Paula Greenwood
PHOTO: Alison Surtees

I was born in Crumpsall Hospital, Manchester and brought up in Rochdale and Bury until I moved to Rusholme in my very early 20s. The music mostly came from my mums side of the family and the entrepreneurship from my Dads. I was always mad about music - if it moved me in some way it was good.

Me and my cousin you used to go and stay at our older cousins, her husband played guitar and gave me a couple of lessons and from there my love of music got deeper. My cousin was quite a big influence on me, she was older and introduced me to lot’s of bands towards the end of the 70s and Unknown Pleasures by Joy Division. I remember when Ian Curtis died and reading about it in the Manchester Evening News, they were probably the first serious band I got into and made a big impact on me musically.

I was pretty much told that I wouldn't amount to much but there were four things that I loved animals, my nan, my gran and music. So it was either going to be looking after animals, older people or getting into something music related. One day I heard an ad on Piccadilly Radio for a YTS course, the only thing I heard was that you could even get a place at Piccadilly Radio. I rocked up, spoke to the boss and she said what do you want to do? My answer being “I want to work in music”, She laughed. I said “you said on the radio that there were places at Piccadilly Radio so I want to do that”. It was my foot in the door to the world I wanted to be, at 16 I was working in the record library working for Head of Music Mike Shaft, he encouraged me to do what I wanted to do and always introduced me to people coming in and out of the library. Tony Michaelides came in one day and we got talking about music and he said why don't you come and help me on my show, It was the Last Radio Programme. This totally changed my life. He was playing music that I loved and introduced me to more, we helped the careers of so many artists here including The Stone Roses. Whilst working on the show I got a job at Piccadilly Records and then one day Mathew who owned the International Club offered me a job their doing PR. From working on Tony’s show and working at The International Club I was constantly meeting new bands needing support and I started thinking more about doing my own thing. My friend Debs managed to get us an office for £5 a week on Whitworth Street and got her mate Graham to help us decorate it. I’d just set up Playtime Records and Debs was running her fanzine M62. I got talking to Graham about his band the Inspiral Carpets and we were soon planning their debut single the Planecrash EP released in 1988. I then moved to Princess Street and started a regional PR Company working with artists including Spiritualized, Neneh Cherry and Massive Attack.

I continued to release records on Playtime by artists such as The New Fads, Molly Half Head and Swirl. I got funding for Playtime and then moved to London around 1994 and continued to sign bands and release records until 1997. Around 1998 I started working at Chris Blackwell's Company Palm Pictures signing Cousteau and Angel Tech before taking time out to study a degree. I then went on to work with Cathal from the band Madness running his publishing company where I signed Just Jack and hip hop collective Border Crossing. After that I drifted away from the music business working in events then re-training to become a digital project manager. I mostly work as a freelancer working for advertising agencies and media groups. I’ve been working over at The Guardian for the last 7 months, where I have worked previously. Even though I still live in London it’s nice to be a part of something that was created in Manchester and still has its integrity intact.

Although I’m not involved with music business as a career anymore I still love music and also enjoy writing and playing guitar. Wherever I am, music is still there driving me along, messing with my emotions - without it I am nothing.

Paulette Constable
PHOTO: Elspeth Mary Moore

In a career spanning more than two decades and three countries – Paulette has been a resident at some of the biggest and best clubs in the world, with residencies in prestigious clubs including the Hacienda (Manchester), The Ministry of Sound, Queen Club, Mix Club, Cocoon (Frankfurt), Ibiza Rocks at Pacha and at Pikes Hotel. She has supported the cream of the dj establishment - from Gilles Peterson, Norman Jay, Stuart Patterson, Derrick Carter, David Guetta, Laidback Luke, SHM, Afrojack, Bob Sinclar, Didier Sinclair, Fafa Monteco to Duke Dumont, Jaymo & Andy George, Junior Sanchez, Artwork, Moodymanc and Mr Scruff – she shines - and headlines - under her own star.

From radio to club to festivals and industry launches she is a champion of great music – digging deep in the crates for sets of houseparty hip hop, raw rare grooves, soulful vocals and blistering funk to diamante strewn disco, jacking / deep house and tearing techno. Her dynamic and uplifting shows plus her award winning work for Talkin Loud, Mercury Records and Radio FG (France) have earned her much international recognition and respect. As capable of entertaining a club with long 9h or short 30 minute radio mixes, Paulette knows instinctively how to read then flip a room. And when last orders is called, she channels her energies into youth work, making music, teaching, public speaking, mentoring and lecturing.

