Welcome to Fleckies, where we highlight the venues and creatives shaping local culture.
Sometimes the best ideas aren’t born from a perfectly mapped-out plan. They start with something you wish existed, whatever you already have to hand and somebody giving you the push to actually get on with it. For April Baillie, that happened to involve a bright red Vauxhall Corsa, some DDJ-400s
A grassroots house music brand, local DJs, pubs turned into dancefloors and a community that keeps showing up – somewhere along the way, Dance Till Dawn has managed to raise more than £10,000 for local charities too. The Kettering-born house and tech house brand has officially hit £10,427.03 raised in
Some artists build a visual world around their music. Nevmore feels more like someone who has built an entire character and then let the music live inside it. I first came across his work through filmmaker Azim Miah, and what caught me immediately was that there was clearly more going
Some artists spend years searching for a sound. Others slowly realise it was there all along, woven through family, culture, memory and the music that surrounded them growing up. Bally-M feels very much like the latter. I first met Bally through our mutual friend Nico about a year ago, and
Some interviews stay with you because of what someone has achieved. Others stay with you because of how much of yourself you unexpectedly hear in their story. Freya Rose was very much the latter for me. I first came across her through Instagram, checked out her music, loved the indie-pop
There is a moment every year at Boomtown when you realise you’ve completely forgotten the outside world exists. Your phone barely works. You’ve lost track of what day it is. You’re dancing next to someone whose name you’ll probably never know, in a venue you didn’t know existed half an
Before I’d watched any of Azim Miah’s work, I was struck by the way he spoke about creativity. He first reached out to me through social media, and after spending an evening exploring his work, it was obvious this wasn’t simply someone making music videos. Every project felt intentional. Every
Before I knew anything about Zaba’s sets, I knew about her voice. I first came across her through a post on Instagram. Frustrated by the familiar claim that promoters “couldn’t find” enough female DJs, she spent a single evening compiling a list of more than 300 women behind the decks.
Some artists arrive with a carefully crafted image. Others simply grow into themselves over time, letting every project, performance and lesson become part of the story they’re telling. Speaking to BEKIMACHINE, it’s clear she’s the latter. We first crossed paths at Music Barn Festival earlier this year, where she brought
