For our 99th mix we have the amazing Mumble MCR guiding us through an hour of deep and groovy tunes.
Mumble consists of Adam and Angus, both previous AMF guests that have joined forces to start Mumble MCR, Manchester’s latest club night.
AMF spoke to the Mumble boys about starting their club night, running events in 2025, and their musical influences.
Catch our full interview with them on the website:
Hello Adam and Angus, how are you both doing? Welcome to the AMF blog, now I know you’ve both put shows together for me individually but i’m now speaking to you as one of Manchester’s newest club night Mumble!
Thanks for having us.
Can we start the interview by telling us how you both came together and started Mumble, what was the spark that got you going and how did you decide on the name?
Adam: We met through Angus’s wife when I was doing her hair at work. We hit it off and discovered me and Angus had very similar tastes in music and had both recently moved to Manchester at the time. Mumble started last summer when we decided to create a collective and collaborate with the amazing DJs and venues Manchester has to offer. As for the name, I was told I mumbled a lot when I was younger, and we thought it had a nice ring to it for our nights.
You’ve played at a few spaces around town since your inception. How important do you think a good space is to running a decent party?
Angus: The space has been an essential consideration since the start. I think Adam and I both have a serious soft spot for intimate venues that have a personal feel to them. For me, being anonymous in a big crowd can be quite fun but I prefer the communal feel of a smaller dancefloor.
We have always thought of the space as another member of the team, or a feature to celebrate, or a headliner, which is why we used the drawing of the building in our first Stage and Radio artwork. Our first home, Mirage Bar, really sadly shut its doors which was a real shame because the team that ran it could not have been more helpful and supportive and the space came with so many lovely touches and a lot of props and artwork that told a little story about the building the space was in too.
After that, we knew the next venue we found had to be really special and Stage and Radio has just been so perfect – again – a lot of that is down to the incredible team there and it definitely helps that the sound system is shit-hot too.
Have you found your musical styles and tastes have gelled well putting on a night or has there been some creative bumps in the road you’ve needed to iron out?
Adam: We’ve really clicked since we started. Our events don’t stick to a specific genre because we both have a broad taste in music. The main thing is that we like the sound and it has to make people move—if it does, it’s getting played!
Angus: I think sometimes as well I can pigeon-hole myself and get really caught up in whatever musical avenue I’ve found myself in and there have definitely been little influences from Adam that have started working their way into my collection. It also really helps having someone else around if there are any technicals on the night so someone is free to grab the sound guy while the other sweats bullets trying to work out why something isn’t working.
It’s a pretty dicey time for promoters at the moment, especially if you’re starting out. How have you managed to stay positive and resilient when it looks like Gen Z are staying home knitting?
Adam: Having both of us working together has been a huge help, especially when things don’t go as planned, or the night isn’t as busy as we hoped. What we’ve realised is the importance of consistency and staying connected with other promoters who are facing the same challenges. We remain hopeful for the future, particularly for grassroots venues, as those are where we’ve had the best nights and met like-minded people.
Angus: It feels like a really uncertain time, for a lot of reasons and you can definitely get way too in your head about the circumstances, which is why I think we have both just tried to put our best foot forward and try and bring the vision into reality at the same time as developing a bit of a community.
Moving on to your mix can you tell us how you put it together? Was it a joint effort or did one of you take the reins? Is it a minimally planned all vinyl affair or did you spend some time crafting the set?
Angus: The mix was a lot of fun to put together, both in terms of building the tracklist but also technically. I had done a bit of an instinctive pull of some recent additions to my collection but then spent a fair amount of time drilling down the selection. There was a Shed track I was desperate to include but it was just not happening and didn’t want it torpedoing the rest of the mix.
We had a bit of a chat and because I’m working away at the moment, we were never going to be in the same place for long enough to plan let alone record the thing. So we recorded two halves independently and stitched it together post-hoc in a DAW. I knew what track I wanted to wrap things up with so I think Adam was mixing his first record in while listening to the track on YouTube or something before I’d laid down my half. When it came to putting the halves together his mix was spot on and was just an ideal transition which blended well, cut through and switched the energy up to bring in his half in a really distinctive way, what a pro.
Are there any tracks in the mix you really love? Any that you tend to return to time and time again that you love or there’s a story behind them?
Adam: Jay Daniel – Bubble Cougar. One of my first records from Theo’s sound signature label. This opened the door to so many unbelievable house/techno records from the Detroit scene. I love the gritty raw sounds and impeccable drum patterns this record offers. Always in my bag.
Angus: Kuniyuki Takahashi – Shout (Kuniyuki 12” Version) – blimey, a real heartstopper. One of those ones where I needed to hold myself back a bit when I was giving it a listen in-store in Tokyo. I was in two minds about including it because in my mind it is *so* dancefloor but it just has so much chutzpah I couldn’t not.
Lastly, what’s on the horizon for you gigs and events wise? We know you’ve got a night on the horizon with friend of the blog (and the other half of Room2Move) Tom2Trax, can you tell us a bit about that any anything else you’ve got going on?
We had our first night selecting the soundtrack for Blossom St Social which was such a dream to put together and we are really grateful that they will be having us down again. The team there are really wonderful, friendly, inviting and have a really second-to-none space, booth and approach to building a welcoming atmosphere, that’s on 11/04.
Then exactly like you say, we have Tom2Trax joining us on 19/04 at Stage and Radio which we are both incredibly gassed about and have just posted the artwork which a local artist Daniel Jacobs conjured from a photo from our last event.
We are also going to be playing some records at New Cross towards the end of the month on the 26th, so a busy few weeks ahead with some more in the pipework for over the summer!
