Category: Music

Printworks London

Wicked venue and cultural destination for all sorts of events, held in an old print factory in the East End of London! Their raves and dance parties are legendary, and we just love their Sunday day raves. With a capacity of 5000 people, the place has an incredible atmosphere with a light show to match! Brilliant for photo shoots too, it also hosts drinks exhibitions and other shows. As a venue, they have a huge following, so there’s much love out there for concept, giving an old place the chance for new stories.

Having opened in 2017, Printworks used to be one of the largest print factories in Western Europe, housing gigantic printing machines and presses, which have been preserved to give the place this unique industrial feel. Staging award-winning dance events there, it’s not difficult to see how a place like this is on par with other international venues in New York, Detroit, Los Angeles, Tokyo & Berlin and other rave capitals. Their musical showcases offer the best in live and electronic music, pushing new talent passionately, to great global acclaim.

Printworks as a venue was originally founded in 2000 by Sir Alex Ferguson and superstar Lionel Richie! It is now owned by Broadwick Live, the London-based events company, which is proud for this venue to be part of their extending portfolio, identifying with music as their heritage. DJ institution Annie Mac says, the she is ‘proud’ for London to have such a music venue and American techno duo Octave One were bowled over by the place, stating that ‘playing at Printworks is a completely unique experience. London already has amazing night life, but the atmosphere and vibe of the venue bring everything together on a new, unforgettable level.

ABODE

More than just a party crew, these guys throw music events for dance floor aficionados all over the place! Their Printworks gigs are always a sell-out, describing themselves a an empire of ’tight-knit crew of resident DJs’, which was bleeding’ obvious at their last gig there. Apart from featuring huge international headlining acts, Abode is big on pushing their residents just as much – these include Artikal Ellie Cocks, Will Taylor and JW Harrison. Other party brands include Abode In The Park and Abode On The Rock, a festival held in Gozo in Malta.

What we really find visional and endearing is their Abode Project: a non-profit charity organisation, which aims to increase the quality of life for an entire community in Uganda’s Kabale region. By creating increasing longevity and opportunities for generations of children in one of the most deprived parts of Eastern Africa, Abode not only offers a home for passionate edm lovers, but also a totally different community, that can thrive with their help and support.

She is dynamite live and just the nicest person to chat to, our Fleur! Making big waves amongst the boys in DJ world, she knows what she likes and produces accordingly, often digging deep into 80s and 90s clubland bangers. And it is surprising, how these Oldies, but Goodies still get the crowd going, which is why Fleur’s sound will keep you dancing. We caught up with her when the Warehouse Project opened up again in Manchester during September, after a 2-year beauty sleep (we all know why…a global pandemic is not to be underestimated), and rocked their welcome-back season for AW21 with the most unbelievable line-ups. First up on the concourse, she had the crowd going in no time, only to be followed by Jaden Thompson, The Martinez Bros and Seth Troxler. She rocked the joint like an old pro and with such insatiable energy, we literally had massive fun from second 1.

The season kicked off for Fleur at London’s fabric in August, when clubs literally opened up again to the public, and she’s right there. She played Lab11 in Birmingham, of course, rocking off alongside Michael Bibi, and regularly plays with Darius Syrossian. On 5 November, her dream came true: she signed up to Cuttin’ Headz, The Martinez Brother’s label, and made history by being the first female artist to release an EP on their infamous imprint. Those releases include track like No Hoe, Hypnosis and One Two three Four, which promptly had Luuk van Dijk do a sick remix on!

Being a rebel at heart, she just will not conform with what other artists might do or latch on to, but will do her own thing, as a DJ and producer, insisting on staying true to herself. She is literally a music archive on legs, just like Cassy, who’d be top of the list for a dream B2B set, much beyond her actual years. Her inspiration goes right back to Slick Rick, and even Bill Withers, to Salt-n-Pepa and Miss Lauryn Hill (of course). Loving the 80’s & 90s sounds, her music is heavy on infectious baselines, she loves a good vocal, and gives those ‘Oldies, but Goodies’ a twist you will remember. Whether she plays Ushuaïa or a more intimate space, she gives it 110% at all times, and the crowds absolutely love her for it. Watch out for her next tour dates and do go and see her, ‘cos we’re SO ‘worth it’!

Fresh off the stage at Warehouse Project, we catch up with the incredible Fleur Shore aka—the first female artist to release an EP on Cuttin’ Headz. Her career has sky-rocketed to dizzy heights since then. Catch FLEUR live on these tour dates.