The requirement to conform and set a straight course was more than tacitly implied. Schooled in footballing away days and musty, stale locals, I’ll admit I wasn’t particularly adventurous. When I took my first steps in the ‘rarefied air’ of the West End of the city, I was still a relatively ‘wet behind the ears’ teenager. And the voice of its inhabitants was starting to change. Colloquial stoicism was giving way to hard-boiled cynicism a loyalty to past masters, eroding like those magnificent factories and cinemas erected in more harmonious times. A once empirical force had become this beaten down, decaying industrial metropolis. Back in the early ‘80s, the city was being forced into change. To me, shadows and light pervade every aspect of this supposed ‘dear green place’, creating a visual style, a mise-en-scène that is unique. I’ve long thought that my hometown was a city with more than a hint of the noir about it. Worlds were formed and truths distorted in their disturbing and yet fantastical monochrome hinterlands and those movies – and their now iconic soundtracks – became touchstones that still inspire today. But it was their natural successors, the morally ambiguous ‘40s American film noir canon, that really made a mark in my subconscious. I can still recall a childhood viewing of Murnau’s Nosferatu on BBC2 with my brother and the disquiet we felt was real and strangely exhilarating. The films that initially captured my attention back then were the jagged, angular German expressionist movies of the 20’s and 30’s. From the simple association of sound and image, the unique language of light and shade to the ceremony of attending those magnificent, crumbling art deco playhouses with the heavy red velvet drapes, the perfect union of music and cinema has fired my imagination and continues to colour my own endeavours. From an early age, both mediums have intrigued, excited and inspired me in equal measure. However, the relationship I’ve had with cinema has pushed it damn close.
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June 2023
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