I spent a good few hours today searching through the archives at The Met in Bury with my brother Andy, looking for anything related to the Gigs Live Music Club. Andy took over running Gigs when I moved to Oldham, although I was still involved for a good few years. He also worked front of house at the Derby Hall for a few years – and I welcomed the second pair of eyes.

Chris Hewitt is something of a legend in the North West music scene. He was manager for Tractor, who played at Gigs Live Music Club in early 1982. He ran Tractor Music, a music and PA hire business based in Rochdale – bringing large PAs to the Northwest for the first time. He was one of the organisers of the Deeply Vale Festivals, held between 1976-1978, just outside Bury.

It seems fitting in some ways that the first interview for the book is with someone I know well and who has been a friend for years – Peter Nicholson, generally referred to as 'Pete Nick'. Pete and I were in the same class at Bolton College of Art & Design in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That said, after the 1990s we lost touch; Pete moved to work in London and only came back up north a few years ago.