Resident again in her home town, Manchester, Paulette currently has a monthly 2 hour mix show (jacking to deep house, tech house and techno) on Reform Radio, is a resident on rotation and stand in / lead presenter for the weekend 2 hour mix shows, Breakfast Show and The Exchange with Gaydio and is enjoying playing as a resident for The Refuge / Electriks / Homoelectric, Albert’s Schloss / Albert Hall parties at home and abroad and is keeping the Northern Quarter as lit as possible every weekend.

Tracey Donelly
PHOTO: Elspeth Mary Moore

I’ve had a massive love of music from a very early age. I started going to gigs aged 11 mainly to see Slaughter & The Dogs, I felt about them how my friends felt about the Bay City Rollers. If you’d of asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up it would of involved music but I couldn’t sing or play guitar so I had no idea how that could happen.
I left school at 16 and at the age of 19 I was drifting from one Youth Training Scheme to another. I landed a full time job at a clothing store on Cross Street which was great as I was part of a group of like minded friends who all worked in town, the group included my best friend Cath Berry and her brother Andrew, part of our friendship group had even just formed a band called The Smiths, things seemed to be moving

Andrew is a hairdresser he worked around the corner from me at whats now the Gap Store. He had the genius idea to open a hair salon in the basement/dressing room area of The Hacienda ‘Swing Fac 98” . Tony Wilson and Factory gave it the go ahead and Andrew asked me to be the receptionist in the salon so I gave my job up and started at Swing. I had no idea what to expect

Andrew was the boss and he was only 22, me and the others younger than that. Swing was unlike any hair salon id been to before or been to since. The music was a massive part of the salon with the best cassettes tapes and all the Manchester bands coming in to have their hair cut New Order, The Fall, Vini Reilly, The Smiths, ACR all the bands and artists from back then, the list goes on….It was a creative hub and people would come just to hang out for the day. Music, cups of tea, chats, cigs & haircuts.

As the receptionist I was at The Hacienda most of the time so I started doing more and more work for the club. Back in 1983 the club was more of a live venue I would do the gig tickets drops and collections, the telephone and I started the Hacienda merchandise, so would finish at Swing and go up to Hicks Bar to sell the T shirts…I couldn’t get enough of the place or the people. If it had been open on a Sunday I’d of been there.

I knew Lesley Gilbert from Factory Records was leaving Factory to have her son and the job was coming vacant. Long story short I got the job, the best job in the world as far as I was concerned. I worked at Palatine Road Factory Records until the move to Charles Street. This leads right through to what I do today.. Without Andrew giving me the job at Swing would I have been so lucky.

Cindy Smith

I first started reviewing music in 2012 after coming across unsigned bands on Myspace and was amazed just how much talent was out there. I came across a few exemplary artists, who I believed in so much it gave me the desire to write about them. During an age where youth culture appears to have become watered down, fragmented and lacking any robust movement, I think it’s important to see what new music is out there, and not lose sight of any changing trends and productivity on the music scene.

For musicians, social media is the most effective way to promote their music, reach out to a target audience and organise their own events. However, it can also be a double-edged sword, as the market is so saturated with fierce competition, so standing out as an original artist, in lots of cases, can be a challenging task. Moreover, through the phenomena of social media such as Myspace, Twitter and Facebook, technology has revolutionised the way we interact with music, which has developed a culture of people cherry picking tracks by an artist as opposed to downloading or buying an artist’s full album. It may be empowering for the consumer, but it can be soul destroying for any artist who has slogged their guts in the making of any album, so marketing is now more important than ever before.

Therefore, by reviewing music with “The Manc Review”, I have tried my best to support and promote the talent of unsigned bands and artists, not just locally but overseas too. Through my passion for music and empathy for bands and artists, I have listened up close to their music and tried to recognise each individual sound, motif and ethos. I haven’t just seen musicians as noise-makers, but as artists in every sense, with their music as an extension or a pathway into their soul. The way I see it is music is more than just a fleeting array of sounds but short-hand that directly links to our soul or inner-voice. Trying not to go all hippy, amateur anthropologist or musicologist, music without a doubt is extremely powerful, not just culturally, socially and cognitively but universally on a multitude of levels. Whether it is placed in a cross-cultural context or not, I believe music is communal, tribal and unites us all in a collective consciousness.

