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acoustica!

In 2008 I launched a new night in the tradition of the original 'acoustica' shows, called '3 Chords & The Truth, at DeBees in Winsford.

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Taken from the former Acoustica website:

During the late 90's and into the New Millenium, Acoustica! was the title for both a series of supportive and popular original music nights in a number of NW venues, and a website that has brought both songwriters and fans of acoustic tunes together.

A number of compilation cd's were produced and regular nights were promoted in Glossop, Mossley, Blackburn, Warrington, Rochdale, Stockport, Sale and Manchester Central.

The Acoustica project began in earnest in 1999 when Darren Poyzer, a Manchester based singer/songwriter and music promoter teamed up with Raw Fish Records to produce an album entitled 'Words And Pictures'.

Darren himself would tell you that for him, it all began in 1987 with his first music promotion called The NW Poets And Songwriters Festival, although to be fair acoustic music became truly drowned out by Madchester and Dancechester in the interim years.

The W&P album was prinicipally an acoustic album, and it's glowing reviews pre-empted a new wave of acoustic music enthusiasm that was to grip the Greater Manchester area through 1999 and 2000. Whether this was due to the demise of the club and indie scene, the strength of the local lyrical talent demanding to be heard, or a combination of both, remains open to debate.

Having compiled a cd full of happening tracks, the easiest way to promote the album on a limited budget was to arrange a number of promotional concerts featuring artistes from the album.

Concerts took place, primarilly at Manchester's Night And Day Cafe, but with the demise of this gig came the enthusiasm to promote more events outside of the city centre and join a network of established acoustic clubs and gigs in the suburbs. As artistes such as Badly Drawn Boy, Elbow and I Am Kloot grew out of the scene into recognised artistes nationally, the grass roots acoustic music scene remained unfashionable yet as vital a part of the NW live music scene.

As these things always go, so do people come and go, however there are those who stick to the task of working on a progressive project and developing their own music along the way. This has been the case with W&P and Acoustica, for their are just a few songwriters from the original album who make Acoustica what it is today.

There is no actual Acoustica team therefore, the ongoing mission of this site and network being to promote those who work hard at playing and promoting songwriter & acoustic music events under the Acoustica! banner.

Songwriters and acoustic bands are welcome to come and go, playing Acoustica as they wish and hopefully, becoming inspired by our venues, enthusiasm and audiences. Come the day when no-one wants to play or hear acoustic music, Acoustica and the like will cease to exist ... somehow, that day does not seem likely to become a reality, such is the power of passionate live music ... Enjoy!