Ahead of Sticky Heat’s first party at Gorilla with; Lindstrom, Night Giants & Chris Massey. Club night founder Marco Giannini sat down with AMF to record this mix and chat about his inaugural event.
Hey Marco, thanks for putting a mix together for the blog. We’re really excited to have a Sticky Heat mix. Can we start with a bit of background about yourself? Can you tell us about your clubbing journey from the first time you picked up a record until today?
Well, I first started DJing back in 2001 while at University in Leeds, my first residency was at an amazing club called Speedqueen (which to this day is easily one of the greatest clubs I’ve ever been to).
After moving back to Manchester in 2003 I started running my first night which was a Breakbeat & Tech House (when Tech House was proper Tech House) night called ShowNoShame, for the year it ran we booked the likes of Evil9, Lee Burridge, James Zabiela, and Annie Nightingale.
It was off the back of this night that I caught the attention of the team at Sankey’s and I was approached to host a monthly residency at Tribal Sessions for their Tribal All-nighter parties, alongside Andro, who has since gone on to form AnD.
When Sacha, Sam, and Kirsty left Sankey’s to form a new venture they took me with them and I found myself as a resident at the Warehouse Project from the very start at Boddington’s Brewery, right up to 2008 with two years at Store Street.
Then after taking a few years out, I started DJing again in 2012 and in 2018 I joined Lost in Music as promoter and resident. During that year we brought overacts like Egyptian Lover (who made his Manchester debut), Mark Farina, Boris Dlugosch and of course Lindstrom. The night found itself nominated for ‘best club’ in this year’s CityLife Awards (losing on the night to a well-deserved Homoelectric).
I started to get an itch to do my own thing and in May I left Lost in Music to focus on starting my own night and Sticky Heat was born.
How did Sticky Heat come into being? Where did the name come from and what’s the deal with the pigeon?
The idea behind Sticky Heat first started to form at Lost in Music’s 1st birthday when we coincidentally brought Lindstrom back to Manchester for what was at the time his first Manchester show in about 10 years.
His set that night was just incredible, not only his live show, but the crowd that night. We had about 500 people in the basement at Joshua Brooks, but what took my attention when we looked back on the photos from the night was that there were no phones anywhere on the dancefloor. The atmosphere was just incredible with everyone absolutely going for it and focussing on the dance floor (exactly how it should be).
That night planted a seed in my mind, where I wanted every party to emulate that night. Not only the type of headliner I booked, but also trying to get that crowd reaction.
I also didn’t want the night to be pigeonholed either. With so many great nights in Manchester, I feel that for a night to thrive today, and especially for new nights to establish themselves, you need to do something different to stand out, so I wanted my night to not focus on any-one style of music, but instead to embrace a more open format policy, with the connecting line being that it will focus on electronic music, be that either DJ or live sets.
So, I had my idea for a night but needed a name to sum it all up. I wanted the name of the night to capture that feeling of walking into a club and being hit by a wall of heat with everyone really going for it, for ages I was toying with different names but none really worked, then one day while listening to BBC 6 Music, where Matt Everitt was reporting from Glastonbury, he was asked by Shaun Keaveney about the weather, as it was particularly hot this year and he simply described it as a “sticky heat” and boom, with that I had my name.
Your first event is on the first of February and it’s a big one. Lindstrom at Gorilla is going to be amazing? What made you choose him for your first show and how have preparations been going?
After the party at Joshua Brooks for Lost in Music, I really wanted to bring Lindstrom back and have always loved Gorilla and felt that it was a perfect venue for his live show.
So, for my first party, I wanted to go big with the line-up and purposely chose payday weekend at the end of January as it’s the one weekend of the year when absolutely everybody is out, so it seemed like a great weekend to launch my new night.
In addition to Lindstrom, I’m a huge fan of the label Sprechen and good friends with Chris Massey who runs it, and who also happens to be an incredible DJ. I really wanted Chris to play on the launch night, but this year Sprechen launched a new duo from Leeds called Night Giants who are a really excited live act, who really have their own unique sound. When I first heard their debut track ‘Love Somebody’ before I’d even approached Lindstrom, I really felt that their sound would really compliment him, so when my idea for the first party was starting to take shape, I absolutely had to get them on to warm up for him.
