An interview with the duo behind Anointed - Manchester’s dark alt queer clubnight

Article and interview by Emily Oldfield

Fancy indulging in a delightfully dark selection of nouveau Goth, leftfield pop, post-punk and the more unusual Indie tunes in an all-inclusive, immersive venue? Welcome to Anointed – one of Manchester’s newest alternative clubnights – brought to the city by DJs Adrian Brian Thompson (AnalogueTrash) and Deany Sevigny.

This duo takes an innovative and engaging approach to creating a night which welcomes all and offers an opportunity for club-goers to sample some more experimental tunes, with an accepting alt queer vibe.

Repetitive chart music and lazy remixes don’t get a look-in here. Instead enjoy an array of artists in the mix, including the likes of Alice Glass, The Birthday Massacre, Goldfrapp, ionnalee, Ladytron, Trentemøller, Selofan, Grace Jones, Gary Numan and many many more. Electronica meets alternative, with plenty of dark attitude thrown in: sounds like a winning recipe.

 After a highly successful series of nights at Northern Quarter venue Aatma, the pair have recently announced the big news of a new residency starting up this October, at Sackville Street’s Tribeca, just on the edge of Canal Street.

From October onwards, Anointed will be happening downstairs at Tribeca on the last Friday of every month, 11pm-3.45am, whilst the QIA (Queer Indie Alternative) DJs continue their residency upstairs.

The new position highlights the attractivity of Anointed – which stands out from clubnights out there due to its friendly and fun approach, despite the darkness. Whatever your gender, age or sexuality, everyone is welcome. In the words of the DJs themselves: ‘Dance in the dark and find your religion with us – all are welcome in our congregation’.

HAUNT Manchester spoke to DJ’s Adrian and Deany to find out more:

What was the inspiration behind Anointed and how is it different from other current clubnights in the city?

Deany: “In many ways, Anointed was inspired by our own desire for there to be something like it in Manchester: an alternative queer night for those that like to dance in the darker corners of the scene, for the vamps and the nightcrawlers to come together and throw shapes and find their religion.”

Adrian: “Indeed, and for me personally Anointed was really about bridging two often disparate parts of my background as both a music fan, DJ and a promoter – the darker, more goth sides of the alternative music scene and grassroots queer culture. I knew plenty of people like me who didn’t feel fully at home on Canal Street or even in the more indie-focused alt.queer events so would tend to hang out in places like Jilly’s Rockworld, Sin City and even our old AnalogueTrash club nights which had quite a queer following.

“I wanted to help create something different that could really bring together those different things, and also, I wanted to be able to play a load of bands that I love that just don’t seem to get played in clubs in the city, so we took a chance to see where it went.”

Anointed has a very visual aesthetic and brings in elements of darkness. Why this approach?

Deany: “We're both very visual people - from my dabbling in Goth- and horror-inspired photo art for social media promos, to Ady's videography for his band VIEON and the art direction for his label AnalogueTrash, I think we find a very happy middle ground for the direction we take Anointed in. We knew that with a name like Anointed, a pseudo-religious, even coven-like array of sigils and runes was needed in order to sell the essence of what we were (and still are) creating.”

Adrian: “And while the night’s got a very distinct visual aesthetic and we’re very proud of how recognisable it is, there’s a real sense of playfulness and fun about what we do. It’s too easy to fall into the trap of coming across as unwelcoming or exclusionary when you’re trying to be a bit edgy and leftfield, so much of our imagery and especially our video work is very tongue-in-cheek with glitched up clips from things like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American Horror Story and even Sabrina the Teenage Witch sneaking into our night’s live visuals and promos.”

Would you say you have been inspired by The Gothic?

Deany: “Undoubtedly. From our artwork to the language we adopt, they wouldn't exist without those that pioneered the way over the decades; from Edgar Allen Poe to Motionless In White...”

Adrian: “Absolutely, though we tend to see the gothic in things that, perhaps, haven’t been traditionally associated with it. We say we play ‘nouveau goth’ at our nights, which is a totally made-up genre to reflect a lot of music that we play which, while perhaps not ‘officially’ considered to be goth music and isn’t really played at goth nights, is, in our option at least, gothic as heck - things like Fever Ray, the later Trentemøller stuff, Ionalee, Zola Jesus or Pastel Ghost that are dark, introspective, brooding and powerful. For us, it’s more about the overall vibe of a track than genre or style definitions. I guess you could say that we find dark, gothic, witchy inspiration in a lot of places!”