So often our musical tastes are intrinsically interlocked to our past, revealing remnants of emotions linked to our life experiences, that sometimes we forget to check out new music!!!! Unless we check out new music, whether it be signed or unsigned, we run the risk of becoming one of those people who say “Music nowadays is all crap”. Well I have news for anyone who thinks like that, no it isn’t... there are so many new exciting bands out there! Nostalgia is great but so is discovering new bands, which doesn’t necessarily define a generation, but breathes new life into a whole range of musical genres and sub genres.

Kate Mountain Biog February 2018

As a child, Kate would answer Bet Lynch to anyone enquiring as to what she wanted to be when she grew up.

After discovering the joys of formation dancing and Malibu and coke in Oscars nightclub on Clacton Pier with her schoolfriends, Kate’s idea of a good night out expanded exponentially after working in Ibiza for the summer of 1989. She moved to Salford to study in 1991 and is still delighted to have scraped a third class degree in TV and Radio Production with her final project a 30 minute documentary on the creation of Sankeys Soap. Apart from reading, going out was her favourite thing, so it made sense to seek employment behind bars in cool night spots.

After stints in Ten Bar, PJ Bells and Brittania Hotel(!) Kate ended up in what was then a newly opened basement dive bar blues venue just off Piccadilly Gardens called The Roadhouse.

She loved it there. The owner, John Macbeath, had been a publican for a long time and was the most genial host. There was a pale and friendly community of long-haired misfits, music geeks and ZZ Top lookalikes. Mark E Smith drank there frequently. After The Fall performed a residency (and Ric Michael became promoter) the venue broadened its musical horizons, even investing in new club night Electric Chair at Kate’s behest. She became licensee and manager just in time for the late 90s indie boom.

John Macbeath was now enjoying a career repping for SJM (he adored hanging out with rock stars) and decided to abandon the club in 1998. Kate was confident that it was still a viable business so she formed her own company at 25 along with Stephen Richard Lloyd and carried on. She was right.

For ten years Kate and team worked and played hard at the club, maintaining its status as both legendary local institution and a respected member of the national “toilet tour” circuit.

Meanwhile, a former member of Roadhouse staff and good friend Mary-Ellen McTague had been learning to cook really well at The Fat Duck. Upon returning to Manchester she sought Kate out to join her and husband in opening a restaurant. Kate is easily persuaded into most things and was also ready for a new challenge, so Aumbry opened in Prestwich in 2009. Refining her act somewhat, Kate found looking after dinner guests almost as rewarding as gig goers (despite their rather greater sense of entitlement) and embraced the world of fine wines, award ceremonies and locally roasted coffee beans with gusto – also discovering that co-owning and running a restaurant is the best weight loss plan ever. After five years, it became necessary to look for a larger premises for Aumbry and controversially Kate decided that the site of the club would be perfect. The Roadhouse closed in 2015. She was wrong.

Despite best efforts this plan fell through leaving her for the first time in 17 years without a night club or restaurant to play in.

She can currently be found at Manchester Art Gallery Café assisting the General Manager, dreaming of the days when she has her own gaff again.


Considering her dues to the music industry paid up, she closed the venue in May 2015 with view to transforming it into The Green Lampshade, a fine dining supper club - which alas wasn’t meant to be.
Continuing to work with Mary-Ellen on various marvellous pop-ups and MIF 2015/2017 whilst joining the hospitality management team at The Lowry Theatre Kate can’t wait to join forces full time again and provide Manchester with the late night saloon that it deserves.

