The Blue Plaques

On Wednesday 23 September 2009 two blue plaques will be unveiled in the Borough of Rochdale to commemorate and recognise two uniquely important recording venues/music buildings that influenced rock and pop music locally, nationally and internationally.

Blue Plaque day at Cargo, would you like to be there? On the 23rd Sept 2009 there will be unveiling of a �Blue Plaque� on the building where Cargo Studios used to be on Kenion Street in Rochdale.

The plaque is to recognise the part this building played in the British music scene between 1978 and 2000, in the early years as a home to Cargo Studios and Tractor Music then later Suite 16 Studios.

This has been instigated by Chris Hewitt who owned Tractor Music and Rochdale Council. Streets around the building will be cordoned off and a big screen installed showing pictures from the studio days, some of them taken from this web site.

Many of the musicians who recorded in the studio have already said they�ll be there, Pete Hook from JD, Andy McCluskey from OMD are definite.

Also invited are the Chameleons, Mark E Smith, Vini Reilly, Julian Cope, along with Radio 2 djs Stuart Maconie and Mark Radcliffe. Marc Riley, Clint Boon and Mike Sweeney should be around along with the BBC, Granada, the Rochdale Observer and the Manchester Evening News, and hopefully you�ll be there too.

So if you were in a band who recorded at Cargo or Suite 16 whether you �made it big� or just recorded a demo, or maybe you bought or hired some gear from Tractor Music, or if you�re just interested in what�s going on and you�d like to come along on the day drop me an e-mail with an e-mail address and a postal address and I�ll pass it on to Chris who is sending out the invites and arranging the canopies, hey top job!!!! (I think he�s making them himself).

Cargo Studios/Suite 16, Kenion St Rochdale Blue Plaque Campaign

Having already managed to set in motion a Blue Plaque for the John Peel related Tractor Sound Studios building in Heywood, Chris Hewitt now concentrates on the campaign to get a Blue Plaque for the site of the former Cargo Studios / Suite 16 at Kenion Street, Rochdale.

In 1978 Anthony Wilson brought a young band to Rochdale into the upstairs studio at Cargo Studios on Kenion St in Rochdale to record a track for a new sampler record for his fledgling Factory record label. The band was Joy Division containing bass player Peter Hook and the maverick producer for the Factory sessions was the late legendary Martin Hannett. Downstairs in Tractor Music Chris Hewitt was building PA systems and organising bands for the Deeply Vale Festivals.

At Hannett's suggestion (Hannett was himself a bass player) 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. The recording session in Cargo and the bass set-up downstairs in Tractor Music would be the start of a long term relationship between Peter Hook and Rochdale which would eventually see him buying the studio with Chris Hewitt and running it as Suite Sixteen. Equipment for the legendary Ha�ienda nightclub was built and repaired in Rochdale and an endless stream of Manchester and Liverpool bands came to Kenion St to record and buy and hire equipment.

14 October 2008, Peter Hook talks about the Tractor Music, Deeply Vale HQ, Cargo Studios, Suite Sixteen Studios building on Kenion Street Rochdale: "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.

Joy Division - Peter Hooks - Transcendent

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!"

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