So I'm with Mary Anne Hobbs of Six Music and
world renowned DJ and now a curator, you can
call yourself a curator of Manchester International
Festival.
Easy Hattie, I don't know if I can cope
So, tell me all about Dark Matter, which is
what you've curated for MIF.
Well, do you know when I first began this
project, I was thinking back to when I was
just a kid, you know.
We used to come charging up the M6, 200 miles
every weekend and we used to stand in a queue
on Whitworth Street, outside the Hacienda,
and I have to confess, that was pretty actively
terrifying at the time, because there was
a woman on the door called Fiona Allen, who
went on to become a very famous comedian actually,
she was in Smack the Pony.
But she was brutal, she was terrifying and
we always wondered, even after all of these
several hundred miles that we travelled, whether
we would actually get across the thresh hold
and into the Hacienda. But, those nights were
completely transformative for me and, once
I was inside that building, I heard music
that I'd never heard before in my entire life
and it began a whole lifetime of exploration
of the electronic sound, that you know that
I love so much and there was a kind of tangible
magic in the atmosphere at the Hacienda and
I think if you were ever there, it was an
experience that you will never forget really.
So, I began with that as a starting point
and I thought to myself, you know, how do
you transpose that in 2017, how do you make
a series of shows that feel that way, that
feel really, really transformative. So, that's
what I wanted to do with Dark Matter.
So, Dark Matter is a series of events, of
artists that you absolutely love on a personal
level, I'm sure there's been too many highlights
to be able to pick out one, but how has it
felt to be able to bring something that you
are, I assume, very proud of and which has
been an incredible achievement, to MIF.
I mean, the opportunity that this festival
presents is just unlike any other on the face
of earth I think. Right, as it stand right
now, culturally it's just amazing to have
this kind of canvas to work with and what
we decided to do with the two venues spaces,
both of which are also on Whitworth Street,
The Ritz and Gorilla that we're using , is
to completely black them out and to reimagine
those spaces in light, so I'm actually working
with one of my favourite lighting designers
in the world right now, an artist called Stuart
Bailes, who, he paints with light and he is
reimagining those spaces in light, working
in collaboration with each of the artists
that are performing, so even if you're really
familiar with Gorilla or The Ritz, even if
you come to those kind of gigs all day every
day, as soon as you enter into this space,
I think you'll feel that it's completely different.
You'll have an opportunity to experience music
in a new way, also all of the artists that
we've chosen are all premiering brand new
work in those spaces too, so they're taking
a lot of risks and, I don't know it just feels,
it feels really, incredibly exciting to be
able to have an opportunity to do something
like this you know?
And how do you think, bringing something like
this to the festival, is different for you
on a personal level, I mean you're used to
curating playlists on the radio, week in,
week out and you've got that skill down to
a T, so when doing it in a live space, how
does that differ for you?
I think what you get in a live space, is the
connection with human beings, which we all,
I think we yearn for these days don't we?
Because ultimately radio is a beautiful thing,
in the way that it reaches so many people,
but it still travels digitally. And probably
like you, I spend most of my life hunkered
down in my tiny office with a pair of headphones
on, behind computer screens and I broadcast
in the company of my producer and assistants
to possibly the best part of a million people
every week, but I don't get to commune in
a physical way with those people, so to actually
bring artists that you love and a live audience
together in this, incredibly creative environment,
I don't know, there's a kind of, a sense of
feeling the holy grail, a sense of that reconnection
with people, that you really don't experience
in 2017 really, not enough do you?
Well no, I agree, so in that space what you
are stood there, you mentioned about the audience,
how does it feel to be stood next to people
that have come to a gig that you've put on,
by an artist that, maybe the audience haven't
heard of but there coming to that show because
they know and trust your music taste, as a
taste maker?
It's a great privilege really isn't it, to
be in that situation. I've met some extraordinary
people over the course of the gigs. There's
one particular guy who got an exploded knee
cap and he hasn't been out at all for six
months and he went out to see Haxon Cloak
and he told me that he was going to have to
sit in an ice bath for the whole of the following
day.
Well, there you go dedication.
