The perhaps shocking news was announced yesterday that Sankeys will be closing its doors with an all day party on Monday May 6th, the end of a real era in dance music culture which has run each weekend for over 7 years. The iconic and legendary club which has always defied expectation, epitomised the spirit of the underground and dared to go where others have feared to tread, is signing off for the summer.

David Vincent explains, “I have decided to close Sankeys in Manchester indefinitely this summer as I focus my attention on our third year in Ibiza. I want our Ibiza project to be the best club in the world, just like what we have achieved previously in Manchester, as I get the feeling this could be our summer. But I need my production and staff from Manchester to come to Ibiza with me to achieve this goal and therefore both clubs cannot be open at the same time. Who knows when we will be back in Manchester, or if we ever will be back, or what comes next in this great city I love. I want this current chapter of the club’s history to end with a spectacular party, so we are rounding off the May bank holiday with a huge line-up. It’s an 12 hour marathon set from 1pm to 1am on Monday 6th, with a stellar cast of names and the Sankeys Manchester residents, in the spirit of our epic 12-hour Tenaglia sessions.”

The closing show features global techno legend and Rejected co-founder Joris Voorn, Berlin’s Desolat queen tINI, London legend and Fuse founder, Enzo Siragusa and Darius Syrossian all in attendance. The club’s residents, Jozef K and Us & Them, play their final sets too during this epic session, and finally Bones smakes the trip over from Ibiza, one of Sankeys’ residents there. Also there are two very special guests to be announced on the day that Sankeys are keeping a closely guarded secret.

David concludes, “I have had some truly amazing memories in Manchester, many brilliant highs including being recognised for contributing significant culture to the city of Manchester at a national museum and also quite a few challenging lows, in a journey which will continue around the world. We have made our name in Manchester as The World’s Best Club in the DJ Mag Awards 2010, and the Sankeys spirit will live on there. I want to say huge thanks all of the DJs, live acts, promoters and agents that I have worked with, and all of the Sankeys staff who have helped shape the club during the last 13 years. And most importantly, Sankeys simply wouldn’t exist without our loyal crowd who have made us what we are today, and I want to say thanks to every one of you. Finally, all I can say right now about what happens next is quite simply: watch this space.”

Sankeys Closing Party – The Full Line-Up

Date: Monday 6th May
Location: Sankeys, 4 Radium Street, Manchester, M4 6AY

Joris Voorn
tINI and Enzo Siragusa
Darius Syrossian
Jozef K
Us & Them
Bones
Two very special unannounced guests

LAST 100 TICKETS FOR THE CLOSING PARTY AVAILABLE HERE via Skiddle.
£15 advance tickets
1pm – 1am
www.sankeys.info

This weekend in Manchester was certainly a big one with so much going on across the city, from John Dahlback at Venus to Zutekh at Sound Control, plus Nicky Romero at Sankeys and the Benga after party at Joshua Brooks after his headlining night at the MEN arena. It’s fair to say we were spoilt for choice and ended up splitting our night so we could feature as much as possible and highlight just how huge the music and clubbing scene in Manchester is right now!

After witnessing awesome performances by Example and Benga, fellow DMM writer, Kurt-Lee, headed down to Venus to see the incredible John Dahlback lead a bass-heavy house night supported by Felix Leiter, Nick Coulson, the BassJockeys and other top Manchester DJs. Meanwhile, James and I popped into Sound Control for a quick chat with Assistant Manager and Promoter for Great Friday and Fundamental, Patrick Rall, ahead of Zutekh taking over the New Wakefield Street venue. The stage was set up and almost ready for the night’s frivolities, for which we promised to return later: the buzz for Zutekh was so high, we did not want to miss out.

Heading over the road to Joshua Brooks by 11pm, we were greeted by a queue of eager young ravers, anticipating the arrival of one of the bass and electronic music figureheads, Benga. Tonight would be a special occasion, as it was to be the conclusion of his UK tour with an after party hosted by Red Bull Studios. We were expecting the night to be explosive, full of energy and to go off with a bang and we can safely say it reached and exceeded our predictions!

Pixel Fist set the tone by smashing out some of the heaviest, filthiest, bassiest tracks and mixes to start, leading into the headline act. 26 year old Adegbenga Adejumo, demonstrated his experience, musical variety and technical abilities with a charismatic, basement shaking performance.

Alongside Youngman, one of the UK’s most exciting young talents on the bass scene right now, Benga turned up the heat with a genre-bouncing set. From The Prodigy, ‘Smack My Bitch Up’, to some classic Magnetic Man, ‘Perfect Stranger’, then jumping to the heavy bass sounds of Knife Party’s, ‘Internet Friends’  showing the true variety of the Londoner’s performance. Benga’s newer material also went down a treat, with ‘Hitman’ being a resoundingly popular track. Allowing the basement to recover a little from the thumping bass, the duo threw in some old-school garage including classics from Daniel Beddingfield and Sweet Female Attitude, all to the pleasure of the crowd, who were going crazy for their set.

Calming down the tone and vibe, we returned to a packed out Sound Control to catch the rest of the Zutekh night, where Thugfucker and Matt Tolfrey were pleasuring the crowd with their bass-house sounds. Zutekh nights have become a major feature in Manchester’s electronic music calendar and it was clear to see why the night had built up so much hype. The atmosphere was electric, everyone was lost in the music enjoying themselves.  When we finally left, our taste for all things house, dance, drum’n’bass, dubstep and garage had certainly been satisfied, so we went home with huge smiles on our faces!

After recovering from the night before, it was time for round two back at Antwerp Mansion for the third Rum & Bass night, which has quickly become a firm DMM favourite. This time we were joined by our good friend, DJ and Producer, Tommy Harrison, who was just as excited as we were to hear Kinyume play and be a part of another top rave. Jake Ladley nicely warmed up The Gig Room downstairs and established the heavy bass vibe before Taneli took over the reins and smashed out the beats.

