As Band on the Wall re-opened this weekend Jenny Minard talked to electro heads The Bays, who played to a packed crowd last night, about the legendary music venue.

“The carpet won’t last,” percussionist Simon Richmond said. “Last time I played here eight years ago it was at the low end and a bit rundown. It’s obvious that they’ve spent loads on it. I’ve got a few friends coming up who arn’t even from Manchester and they are coming because it’s re-opened. I had no idea it had that kind of attachment to it. It’s brilliant and I hope we don’t let them down.”

Playing live is the only way you’ll get to see The Bays. They don’t rehearse and they certainly don’t produce albums.

They’ve got techno beats - spanning deep house, hip/hop, drum and base and most importantly electro – but all the words in the dictionary cannot make up for watching this dance collective in action.

Simon said: “Playing live music is just what we do. There is no setlist. There are no familiar tunes and people just turn up to see what we do."

Drummer Andy Gangadeen added: “The whole business of a recorded album is a modern concept. We’ve only been recording music for the last hundred years. And they’ve been making music for thousands and thousands of years, so we’re actually not being new. We’re just very old in fact.”

“But we don’t just go on with random stuff,” Simon said. “It is designed so that people won’t get bored, it sticks within the genre that we’re doing.

“And the thing about a live set is that we can change it, just like that. If we turn up at a venue and it’s a theatre sit down, we can play something that is more mellow and chilled out. But, if it’s a banging club night or a festival thing, we can pump it out, because that’s what is required at the time.”

Guitarist Chris Taylor said: “I think a lot of people forget [it’s not rehearsed]. I think they are intrigued and then after a while they sort of think it’s been done like that, which is the best reaction you can get.”

In 2008, the London-based band played in Manchester at The Royal Northern College of Music, but have barely been out to explore the City this time around. In fact, fourth band member, keyboard player Ski Oakenfull, was relaxing in his hotel room just before the gig.

Simon said: “What I can say [about Manchester] is it’s a kind of music place. Some places you can go outside of London where you feel people might not be quite so sharp in terms of their musical ear. I would never think that of Manchester. You feel like people actually know exactly what is what.”

The band is keen to stress, it is not a concept band - it’s just a choice. They just play. And for that you need a good memory.

But Simon had other thoughts. He said: “The good thing is that we don’t, so it always sounds fresh to us. Because we’ve already forgotton what we did.”

Andy added: “We have now got a good ear for what each other does, which is key to the whole success of the band.”

So can a band, in this consumer driven world, really exist solely for a love of the music and to entertain?

Simon explained: “Noone is making any money out of selling music. Eight or nine years ago, when we started, people were saying, ‘why are you so wilfully against all of this?’.

“Meanwhile the industry has whittled away, for reasons that are complicated and diverse, and a bit like the economic crisis, suddenly the bubble bursts. Music isn’t worth anything any more.”

Back to the venue and Band on the Wall is striving to bring back that relationship between audience and act.

Lesa Dryburgh is on the board of directors. She said: “It’s about the capacity - it’s a 400 people theatre. There is an intimacy and a relationship with the artists. It’s a musicians venue and it’s a music fans venue.”

The Bays fit perfectly into that ethos. Simon said: “Relationship is crucial to us. Sometimes, even in really good sets, where the crowds have been really up for it, we’ve been physically distant from them and it’s been so much harder for them to connect.”

And as for the future of the band, Andy insists they really won’t go down the commercial route. “There’s no need to. We’ll just get slumped in with every other band who does that.”

As for the future of the venue, it looks set to be a success.

On Friday’s opening night, gig-goer Ray O’Hanlon from Prestwich said: “We used to come here years ago – it was a favourite haunt. It looks spectacular and Manchester has been crying out for it.

Structurally, the building is the same but it’s really modern. I don’t know if the carpet will last though.”

Gavin Sharp, chief executive at Band on the Wall, said: “What a fantastic launch to the long-awaited return of this much-loved music venue.

“The launch is just the beginning though and we look forward to providing Manchester with a platform for some of the best local, national and international music and, in doing so, reclaiming our place as one of the cornerstone’s of the North West’s music scene.”

Last night, The Bays certainly went down a storm. Simon said simplicity is the key: “It’s just a band and we play mostly dance music. It’s not avant garde. There isn’t artistic vision - its just a bunch of people making music.”

And as simple as that sounds, it works. It’s a non-concept, which will keep The Bays going for a long time.

The Bays play Warwick Arts Centre on October 10 and with The Heritage Orchestra at Kings Place in London on October 10. For more details go to www.thebays.com For more information on Band on the Wall go to www.bandonthewall.org