Yvonne Ellis biog

After over 35 years in a music business that continues to be unforgiving and narrow for women, Yvonne Ellis has survived and flourished, making her mark and commanding the deepest respect and affection from all the clients she has been involved with. Over the decades Yvonne has worked with an incredible spectrum of artists and musicians – from high profile popstars, through to local young strugglers looking to inch their way into a milieu fraught with obstacles and difficulties. Yvonne’s knowledge of so many different kinds of music, married to her technological expertise fuels her formidable versatility. She approaches the art and craft of production with all the attributes of a great musician – and after so many years she has gained total command as a producer and engineer of the highest quality. She retains a robust sense of musical community and remains a loyal servant to the many muses and arts that she collaborates with. She is indeed a polymath of the mixing desk, both in the studio and 'Live'. The sounds and sonics she helps create are true and pure and of a quality that few can match. Whether she is producing or mixing, Yvonne is able to bring out the greatest musicality that is possible from the artist and their work. Yvonne ’ s journey through the years in the music business has also made her a great psychologist and musical social worker; both are invaluable qualities in these psychologically difficult times. If you work with Yvonne you are likely to grow as a human being as well as a musician. The sad truth is that the music business should be full of Yvonne Ellis ’ 50 years into its life, but great and maverick talent tends to be marginalised rather than championed, especially if you ’ re a woman. We should always celebrate such precious human resources and recognise their efforts and dedication beyond the call of duty. We need Yvonne Ellis so badly. Her humanity and talent always shine through and as a colleague and friend for over 25 years I ’ m very honoured to know her and to have worked with someone so consistently special.

Elliot Rashman (Simply Red manager 1984-1998)


Poem written by poet Mark Thompson:

Stereo Type

Find yourself a spot midway between the loudspeakers

To hear tell of the alchemic play of an audio truth seeker

Who, live or in recording weaves such a magic spell,

Sonic samples seem quite seamless, such is her power to gel.

From a family of music and with a dynasty to follow,

She's birthed bass tones so deep in them a blue whale could wallow.

Written random rhythms in time with every souls heart beat

And made melodies that've given wings to souls with leaden feet.

Supporting those around her may not have made her rich,

But in providing positive vibrations she has found a perfect pitch.

She's surprised many a technician simply by not being a man,

Yet her improvised soundscapes have out performed many a master's plan.

If you ever get to meet her, sure she'll play down all my hype,

But her life's scores leave me in awe, for she's far more than a stereo type.

On 2ndMarch Wah Wah 45s will release Whatever You Do, by the new single by their latest signing, Honeyfeet. The song premiered on Craig Charles' BBC 6 Music show on 6th January.

Whatever You Do follows the release of the single Sinner, which received plays on BBC 6 Music, with the accompanying video premiering on Clash Music. Whatever You Do showcases the band's unique brand of folk-hop. Combined with oom-pah, the song addresses the fear-mongering of the press.

For the last couple of years Honeyfeet have been a conduit for the ideas and expressions of an exotic mixture of Manchester based musicians. This genre-defying band incorporate styles including jazz, and the aforementioned folk and hip hop into their music.

The band are fronted by Ríoghnach Connolly – also known for her work with cult dance-folk group Afro Celt Sound System and Real World artists The Breath - "a remarkable singer and flautist who...can ease from Irish traditional influences to soul" (The Guardian). The line up on this record is completed by Rik Warren (vocals/harmonica), Gus Fairbairn (tenor sax), Biff Roxby (trombone/vocals), Ellis Davies (guitar), Lorien Edwards (bass guitar), John Ellis (keyboards) and David Schlechtriemen (drums).

Since their self-released debut album, 2013's It's a Good Job I Love You, keyboardist John Ellis jumped on board as full-time member, bringing his unique musical presence. This enabled the development of a more texturally adventurous style, as witnessed with the dual atonal solo between himself and guitarist Ellis Davies on Sinner. Similarly, for their next LP, Orange Whip, engineer, bassist and spiritual guide Lorien Edwards makes his Honeyfeet recording debut, so completing the "kitchen" of this very special band. Drummer Phill Howley joined Honeyfeet as a full time member in January 2016, bringing his unique groove to the band.

Yvonne Shelton & Julie E. Gordon at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Yvonne Shelton, Alison Surtess, Claud Cunningham and friends at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Zoe McVeigh (LIINES) at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

DJ Paulette at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Elspeth Mary Moore at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Ruby Ann Patterson and Imagen Hart at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

The opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Rowetta the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.

Abigail Ward at the opening party for MDMArchive’s Suffragette City – Portraits of women in Manchester music exhibition at The Refuge.

Funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Photo by Shay Rowan.