Easter weekend was so huge, we’ve only just recovered. Catching up this weekend,  Kurt-Lee, SpamellaB and James have tried to capture the highlights in one article, so you can relive your Easter with DMM!

EASTER SATURDAY

Bitch Presents Will Gold & Kryder @ Venus Manchester

Bitch commenced with Reworked Robot, kicking off the night and getting the crowd rowdy for another sold-out Bitch night at Venus. As always, he warmed the crowd up well, and when B3ast took to the decks at 12, the atmosphere was already buzzing. Keeping the bar high, the B3ast trio of Lempo, Pedro and Russo had the club’s hands up in the air, improving their performances every time we see them.

We spoke to Will Gold prior to playing his debut Bitch set and tried to describe the passion and enthusiasm that make Venus unique. Dropping ‘Sweet Harmony’, his collaboration with Bitch resident Reworked Robot, proved to be a huge crowd pleaser, the Venus faithful bouncing to every beat. Will said how shocked he was at how much a small club could make such a huge impact on a DJ.

Next up was this months headline act and Bitch favourite, Kryder. The man behind the visor received a huge reception from the crowd, playing an explosive, progressive house set, dropping his newest tracks ‘Vyper’ and ‘Scorpio’ alongside releases from Alesso, the Swedish House Mafia and other huge names in the prog-house scene. A little bit of variety from the DJ we know to play heavy, filthy bass-lines but cool to see that whatever he plays, it goes down well.

As a huge favourite of the Bitch regulars, a fair amount of the crowd got involved in slightly different and quirky ways, bringing Kryder masks and Bitch sunglasses, ready for the huge drops, purely to show their love for the Manchester DJ, returning after travelling the world on tour.

As always, the Bitch residents kept the party going past 6am, wrapping up another cracking, sell-out event. Expect more of the same for Michael Woods next month!

Words by @KurtLee_DMM - Photos by Oh My Gosht Photography

EASTER SUNDAY

Cassini Boat Party / Sound Control

As the aftermath of the hangovers from the night before were only just subsiding, by 3pm it was time to get back on it all over again for round two of the Easter Weekend. James and I headed down to Sound Control to meet the rest of the Cassini boat party crew then ventured over to Dukes 92 where the sun was shining and the Dry Barge boat was waiting for us to jump on board.

We weren’t sure what to expect as we stepped down into the spacious area, complete with a DJ area and decks plus a fully-stocked bar and outside undercover smoking area. A crowd of about 50 were all smiling from ear to ear as the boat set sail down the canal and the music kicked in, a great 3 hours set of tech house.

Seeing the delights of Manchester on such a gorgeous day by boat, with drinks flowing and a fun, chilled atmosphere, we couldn’t have wanted anything else to soothe our heads and get us in the party mood for another heavy night later. While some were dancing around others were enjoying the views, chatting with their mates and getting the drinks in, everyone was having a great time and the novelty of partying on a boat definitely added to the experience.

By 7pm we returned to our starting point, the boat anchored up and we all got off slightly merrier and keen for the party to continue back at Sound Control, where the likes of Gemma Furbank, Hew Williams, Epic Noise Guy, Kreso and loads more were to treat party-goers to hours’ more of tech house sounds. We headed home to freshen up, grab some food to keep us going, back to Sound Control for a couple of hours before heading to our next party; Jaymo & Andy George over at Underdog / Black Dog Ballroom.

Words by @SpamellaB

Underdog Presents Moda Black’s Jaymo & Andy George @ Black Dog Ballroom

James and I hit one of our favourite venues, Black Dog Ballroom, for a few chilled drinks before heading down to its basement area, Underdog, where Radio One In New DJs We Trust pioneers and the names behind Moda Black, Jaymo & Andy George, were to perform a live set. Being huge fans of the label and hyped for their Moda Black Vol. II compilation, the guys filled the underground space with their recognisable deep bass/house sounds which gradually had the dance floor moving and progressing from the shuffle/two-step!

