Blog: How Atlas Music MCR Came About

ATLAS BLOG – Gas2Ignition – 22/02/2018 – Sol Davies

Manchester has most undoubtedly one of the best nightlife atmospheres throughout the country for students and other partygoers, and there’s an expanding variety of nights out to choose from. 

With an underground, intimate and bouncing vibe ATLAS is the perfect choice for a group of students, looking to head out mid-week, to hear the sounds of our resident DJs curating some melodic mixes and providing the best tech-house and techno music around.

ATLAS came about when myself, and my close friend Conall McDowell, from Cumbria, like me, and now studying at the University of Manchester, decided to host a variety of parties back home. We brought a huge crowd from our local area, but on moving to Manchester to study at UCFB and UoM respectively, we couldn’t host these type of parties unless we could find the right locations. We approached a local club called Indigo, based in Withington, Fallowfield.

Indigo were quick to respond and were delighted with our interest, quickly booking in our ATLAS opening party for the 30th  January. This was a perfect date for us, with students completing exams and returning to Manchester after a long Christmas break. The tickets were cheaply priced and we had two fantastic DJs, Dan Barrientos and Ande Richardson; it was also to be my first live performance, so I decided to mix for the first hour, a warm-up set. With online tickets selling out, Conall and I decided to add a number of tickets that would be available on the door.

We had a fantastic turn out for the event, and had a number of great reviews throughout our social media platforms, (links below). Conall and I contacted the venue again and, with fantastic feedback from the owner, Ash, he was happy for us to book in again for a number of events. At the time of writing this blog our next event takes place on Tuesday, 27th February.

Aiming for a mainly student audience from the various universities in Manchester, ATLAS aims to provide a local, cheap and intimate vibe on a monthly basis. Over half of the student population in Manchester live in Fallowfields, so Indigo is only a short walk away. Resident DJ Dan Barrientos has recently been working with some great artists within the industry, and with several new tunes nearly set for release, Dan is now on the hunt for labels interested in his amazing work. PAX, a male duo who have music released on labels such as SOLA and ELROW music, recently contacted Dan to comment on his music and giving him great feedback, a huge boost for him which will hopefully lead to further recognition. To get more information on Dan’s upcoming events and gigs; head over to his Facebook page @OfficialDanBarrientos.

Our other resident DJ is local artist Ande Richardson. Ande has now been on the scene for a couple of years and has a residency at local city-centre club, Gorilla. We managed to get in touch with Ande to see if he was interested in playing for our events, as he was playing at a social event for a University party. Bringing along his own vibe to the party and a whole mix of different tunes, we are delighted to have him onboard.

If you are interested in any more information about ATLAS, please get in touch with me, Sol Davies or Conall McDowell.

FACEBOOK – @ATLASMCR

INSTAGRAM – @ATLASMUSICMCR

TWITTER – @AtlasMusicMcr

GMAIL – AtlasMusicMcr@gmail.com