On 27th September 1980 a band called ESG from the South Bronx supported Manchester's A Certain Ratio at the Tier 3 nightclub at 225 West Broadway in downtown Tribeca, New York City. ESG's stripped down funk grooves impressed a watching Tony Wilson so much so, that a few days later the band would find themselves recording their debut E.P. for Factory Records. One of the three tracks recorded during those sessions was called 'Moody' and would be recorded by Rig under the watchful eye of A Certain Ratio's Martin Moscrop almost exactly ten years later.
The 2" Rig master tape from the sessions recorded at Suite 16
Tony Wilson had suggested A Certain Ratio record their first proper studio album 'To Each' in New York City to absorb the atmosphere of the city. The band stayed in a loft apartment in Tribeca and have acknowledged the sights and sounds of the city were a big influence on the record. They recorded at the Eastern Artists Recording Studio in New Jersey with legendary producer Martin Hannett. They also played a handful of gigs in and around Manhattan and Martin, guitarist with ACR has cited the show with ESG as one of his favourite ACR gigs.
Liam, Carl, Martin, Baz, Jenks, John. Suite 16 Moody sessions. 7th Sept 1990. Photo: Darren Jones
During the October of 1980 Martin Hannett recorded three seminal Factory releases in the New Jersey studio. New Order, who also played some very early gigs in the city with ACR, committed the Joy Division tracks 'Ceremony and 'In a Lonely Place' to tape for their first single. ACR completed their debut studio album and using some free downtime from the ACR sessions, ESG were invited to cut three tracks: 'Moody', 'You're No Good' and 'UFO'.
Martin Moscrop, Baz Barrett. Moody sessions, Suite 16. 7th Sept 1990. Photo: Darren Jones
The tapes for all the sessions came back to Manchester to be mixed at Strawberry Studios and all three records were released the following year.
Fast forward ten years to the end of the eighties and Rig drummer Jonathan Baz Barrett starts work at Strawberry Studios and the band became a semi-permanent fixture, ghosting in and recording through the night. The band's formative year at Strawberry Studios is documented here.
Rig. Ancoats, Manchester. October 1990. Photo: Darren Jones
During these overnight sessions the library of master tapes at Strawberry would often be raided and songs remixed or just listened to. One of the tapes that was regularly dug out was the ESG EP master from the New York sessions. So the band became very familiar with the three ESG tracks.
At the soundcheck of their second gig at Manchester's Isadoras nightclub the band were jamming 'Moody' and the question was asked why it wasn't in the set. The next show it was, and it stayed there pretty much for every Rig gig over the next few years.
Manchester Evening News. October 26th 1990
In the summer of 1990 Rig were enjoying lot of press attention following on from the release of their debut single 'Dig' and a headline tour of the UK. But their record label Cut Deep had just folded and with it went the opportunity to release the mini-album they had just recorded with Stuart James.
Adam's 'Moody' lyric sheet
Despite the set back the band were determined to keep ploughing forward. With new manager Jenks (also the manager of the International One) on board they decided to put out a white label single to garner record label interest. The New York electro pop-funk overtones of the mini-album made 'Moody' the natural choice to be the next single to showcase the band's development. The sessions for 'Moody' began with Martin Moscrop as producer at A Certain Ratio's rehearsal studio at the Boardwalk in June 1990.
Manchester Evening News. 7th September 1990
The band had a 'live' version of the song which is faithful to the original and that would appear on the single. But they were also keen to expand this version, incorporating samples and loops which had filtered through to their live set courtesy of DJ Blue, aka Pete Smith. With Pete on programming and Martin Moscrop at the helm the band came armed with their loops and samples and started to put together the ideas that would evolve into the six minute monster.
Single review. City Life November 1990
In homage to one of the band's favourite albums the main chorus refrain "On and On" is a sample from the song 'Moonlight in Glory from 'Brian Eno and David Byrne's 'My Life in the bush of Ghosts'. And of course they had to include a nod to ESG by using the famous sample from 'UFO', one of the most sampled tracks in hip hop history.
'Moody' track breakdown including the Byrne/Eno and ESG samples
The seductive backing vocals came courtesy of Anthea Clarke and Martin's daughter came in to steal the show with the Micky Mouse conversation with her father and joyous whoops of laughter.
Put together at the Boardwalk and Suite 16, then mixed at Strawberry Studios, steeped in recent New York history and samples, the record had all the elements to make it the perfect Manchester - Manhattan crossover. It was a pretty cool affair.
Manchester Evening News. 9th November 1990
The videos for the live and dance versions were put together by Rig guitarist Darren a few years ago and feature audio lifted from the original vinyl releases. They also show off the original white label quite nicely.
The 'Moody' white label was officially released on the band's Rubber Records (the only release) on 29th October 1990 and the band marked the occasion with a gig at the International One. A few days later on 4th November John peel gave the track it's debut on Radio One and a couple of days later Mark Goodyear returned the compliment on his show, also on Radio One . Not bad for a self-financed white-label 12" single.
The complete white label record including the 'dance' and 'live' versions, a radio edit and a 'dance' instrumental was remastered and re-released, along with all the band's singles in conjunction with Dead Dead Good in 2020. The single is now available on all streaming platforms and can be found here.
One of the original 'Moody' reel tapes used for the remastering 30 year later.
The band emerged from the summer of 1990 with a new percussionist Gibby, who joined for a short tenure with the band and a handful of gigs, most notably with Manchester music royalty Yargo. Gibby was also brave enough to pose for the photos that would form the basis of the promotional posters for the new single.
Poster for the new single and International One gig. October 1990.
The final gig of the year was a return to the Powerhaus in London in November. After the soundcheck the band were enjoying a quiet pint in a nearby pub when they encountered a couple of girls employed on a Jack Daniels promotion. They were keen to rid themselves of their wares so they unloaded a large whisky cargo onto the eager band who demolished the lot before returning to the Powerhaus and taking to the stage. They were a great live band if you could keep them sober.....
Gig review from Record Mirror 1st December 1990
1990 was the year when Manchester became the center of the musical universe. Rig had released their debut single 'Dig', toured the UK, recorded a shelved mini-album then regrouped to self-release a white label single which found itself gracing the national airwaves.
Rig's next gig would not be for six months. But the 'Moody' white label had done it's intended job and the band would return in the Spring of 1991 with a new record label and a new single.
Dead Dead Good.
Rig headline the Hacienda 30th April 1990
The traditional end-of-year round-ups were of course dominated by Manchester and the music papers were busy recapping on an astonishing whirlwind of a year for the city. Quite rightly there was a strong focus on the second wave of bands such as World of Twist, Intastella and the New Fast Automatic Daffodils that would have made waves irrespective of their Manchester roots.
End of year recaps on a crazy year in Manchester from the Sounds and NME Christmas editions.
And it was nice to see Rig up there in the some of the end of year charts.
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