We must mention Underdog’s fantastic Funktion One sound system which really added to the experience and allowed us to enjoy and appreciate the music even more; more clubs and venues should certainly invest in this. Both Jaymo and Andy George are not only insanely talented at what they do, but both were incredibly friendly and approachable, happy to talk to fans who came up to their booth and get photos taken with them. We caught them for a quick chat about being in Manchester and the anticipation of the new compilation; both lads were buzzing and could not be more excited for their next release.

We had to cut the night short so could catch the second half of Pirupa‘s set at Gorilla so we said goodbye to the guys and promoter of the night, Keiran Sharples, and agreed that we had to return to this New Wakefield venue in the near future.

Words by @SpamellaB

Gorilla & mute! Present Pirupa

To conclude our evening of madness, SpamellaB and I mooched around the corner to Gorilla to catch the second half of Pirupa’s set. A name we talked about a lot throughout 2012 but one we had yet to see in person, we were intrigued to see and hear how he would perform. Arriving to a packed club, the bass-heavy, minimal tech was pounding out of the speakers to a captive audience of drunken revellers, lost in their own worlds of simple but addictive beats.

As our first trip to the new(ish) venue, we commented on how impressed we both were with the distinctive, “under-the-arches” / “somewhere between a club and a live-performance stage” room. The high ceilings provide for a different (but welcomed) sound, in comparison to the usually low, basement rooms that we are more familiar with across town. The relatively large stage proved to be a focal point which had more in comparison with the smaller rooms at the Warehouse Project than most clubs, whilst keeping the slightly more intimate club vibes we know and love.

A huge shame we couldn’t see Thick As Thieves, Bump and the mute! DJs as there were just too many acts this weekend but we’re all really looking forward to the next opportunity to seeing them live in our awesome city of Manchester.

Words by @dmm_james.

Warehouse Project Presents Alesso & Friends

After an already amazing weekend, we decided to end it with a bang at The Warehouse Project. Heading to room 2 to check out local lad Nick Coulson, dropping some bombers including a massive mix of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Summertime Sadness’ to a huge crowd. Up next was Otto Knows, who needs no introduction with his huge success in the charts with ‘Million Voices’ and generally being huge  in the dance scene.

The WHP crowd was in the palm of his hand as he dropped some big house hits. It was great to meet Otto after his set, complimenting him on his performance, to which he explained how much he enjoyed playing his first ever set in the UK with such an awesome crowd reaction.

Next up was the hugely talented DMM favourite, Alesso. From start to finish, he went all out in his set, showing his enthusiasm and passion for the music throughout. His own track, Years, sent the crowd into a state of euphoria as part of one of the biggest and best sets I have ever seen. Hugely popular within the Victoria Warehouse venue this Easter Sunday.

Sunnery James and Ryan Marciano finished off this already amazing night with a B2B set to the more hardcore ravers who were partying until the end. This was another huge WHP night and with DMM going to virtually all the gigs last year,  the Summer will feel empty without a regular gig down in Trafford Park. We cannot wait for the finished renovations to room 1 and to see who the WHP team will be brining to Manchester from September.

Words by @KurtLee_DMM

Sound Control – Fundamental

On Saturday night, Sound Control plays host to Fundamental, “born out of one common purpose: to bring the techno we all know and love to Manchester.  No egos, no rules, no gimmicks – just thumping bass for your fist-pumping pleasure.”

As a regular at Cocoon, Fabric, Berghain and Tresor, Cari Lekebusch will be a welcomed act at Sound Control this Easter for an intimate night of deepest, darkest, fundamental techno alongside Kerrie, Lucy Ironmonger, Hew, and Moriarty, along with Manchester’s very own Gemma Furbank.

Tickets £10 + Bf

 

Warehouse Project – Kaluki

For their third night over the Easter Weekend, the Warehouse Project have brought together an awesome array of rave favourites to have rooms 2 and 3 bouncing. With Maya Jane Coles, Eats Everything and Subb-An leading the charge for this sell-out event you know Saturday will be huge. Supported by WHP “super-resident” Krysko (our title for Krysko, a legend in his own rights), Horatio, Pirate Copy, Pete Zorba, B_Deep, AJ Christou and Flux Groove the music will be top notch.

