Bad Chicken
"I think the reason they gave us so many bits of chicken is to make up for the fact that it tastes like shit."
My brother's scientific yet highly questionable diagnosis of our sub-standard take away was falling on tired, nearly deaf ears. It's 5am in the centre of Manchester and fatigue has hit me harder than a John Prescott left hander.Despite the ringing in my ears, the bags under my eyes and the loss of my voice, the "Madchester" years are sadly long gone. The Hacienda is a block of flats, Tony Wilson is dead and the DJ's of the 90s that shaped UK clubbing forever are sat at home with a cuppa in front of Holby City.
But while Graham Park and Laurent Garnier have earned their place among the legends of dance music, there is a man striving for the same heights, and in the process putting Manchester and UK clubbing back on the map.
If you haven't been to Gareth Emery's Garuda night at Sankys, go now.
Every weekend away from the orange tan and blond hair extensions of the city centre bars, an educated musical crowd resides in the clubs and parties around Manchester's industrial estates. There's a musical heritage here matched by few UK cities and an excitement about the scene I haven't felt in a long time.
Voted number 7 in DJ Mags top 100 clubs on the planet, you'd expect an amazing experience from Sankys. But a club's only as good as the music it plays and the people who come to listen. This is where Garuda excels especially. People help you on and off the podiums, strangers talk and big burly northerners simply smile and offer up hi-fives when you accidentally throw snakebite over the back their head.
This for me is what makes a great night, standing looking cool has always been my pet hate in clubs. Partly cos I'm incapable of doing so, but mainly cos for me, clubbing is about going bat shit mental as one to the music you love. Like being in the home end of your footy teams ground, a combined passion for something brings unity. This unity builds and resonates quickly around the room until eventually, like a power cut in a milk factory, it all goes off!
At Sankys it went off for sure and as I stumbled out into the cold night air I buzzed at the knowledge that the UK club scene is alive and well. But if it is to continue to be alive and well, it must evolve.
That night at Sankys was not the same as the nights I spent 10 years ago at Slinky on the south coast, and why should it be? Things have to evolve to improve and im happy to say clubbing has moved on. Some things are better (Technology, bigger budgets and more musically educated audiences) and some things are worse (Greed, illegal downloads and David Guetta).
But which ever way clubbing moves forward, it is important that it does so. People like Gareth Emery and Jerome isma-ae are ensuring this keeps happening, for as long as boundaries are pushed and the progression of dance music is at the forefront of DJ's and producers minds, the passion for the scene will remain, the music will continue to inspire, and if the chicken in Manchester still taste like shit, there is always a Nandos down the road.
This for me is what makes a great night, standing looking cool has always been my pet hate in clubs. Partly cos I'm incapable of doing so, but mainly cos for me, clubbing is about going bat shit mental as one to the music you love. Like being in the home end of your footy teams ground, a combined passion for something brings unity. This unity builds and resonates quickly around the room until eventually, like a power cut in a milk factory, it all goes off!
At Sankys it went off for sure and as I stumbled out into the cold night air I buzzed at the knowledge that the UK club scene is alive and well. But if it is to continue to be alive and well, it must evolve.
That night at Sankys was not the same as the nights I spent 10 years ago at Slinky on the south coast, and why should it be? Things have to evolve to improve and im happy to say clubbing has moved on. Some things are better (Technology, bigger budgets and more musically educated audiences) and some things are worse (Greed, illegal downloads and David Guetta).
But which ever way clubbing moves forward, it is important that it does so. People like Gareth Emery and Jerome isma-ae are ensuring this keeps happening, for as long as boundaries are pushed and the progression of dance music is at the forefront of DJ's and producers minds, the passion for the scene will remain, the music will continue to inspire, and if the chicken in Manchester still taste like shit, there is always a Nandos down the road.
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