A TOWN centre event will celebrate Northwich’s love of music across an entire weekend in May.

Taking its name from – and working with – the iconic record label which brought The Charlatans into the spotlight, Dead Dead Good Weekend will run on May 9, 10 and 11 across town.

With lauded music venues including the Salty Dog playing a key role, music will also reach alternative locations such as cafes and barbershops as businesses come together to bring the inclusive community event to life.

A Barons Quay unit will also be put to use for shows, with Abda’s hosting a Dead Dead Good Records exhibition as the event follows on from last year’s ‘North by Northwich’ festival.

Gareth Phoenix is one of the organisers of the event, alongside Chris Mundie of the Salty Dog and with support from Northwich Town Council, Northwich BID and CWAC.

Gareth said: “It’s a cognitive conglomerate of local businesses. After last year’s North by Northwich, which was brilliant, the town had such a buzz. We thought that Northwich would benefit from a similar event again.

“Each venue will be responsible for their acts playing at the event, and we will promote that as if it were a festival – we will have ‘the Salty Dog tent’, ‘the Dead Dead Good Stage’.

“That’s the main thing, the main push. It’s Northwich businesses working together to put something into the town and get people out watching live music.”

With a festival set-up – and the footfall of the Artisan Market on Saturday, May 11 – bands such as Reclaim Vienna, The Kar-Pets, and Mark Radcliffe’s electronic project UNE will lead revellers from one venue to another across each day of the event.

More venues have expressed an interest, as well as a wide range of acts who will be booked by business owners to play slots across the Thursday, Friday and Saturday under the umbrella of Dead Dead Good Records.

The label has had an input in the process thus far, since the beginning of February, and has lent its name.

Gareth said: “We needed to have that musical umbrella to work from and these guys were founded in Northwich in the 90s. It’s a really popular era of music in the north west.”

“This is one of the great things about it,” Gareth added. “I absolutely loved last year’s event and the music that the town had on.

“We are looking at filling all of these gaps and getting people moving around town – we don’t want to exclude anyone.

“We want this to be an annual event and we want it to get bigger each year.”

See more acts and venues at the event website here.