As one of the coolest venues around, Victoria Warehouse should provide an awesome atmosphere in the converted warehouse building, with very reasonable drinks prices.

Warehouse Project on Facebook

 

Venus – Bitch with Kryder and Will Gold

As one of the most popular house nights in Manchester, Bitch returns for it’s Easter special with DMM favourite, the Manchester DJ turned global superstar, Kryder. Donning his infamous visor sunglasses, Kryder will be tearing the main room apart with some epic big-room house music. Alongside Will Gold and the awesome Bitch residents, Saturday night at the Blackfriar Road venue will be one to remember.

A night to wear your favourite dress but then rave until 6am (officially) alongside one of the friendliest, bounciest, welcoming crowds in the Manchester club scene. Keep an eye out for B3AST, a big-room act that we predict huge things for in the near future. With reasonably priced drinks, great bar staff and a cracking venue, we believe this is the place to be on Saturday in the city centre.

Bitch on Facebook
Venus the Club on Facebook

The BassJockeys, also known as Darren Leasley and James Bullows, are good friends of ours who are always game for anything that involves music. Whether it’s raving hard at a festival or club night, smashing out the tunes on their weekly show on Manchester Global Radio or DJing at one of Manchester’s top venues, these lads not only know how to party but know their music in a big way.

So we decided to take some time out and get to know the REAL BassJockeys. How they came about, what inspires them and where the bloody hell they get all their energy from. As well of course, to see where they hope 2013 and beyond take them; we know they are destined for BIG things. We hope you enjoy reading what they had to say as much as we did! #BassDMM

The Beginning

So Darren and James, how did you two guys meet?
Hi guys! Well we first met in our first year of senior school when Bullows got us both into trouble for playing noughts & crosses in a maths lesson, both at fault but Bullows more so for suggesting we play it in the most boring of maths lessons. The first thing we both remember is doing detention together and Darren thinking, ‘I hate this kid’.

Tell us how you both got into DJing in the first place and ‘BassJockeys’ came about?
BassJockeys came about through our mutual love of dance, house and trance music. We used to be out raving together every week and Darren bought a Tiesto Live in Concert DVD one weekend. We watched it and decided, ‘This is what I have to do’. So he then bought his first decks (a terrible all-in-one system) and eventually taught himself how to DJ.

Over the next few weeks Bullows learnt the art of not trainwrecking and before you knew it, we both could mix and we had our first residency in a club in Oldham. To this day it remains a special memory as we had countless nights of fun there, playing 9pm -1am every week and playing ridiculously hard tunes for the club it was. There were times when we played 170pm hardcore tunes while people were finishing their evening meals and there were times we put Ferry Corsten – Brainbox on, left the decks and went to rave in the middle of the dancefloor. Throughout these nights Bullows come up with our name and The BassJockeys were born.

Do you both have similar music tastes or do they ever clash? How do you bring them together?
Yes we both love anything you can rave to. Anything house, electro, trance, techno, tech house, dubstep, drum’n’bass and so on. We don’t really have any musical differences at all apart from Bullows is quite partial to a bit of Justin Bieber. We always try and incorporate as many sounds and styles in our sets and shows as possible. [We suspect a hint of sarcasm here, but whatever floats your boat Bullows, we try not to judge!]

When did you first start getting into house, techno, trance & electro? First CD/album you bought?
We’ve always liked it. Going back as early as we can remember the more upbeat the tunes, the better. Back in the day we were only hearing commercial songs on the radio as kids, tracks like Mr Vain, No Limits, It’s My Life stand out as being the ones we both used to like running around in school discos as children.

In school we started to like more of the trance sounds; William Orbit’s Adagio For Strings, Gouryella, Tenshi, PPK – Resurrection, System F – Out Of The Blue, anything Tiesto and of course the obvious ones like Daft Punk – One More Time, Zombie Nation – Kernkraft 400, Underworld – Born Slippy. First CD’s are hard to remember it most probably one of the ‘Now’s’ or the single could have been Suggs – Cecilia.

