"Thriller Killer" - Manchester's alternative gay scene

Hello Voxers,

To the left are some photos that were taken last Friday when This Morning Call took to the stage at an alternative indie clubnight in Manchester gay village called "Thriller Killer".

We were the headline band (the only band, in fact). Its one of those events that happen every so often and they invite a great band in to play alongside a guest DJ. The music policy was indie/alternative/electro/britpop and so on, the tag line "for gays who hate hard house".

The venue was a nighclub called Charlies, and under normal circumstances it does a fine line in asian karoke. On a brief visit too the venue mid week to look at the stage, we were regailed by ballads from the other side of the world that we had never heard before, sung by young 20-something asians on some birthday party or other. Its really strange when you come across music that you have no knowledge of whatsoever.

However, we all like strange, tucked away underground places and this was no exception. It was the perfect venue for Thriller Killer and the venue soon filled up to the point at which they were having to turn people away. I hope they all managed to get in eventually.

We went on stage at about midnight and there was a palpable sense of excitement in the room as the synths burst into life on new track "Tides" that we played first. We had a couple of new tunes to play which now means the set is almost universally uptempo and I think we've really managed to raise our game live. This was certainly the strongest show that we've put together so far and I'm really excited now about the prospect of playing down in London again on the 3rd April at The Troubadour.

Mr. Mark Ward was so over excitied about the night that he forgot to take his sax on stage with him, so when it was time to play "Whistle" we had to ask the audience to go on a sax hunt around the venue - what a joker he is!! God we are so rock and roll.

The night descended into mayhem and chaos, and Rob from Bollox DJ'd straight after we finished and everybody was still on a bit of a high. It didn't calm down until after 4am. What with Bollox, Thriller Killer, ourselves and one or two other bands, and of course, Homoelectric, there's a real "alternative" gay scene developing in the village now that we haven't seen before, and that I think is really exciting. Its being promoted very well by a few key individuals. It feels fresh, inclusive, vibrant and creative. Get involved.