As the august bank holiday weekend commonly goes in Manchester, the weather was unfortunately very wet and pretty miserable! But seeing as we haven’t had a summer this year, and since the rain doesn’t faze us hard skinned Mancs, the party shall go on! With umbrellas and minimal clothing, we made our way to South, where we were greeted by the lovely Matt, chief organiser and partner in crime with fellow techno brain Sam.

First on the menu was the delicious starter; Mark Santangelo, a cheeky chappy with a spicy coating of dark tribal beats. He was warming up the room nicely and it quickly began to fill up. We had a little stomp then went outside for a cig, where we found the most amazing smoking area, complete with bar and new york style alleyway. If it was a bit hotter and less rainy, it would have been quite a trendy spot to chill in but standing underneath a generator trying to avoid the raindrops was a bit more Nono than Soho. Never the less, it was a pretty cool space.

After a little chat with Jon Rundell outside, (the full Interview will come soon), the main course was prep’d and ready to be revealed. He took his rightful place behind the decks and received a warm welcome from the crowd. Mark Santangelo had warmed up their bellies nicely but the people wanted something a little heavier! Playing “Danilo Vagorito – I Saw The Light” and “Tapesh & Maximijan – Clown (Alex Tepper Remix)”, his tunes were a great mixture of current techno, tasty tech house and some of his own well produced tracks. He’s one of those DJ’s that has his own style… And the tribal notes of the Balearic isle were ringing through all his tracks. Towards the end of his set I could hear him bringing in “Knick Knack” which is a song that I have incredible memories of and hearing it played in Manchester was just incredible. Who cares about the rain… Ibiza had just arrived and had brought the sun, sea and sand with him!

It was a fantastic night, the organization was un-fault-able (don’t know if that’s a word), the crowd were loving it and the music was dark and seductive. Everyone I spoke to had a really good evening and can’t wait for the next one! I certainly had a good time… As the prayer dance doesn’t come out for just anybody!

Digital Wax will be returning to South on Novemeber 23rd… Keep tuned for the special guest announcement and further juicy details…

**Edit by James

Just have to say a huge thank you to Matt and Sam for starting a terrific night. Hopefully the masses will realise how good the music is, the crowd of music enthusiasts and general party-goers at the gig seemed to love it and the DMM team had a great night. Another huge thank you to Jon Rundell for taking the time to chat to us outside, an honor meeting such a legend, humble and down to Earth but then smashed the tunes out as if he was playing a packed out Space. Check out Jon’s latest track released on Intec Digital, Revival.

Another HUGE thanks to Chantelle and Lauren for the photos, we’ll upload more at the weekend, bit of a technical issue at the moment

 

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Photo Gallery from the night on our Facebook Page!

The night that we’ve all been waiting for is just 3 weekends away! Digital Wax will be coming to south on the 24^th August to present something Manchester has been lacking in… Techno. In just 18 days, South will open it’s doors and it’s floor space to hundreds of thirsty clubbers with a hunger for anything that’s not deep and melodic! On the line-up for this incredible event is the one and only Jon Rundell, known for being Carl Cox’s right hand man… He’s going to play some tasty Ibiza grooves that will bring a bit of the white isle over to our not so summery Manchester! Movement Uk resident Mark Santangelo and Matt Cooper are also on board to wind the crowd up and then wind them up some more. Digital Wax promise it will be ‘so good you don’t go to the bar’, and we think it’s going to be amazing, I’m extremely excited, as I think music has got a bit too deep recently, and somebody needs to rock the boat! Actually, lets take the boat to the high seas and party on with a bottle of rum and no life jackets!

We talk to Matt and Sam who are the incredible creators of this night… But we now know them by… Waxy… Mr Wax… Digi… Dee and D Wax. Here they tell us their future plans for Digital Wax and why they are bring techno back to Manchester.

So how did you guys meet?

Sam: We were both friends from an early age and used to mix together back in the days of belt drive turntables and the album that really made us fall in love with Dance music was when Carl Cox released Fact. It was very much an underground movement then and even now some of the records on that album are still played to this day.

Matt: We also used to go clubbing back in the late 1990’s in the days when Trance and Hard House was at the forefront and organised parties together then. We were then very much into the Nu-NRG sound and Tony De Vit and his live in Tokyo album had a similar impact. At the time the energy of his sets was unequalled and the sound being touted now by Jon Rundell, Carl Cox, Christian Varela and Nicole Moudaber has a lot of these similarities.

Why did you decide to bring a techno night to Manchester?

Sam: After going to Awakening in 2010 and seeing Carl Cox at WHP last year we looked for a regular night locally that we could party at drew a blank. There was no reasonable explanation reason why this was the case. For us it is perfect party music and we could not stop smiling at both these nights every time the next record came in. This then gave us the motivation to bring this sound here on a regular basis. Manchester is thriving at the minute in terms of deep house but there seems to be a real opening for a tougher edged party and we set up Digital Wax with this in mind.

Matt: We want to emulate  the recent atmospheres we have found at parties we have recently been to in Europe such as Awakenings (Amsterdam) and Space (Ibiza). At these events we have experienced a real energetic, upfront and vibrant style and we thought it was a shame we had to travel to Europe to get it. That’s when we decided we should bring these experiences to our beloved Manchester.