Yeah, exactly and yet the following night
wanted to see Clark, the show we were putting
on at The Ritz, so, I managed to arrange for
him to sit on a chair, right by the side of
the stage so he wouldn't miss a thing so he
could still go to both gigs, but I mean we've
had all kinds of people coming out. I had
a couple of people who came to see the Levelz
show with two children and they were talking
to me, they said they love Kendrick Lamar,
but beyond that they don't really get to go
to see gigs anymore and actually they'd had
the best night out that they'd had in five
years and they felt brand new you know, they
felt like they were young again. The feedback
has been that people do really feel that these
experiences are transformative, which is just
fantastic, it's exactly what I wanted you
know.
And the thing is, like you say, it's such
an integral part of Manchester now and the
more it goes on, the more people travel from
further afield.
It's true, yeh.
How important, or how significant do you think
festivals and events like MIF are for the
city?
I think Manchester's got such a proud cultural
heritage hasn't it, I mean, it's really interesting,
I did a great piece with Peter Saville recently
and he, he said to me "Manchester creatively
stands on the shoulders of factory records
and factory records stands on the shoulder
of Ian Curtis" and I thought he's absolutely
right actually. But to be able to take all
of that energy and all of that kind of creative
spirit, and all of that, very rich cultural
heritage and I suppose, completely re-imagine
it and transpose it into 2017 and to still
make all of those, kind of connections back
to the historical significance of the city,
it just feels wonderful, doesn't it, it feels
like this whole place is buzzing, it's so
alive, you know?
Everybody looks forward to it and then is
gutted that it's two years until it takes
place again.
I was going to say, apart from obviously your
own shows you've been putting on, Dark Matter,
what else have you been to see that you've
thought, yep that is really special, I didn't
ever expect to see something like that?
Yeh, I've seen loads actually, I went down
today to see Karl Hydes piece, Manchester
Street Poem and he's accommodating a building
or inhabiting I should say, a building in
the Northern Quarter, where he has transposed
the stories of homeless people onto the walls
of the building, he's painting them by hand
and it's so powerful and it's incredibly moving,
especially when you see all around us, the
homeless problem in the city, to be able to
understand that actually, there's no such
thing as them and us, we are one people and
once you begin to understand the stories that
these people have to tell, you realise that
actually, there but for the grace of god go
I, all of us I think are just one step away
really from that position, but yeh I thought
that was a beautiful, really powerful, really
potent work, especially in these times, but,
I've been to see all sorts, I've been to the
theatre twice, which I never ordinarily do,
so I went to see Returning to Reims last night,
which I thought was a masterpiece and also
Father Land, again a piece from Karl Hyde
from Underworld was involved with, but one
of my favourite grime MCs, on of the kids
from Levelz, Truthos, is also starring in
Father Land, so that was the carrot for me,
you know, that I thought I have to see this!
But, I think it is one of those places where
you can, you can dip in and out of all these
incredibly creative events and find something
that you'd never ordinarily experience, you
know and just embrace it and that's, yeh it's
powerful isn't it.
It is. So what is next for Mary Anne Hobbs,
now you've dipped your toe in the world of
curating gigs, putting on gigs, and mean you're
no stranger to that anyway, DJing festivals
and stuff, are there any similar kind of projects
on the horizon?
I dunno, I was thinking I might lapse into
a coma after this week actually.
You should just go and have a nice lie down
for a couple of weeks.
It's been such hard work, but, yeh, I dunno,
it's interesting isn't it, because all of
these things work so far ahead, we're now
looking already about what we might be able
to do in 2019 and yeh, for me I find that
really difficult to contemplate, because the
world is changing so quickly isn't it and
I think, you almost have to project into that
space and think what is the environment going
to be like, post Brexit, how is Manchester
going to feel and that takes a little bit
of contemplation, to try to root yourself
in the future somewhere, so yeh, at the moment
I'm trying to find the future Hat, so I don't
know, have you got a TARDIS or something,
maybe you could help me out?
Don't ask me, I'm the wrong person, I don't
even watch Doctor Who, so I don't even know
what a TARDIS is, no I'm joking.
Well thank you so much for having a chat to
me
It's a pleasure
And congratulations, you've been awesome
Thank you
and all the best for the future
