Guy Williams returns to Manchester Scene Stories for Part Two, going deeper into Flesh at The Haçienda, Manchester’s changing gay and queer club scene, the origins of Manumission and his journey from Manchester to Ibiza.
Guy remembers the early years of Flesh, the groundbreaking gay night launched by Paul Cons at The Haçienda in the early 1990s. What began on the last Wednesday of each month quickly became one of the club’s biggest nights, attracting around 2,000 people and creating a space that felt very different from the increasingly troubled atmosphere elsewhere in Manchester nightlife.
He talks about DJs including Tim Lennox, Kath McDermott, DJ Paulette and Dave Kendrick, as well as playing Flesh himself as part of DJ duo Planet Janet. Guy remembers the Gay Traitor bar inside The Haçienda as “absolute bedlam” and explains why those first few years of Flesh felt so special.
The conversation also looks at the darker side of Manchester clubbing during the period, including the gang culture that had already affected The Haçienda and eventually began to make its presence felt at Flesh.
Guy then tells the story of Manumission before Ibiza. The night began in Manchester, first at the Athenaeum and then Equinox, before its founders left the city and created what would become one of Ibiza’s most famous club nights.
Guy first visited Ibiza in 1994. By 2000 he was DJing there himself, alongside his work for Defected and Ministry of Sound. Years later he moved to the island and created his own night, Flash, at Pikes — a name that came about accidentally when somebody misheard him saying Flesh.
We also talk about Manchester clubs including Manto, Paradise Factory, Time and Metz, the changing Gay Village, the impact of Queer as Folk and why Guy believes Flesh deserves a much bigger place in the history of The Haçienda.
Guy reflects on the importance of diversity on the dancefloor, from the jazz dancers he remembers seeing at The Haçienda in the 1980s to the dancers he works with today.
The conversation eventually comes back to something much simpler: why people still want to go out dancing as they get older.
For Guy, clubbing isn't dead.
“Music is medicine.”
We talk about day parties, the rising cost of clubbing, dancing as therapy, people still going out in their 50s, 60s and beyond, and why coming together around music still matters.
Guy also talks about returning to Manchester more often after living in Ibiza and why the city is beginning to feel like home again.
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