What can people expect from Anointed? i.e. why would you encourage people to come along?

Deany: “You can expect a friendly pair of bearded queers, who are very happy to see you join them, playing a delightfully devilish and diverse array of leftfield pop, indie, electronica, nouveau goth, and post-punk. You can expect dancing and some seriously positive energy in an inclusive, welcoming environment - all are welcome at our congregation, now and always.”

Adrian: “Overall as well, I’d encourage people to come try something different. Anointed is eclectic yet niche and we’re totally ok that it might not be to everyone’s tastes. You might only know a handful of the songs we play, or you might know loads of them, but either way they’re Good Songs and that’s the foundation of what we do. We’ll generally post set lists on social media after the night to encourage people to go and check out the artists they might be new to because for me, it’s all about sharing great, goth-tinged music (and my obsession with reverb-drenched Post-Punk!) with people who might appreciate it.”

You DJ as a pair – why this approach?

Deany: “It allows the other some brief respite, the chance to grab a drink and have a dance, and for me I've found it's a good way to learn some fantastic new music from Ady's collection. We mostly meet in the middle when it comes to our own individual tastes, however Ady's been in the music biz for so long, every other day he's sending me some awesome tracks I've not heard before that usually results in me exclaiming "I am so playing this at Anointed!"

Adrian: “Yep, plus everything’s more fun with friends! I find we work quite well as a team too, and our different but overlapping tastes and influences are what makes Anointed so much fun to host and DJ at. Most of all though as Deany says, Anointed is the kind of night that we want to be able to attend, so it’s nice to be able to spend half the night just enjoying the music and the atmosphere!”

What has been your most memorable Anointed moment so far?

Deany: “It definitely has to be our first night, back in February this year. Aatma was nice and full, I met some fantastic new people and learned that some came from as far afield as north Yorkshire, London and Edinburgh to party with us. It was an almost overwhelming moment of "we did it!" and I couldn't be more proud.”

Adrian: “Taking over the basement at Bollox: Pride 2018 a few weeks ago was an amazing experience. I honestly wasn’t sure how it’d go. We’d decided in advance to stick to the standard Anointed format to really showcase what we do rather than necessarily keeping it a little safer for a more diverse crowd than we usually get, but, people seemed really into it, our room was nice and busy all night and seeing a crowd of people who’d never experienced Anointed before singing along to The Sisters of Mercy and She Wants Revenge made my weekend.”

What are your plans for the future?

Deany: “We’ll be taking London by storm on October 13th when we DJ Beat:Cancer at Electrowerkz. Then pretty much as soon as we return, we'll be ramping up the promo for our move to our brand-new home at Tribeca, in Manchester's LGBTQ+ Village - which just so happens to fall on my birthday, October 26th, then every last Friday of the month from there.

“I've got one or two side projects currently going through the formulative stages (I'll keep you posted!), but my hope is to really take Anointed from strength to strength throughout the rest of the year and into 2019, and I really hope people reading this can join us for it.”

Adrian: “We’re really, really excited about moving to Tribeca in October. Aatma’s been an amazing venue and we can’t thank them enough for taking a chance on us, but our new monthly night will be running in conjunction with the fabulous Queer Indie Alternative (QIA) as a two room event, so attendees will effectively get two, different yet complementary club nights for the price of one.

“Hazel and Sandra who run QIA are wonderful and we’re so on the same page in terms of our views on music, community and carving a space in the village for queers who don’t always feel at home there. I’m ridiculously excited to be working with such inspirational people – I think we’re going to learn a lot from them too.

“Alongside that we’ll be DJing at a special fundraising event on the 10^th of November for Mermaids and Action for Trans Health with some good friends (I’ve somehow ended up DJing and performing in two bands at this one!), and Deany will be DJing and taking part in panel discussions at Foundations Festival 2018 this December.

“We’re all about collaboration and community building, so I’m sure there’ll be lots more in the coming months, too.”

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To find out more about Anointed, visit the website, Facebook page and Twitter. You can also find out more about the upcoming first residency event in October via HAUNT.