"I SUPPOSE I should be talking in a broad Mancunian accent and wearing flares," says Gerald Simpson, "but it's not really me." Gerald - otherwise known as Manchester house star A Guy Called Gerald - is contemplating the hype surrounding his home town. And his own success has contributed to the city's reputation as a dance capital.

Oddly enough, Gerald's first recording was on a Merseyside label, the Wallasey-based Rham records. "Manchester wasn't happening then," he explains, "It was pre-Manchester trendiness.

The label had heard some tapes of Gerald's which had been played on Piccadilly Radio, and got in touch. The result was the record which would eventually become Gerald's first hit, Voodoo Ray.

But in the meantime, Gerald's enthusiasm for tapes was to cause him a few problems. His uncredited contributions to the State 808 hit Pacific State have caused much controversy among the Manchester music scene. Gerald now reckons there are several people who owe him money. "I've been naive," he admits.

But he has had some form of revenge. The B side of his current single FX includes two tracks I Can't Wait No More, based round excuses about money, and Specific Hate, which speaks for itself.

Gerald is fairly diplomatic when you ask him about it. "It's just my style of writing. It wasn't a dig as such. I thought it would be the funny side of it." But he adds: "I've been laughed at by people because I've done the work and they've got the money."

Gerald seems to have the last laugh now, with a major label deal with CBS. Though he knows that it will mean sonic compromise, he admits this is an exciting time for him. And it certainly keeps him busy. "I get back from London at 11 o'clock and try to get in the front of the queue for the Hacienda before I go home."

He is busier still at the moment as he has just started a tour which comes to the University tonight. But while he is getting used to audiences he is still most at home in a studio. And, among the bustle of an increasingly busy career, he says simply: "My dream is of locking myself in a room with two big speakers and all my equipment."

[Author: Penny Kiley]