 | | Joe Stretch |
And that's where it all started to get a bit weird. Mistakes were made, songs were scrapped, chances were blown and yet, they have finally produced an album befitting of a band who were championed by the NME and Peter Hook amongst others when they first appeared. It’s a situation that makes frontman Joe Stretch a suitable mix of swaggering confidence, brutal honesty and modest charm when he comes to discuss it: "We had huge ambitions for the first record and we got given a big chance. We were in great studios on a major deal, but we couldn’t really do it. We wrote some songs that I listen to now and I’m reasonably happy with, but on the whole, we recorded fifteen songs that weren’t good enough.
 | | Performance back in 2004 |
"We’re told we’re the unluckiest but we signed a record deal, made a bad album, got another chance from the same label to make a better album but then got dropped, which should have seen us cast aside. Instead, we got picked up again and got the chance to release that record. "That said, we’re a brilliant band. I’ve never had any doubt in that. We can write songs and there’s not that many bands that can anymore. We see ourselves as old-fashioned songwriters and jobbing musicians, which aren’t the kind of things that people associate with the band. And we’re good at it." Short sharp shock Performance were never a band to shy away from their self-belief. Indeed, their history is one of fiery gigs, cutting comments and fantastic style, something that has led to some seeing them as a bit of a victory of style over substance. That ill-founded notion fuelled their decision to scrap the first recording. | "We’re a brilliant band. I’ve never had any doubt in that. We can write songs and there’s not that many bands that can anymore." | | Joe offers his own appraisal of Performance |
"When we first made it, it sounded ironic, which is depressing, and it lacked an emotional punch. We took a lot of stick in the early days for being superficial so we always said to each other that when we make the record, let’s make it undeniable. Whatever else it might or might not be, let’s make it an honest 12 songs." Freeze The ins and outs of the making of the record, coupled with the label move, have meant delay after delay to its release date. Thankfully, while other bands might have fallen apart in the time, it has only made Performance stronger, though Stretch is aware of the "howling tunnel of misery" that those waiting for it must have felt.
 | | Joe in action at Sounds From The Other City |
"Our debut has been delayed to an extent that we became resilient to it a long time ago. It was frustrating a year ago so to say it is now... well, words fail me at this stage. But we’ve always been so determined to get it out so we’ve never really succumbed to the pain of the endless delays. "Its release is not a relief. I can understand that, to others, it must have seemed like a howling tunnel of misery – the delays on the album - but to me, it makes a lot of sense. We made one album, it wasn’t very good so we scrapped it, re-recorded it, left our record label, got a new one and finally, we’re doing it." There’s that honesty again. There may have been accusations of superficiality before, but you’d struggle to lay them at the band’s door now. As Stretch succinctly puts it, "I find it very difficult to feign my way around questions these days.
 | | Performance |
"I used to enjoy that but now I have a gentler attitude to it all. For example, we live with this mantle, this constant question of 'why aren’t you massive?' We get that all the time and quite frankly, I’ve no idea. But it’s not something I worry about." If there is any justice, it isn’t one he’ll be hearing much longer. That re-thought, re-invented debut is a stormingly fine record that fulfils what the band wanted from it. It is simply undeniable, as indeed are Performance themselves. Say hello to the best old new band in Manchester. Performance's (We Are) Performance is out on Monday 18 June. The band play the Roadhouse on Wednesday 20 June. Tickets are £5. | 
