Die Harder: Underachievers Please Try Harder

Underachievers Please Try Harder was the kind of night where the lights'd be as likely to go up to The Mountain Goats' This Year as to The Hold Steady's Stay Positive; where teen wallflowers who pored over David Berman lyrics in the afternoon could morph into bright young things at midnight; where you wouldn't be the only one mouthing every syllable of The Past is a Grotesque Animal, and in fact you'd probably be circling in on the love of your life via a shared dissection of the way Kevin Barnes declares ‘it's so embarrassing to need someone like I do you.’

“We wanted Underachievers to be more of a community than most nights – a place where people met, formed bands and drew inspiration to do things, as well as just got drunk and danced!” says founder Dave Bassinder, who started Underachievers with his university housemates in April 2008, in the basement of The Rampant Lion pub on Upper Brook Street. When the others moved on, he teamed up with club attendee Kirsty Maguire, who'd pestered him for “songs that I would probably play anyway – so the tragic cliché of DJ and requester getting together happened!”

The two have run the night ever since, taking it from the, um, characterful lassitude of Saki (RIP) on Rusholme's Curry Mile to the uniquely putrid, carpeted sweatbox of Gullivers (blessed be), and finally to its home for the last two years, The Roadhouse, where they host their last hurrahs this month: their 5th Birthday on 13 April, and The Last Ever Underachievers on the 26th.

The night found its niche at a time when clubs like The Star & Garter's Smile – the original 'alternative' indie disco – had started to tire, and when freshers seemed to be getting savvier sooner, realising that you really don't ever need to go to 5th Avenue or 42nd Street, I mean like never, not even once in your life, no matter how much that bloke off Xfm might insist.

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“There is a time you should always resort to Party Hard” – Dave Bassinder

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“Smile pretty much inspired most indie promoters of the modern era in some way, being the first to really swim against the tide of Madchester nights,” acknowledges Dave. “However, I've always made a conscious effort to move it away from being another version of that. There's definite inspiration from Panda Panda in there, a night our friend Dom used to run at [amazing mirror-walled Chinese karaoke nightspot] Charlie's – that was the first place I heard Why? and Animal Collective in a club. Likewise, Killing Fantasy, which used to be at Retro Bar; nights that weren't scared of killing a dancefloor now and then.”

Though they never intended to book bands, the club naturally evolved into a gig-then-party night: “There was a real problem in the city at the time with pay-to-play promoters,” Dave recalls. “I was trying for the raw feel of the old Akoustik Anarkhy and Bierkeller nights, presenting gigs in more of a house party style.” The regular platform the night has since provided has been pivotal to the city's lo-fi and DIY scenes, and will be sorely missed. Two of their favourite discoveries – Patterns and Ghost Outfit – play the 5th Birthday and Last Ever night, respectively.

So why kill a party that, by this point, feels woven into the fabric of Manchester's music scene? “We can't see where else we can go with it without it becoming a brand or losing what it was to begin with,” Dave says. “Our daily working lives have got busier, and maybe we've got a little older. The night becoming stale was basically my biggest fear from the start, so it's about stopping that and going out on a high.”

For the two blow-outs, they've pledged that “no song played on the 5th Birthday night will also be played on the Last Ever night;” there'll be a retrospective of posters around the venue, memorabilia, visuals – “probably of dogs being dicks” – and a specially put-together fanzine. Both nights will run til 4am, and no doubt be fit to bursting with that improbable mix of melancholy and jubilance that defines the very best of what we might term 'indie'.

What will they take away from the past half-decade? “It's massively clichéd, but honestly, meeting ace people,” Dave says. “Helping talents. Neither of us can play instruments, draw flyers, make videos. It's fun to make stuff happen that we can't ourselves; to shine the spotlight on others.”

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GUEST SELECTOR: UNDERACHIEVERS PLEASE TRY HARDER

NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL – HOLLAND, 1945
Dave Bassinder: I can't think of a time that the 'a one-two, a one-two-three-four' at the beginning of this wouldn't make me want to bounce around! It demonstrates perfectly a principle behind the clubnight, too – records that people think are obscure usually aren't. I love that everyone gets so happy when it's on, even though the song has such tragic subject matter.

THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – YOUNG ADULT FRICTION
Dave: My laptop once messed up, stuttered and looped the intro to this, but then when it sorted itself out and kicked in, everybody thought it was deliberate and went mental! I accidentally became a real DJ.

WEEZER – SURF WAX AMERICA
Kirsty Maguire: People always seem to go the extra mile for Weezer. Over the years there's been speaker-diving, tops off, and crowd surfing, but we reckon the biggest reaction goes for Surf Wax. I also like to go all wedding DJ and turn the volume down for the 'you take your car to work' bit!

THIS MANY BOYFRIENDS – YOUNG LOVERS GO POP!
Dave: This Many Boyfriends played their first show outside of their hometown of Leeds for us back at Saki in 2010. This was one of those you knew could be a hit, given the right push. Then Angular Records signed them, this started getting 6 Music play, and they never looked back.

ANDREW WK – PARTY HARD
Dave: This is really fun on the right night, but we don't like to do it very often. However, there is a time you should always resort to Party Hard. It's the get-out clause when the music cuts out – or, as once happened at Saki, when the manager has to pick up one of your regulars on his shoulders to reach the flick switch to get the leccy back on. As the ironic jeers ring loud, you wheel out Party Hard and make it seem like it was all part of the ploy.

JAPANDROIDS – THE HOUSE THAT HEAVEN BUILT
Dave: This is a newbie that, over the past year, has definitely started to get the Weezer effect. You have to hold these ones back, as you know there's always that group of lads just waiting for this. It's the pinnacle of their night, they will probably go home after: don't be belting this out around midnight.

COMET GAIN – YOU CAN HIDE YOUR LOVE FOREVER
Dave: This song is pretty much everything I want in a song. It's not sugary, not overblown, just simple, understated, perfect pop. They never play anywhere but London and Brighton, but us and [local promoters] Hey! Manchester once got lucky when they had a [Marc] Riley session and actually had to travel for it. And guess what? They didn't play this song.

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS – THE LUCKIEST GUY ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE
Kirsty: This was my first big request when I turned up at Underachievers, and Dave played it. So I guess without this song, things could have been very different!

BELLE & SEBASTIAN – JUDY AND THE DREAM OF HORSES
Kirsty: We've ended on this one a few times. It's a great way to finish the night. It's also the last song on pretty much both of ours' favourite album of all time.

MICHAEL JACKSON – EARTH SONG
Dave: We had a clubnight the day after Jacko died. The city was rife with promoters and DJs looking for a way to commemorate/cash-in on this event. Now, we're not averse to playing a bit of classic pop, but dropping Billie Jean or Thriller just felt a little clichéd, and not very us. But as the night wore on, so did the constant MJ requests. So at 3.30am, we were ready for clearing out and had a spot of inspiration. Nobody else would do Earth Song. What followed was probably our favourite ending to a night ever. People rushed to get in front of the big industrial fans to recreate the video, and all the Saki bar staff quit sweeping up to join in a wonderfully emotional Turkish family huddle. I think it was the only time they knew anything we played!