Quality slice

Denis Ferrige and Paul Owen

AS most regular readers of this page are by now fully aware, the local music scene is buzzing.

And consequently, for Failsworth’s Paul Owen, Moston’s Denis Ferrige and Dawn Roach, business is also beginning to boom for “A Slice of Nice Music”.

A Slice of Nice was launched by the locally-based trio not much more than 12 months ago.

It all began for the exciting promotional outfit when they put on a rather low-key acoustic music show in Manchester.

Now, at the beginning of 2016, A Slice of Nice Music put on showcase nights, have their own “Big Slice” radio show every Saturday afternoon, and they’ve even nailed themselves a half-hour slot on That’s Manchester TV (freeview channel 8) every Sunday night.

Storm

Owen, Ferrige and Roach pride themselves on their backing for up-and-coming musicians in and around Manchester, with their various platforms becoming increasingly popular almost by the day.

Owen said: “We’ve just created the perfect storm for new music.

“After I left the forces, music became a big part of my life. It just started by going to gigs, loving new music, and so it went on.

“At the Tiger Lounge (a recent showcase night) we recorded the gig for the radio show and then tied that in with the TV show.

“It’s a perfect opportunity for creating the whole package, the ideal night if you like.

“Unsigned bands don’t always get that kind of platform or that leg up, but we’re able to provide it now.

“We think these days you see too many promoters using bands as commodities. They book bands because they sell tickets.

“They could be singing ‘Humpty Dumpty’, they don’t really care. For us it’s about the quality of the music. We want people to trust us, so the bands we put on are brilliant.

“It doesn’t matter if they’ve got 50 followers or 10,000, it’s about the music.

“We feel they deserve people’s attention, and when we introduce them we’ll talk about them first, then they’ve got that opportunity to shine.”

Musicians from across the region — and Oldham — are now being invited to get involved with A Slice of Nice, as the busy trio look to continue their expansion plans.

“Of course people can get in touch, from Oldham or anywhere,” said Ferrige.

“Even if you’re budding musicians with the one song on a demo, send it to us.

“The TV show is great, we’re championing new music in conjunction with SSR Music, so the people of tomorrow’s music industry are cutting their teeth on our show.

“Everyone’s winning. We interview people from the industry, bands, and we’re even doing on-location stuff like we did from the Tiger Lounge.”

There’s a major Big Slice festival in the planning for the summer which local bands and fans might well be interested in, but for now details remain under wraps.

Owen added: “At this stage all we can say is keep your eyes peeled, but there will be something very big happening soon.

“We don’t want to be daft and start shouting our mouths off but it’s going to be brilliant.

“This year we’re just going to bring more new music, whether that’s from Oldham, Manchester, Failsworth, wherever.

“Just get in touch, and as we grow, the bands will grow, and we can take over the world!

“Don’t forget the musical eye of the world should be back in Manchester, where it belongs.

“We’re going to make sure that’s what happens.”

Check out A Slice of Nice Music on Facebook and Twitter. Contact and listings details are freely available.

=