In his latest column, the Tameside Radio presenter tells us more about the 'We Are Manchester' brand which rose in prominence during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last week in this feature I wrote about Tameside musician and former Fragile Audio frontman Matt Gough, who has recently released his debut solo single, ‘At the end of the day’.

His debut solo gig takes place on Saturday, August 27, at Manchester’s live music venue The Castle. 

The gig is in association with the ‘We Are Manchester’ brand, who support new and unsigned music from around the North West. 

On Monday night, the founder of ‘We Are Manchester’, Ruth Murray, joined me on my Tameside Radio show, and told me how the brand is looking forward to its busiest few months of live music since it was founded. 

Although it’s been around promoting new and unsigned music online for sometime, it was during the pandemic that the name ‘We Are Manchester’ seemed to suddenly appear in many more places. 

Knowing that bands and artists were missing playing live, Ruth took it upon herself to broadcast live streams, meaning local musicians still got to perform live, and music fans still got their live music fixes during lockdown, but online. 

RUTH MURRAY: Made In Manchester founder

Since then, ‘We Are Manchester’ has gone from strength to strength, and in association with Suave Martyrs guitarist Sam Brunt, co-hosted the recent ‘Neck Of The Woods’ festival in Levenshulme, which saw a whole host of great bands join Suave Martyrs, and create a day for new music fans to remember.

Bands included Dirty Laces, Alex Spencer, Pagans SOH, and many more. 

Next up for Ruth and her new team is a series of gigs in Manchester, including Chemtrails at Gullivers this Saturday night, the pre-mentioned Matt Gough gig at The Castle at the end of the month, The Battery Farm at Gullivers on Saturday, September 10, and a belated ‘We Are Manchester’ anniversary celebration on October 25, with more details to be announced. 

The future is looking strong with plenty of forthcoming events and many more gigs lined up, plus ‘evening with’ events currently being planned, which is also a great thing for the new and unsigned local music scene. 

For more information ‘We Are Manchester’ can be found on Twitter @wearemanchester and on Facebook and Instagram @wearemanchesteryes.

Any bands or artists who wish to contact Ruth and be a part of the work she does can contact her directly via the above social media pages. 

It’s important that as music fans we support new, unsigned, and the next generation of bands and musicians, and having a brilliant music scene as we do in the North West, the work Ruth and her team do matters. I can’t wait to see what the future holds next for ‘We Are Manchester’.

You can listen to Dave on Tameside Radio 103.6FM on Monday evenings from 7pm to 9pm. Click here to subscribe and catch up on previous shows.

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