Video
Kath McDermott
2026

Kath McDermott joins Manchester Scene Stories to talk about Manchester queer club culture, the Number One Club, Flesh, Manto, Paradise Factory, Homoelectric and her journey to BBC Radio 6 Music.

Kath’s story begins at 1970s Albion festivals, where she fell in love with the bass of the reggae tent, and moves through soul, disco, punk, goth, the Smiths, the Cure, rare groove, street soul and house music. She explains why dancing has always been at the centre of everything she does — and why, as a DJ, choosing the music is simply another way of getting the dancefloor she wants.

We talk in depth about the late Tim Lennox, the pioneering Manchester DJ whose seamless vinyl mixing and early belief in house music transformed the Number One Club. Kath describes his influence on a whole generation of DJs and recalls the emotional significance of his return to play at the Flesh celebration during Homobloc.

Kath also shares the story of starting out as a DJ. A World AIDS Day fundraiser in Liverpool led to Loose, which she describes as the city’s first queer rave night. From there, she and Lynn were invited to play at Flesh, the groundbreaking Manchester club night that became a national story and changed the relationship between gay nightlife, house music, fashion and mainstream culture.

This is also a tribute to the places that made Manchester’s Gay Village what it became. Kath explains why Manto was revolutionary after Clause 28 and years of HIV, police pressure and discrimination: its glass frontage declared that queer people were visible, proud and not going anywhere. She remembers Paradise Factory as a seven-day meeting place, a club with Factory Records heritage, resident DJs Tim Lennox and Dave Kendrick, and the women’s Loft where she DJed for five years.

We also discuss Kath’s later work at Homoelectric, where she and DJ partner Philippa Jarman brought house, disco, indie, hip-hop, funk, ragga and jungle together in a fiercely welcoming queer space. From DJing behind a curtain on a pool table at Follies to the rise of Homobloc, the conversation traces an essential but too often overlooked strand of Manchester’s cultural history.

Kath reflects on the Northern Quarter’s underground club community too: Electric Chair, Friends and Family, Robodisco, Bugged Out and Sankeys, where world-class DJs could be heard in intimate rooms. Finally, she talks about records, Vinyl Exchange, Piccadilly Records and the joy of working in music at BBC Radio 6 Music.