What do you think is missing from Manchester’s nightlife?

Sam: Manchester is great and with places like Sankeys and WHP you have 2 of the best clubs in the country. This year WHP have a couple of parties that are similar to our sound in particular the Carl Cox party and event that includes Adam Beyer. We will be attending these no doubt but want to bring this style and sound to Manchester on a regular basis.

Matt: Manchester has a very vibrant and diverse nightlife that caters for all tastes, however there aren’t any nights regular nights on at present where you can experience the European party vibe. We think now is a good time for Digital Wax to introduce that vibe.

What made you choose South as the club to host the event?

Sam: For us South has so much untapped potential and we are 100% sure it is going to be the next big venue in the North in terms of Dance Music.  There are already some big nights starting to realise this with WHP, Drop the Mustard and Zutekh. It has a feel to it similar to Mint Club in Leeds and with it’s pre-installed funktion one system it is perfect for a night like this.

Matt: South is quickly getting a reputation for the quality of its venue and events held there. We felt that the venue was the perfect fit for what we are trying to achieve as they have an awesome Funktion One sound system. This coupled with their professional management and promotions team made South our first choice. We are delighted that we can hold our events at South and feel Digital Wax and South are well matched.

Are you excited about having Carl Cox’s right hand man Jon Rundell headline the event?

Sam: When we set this up Jon Rundell was the first choice for us and we were over the moon when we managed to secure him. He has some massive gigs this summer and we’ve managed to book him straight after his set at Carl Cox’s Revolution Recruits @ Space. He also heads up Intec Digital with Carl Cox so represents the European sound we are going for perfectly. We also wanted to book someone with an international presents and his summer roster includes Ultra Music Festival, Sonar, Tomorrow Land, Space and Eden so people are coming to watch someone who really does understand the big occasion.

What other nights have the two of you put together?

Matt: We both ran the afterparty for Gategrasher/Insomniacz at The Howard in Sheffield back in the late 90’s Early 2000’s and last year had a stint running warm up parties for Colour and Micron under the Home From Home guise.  We are really glad we started small and worked our way up as it gave us an insight into running an event.  It certainly opened our eyes and without that we would not have understood the level of work it takes to get something like this off the ground

Whats next for Digital Wax?

Sam: We have already booked the DJ for the second party and he is one the biggest stars on the scene today. To give you a clue he played one of the main areas at the Awakenings festival this year but that is as much as we can say at the minute. We will be releasing details of this very soon.

Matt: Currently we are in talks with some leading European and UK brands about bringing them to Manchester but again can’t say too much and these are way off coming to confirmation. If we so manage to get these confirmed it will be massive and that is an element we want to keep going. The element of surprise and keeping things new and fresh.

Thanks Matt and Sam for talking to us, we can’t wait for this… It’s going to be massive! And we urge any djs/promoters to send their demos/interest to matt@homefromhomepromotions.co.uk as they are going to take off and want you to get involved!

Follow @digitalwaxmcr on Twitter and Like their facebook page

P.s… Check out the July Promo Mix they have made for the event and the really cool Jon Rundell Digital Wax Promo he made a few days ago.

One day, two people put their heads together, and decided it was about time a fresh new regular techno night was introduced to Manchester. And with some intelligent party planning and a few umm’s and ahh’s, the amazing new night Digital Wax was born. Due to be hosted at the upcoming South nightclub on August 24th, it boasts an incredible sound system along with some well known Manchester nights; Basement Sessions and Murkage. It’s deemed to be a massive success amongst the ever growing house and techno scene that is huge at the moment.

Digital Wax aim to put on incredible parties, which will leave your feet firmly on the dance floor all night long! And with the reveal of their humongous headliner Jon Rundell, I can assure you… I’ll be doing just that! Since running Intec Digital with Carl Cox, the pair have shared ultimate success with every club night they hold together. The upcoming techno legend has headlined sets all across the globe including; Space and Privilege in Ibiza, Future Music Festival, Sonar, Creamfields, Global Gathering and Tommorowlands. And finally he is coming to Manchester (Something I’ve been highly anticipating after his amazing performance in the Space Discoteca last summer!)

Matt Cooper is also on the bill to play the techno fuelled night, a DJ known to always do it his way or the highway, expect to hear some dirty things coming from the speakers. Known for winning the praises of Mixmag, Pioneer and Space through various competitions, he has an exciting career ahead of him and will definitely be making waves in Manchester.

Movement UK resident DJ Mark Santangelo will also be gracing the decks, who has recently opened the new Warehouse Project building alongside John Digweed, Joris Voorn and Nic Fanculli. His style is deep and dirty tech house music that is something you can really get your teeth stuck into!

The night is going to be immense and I have every confidence the dance floor will be full all night long. I don’t know if they themselves have pictured the night like this… But I am feeling some really good Ibiza vibes… The sort of stuff you might hear out there on the white isle. If you have never been to South before, get a ticket and try something different! It will be worth your while!

Early Bird tickets are £8 – Buy them here – but be quick as they are selling out!