Over the bank holiday weekend a truly exciting twelve hour rave took place in a more intimate venue in Cheetham Hill.

The line up of back to back D.J’s brought in a crowd of over 600 people from around the surrounding communities as well as further afield to come together to celebrate Disco, Techno and House music.

Held at The Yard “more than just an event space” – offering a hub that serves the community, home to some seriously interesting music, fashion, food and culture.

“We love that the event went throughout the day, it really suited my weekend. I’ve been listening to these D.Js doing live streams throughout lockdown and I am only just returning to normal after all that time where we were cooped up indoors, we were able to dance in our houses and that kept the party spirit going, I’ve never been to an event like this before!” local raver.

Sticky Heat are “Mancunian purveyors of fine electronic music. Sticky Heat is not about being pigeonholed as a house night, disco night or a techno night, but rather we will focus on keeping an open policy and focusing on the very best in electronic music.”

The line up was as follows,

1pm-2pm,

RÓIS

“The founder and resident of ‘What She Said’, Manchester’s newest night for LGBTQ+ women & nonbinary people (and their queer friendly friends.) What started in her kitchen in 2019, has grown to sold out events across the city & playing multiple Pride events.
Róis’s sound is varied from old school house, to disco, with a touch of techno for good measure; she knows how to keep the dance floor lively.”

2pm-3pm

Rinny

“Yorkshire based Corinne White AKA “Rinny”, is a fabulously eclectic DJ much in demand, and is no stranger to dance floors at some of Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield’s finest nights. She rocked a set at The List Festival last year, and is a current resident DJ for record labels Sprechen in Manchester and Kiku in Leeds.”

3pm-4:30pm

Massey

“Producer, promoter, remixer, A&R & DJ Chris Massey heads up label Sprechen and promoter at Sticky Heat”

4:30pm-6pm

Marco Giannini

“Marco has been a DJ since 2000, when he first made a name for himself as a resident at the legendary SpeedQueen in Leeds, before moving back to Manchester in 2003 and starting his own ShowNoShame parties which attracted attention from the Sankey’s Soap team and saw him eventually move over to Beehive Mill to take on a monthly residency at the Tribal Allnighter parties, with his ‘Marco Giannini presents…’ parties in the Soap Bar.”

6pm-7:30pm

Muddy Feet

“Manchester based Muddy Feet, is a DJ/ Producer who loves to showcase different sides of the house spectrum. Ranging from Downtempo Electronica to Melodic House & Techno.”

7:30-9pm

Supernature

“Supernature Disco is a DJ Collective playing house and disco in Manchester and beyond. Dedicated to the party.

Resident DJs:
BB
Richie V
James Greenwood
Rob Jones”

9pm-11pm

Roman Flugel

“One of the biggest names in the German electronic music scene. Active since the early 1990’s, Flugel is a chameleon visiting many styles from ambient/idm to house, techno, electro and left field.”

11pm-1am

Sean Johnston

“Sean Johnston has been DJ’ing since his formative years in the frozen North. Acid House Veteran, Techno Survivor, Hardway Bros, Beard Scientist and Freelance Disco Consultant he has played at some of London’s landmark clubs including The Promised Land, Sabre Sonic, Club UK, Final Frontier, Disco Bloodbath and was one of the founding residents at London Super Club Cable.”

Marco Giannini is one half of Sticky Heat promotions and D.J’d on the night, we got to find out how he thought it went and spoke about playing to a venue such as ‘The Yard.’

What’s been the most memorable moment playing in The Yard or Cheetham Hill?

“Playing in the pouring rain and seeing people dancing today! What I love about here is, I kind of got in to clubbing in about 2003 /2004 going to Tribal sessions at Sankey’s and although this isn’t a traditional club, being off the beaten track, it’s a destination venue, with Sticky Heat we never really wanted to do something in the centre of town everybody here today has come for this, and you don’t really get any kind of randoms or trouble makers that’s what I like about this.”

Have you seen a change in people’s attitudes towards electronic music or DJing throughout the years especially more recently,

“What I’ve noticed more recently is when I first started you had, house music D.Js now there seems to be lots of fragmented bits, funky house slots, a tech house slot, so it’s not just one big genre there are lots of fragmented groups and sub-genres.”

“Event spaces such as this one are essential to the community I would probably describe them as a multi purpose, cultural venue. You’ll have a club night tonight, music shows tomorrow and exhibitions and they encourage those people to come forward. It’s such a welcoming group of people to work with as well, it’s like a gem in Cheetham Hill.”

What advice do you have for people wanting to do music promotion?

“I would say don’t copy anyone else, it’s fine to take inspiration for what other people do but Manchester is such a busy scene so if you’re going to launch something you need to do something that no-one else is doing. At Sticky Heat we’ve always gone on the basis of debuts and people who don’t play Manchester that often, find your lane if you think there’s a gap go for it but don’t be like I want to copy what they’re doing. If you’re going to copy it people will see your copying.”

Do you think people travel in especially if they’re not from Manchester?

“When we sell tickets on Skiddle it shows you a map of where people are coming from and we’ve got people from all over the country.”

The night drew in a mixed crowd and ages from all across the country.

We spoke to Chris Massey D.J, booker and label owner about the venue and changes he’s seen in the dance music scene.

“What we do at Sticky Heat and on The Sprechen nights that we do as well, it is open to everyone, we aren’t just putting events on for people under 35 it’s for 35 + it’s open to everyone, I think when we put it on it’s good for the community as in our friends and the dance music community and doing it at a venue like this is brilliant.”

“In Manchester especially there are so many venues that seem to be opening that are massive sometimes it’s the smaller intimate venues that you can get an atmosphere like this, like you have in the main room as well and they are few and far between.“

“It’s intimate but still big at the same time.”

Have you seen a change in people’s attitudes towards electronic music and D.J culture throughout the years?

“I’ve certainly seen it change a lot, it’s been good to see a lot more women and female D.J’s and producers. It’s definitely not a level playing field yet but it’s a lot better, that may just be the circles I move in that are really supportive of that, that’s been the one big change I’ve seen here in Manchester.”

What’s one of the most memorable moments you’ve had playing …in Manchester?

“I’ve had some great times playing a festival in Croatia, but in Manchester… probably this one tonight with the events here, (this is the second) this is personally the biggest one in terms of numbers that we’ve done as Sticky Heat and The Sprechen brand as well so this is probably like one of the most impressive to be honest with you. It’s been a massive success and a great crowd.”

“There is also another event that I kind of co promote called Suffragette City with three other women and female identifying D.Js – not necessarily just D.Js, women in music that D.J and play music on it, that started – it was an exhibition one year for International Women’s Day for Manchester Music and we did a club event as well which was really successful, so every year we did it to tie in to Internationals Women’s Day. We are five years in to it, it’s always in March, that certainly made me realise the wealth of women D.Js in Manchester.“

You can catch up with any future events at The Yard below,

What’s On

as well as links to each artist below,

Sticky Heat

https://ra.co/promoters/93354

Sprechen Music