Tell us how you got your show on Manchester Global Radio and how you’ve developed your show into what it is now…
Our good friends Lempo and Carr already had a show on there which we used to listen to a lot and they phoned us up saying a slot had become available and they both had recommended us to fill it. We were delighted to fill it and that’s how it started. We always liked the idea of sharing our favourite tracks and DJs with as many people as possible so the idea of the show has always been the same… we pick some of the biggest and best from clubland that week and also our personal favourite tune of the week and end with one of our all time favourites, the classic of the week.

You’ve previously had guest mixes from the likes of dance music legends Michael Woods, Kryder, Hardwell, Deniz Koyu and Chicane. How did you get such big names on your show? Any particular favourites?
That’s right, we’re very privileged to have many of our idols and some of the world’s biggest DJs on our show. We got them by either speaking to their management or speaking to them direct and asking if they would like to appear on the show with a guest mix. Some DJs, like Kryder who we get on well with, it is quite simple; others we have to arrange certain dates and wait around for the guests to finish work on a new track so they can play it, etc.

As you can see, it can become quite tedious but we’re very happy with every guest we’ve had on the show and it is worth the hard work for us to share their sounds that we love so much on our show to thousands of listeners each week. There’s no better pleasure for any DJ than to share their favourite tracks/artists with others.

Our favourite guests so far have been two of our long time idols, The Cut Boys. We were blown away by their mix they did for us as were a lot of the listeners. Their creativity and imagination is, in our opinion, unmatched anywhere in clubland. They’re also incredibly nice guys to get on with and their mix had it all,  all genres, massive bombs, filth, classics and surprises. We couldn’t have asked for much more.

Who would be your dream guest on the show who you’ve not had on yet?
Simple, our dream guest would be the man who started it all off for us, Tiesto. We have enquired and spoke to his team a lot. Fingers crossed, hopefully we can get him on in the future.

Let’s talk about festivals and music events – what were the highlights for you in 2012 as ravers?
As ravers our highlights would be The Warehouse Project re-opening, Creamfields as a whole, Porter Robison at Sankeys, Chemical Brothers at WHP, Feed Me at WHP, Avicii at O2 Arena, Carl Cox at WHP, Mint Festival as a whole, Qulinez at Creamfields, Deniz Koyu at Mint Warehouse and John Dahlback at Sankeys. There were plenty more amazing raves we went to but these are the ones that stand out.

What about as DJs? You played some pretty high profile nights, such as The Warehouse Project on the Skrillex night – surely that was one?
Yeah we’ve been lucky enough to play at some massive gigs last year. Every gig we love as much as the last, as long as we’re mixing on a loud system, we’re happy. But yes, Skrillex at WHP was one of our fave gigs; the atmosphere was unreal, the room was the busiest we’ve seen that room and 99% of the people in there were jumping none stop with us. Darren remembers looking over at the bar staff and even they were bouncing.

It was an amazing gig because a lot of our close friends were there too and for us, playing, having a good rave with our good friends… it doesn’t get better. When we played on the WHP re-opening with Axwell and Eric Prydz, that was a similar atmosphere and one of the highlights was one of the ravers showing us his phone and had typed out “You guys are the best thing I’ve heard EVER! I would s**g you two it’s that good” … We take that as a compliment!

What’s one of your all-time favourite tracks you play which always guarantee your listeners going mental?
We have so many all time favourites all you have to do is listen to our Classic of the Week each week on the show. We always like to keep the crowd going and never stopping so it’s hard to name one. A few of the ones that will always cause chaos are Maurizio Gubellini – 5 Seconds, Knife Party – Rage Valley, Eric Prydz remix of Midnight City, J-Trick – I’m So Hot, Albin Myers’ Hells Bells. Over the years we’ve been DJing, one guaranteed crowd favourite is Operation Blade by Public Domain no matter what remix or bootleg we play.

