On March 14th 2026, Rochdale Town will be announcing a new Album Launch Concert, hosted by Clint Boom – a DJ, radio presenter and member of the alt-rock, Oldham-born band, Inspiral Carpets.
The Album Launch Concert is part of the Rochdale Music Stories movement, created in collaboration with The Stockport Music Story and Voltalab Sound Studios, funded by the Arts Council England to celebrate and honour the legacy of rich music heritage across this small Greater Manchester Town. As the Rochdale Creates website puts it, “Rochdale boasts a rich and diverse musical legacy: from Gracie Fields to The Courteeners, Lisa Stansfield to Autechre. It’s also the town where Joy Division recorded their seminal track Atmosphere, and where ground-breaking music continues to thrive.”
As part of this project, the organisers have invited 14 local artists that have been encouraged to reimagine classic tracks from legendary bands such as Happy Mondays, Joy Division, OMD, New Order and more. Local artists and bands that will be performing these tracks include the talents of K-Estate, Micah Stalgic, Desyfer & Emma Konnanov, From The Ground Up, PoolEra, Medley, P*Starr, Blvckout, The Velvet Shadow, and Leo HC.
The chosen setlist will not be arbitrary, however. To fully integrate Rochdale and its culture into this event, these tracks will include exclusively ones recorded at the iconic Kenion Street’s recording studios: Suite 16 and Cargo Studios.
The Cargo Studios’ founder, John Brierley, writes a brief history of his studio over on the website: “I bought an ex ambulance fitted it out with a mixing desk and started recording bands at weekends around the Manchester area. As a cameraman at Granada I worked with Tony Wilson and in autumn 1977 he fronted a show on TV called “So it Goes” the second series of which included bands recorded live on stage. Tony knew of my mobile and Granada hired it to record the shows and I ended up recording bands such as Elvis Costello, Iggy Pop, the Buzzcocks, the Jam, and the Tom Robinson Band. For various reasons I decided at the end of 1977 to leave Granada and with the money from the TV shows I built a sixteen track studio. That became Cargo Recording Studios which everyone abbreviated to Cargo Studios or just Cargo. In the first three months only a handful of local bands had been in and things were looking bleak, but then the Gang of Four came in from Leeds, and that was the turning point. They found in Cargo a studio that could handle their type of music capturing the energy as if they were playing live, conventional recording techniques went out the window. The Gang of Four released their Damaged Goods single and from then it just took off, it seemed like every indie band in the UK wanted to record at Cargo.”
The ex-ambulance fitted with a mixing deck and minimal equipment rapidly turned into a humble studio, yet one of Britain’s significant homes for recording, with a significant number of the island’s most recognisable artists having had their music recorded right in the heart of modest Rochdale. The studio was appreciated for being able to capture the unique sound and energy of rock and alternative bands, thus, Brierley worked towards making it as accessible and affordable as possible for up-and-coming artists with 16-track recordings.
As Cargo Studios’ popularity and renown grew, it eventually became the birthplace of works by OMD, Joy Division and many others from around Manchester, Liverpool and Stockport areas, even bands originating from Wales and Scotland, contributing majorly to UK’s cultural identity and music history. Although the building became derelict in 2012, then re-bought and refurbished by Voltalab, Cargo Studios is still operational today, however, it is primarily a digital mixing studio.
Parallel to Cargo Studios, Suite 16 studios was born out of the collaboration between Pete Hook from Joy Division and Chris Hewitt from Tractor Music.
Anthony Wilson brought the band Joy Division to the Cargo Studios (located in the upstairs section of the building) for a recording session in 1978, when “downstairs in Tractor Music Chris Hewitt was building PA systems and organising bands for the Deeply Vale Festivals. At Hannett’s [Martin Hannett, bass player and producer] suggestion Peter Hook went downstairs and talked to Chris about building him a custom bass set up for Joy Division using Amcron, Gauss and Alembic equipment” (source: Cerysmatic Factory website) The recording session and encounter led to Peter Hook’s long-lasting relationship with Rochdale, eventually leading Hook to purchase the downstairs Tractor Music and turn it into the Suite 16 studios.
Suite 16 then also became one of the UK’s most significant historical studios operating across the city to enrich the local music scene. It became the repair centre for the legendary Haçienda night club’s equipment, and many bands across the North would frequent Suite 16 to both buy and hire their own apparatus.
In 2008, Peter Hook also spoke out about the studios and Rochdale’s Kenion Street, saying: “It’s amazing what effect that building had on my life! From the moment we walked in as Joy Division, already well aware of Cargo’s reputation, to make some of the best sounding music we ever made! The fact that our song Atmosphere was recording solely in Kenion Street, and still sounds as good today as it did then, seeing the building used in the movie 24 Hour Party People, even owning it myself as Suite 16, and watching The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays, The Chameleons, The Charlatans, oh my god the list is endless, walk through those doors, the effect it had on Rochdale and the North West music scene is immeasurable, much the same that Ian Curtis had on Macclesfield.I would like to see the building on Kenion St rise like a phoenix from the ashes, to inspire people all over the world, the way it did before!”
Cargo Studios/Suite 16, Kenion St Rochdale Blue Plaque Campaign
A Brief History of Cargo | Cargo Studios
Soon in March, we can relive the grandeur of British music in Rochdale. Almost as per Peter Hook’s wishes, Kenion Street is in its own way rising from the ashes to inspire future generations of musicians, hosting the Album Launch Concert at the Heywood Civic Theatre.
Rochdale Music Stories will be releasing a compilation tracklist from the live performances on a limited edition and high-quality vinyl. The confirmed tracklist will feature the following songs:
1. Micah Stalgic ft. Local Vocals – “Atmosphere” (Joy Division)
2. K-Estate – “Damaged Goods” (Gang of Four)
3. Desyfer & Emma Konnanov – “Twenty Four Hour Party People” (Happy Mondays)
4. P*STARR – “Keep The Circle Around” (Inspiral Carpets)
5. Leo HC – “Up The Down Escalator” (The Chameleons)
6. PoolEra – “Electricity” (OMD)
7. Medley – Dreams Never End (New Order)
8. Blvckout – “All Night Party” (A Certain Ratio)
9. The Velvet Shadow ft. Maisie Thompson – “All Tomorrow’s Parties” (Nico)
10. Jennifer Reid – “Totally Wired” (The Fall)
11. From The Ground Up ft. Bloom Music Community – “Elephant Stone” (The Stone Roses)
The event’s previously mentioned host, Clint Boon, will take the opportunity to chat with some very special guests: Peter Hook, Vox (The Chameleons) and Martin Moscrop (A Certain Ratio) to spotlight their stories and inspire both the guests of Rochdale Music Stories and the featuring artists.
Rochdale Music Stories is the perfect combination of the classic and the modern: it is simultaneously a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear Britain’s music history but also to support local artists that will perform renditions of classics. They are music history in the making, your support enabling the legacy to live on and the journey to continue.
Tickets are available for purchase using this link: Rochdale Music Stories presents: Kenion Street Album Launch Concert – Heywood Civic, and I hope to see you there in celebration of music history from the past and potentially even of the future.
Article by Rozalia Lewandowska
