in Manchester having in mind what happened there in the past?
Yes, it’s everywhere but not in a cheesy way like The Beatles are to Liverpool. There’s no museum or anything but there’s a few venues, some key figures and some amazing nights – instead of looking back we prefer to look forward. Nights like Now Wave are as good as anything that’s happening in Europe and it’s happening sameteenscoverjapan Us Kids know right here.

I´ve seen that you featured and worked with Ian’s daughter Natalie Curtis?
Yes, we chose not to say who it was because it’s something that we imagine Natalie doesn’t lean on but she’s a really talented photographer and just part of everything that’s going on in Manchester.

This recent Teenager Takeover at Dazed and Confused was probably the best issue for ages as it let us look in the mind of the adolescent ones. Can you tell me how it happens that Same Teens got chosen by D&C and your personal view of the whole “Teenager Takeover”?
Well, we’d sound all big headed if we said they obviously looked for the coolest people they could find, tearing up the town with all the best in new music and fashion and all stunningly gorgeous too – so we won’t say that. Yeah the Teenage Thing is brilliant and it put us in touch with some like minded folk. Dazed is one of our favourite magazines and something we aspire to so it was another amazing moment in a hectic year and a half.

There is also a huge fashion part at “Same Teens”. So what did the real stylish kids in the riot wear? Tell us about your shopping mindset and personal fashion staple:)?

Waffles and Falafels are friends of ours and they are the clothing equivalent of us – so that’s our label of choice. Manchester has some great vintage places if you’re not loaded – our fashion department at A la Manchester are the coolest people we know and they do shoots for people like Urban Outfitters and Topshop but we’re not averse to some Hedi Slimane or Brian Lichtenberg. Everyone has their own style really and it’s pretty worldwide. We got people like Niko The Ikon doing stuff for us in LA so it’s a bit different to here in drizzly Manchester.

stylishkidsinriot.com is a website for kids and people who love the whole DIY spirit. It´s made from people out of this movement and for people who love it do design and create their own stuff. So can we all say “thanks to the internet” which made all things possible and so exciting nowadays for the meanwhile huge DIY lovers worldwide?
Completely. It’s the single most important thing in our generation. Before the internet DIY, in terms of fanzines, meant staples, typewriters and cutting out photos from magazines and something like Same Teens would have been impossible really. You still got the DIY kings like Tony Wilson (a God more than a king) - they really had their work cut out for them. It’s a little annoying to hear people cursing how ‘slow’ the internet can be if you can remember life before it – 5 nanoseconds to have access to every piece of information in the world…AND THAT’S TOO SLOW FOR YOU!! Yes, let’s think ourselves lucky and make the most of it you lot!

So after two successful years since starting out in 2007, what are the future plans of “Same Teens” and when does the movement reach mainland Europe and the rest of the world?
It’s up to the rest of the world really – we have some kids doing Same Teens and a fanzine called, wait for it, XOZ in Australia and we’d love for more people to follow our lead and get doing stuff. We’ve got world domination planned so when it’s done you can have, say, North Korea and Cincinatti.

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Check out their stuff: Myspace | Fanzine
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sirdorian
i´m running stylishkidsinriot.com. love things like good red wine, france, uk, nyc, scandinavia, island and other beautiful places. oscar wilde. mini cooper old fashioned and new one…french cars from the 60ies, vintage clothes, french movies from the 60ies, serge gainsbourg, bowie, jane birkin, joy divison, electro, tech house, vinyl, record stores, nightlife & clubbings and many more.