The weird magic of Manchester Music venues: Rebellion

- By Emily Oldfield

Right at the end of Deansgate, near the train station, you will find Rebellion: a dark and cavernous music venue like no other in the city.  It’s home to metal, rock and a massive range of alternative live music from across the globe. Here audiences can jump from Drum ‘n’ Bass to black metal to psytrance… as this is a venue known for the eclectic nature of musical enjoyment available. 

For atmosphere, intensity and a seriously impressive FOH soundsystem, Rebellion is the place to be. Founded in 2013, this 400+ capacity venue offers an antidote to inevitable pop music and band line-ups seen elsewhere in the city.

At Rebellion, you can expect music with weight to it; from Rock’n’Roll to Hip Hop, punk, funk, metal and much more. And the music is so popular, rather than opening in-between, the venue opens just for events and gigs.

The Rebellion team after all are truly dedicated to the music and bringing the best alternative bands to Manchester. The Director is Ainars Gruznovs, who along with Venue Manager Arturs and their dedicated promoters, ensure that there is a vast array available for people to enjoy.

Bands that have featured at Rebellion before include Origin, Bigfoot, Hundred Year Old Man and many more. It’s also a regular venue for number of festivals including The Manchester Punk Festival. Rebellion has furthermore presented Battle of the Bands and a number of afterparties, as well as Untamed – a fortnightly dose of rock and metal.

To get crowds ready for the weekend are DJ Birch with ‘anything goes’ on a Friday and on Saturday it’s DJ Metalot with rock and metal tunes. The sound engineers are Emlyn and Jimmy and all club together to create the varied, exciting space that Rebellion is.

Rebellion underlines what it is to be an authentic, independent and enthusiastic music venue in Manchester. Expect no half-hearted efforts here. People come time-over for the quality live music, powerful sound and plenty of fun that comes along with it – including a beer pong table, massive dance floor and lounge area.

We spoke to Assistant Promoter Ad Gosling to find out more:

1)      What does it mean to you to work at Rebellion and how long have you been there?

“Well, I started working at Rebellion in May. I previously worked at I Love MCR and in my spare time I run and write for an online music magazine called Atom Smasher Music https://atomsmashermusic.online/. I have attended Rebellion for a few years, attending 2-4 shows a week… so I got to know the staff and became a regular.

“I then thought - why not? Once I saw the position advertised I jumped at the opportunity as I knew with my experience and writing about current artists I had a lot to offer.”

2)      Tell us about some of your most memorable moments working there...

“Well... most memorable I shall have to leave for another day as it's a little controversial, but I shall say it was possibly one of the hardest days in my life.”

3)      Do a band have to fit certain criteria to play Rebellion? How do you go about selecting which bands play?

“You don't have to fit a certain criteria to play here at Rebellion. We have a great night called Untamed which is a regular night that showcases unsigned bands of all genres. Also Atom smasher is doing a few showcases and we had a punk band from Long Beach play last month called SPIDER (Check them out). If we have a large touring band due to play we always try to get a local act to open up and that way the local music scene gets some recognition. If you fancy playing Rebellion some time, adam@rebellion.club is my email.”

4)      Why would you encourage people to come to Rebellion?

“The team I work alongside are the most passionate people I have come across and it's more like a small family. The team is only small and we work hard behind the scenes making sure everything runs smoothly.

“A lot of people think it’s easy putting gigs on - but it’s very hard work! Sometimes I work 16hrs a day making sure load in and soundchecks run smoothly and then that the bands are happy loading out at the end of the night!”

5)      If you could have anyone play on the Rebellion stage, who would it be?

“Tough question - haha!  It would have to be Converge / Amenra / The Locust + Deftones.”

6)      What does Rebellion give to Manchester and why is it unique?

“We are the best alternative music venue in Manchester with the friendliest staff going and you can come down and watch me laughing and joking with a smile on my face drinking a black coffee...

“Some nights we can have 6 black metal bands on and straight afterwards a drum and bass night! Head to our website www.rebellion.club for more information.”