Micron (Review)

Now it’s well known that 4Q magazine reviews many of Manchester’s up and coming new bands as part of our Fresh Meat section with our lovely friends Converse, but this is only one side of Manchester’s music culture. Underground electronic music has been a feature of this great city for decades, and despite attempts by certain commercial r’n’b clubs and student unions to turn the city’s dance scene into a faceless chart hits novelty night, the 909 heart of Manchester still beats strong, you just have to know where to look for it.

… And this is where we step in. From this point on 4Q we will be featuring some of the Manchester club nights that really are at the cutting edge of the underground dance scene. We’re here to show you the real music of Manchester!
So for our first instalment we had to pick something special, a night that properly defined the open-mindedness and forward thinking ethos of the city, a night which despite its small venues and underground cult status has managed to send shockwaves through the entire country with its unique style. It could only be one night. The uber-cool colossus… Micron.

In their nearly 3 years of partying the group have played host to some amazing and emerging musical talents including: Ben Klock, Justin Robertson, James Priestley, Polder (Lauhaus and David Labeij), Boris Werner, Rex The Dog, Hercules and Love Affair, Vera, Dusty Kid, 2000 and One, Ray Okpara, Charlie Fanclub, Nekes, H.O.S.H., Kerouac, Buckley, Justin Miller, the list is ridiculous!

But that doesn’t mean Micron is just about booking the big names like other nights, oh no, not by a long way. Backing up the events are some seriously talented resident DJ’s: Ronny Gill, IsaacSMILE, Tommaso and Lomas. The feel of the night is a combination of the old Sankeys Tribal Sessions music crossed with the social aspect of the ever popular Naive Melody. The atmosphere is relaxed and friendly, like a big house party in someone’s basement, and when you go to a Micron night you always feel like everybody knows each other, and that’s because they do. It’s like being part of something very special indeed, a select group of Manchester clubbing connoisseurs who know how to party.

Past Micron events have included hosting the Cocoon after party with The Warehouse Project at Hollywood (now AXM), the launch party at Spektrum (top floor of Sankeys) with Ben Klock, and also playing the Manchester International Festival with Justin Robertson.

4Q headed down to their monthly night at Joshua Brooks to meet up with the front man, Gareth Chubb, who runs the Micron brand with Ronny and Isaac, and asked him how this pioneering club night started.

“At that point we were all just up for starting our own night, and I know it’s probably a bit of a cliché but there were no other nights like this, and we wanted to listen to the music that we liked.”
The original idea for the Micron brand came from Matthew Earnshaw (aka Zillo) who he met in Sofa in Fallowfield. Zillo is now part of Jupiter Rooms, also at Joshua Brooks.
“When we started the only dance night here was a night called ‘Locked’, and that’s actually how Mat (Zillo) met Lomas I think, at a Locked after party… or it might have been Ronny. But it was always known as a sort of indie venue, but I hope we’ve changed that a little bit.”

“We all had quite different music tastes, Mat was more the electro guy, and at the time myself and Isaac were into what I would now call minimal… we did get tagged with the whole minimal thing at the beginning but I’m glad we’ve moved away from that, and into more of the proper house music.”

Although the atmosphere is relaxed and unpretentious there is no compromise as far as the music is concerned. I was about to find this out for myself as the first resident, Tommaso, stepped up to provide the early starters with some chilled house and shuffled beats, before moving into jumpy, funky, tech house.
At this point I was treated to a little party trick by IsaacSMILE, inarguably the maddest of Micron’s resident DJs, who explained that because they had lost the main cable connecting up their smoke machine he had found an unorthodox way of creating the clubs atmosphere. With an audio jack to XLR cable which he had stripped down to its bare wires and altered with a soldering iron he then produced a 10p coin which he attached to the frayed copper, suddenly, an eruption. Issac, resident DJ of Micron, had successfully hotwired a smoke machine!

I’d just like to point out at this stage Isaac had already started the comedy earlier by bringing in the required liquid for the smoke machine in a Smirnoff vodka bottle, which he then convinced fellow resident Tommaso was actually vodka, who in turn proceeded to pour it into his glass of Red Bull. Apparently it leaves a bit of an aftertaste.
Next up on the decks was Ronny Gill, who immediately changed the sound to a deeper, more rhythmic vibe. Smooth grooves and little snippets of vocals giving a US underground feel. Before his set I caught up with Ronny and found out how he came to be part of Micron.
“I didn’t know anyone beforehand. I think that’s a good thing because a lot of nights are done by people who’ve known each other for years, but with us we had different ideas that we could bring, it’s an unusual way to start.”

“The music is serious but all the rest of it isn’t, we all thought it was a bit ‘chin-strokey’ at the time so we thought ‘right let’s just be a bunch of dickheads’. If you look at the way many nights are, they’re all dead dead serious.
Third on the ones and twos was crazy IsaacSMILE, who while still hotwiring the smoke machine on the fly, was churning out harder Berlin beats progressing into a more international groove.

It is at around this point in the night when you fully understand why DJ Magazine nominated them for the best small club of 2008. At the time still emerging from its Joshua Brooks roots in the city the team were astonished to find themselves on the coveted list.
“I completely didn’t know anything about that, and someone just mentioned to me ‘you’re on the nominations list’ and was like ‘what the hell!’, and it’s not as if we were licking their arses to get the nomination so it was just a complete surprise to us.”
Now with monthly nights at The Light in London, Micron are taking their unique party style down south too. With extra residents Tom Buxton and Belgian hottie Seyna, the team have already hooked up for 3 all day parties with the mighty KeToLoCo.
And to top it off, this November sees Micron’s 3rd Birthday party at their Manchester home ground in Joshua Brooks and it’s gonna be a big one. A live set by Christian Burkhardt, signed to the Oslo record label as well as tracks released on Area Remote (owned by 2000 and One). Check him out playing the Winter Music Conference on youtube.

So if you fancy partying with the Microns come and join us, we’ll definitely be there!
Micron 3rd Birthday Party @ Joshua Brooks with Christian Burkhardt.
Friday 13th November, 10pm – 4am.
Free before 10:30, £5 before 11:30, £7 after

For more info log on to: www.micronclub.co.uk or check out their facebook group.
Plus we’re going to be hosting a night with Micron at The Chapel in Fallowfield on the 5th November after the Platt Fields park bonfire night. 8pm til Late. £3 with our magazine coupon, £4 with NUS, £5 without. For more info go to Microns website or WWW.4QMAGAZINE.CO.UK
Anything else?… Oh yeah, and look out for their New Years Eve party too!… and breathe.

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