Work Them: Manchester's alternative disco club night returns

Whilst Manchester's streets are quite literally (given the weather) awash with flyers for blink and you'll miss-em club nights fighting for student attention, this weekend sees the return and something of a reset for one of the city's most exciting new nights. 

Founded last year, Work Them describes itself as 'an alternative and electronic disco for the beard strokers, the shoegazers, the booty shakers and the awkward ravers'. Offering a veritable paradise playlist of weird and wonderful music for the body and mind, Work Them was soon hosting afterparties at the likes of Sounds From The Other City, and has spent Saturdays this summer soundtracking Afternoon Delight, the Deaf Institute's early evening session. 

Now, with Manchester open and buzzing again, Work Them are very pleased indeed to find themselves in the intimate setting of Soup Kitchen's increasingly infamous basement. A real haven below the streets in the Northern Quarter, the Stevenson Square venue has been hosting some great parties so far in 2012 from the likes of specialist promoters such as Doodle, Swing Ting and MeandYou.

Joining this roster, Work Them promises five hours of sounds covering disco, weird pop and rock, house, bass, and any other energetic genre that fits. Originally described by founder John Thorp as "an ongoing experiment to find the missing link between Edywn Collins and Flying Lotus, hopefully involving a cowbell", the reality is an eclectic but coherent evening of music for open minded people that love to dance. "It's quite unambitious, or at least straight up, in that way", says Thorp. "But the music policy doesn't reflect that. At Soup, we have the benefit of a really enigmatic club, a big strobe light, plenty of space to get involved. We also have lots of good records, which my years of hanging out in clubs have lead me to conclude is important." 

Thorp's DJing CV in Manchester extends as far and wide as regular guest slots as Clique, Now Wave and Underachievers, as well as a previous weekly show for Mike Joyce's Beatwolf radio, which, having heard John play it on his show, resulted in Joyce blasting Todd Terje's anthemic weirdo-disco record, 'Inspector Norse', to an Italian club full of momentarily mortified hardcore Smiths fans this summer. "My radio career is on hiatus, but I'm pleased to have influenced what must have been such an incredibly strange moment in Italian indie clubbing", says Thorp, who is a fan of such strange moments.

Work Them was setup principally as it felt like "the right time to do it", but also as an attempt to "stop pestering people for the opportunity to play records." However, a little more pestering eventually lead Thorp to current sparring partner behind the decks, Scott Beaman. Another enthusiastic local muso, the pair hit it off whilst DJing at a student 'indie' night where they suddenly felt out of place on what was once their own turf. "We both had similar playlists and favourite records, but the same insecurities when it came to playing them to the crowd", recalls Thorp. "I remember us deciding we wanted to do something where we could stick to our instincts and even be, within reason, a bit indulgent or take risks in terms of the range of stuff we were playing. I then remembered I did already have a club night vaguely established, and that it might be useful to not just have to play something around ten minutes long whilst nipping to the loo or to the bar or if somebody invited me out for a fag. In that respect, Scott was perfect, but he also liked techno and Kate Bush." Also joining the pair for a quick spin or two is Will Orchard, himself a regular at Soup's Long Neck Discoteque night, forming a neat trio. 

"From a personal perspective, I'm really pleased with who I'm playing with on the night, it's come together nicely", muses Thorp. "They're nice people, they have great taste in music, get what the night is about, and I don't owe either of them any money yet."

Indeed, techno and Kate Bush both feature on Work Them's new 'Somewhat Essential Mix #2', along with the likes of Four Tet, Matthew Dear and Nicolas Jaar. A free mixtape given away to celebrate the "sort-of relaunch" of the night, it's an hour that reflects what to expect at Soup Kitchen this Saturday, with a more four to the floor pace that is mixed purely as an example of what to expect to hear when things heat up down below. 

"I can sincerely attest that I've had some of my favourite nights out this year there", states Thorp. "It's a proper club for music lovers, and all the nights thus far reflect that perfectly. Whatever we're playing, and whatever anyone else is playing elsewhere, can you expect much of the same from us." And what not to expect?

"A foam machine and in-house photographer."

Work Them, Soup Kitchen, Saturday 22 September, £4 adv tickets below.

Tickets are no longer available for this event