Plans for the party actually started in May last year, so a lot of work and preparation has gone into and continues to go into the launch.
Sticky Heat isn’t defined by any genre. With that statement in mind, who would you be keen to book for future events and why do you think it’s important for a night to have an eclectic booking policy?
As I touched on earlier, with so many great nights in Manchester today, promoters really need to carve their own vision for what they are trying to do and not try to replicate anyone else. I feel that it’s the nights in the city that have really gone out and done their own thing, like Homoelectric or High Hoops for example that are really benefitting from this mentality.
You don’t see these nights booking acts that play everywhere else, or headliners that play all the time in the city, each of their parties is very exciting.
I want to try and have this attitude with Sticky Heat, as I’ll only be hosting four parties in 2020, I want each of my parties to have a wow effect when I announce the line ups, that not only means booking unique acts that have either not played in the city before, or don’t play that often, but also using a variety of venues in the city so that we’re more of a nomadic party and also carefully programming the supporting line ups.
As for acts that I would really like to book, there’s a few that I can’t mention as I’m in the midst of lining them up for 2020. However, beyond 2020, I’d really like to bring over acts like Eris Drew, Chaos in the CBD, Psychemagik, Special Request and it would be a dream to bring over Todd Terje one day.
Do you look at other Club nights, in Manchester or beyond, for inspiration? Has there been any standout clubbing moment in your life that you’ve wanted to capture at Sticky Heat?
There are definitely clubs and promoters that I admire. Homoelectric and how they brand themselves (even though I really hate using the word brand when talking about clubs, but in their case, they genuinely have nailed it). I remember playing in Dublin late last year and seeing someone in the club wearing a Homoelectric sweater and just thinking to myself, that’s how you do it.
I think what High Hoops are doing is just brilliant. Each of their line ups is really diverse and I don’t think you can easily categorise what they do, which I think helps to ensure longevity. Similarly, what the guys at Nite School are doing, in that they seem to have a really open policy to their bookings, they recently booked Skatebard, which I thought was a really clever booking.
Going further back, I love what Bugged Out! used to do back in the early 00s when they threw parties at Nation in Liverpool. Those line ups were so eclectic and were just mind-blowing.
Other than the Lindstrom party at Joshua Brooks which really got me thinking about launching my own thing, I take little bits of inspiration at what other people are doing like the ones I mentioned.
Let’s chat a bit about your mix for AMF. What have you decided to put together for us? Is the mix a collection of old favourites or have you filled it with some newer gems? Are there any standout tracks in the mix you would share with us?
I’d say I’m definitely more Bergen than Berghain, so there’s a strong Norwegian feel throughout the mix with tracks by Lindstrom, Prins Thomas and Todd Terje and overall it covers disco, house, and techno.
The mix includes some old tracks that never leave my record bag (or USB) like the Lindstrom & Prins Thomas mix of Call Me Mr Telephone by the Answering Service and Senor Coconut’s cover of Smoke on the Water, some classic house and techno from my days going to Bugged Out! Tribal Sessions and the Warehouse Project like Spaced Invader.
by Hatiras and La Rock 01 by Hatiras; and there are new tracks that you are likely to hear at Sticky Heat from the likes of PBR Streetgang, Powerdance and Terr.
Lastly, what can you tell us about the rest of your 2020 plans? Do you have any other big events in the pipeline you can share with us?
My focus will really be on establishing Sticky Heat next year, with party #2 all but confirmed now and will be announced shortly, with plans already underway for parties #3 and #4 as well. I’m going to be doing some exciting party collaborations with Chris Massey and his Sprechen label as well, so watch this space.
I’ve got a couple of festival gigs lined up as well that I’m not allowed to announce yet, but they’re very exciting!
I’m also resident at The Refuge, Electrikbox, Electrik and Flight Club as well, so you can catch me throughout the year there as well.
