Interveiw with Bex Phillips. DJ, promoter and creator of DAFT FUNK

Bex loves being a genre bender

Bex Phillips

There are only two genres of music: good music and rubbish music. If 20 years of crossover clubbing culture have taught us one thing, its that pigeonholes are useless for all but keeping birds in.

Today, your average clubgoer will be exposed to a variety of different sounds on the dance floor (indeed, CityLife was there last weekend when one popular Manchester club played The Strokes and Destinys Child back to back).

But, according to Bex Phillips who launches new night Daft Funk at Jabez Clegg tomorrow it wasnt always quite this way: Back [when I started] you were into one style of music and that was it; that was who you were.

But now its different. You can be in to drum n bass, punk and rap and its cool. I can play Prince and Pendulum in the same set because that represents who I am musically.

As a stalwart of the Manchester music scene, Bex has seen it all: shes worked as a band manager and event promoter, put on showcase events at In The City and was an industry consultant for the Labour governments New Deal for Musicians scheme, running workshops and mentoring new bands.

So where did the idea for her genre-hopping new party come from?

Daft Funk is something I started to develop when I was a resident at PoNaNa.

I started playing the bar there, starting with funk, soul and acid jazz but I got really great feedback when I dropped in a couple of old school hip hop or house tracks later on the night.

So I started playing more of that. Before I knew it, I was playing every weekend and the bar area had turned in to a dance floor.

Then, when I moved to the clubroom downstairs, I started dropping just one or two drum and breaks tracks and the crowd were really receptive.

The concept was given a trial run in the back room at Funkademia, a club at which Bex has been a regular attendee and latterly, DJ since the Attic days.

I always loved the way that Fritz Great-Lakes, Trafford Lovething and Myk Nolan got really in to what they were playing.

And whenever I would go there I would always think, I know what I would play next, and slowly but surely I decided that I wanted to DJ and whats more, I wanted to play my favourite club.

And thanks to Dave Payne for giving me that chance.

[The trial run] went really well, keeping the dance floor full till the very end.

For the clubs full debut, Bex is taking it to Jabez Clegg, the historic beer hall, which, along with certain other venues dotted on or around the Oxford Road corridor, forms the backbone of Manchesters student-friendly clubbing scene.

I think that Jabez is such a good party venue because firstly its in a great location for students, meaning that drinks prices and entrance fees can be kept low.

Also, I really like the size of the two rooms there. Because theyre not too big it means that theres always a great intimate atmosphere. Which is what you want when throwing a party!

I will be playing a real mix of funk, soul, disco with lots of oldschool house and hip hop.

Im not one for too many tricks, its all about set programming for me and creating a party atmosphere.

I do do my own re-edits though, so will be including a few of those.

I think there will be a real mixture of people there, the Facebook page has members between 18 and 40. And the music will reflect that.

What I think is different about my night is that there is nothing too eclectic or
underground. Just dance floor-friendly party tracks and anthems.