By around 12.30am the crowd were hyped and thirsty for more, just in time for the masked duo, Kinyume, to step in and completely thrash the room from beginning to end. Even as a relatively new duo, they have bagged themselves a set at this year’s Parklife Weekender and their 45 minute set demonstrated why. From UK garage to filthy bass and to older dance tracks, they had the student crowd in the palm of their hands. Ben James, another DJ  quickly gaining a name for himself, was on top form yet again, keeping the rave jumping, with Rich Reason finishing off another memorable night for Rum & Bass.

By the early hours of Sunday morning, the DMM team were completely finished, so Sunday was a complete write-off! However, there you have it, an account showing just why Manchester is the raving capital and that was only some of the events that happened over the weekend…bring on the next one!

Photography credits

Zutekh: SpamellaB
Benga: Abigail Melissa Stein
Kinyume at Rum & Bass: Lee Ryder – full album here.

Selling out weeks ago, Friday night’s Laidback Luke and Oliver Twizt gig at Sankeys was destined to be a big one. Arriving at 11ish, the enormous queue to the Beehive Mill venue was full of excited clubbers awaiting their Dutch hero’s set.

Heading upstairs to Spektrum, Darksiight behind the decks, played out a slightly more commercial, progressive house set than we would normally expect for the predominantly more underground, ‘cooler’ clubroom. This was not however, by choice or personal preference but a result of reading the girly, ‘pretty dress and heels’ crowd and was a brave but solid decision from the DJ. Very bold for Sankeys but it seemed to pay off, so full credit where it’s due.

The BassJockeys took over proceedings, taking a warmed up crowd on a journey into the bassier, more electro based house music that the lads are known for. With SpamellaB and myself joined on the floor by a lot of our friends and a packed crowd. As regulars at Sankeys /  Spektrum, we all commented that none of us had seen the upstairs room bounce like it did on Friday. One that seemed to hit a high point for the BassJockeys was playing Jacob van Hage’s, Convoi, with everyone’s hands in the air. Playing as a perfect warm up for Luke downstairs, we were very impressed with the  Manchester DJs who seem to be on an ever growing, ever improving journey to the top.

Ben Commins, previously unknown to DMM, was up next and continued the flawless build up. Notably, playing  Arno Cost – Daft Punk & Stardust Rework which had revellers jumping and one that always raises the roof, Ivan Gough & Feenixpawl Ft Georgi Kay – In My Mind (Axwell Remix). Another name to watch out for the in near future.

We missed Oliver Twizt but Twitter and Facebook seem to suggest that, as expected, Oliver blasted out a cracker of a set, raising the bar in preparation for the Dutch superstar’s entrance. Luke’s ever energetic sets always excite ourselves, our friends and most of Manchester by the look of Sankeys on Friday. Not only was the venue jam-packed but virtually everyone was dancing, losing themselves in the moment. Luke’s technical wizardry continues to astound us, as does the rate in which he switches tracks. What seemed to be a million songs an hour in an incredible, progressive story performed in music that captivated and mesmerised the audience. As always, the largest amount of respect from DMM for Laidback Luke.

Thanks to the Bass Jockeys, the full line up in Spektrum and Laidback Luke for an awesome night. We’re next at Sankeys on the 15th February to see Paul Oakenfold and his incredible Full on Fluoro brand tear it up. Tickets are available here, so get yours before they sell out.

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

2013 sees Sankeys enter the New Year with an incredible 4 month calendar ahead from January to April, with the likes of Zane Lowe, Laidback Luke, Paul Oakenfold, Paul Van Dyk, James Zabiela and Pendulum taking over the Beehive Mill venue. Not only that, but this global music and cultural institution, massively popular in the Manchester area, is launching two brand new parties; Recentes and Fiesta.

The first new night, Recentes, kicks off on Saturday 19th January and is all about fashioning forward-thinking, contemporary line-ups representing the heart of electronic music. For us, this sounds like a welcome addition to an already buzzing Manchester music scene but offering something a bit different for those wanting a more clued-up excursion to their weekends. Have a listen to Sankey’s resident Jozef K’s latest mix below to give you a taste of what bassy house/electro sounds to expect.

Recentes will feature producers and DJs who are really standing out from the rest, underground talent spanning across the deep techno to UK garage scene. With big names such as Dusky, Boddika, Shadow Child and Eliphino being just of some of the global DJs and producers aiming to bring the freshest sounds to Sankeys. Also coming up are collaborations with popular Manchester night Just Skank, who are playing host to Brookes Brothers and Funtcase with other nights in association with Take The Whole Cake and Troupe.

Following the success of Continue, Sankeys second new night Fiesta is all about great house music, showcasing iconic legends and the new breed of producers and DJs breaking through the ranks in this genre. It says it all when you see Todd Terry headlining the opening night on Saturday 26th January, and we’re looking forward to experiencing this new night for ourselves at Sankeys in the future.

These new nights are all about the variety and experiencing different music scenes and vibes going on around Manchester. We expect both to be a storming success at one of the city’s best club venues. Join in the standard #DMMDanceOff if you see us down there!

COMPETITION: WIN a pair of tickets to Sankeys Recentes, in association with Take The Whole Cake present Boddika, Dusky, Eliphino, Tessela, Shadow Child + Jozef K – 19th January, 11pm – 6am.

To enter, tell us why you should think you should win the pair of tickets on our Facebook post or send us a message on Twitter using @dancemusicmcr and #recentes. Competition closes on Thursday 17th January at 9pm and the winner will be notified on Friday. Good luck!