Andrew Dubber     

I’m in Macclesfield for the next couple of days attending Un-Convention Factory. It’s the 30th anniversary of (Joy Division lead singer) Ian Curtis’s death, and we’re marking that with a special event unlike any other we’ve ever done.

There’ll be 8 bands, 100 invited delegates from across the creative industries and 300 attendees who have applied online for the free tickets to this one-day event. And while the ‘Factory’ in the day’s title is a clear reference to the record label, the Hacienda nightclub and to Joy Division – it’s been used as a springboard into a really amazing idea.

Un-Convention Factory is an attempt to create, record and release a new record, while exploring the current challenges, ideas and debates within the music industry.

Here’s how it works
The Heritage Centre in Macclesfield has been transformed into a factory containing all the elements and processes involved in creating a record. Participants are free to explore the factory, interact with the invited creatives and ultimately make all the decisions along the way.

At the end of the day, the record will be available for people to download. Eight established, new and unconventional bands/collaborators will cover a track from Iggy Pop’s ‘The Idiot’, a record that meant a great deal to Ian Curtis. Each band will perform the songs, in front of an audience, while the songs are recorded for the album.

The bands:

I Am Kloot
The Virginmarys
New Education
Reverend Soundsystem
Gallops
Young Fathers
Louis Barabbas and the Bedlam Six
The Whip

And I have a busy day ahead of me.

At 10am, my New Music Strategies partner Saskia and I will be hosting an Un-Convention Factory radio show – the first of the day. I’ve got a really great line-up of some classic (and some surprising) fiercely independent, anti-establishment anthems from the world of punk, hip hop, funk and jazz lined up. Way more than an hour’s worth, in fact.

Then, at noon, Saskia, Ian, Andrea and I will be hosting a New Music Strategies consultancy workshop, in which we’ll help ‘unstick’ musicians and music businesses with ideas, provocations and new ways of approaching what they’re working on.

At 4pm, I’ll be chairing a panel session called ‘Music As Culture’ with a bunch of really interesting people, discussing how music makes meaning as more than simply a commercial commodity, but as an important part of people’s lives. They are:

Don Letts – DJ, film maker and musician
Brian Travers – musician (UB40)
Jez Collins – Birmingham Music Archive
Dave Haslam – Music journalist, author and DJ
Andrea Goetzke – New Music Strategies

And then, I suspect, there’ll be a party. Which will be great because there are so many fantastic people here from UnConvention and other independent events I’ve been to all over the place: the Groningen crew, the Mumbai lot, the guys from Edinburgh… and Martin Atkins too – it’s like a big reunion.

The whole thing’s sponsored by Converse (free sneakers – woohoo!) and it’s going to be a lot of fun. With any luck, I may be able to get one or two ‘Five minutes with…’ interviews along the way for the blog. Fingers crossed.

Tagged: Conference, Seminar, unconvention