What are your future plans then as Bass Jockeys? Realistic or fantasy…
We will be setting up our own record label in the near future once our productions take off and maybe branching out to a few labels. We also see ourselves in a few years playing at all of the big festivals worldwide and eventually would love to run our own agency in which we showcase up and coming DJ talent to the world. If we were to get signed to Spinnin’ Records (our favourite label) that would be a dream come true. For the time being with them goals in mind we’re going to be concentrating on our own productions, our podcast and our show.

Also, tell us more about these podcasts, Bassment, we’ve seen you tweet about
Bassment is a new monthly Podcast we’ll be doing, which will be showcasing some of the best underground tracks from our favourite genres – electro, trance, techno, tech house and dubstep. We get a lot of amazing promo tracks each month too and we will also be featuring a lot of them on the Podcast. To sum Bassment up, it will be two hours of nonstop best in underground rave.

In your opinion, where are the best places or nights to go for a good rave in Manchester?
The best places to go for a rave in Manchester are The Warehouse Project, Sankeys, Sound Control, Joshua Brooks and Mint Lounge for sure but there are lots of little venues with really good nights on here all the time too. We love checking out new venues/nights and luckily enough we live in Manchester where ‘rave’ was founded. There are so many amazing new nights and venues it’s nonstop. To quote the Chemical Brothers – “What happens in Manchester today, happens in the rest of the world tomorrow”.

Describe what the BassJockeys are about in 5 words…
Rave, fun, chaos causers, party. [We could not agree more, guys!]

Finally, give us a heads-up on new music we should listen out for – we heard it here first!
There’s so much good music out there, there’s always revolutionary new sounds styles and what’s good is that all the genres are effectively coming together. You can listen to a Skrillex set and hear techno and R’n’B just as we did at WHP, you can listen to Eric Prydz and hear deep house and filthy electro. Everything in clubland is coming together now and we all shouldn’t really genre-rise music anyone, we tend not to, if the track is good it’s good regardless of genre or artist. Some of the artists to look out for and whom we’ll be hearing more from in the future are: Joey Suki, Popeska, Madeon, Walden, Feenixpawl, ThreeSixty, Dzeko & Torres, Will Sparks, J-Trick, Mikkas, Sick Individuals, Disfunktion, Deorro and Torro Torro to name a few.

Check out more of the BassJockeys

Twitter: twitter.com/BassJockeys
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BassJockeys
SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/bassjockeys
MixCloud: www.mixcloud.com/BassJockeys
PHOTOGRAPHY: Eddy Gosht / Oh My Gosht Photography

Even with everything else that is going on in Manchester at the moment, from exciting new underground nights cropping up to the awesome line-ups at The Warehouse Project, Sankeys, Gorilla and Sound Control, Venus still tempts our raving pals on a regular basis, with Bitch in particular being a highlight of ours every month. The crowd, the staff, the line-ups and the venue itself provides an incredible foundation for a memorable club night, and October 2012′s Halloween Special was no exception.

We’d been looking forward to this night for months, especially as this was a Halloween Special night involving fancy dress and a chance to go crazy with outfits for the hours of raving ahead. For us, after months of summer partying and club nights, this last weekend of October as the clocks went back for winter, established a new season of raves and parties ahead – and what better way to do it than with Bitch at Venus the Club.

Being as excited for the line-up as we were for the excuse to dress up, we knew the night would be a memorable one. This Halloween saw a double header of some of the most exciting dance talents around, with the return of the legendary Kryder joined by house bad boys The Squatters and the brilliant Venus / Bitch residents. Last month Kryder totally smashed up the Bitch tent at Mint Festival, Leeds alongside dance legends Eddie Halliwell,  Michael Woods and more, so we were looking forward to raving to one of the most bizarre yet charismatic and creative DJ and producers around. Kyrder’s mysterious aura, complete with his trademark visor, was a fitting choice for a dark, spooky Halloween party setting.

We arrived at Venus at around 11pm and as expected, the club was packed with zombified creatures, scary masked characters, promiscuously dressed nurses, zombies and devils amongst many other brilliant costumers – at least a good three quarters of the crowd had got into the Halloween spirit. All this was brought to life by the fantastic makeover inside, Venus had been transformed into a horrifying haunt to set the scene for what was to be one of the craziest nights in Manchester.

