Welcome to Fleckies, where we highlight the venues and creatives shaping local culture.
Digbeth isn’t just somewhere you go for a night out. It’s an ecosystem. For decades, this corner of Birmingham has been home to independent venues, clubs, promoters, DJs, bands, artists and businesses, with different genres, scenes and generations existing practically on top of each other. Now, a significant part of
There is something about Gigi Gold that feels completely considered. The music, the styling, the photography, the visual world around it – everything feels like it belongs together. I first came across Gigi through mutual connections after her drummer Elliot and, more recently, guitarist Zak joined the band. I love
I remember the day I discovered Panic! At the Disco. It was a quiet Sunday morning at home. I flicked on the TV, searched Kerrang! with the Sky remote and suddenly… There she was. A woman’s head submerged in a fish tank with tiny orange fish drifting around her. At
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
