Hector Gannet | Manchester

456 Live Presents...

Hector Gannet + Johny Brown LIVE from 33 Oldham Street, Manchester

Hector Gannet & Johny Brown are both Shieldsmen, natives of North Shields, an area that has spawned some household names when it comes to music, so perhaps there’s something in the water, or maybe in The Gut! The tour tagline ‘Songs from The Gut’ borrows its name from an area on North Shields fish quay, where for years fishing boats have moored around The Gut. Both artists are inspired by the area. Aaron Duff’s family is steeped in the fishing industry of the town, and Johny Brown, the enigmatic frontman of the much-lauded heritage indie act Band of Holy Joy, although living in London for some time now, is still influenced by a yearning for home and heads back north whenever the opportunity arises. This time it’s to promote songs from his debut solo album Gut Feels which was released on Tiny Global Records on January 30th. The album covers a lot of personal ground for Johny, reflecting on his youth and on the realities of life as an ageing artist. Gut Feels manoeuvres around a stripped back atmospheric soundscape, cut through by the honesty in Johny's unmistakable voice, which teeters on peaks with jagged emotion.

From of the sleevnotes of Gut Feels by Johny Brown; - “I look at humanity and I scream inside. I know there is nothing I can do the way this world is going. I know that my phone distracts me too much. I can’t do the things others do, I’m just not you, no better or worse, neither straight or more perverse, convention slowly creeps up, but the older I get I realise more and more I’m just not you, I feel secure in knowing I never will be. I don’t want to be you.”

Hector Gannet have been busy also, the last twelve months have included a US tour, a critically acclaimed album release [MOJO, 7/10 UNCUT, Album of The Month The Crack] plus sell out gigs at The Glasshouse (formerly Sage), and a dream gig supporting yet another Shieldsman, Sam Fender at St James Park. A single release in the winter coincided with a packed headline show at Whitley Bay Playhouse and a short English winter tour followed. As we head toward spring 2024, Hector Gannet frontman Aaron Duff is busy writing material for the new album, amid embarking on this interesting handful of select co-headline dates calling at The Vault, Hexham, Northumberland on Saturday May 4th. 33 Oldham St in Manchester on Sunday 5th May, and culminating with a London gig at the historic Water Rats on May 25th.