The night kicked off with one third of B3, Lempo, who warmed up the party with a deep but banging house set, tweaked a little to sound a little different to the set he would be playing later alongside Russo and Pedro in their Ghostbuster themed B3 set. We’ve talked about Lempo’s diversity before on DMM, playing in cool outside bars in Spinningfields with Japwow, producing tracks of a distinctly “Lempo” sound and being a great representative for the Bitch sound, which many will be familiar with from B3′s Friday night shows on Unity Radio FM. As per usual, Lempo had us (Kurt, Laura, SpamellaB and myself) raving from the moment we entered the club.

Fellow Bitch favourite Paul Nag was next, building up the beats with some really cool party vibes. Since making his debut at Bitch in 2011 he has gone on to play every month since and his sets are always crowd pleasers, tonight was no exception, making us dance harder in our perhaps more restrictive attire, our man Kurt, dressed in a head-covering rubber Michael Myers mask must have been so hot but that didn’t stop him raving! Huge love for Mr Nag from the DMM team!

Next thing we know the decks were taken over and completely destroyed by 18 year old Irish producer and DJ, Junior J, who destroyed the floor with some awesome, heavy sounds, filthy mixes, storming tracks and just basically made Venus go wild. This is the first time we’ve seen him and we’ve got to say we were blown away with his energy, choice of material and ability to make us rave like crazy. We actually met Junior J the weekend before, when interviewing Audiofun (which is due to go up soon, we promise) and although we’d heard snippets about him, we were genuinely shocked at how well he took to the Bitch crowd, we’ll see more from him at WHP on the 10th November in room 3, we recommend you come and join in too.

Following Junior J were The Squatters, having recently been DJing around America, Ibiza and Majorca, they were full of energy, causing eruption with dirty bass house and heavy sounds blasting out, the explosive duo really did keep the Halloween carnage going. Loving Alex’s unzipped face by the way, looked quality and as always, the duo raised the bar with their ever improving set, much to the crowd’s approval.

Now it was Kryder’s turn to take over and continue the madness, smashing out huge tracks always Kryder put on a show not to be forgotten especially for the dark and mysterious theme of the night. Check out his latest offering with Bo Bruce below!

SpamellaB adds, “Let’s just say by now, about 3am, we were VERY messy but that didn’t stop us raving and dancing away to Mike (Lempo), Martyn Russo (Russo) and Pete Mobey (Pedro) who together make up the unstoppable house trio, B3. After seeing them completely smash the crowd up at Mint Festival and put on one of the liveliest DJ sets we’ve seen, it was great to see them back performing for only their third time as a threesome, which we still find hard to believe! Once again they didn’t fail to get us jumping around like crazy, dancing our scary faces off and still partying hard thanks to their filthy mixes, heavy house sounds, dirty bass beats – we loved the fact too they were dressed up as the Ghostbusters complete with backpacks and everything! #Respect.”

At this point, thanks to the extra hour of raving time, we were partied out (hey, we were at Warehouse Project for TEED the night before so cut us some slack!) and left just as Frater began his set, which we heard was still as heavy, loud, deep and filthy as we expected it to be. So, Bitch, once again you provided an absolute smasher of a night and made 2012’s Halloween night a pretty special and mad one so thank you – see you next month (without the costumes!).

You can see the the impressively talented Oliver Lang, DMM favourite Joshua Roberts and the always top-notch Bitch residents on the 24th November at Venus the Club or if you can’t wait that long,  you could always check out B3 and Junior J playing at the Warehouse Project on 10th November alongside Laidback Luke, Eddie Halliwell, Sandro Silva and more.

As always, a massive thank you to Eddy Gosht at Oh My Gosht Photography for the awesome photos, easily one of the best club / festival photographers around!

Join the Facebook event for the next Bitch night for more info, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or have a Jager with us next time you’re out!

With over 35 of the world’s biggest DJ’s in house, techno, dance and drum’n’bass on the line-up, we were pretty excited to experience the first annual Mint Festival at Lotherton Hall near Leeds, one of the UK’s leading boutique festival sites. Hosted by the team behind Mint Club and Mint Warehouse and with the festival season coming to a close after a wash-out summer, we were hoping this to be a mad, messy and memorable one to remember and a success for all involved.

Feeling a bit worse for wear thanks to an incredible Rong at Venus the night before, we arrived back again a few hours later to meet 150 other festival-goers for our coach there – Jager for breakfast was on the menu! We rocked up at the impressive Edwardian grounds around lunchtime to no crazy queues, a field full of tents and plenty of wellies after some of the worst flooding in years – but thankfully it was no Creamfields, the sun was shining – maybe more festivals should be held at this time?

As part of their 6th birthday celebrations, Bitch were proud to host an arena and we headed straight there after stocking up on drinks from the bar in the tent – sensible idea to avoid missing your favourite artists/ DJs!. Dale Castell kicked it off, getting the crowd going with some decent vibes before B3 took over. We’re good pals of the 3 DJs that make up B3 and were hyped to see them for only their second set as a collaboration… and wow did they blow the tent up! Smashing out big tunes like Coldplay ‘Fix You’ and Otto Knows ‘Million Voices’, and remixing and bootlegging to get the crowd going crazy, they worked it and we were going mad for it. We’re already buzzing to see them again at Venus for the Halloween Bitch night – bring it on!

Genuinely our favourite party of 2012. Incredible atmosphere, really well organised, top notch DJs, crowd, music and beer.

The guys were followed by a string of more awesome DJs; Riley & Durrant, DOD and Felix Leiter, who all kept the Bitch tent raving as the crowd grew and the messiness increased. The festival was just the perfect size, you could easily get from one tent to another, bars were easy to get served in and provided a really relaxed party atmosphere. The Bitch tent itself was packed but not too crowded. It’s not the best when you can’t move and dance your wellies off but no such problem at Mint. Blasting out classics that everyone recognised but mixed, mashed and meddled with – in a good way of course! – everyone was having a great time.

By now hours of raving had passed, much alcohol consumed and we were still all going mad for it – especially as Kryder took to the stage, smashing out his trademark heavy tracks like ‘Scorpio’ there was no excuse to be stood still. And what a warm-up for superstar DJs, Michael Woods, Eddie Halliwell, Danny Howard and John Dahlback – epitomising everything Bitch stands for in the house music world. It’s fair to say this was the arena to be in at Mint Festival, even though of course the other tents also had so much on offer.

Our coach arrived a bit earlier than finishing time at 1.30am, but we were all smashed, raved out and ready to head back to Manchester… to carry on the party at Venus for Bitch’s 6th birthday – there really ain’t no rest for the wicked! If Mint Festival returns next year we will definitely be back for more awesome house / dance / drum’n’bass from some of the best DJs worldwide – may it get bigger, better and more… MINT!

Quick edit from James – We cannot stress any more, how much we loved Mint Festival. SpamellaB and myself partied with loads of friends from arrival all the way until the coaches left. Between us, we’re at most festivals, WHP gigs, Venus, Sankeys, loads of clubs and parties and this was our favourite night of 2012 by a country mile. The atmosphere, music, bars, food and crowd were phenomenal. Incredible to say that this was the first Mint Festival, bring on 2013. Huge thank you to the teams at Mint, Bitch, System and Flux, the DJs, the staff and anybody involved. Awesome night.

On another note, I text the B3 lads on the night to say how genuinely proud I was to just be their mates. They were simply outstanding.  They will be superstars, so watch out for them at Venus for Halloween, Warehouse Project in November and smashing clubs and festivals Worldwide in the near future. 

Check out this insane video from the festival, says a lot really: 

Check out Mint Festival on Facebook

Huge thank you to Eddy Gosht from Oh My Gosht Photography for the photos, one of the best club / festival photographers around, head over to Oh My Gosht Photography on Facebook or view the rest of the Bitch album here!