Live music set to rock again

Aaron Mellor: new plans for his Oldham venue

OLDHAM’s exciting music scene is set to receive a major shot in the arm with the welcome return of band nights at Tokyo’s.

The man behind the move is Oldham-born club owner and entrepreneur Aaron Mellor of Tokyo Industries, whose portfolio includes 32 of the coolest bars, clubs and venues across the UK.

Aaron reopened half his Roscoe Street premises as a new Bierkeller last weekend to rave reviews, but the future of the upper floor is potentially more exciting for musicians and fans. Aaron is to launch new live music nights.

Mellor said: “I just want to try and get the live music nights happening again. We used to have The Castle for events, but now we’re all looking for somewhere to go. We need to get some live music back in Oldham.

“The indie room upstairs already has a stage,” added Aaron. “That would be ideal for the smaller bands, but the Bierkeller room downstairs has a load of benches that could be moved out of the way.

“There’s a 450-capacity space in that room where bigger headline bands could play.

“I don’t really like the phrase ‘battle of the bands’, but we hope to do something similar to what we did in The Castle — putting two, three or four bands on and maybe have a mini-festival.

“I’d like to try something monthly first to try and move that forward.

“Everyone has played in Oldham. The Stone Roses, Oasis - who did their second-ever gig here - and the Inspiral Carpets; all those bands played The Castle or Tokyo’s. Probably the highlight was Kasabian — they played here when they were number one in the charts.”


Hear Simon Smedley’s interview with Aaron: