A former student who realised his passion for music at Bury College has expressed his sadness over courses being cancelled there. 

Joe Klusiatis, from Bury, a guitarist for band Mundane Arcane, has spoken out following the college's decision to axe all music courses for current or potential students.

Joe, 21, who has just released a new single with his band, said the teachers as well as the college, played a huge role in developing his passion and he is sad that other pupils won't get the same chances there that he did.

He said: “I would say college is really where I found my love for making music and what lead me to chase it as a career.

“It is a bit sad looking back now though as Bury College has cancelled its music courses. The staff really helped me along the way, I feel sorry for those who won’t get the opportunity to have that experience.”

Bury Times: Mundane Arcane performing Mundane Arcane performing

Joe began playing the guitar in primary school but he wanted something with a bit more rock and volume than most classical acoustic guitars will allow.

Joe said: “In primary school, my music teacher left, and I got bored of classical, so I stopped because they didn’t have the option to play any other kind of guitar.

“I then picked it back up in high school with a few of my mates, but it was going to college that made me really realise that this was what I wanted to do.”

Joe began a band, The Monkfish, made up of three Holy Cross College members, Sean Rooney, Nick Rushworth and Matthew Woodcock.

The band played college music shows, a charity gig and a small festival, the first gig Joe was paid for.

After finishing his courses at Bury College, Joe attended Leeds Arts University, and after meeting like-minded musicians, Mundane Arcane was created.

Bury Times: Mundane Arcane performing in LeedsMundane Arcane performing in Leeds

Joe said: “We wanted to create music which blends modern sounds and ideas while keeping the centralised concern for old-fashioned rock and roll, taking heavy influence from alt-rock, indie and psychedelic rock.

“As we all contribute to writing songs our tracks end up being an amalgamation of our personal tastes as well. 

“Progressing from there, we thought our songs sounded decent and we got good feedback, so we have tried to pursue this as a full-time thing, something Bury College had already inspired me to do.”

Mundane Arcane is made up of Joe Stott, Max Ainsley, Olly Kell, Alejandro Sabio and Joe, who began playing in 2020 in the basement of Alex and Olly’s University house.

Joe said: “We have just released a new single, ‘Out of Your Depth’, which has lots of psychedelic style guitar solos, layered with lots of delays and reverse delay.

“Olly wrote the lyrics and was really trying to convey his feelings towards university work and leaving.

 

“He also tries to express his anxiety about living and depending on yourself in current society hence the title and lyrics, such as ‘can remind you that I can’t perceive’ meaning you can’t always assume what’s going to happen.”

The new single is a creative piece and one that Joe says he might not have been a part of if he hadn’t had the opportunities to learn, practice and play music at Bury College.

In response to music courses being cancelled, a college spokesperson said: "Bury College regularly reviews its curriculum provision to ensure that we offer a diverse range of courses which meets the needs of local learners and the skills demand of the future.

"As a result, we are now offering brand new courses for this September including esports, painting and decorating and a range of new T Levels.

"In addition to this, we will be opening the doors to a brand-new £9+ million health and digital centre which will provide facilities for a range of exciting courses including health, computing, and degree level programmes. 

"The college made the difficult decision to withdraw the Music Performance and Production programme from September 2022 for new students and anyone who had applied for this course was supported and signposted to other local providers who offer music courses. 

"We will continue to review our curriculum to ensure that our offer reflects the needs and demand of the local area and will make decisions that are in the best interest of our learners and the community."

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