DANCE OR DIE MANCHESTER LAUNCH
What is hardcore? It means many things to many people, and they’re all correct. It’s best described as a feeling, an attitude, a way of life. So how do you begin to write its history? It took four intensive years (and many many revisions) for club culture journalist Holly Dicker to curate a decade of research into Dance or Die: A History of Hardcore.
Join us on Sunday 13 July at Renae for the DANCE OR DIE MANCHESTER launch with a popup zine and bookshop from 20k and a Dead Sheep.
Browse hardcore records at renae’s in house store Future Volumes – and purchase your copy of Dance or Die from the 20k and a dead sheep stall – whilst treating yourself to a delicious cocktail ahead of a lazy Sunday evening of expanded diehard stories and discourse around Manchester’s storied past, present and phuture rave scene.
Holly presents her own hardcore history – which started in a Boddingtons Brewery scheduled for demolition way way back in 2006 – before moderating a Manchester community building panel with special guests: alt-queer club promoter Rebecca Shaw from The White Hotel; nightlife photographer Jody Hartley whose work captures the intensity and intimacy of Manchester after dark, from a raver’s POV; and Mia FKA Hardcore co-founder of Manchester’s latest queer feminist run club night, K.O, preaching the neo-gabber gospel to the next generation.
Local legend Mark XTC ends the night with a special DJ set taking us back to the ’90s ardkore junglist sound this city was founded on – after a quick chat with Holly about how winning the North West DMC DJ Championships in 1990 set him on a path chasing breaks across three decades. Alongside partner Marcus Intalex, nobody has turned more people onto bass music than Mr Xtra Tuff Cutta!
What is hardcore? Let’s find out together!
