I moved over to Glasgow about three years ago from Manchester. I’d lived in Manchester my whole life. I grew up there, studied there, worked there - I love it. There’s so many interesting things happening in Manchester, but I got to a point when I felt like I wasn’t doing much and needed a change.
I’ve always really liked Glasgow. I’ve got a lot of family up here so I had already spent a fair bit of time in the city. I knew there were a lot of really cool things happening here that I was interested in - especially in the music scene, so I just gave it a shot and luckily settled in really quickly.
Glasgow, like Manchester, has a great reputation for having a big music scene. The kind of shows I’d go to in Manchester were really similar to the ones happening up here, and the community I was around in Manchester seemed to have all of these links to Glasgow. Through friends in bands playing in the city, or working in places like Mono, I heard of all these really interesting things happening here which was a massive part of why I decided to move up.
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Stereo was a place I’d been told about by friends and family as a longstanding independent venue in the city. I’d been in for a drink before but two or three months after I moved up I joined as front of house staff and worked on the bar for about two years. I met loads of people I had things in common with so it was definitely one of the biggest reasons I settled in so quickly.
Nowadays I handle the club bookings for the venue along with my colleague Sof, and Ross who handles the gig bookings. We deal with a lot of promoters who put on some really nice regular parties. Fast Muzik, for example, is a really good hardcore night that has built up a really strong community around it. Along with that, Sof and I have put more time into booking our own in-house nights and curating our own club lineups under the “Stereo Presents...” series. It’s been really rewarding to put things on as Stereo and have the opportunity to show people the kind of things we’re passionate about while also showcasing local talent. Some highlights from this year have been DJ Swisha, Finn, and having the Mutualism crew come up from Manchester for a big takeover night.
We have a really nice crossover of different tastes and sounds in Stereo, but you could say a large portion of the clubs that we currently book are focused around UK bass music. Glasgow also has a really big hardcore scene, so we get a lot of these high-energy, high BPM parties coming through which are always really great nights. I think Glasgow’s always had a really big reputation as being a big house and techno city so because that gap’s already being filled by other venues it gives us the chance to explore other sounds.
Pop Mutations Festival was something that started brewing around 2019. The first idea came about just before lockdown as a collaboration between the bookers in all the different venues involved, including Stereo, Mono, The Old Hairdressers and the Flying Duck. During lockdown we held two online festivals which were great with loads of amazing acts submitting their own video pieces and digital performances.
The line-up for the first live edition of Pop Mutations came about really naturally. Each venue that the festival spans across has their own kind of style and focus, so the line-up for each day and each venue was a product of that. You’ve got the more guitar focussed stuff in Mono; the sort of post-punk, experimental side of things in The Old Hairdressers; while Stereo’s got the biggest club focus, along with The Flying Duck.
One of the most appealing things about the Glasgow music scene is its DIY ethos. It’s really strong and, although you do see that in other places, what’s unique about Glasgow is that there’s all these different people, doing different things, but who are all very connected. It feels like lots of different scenes coming together within one big community. People are always really up for working with one another and I think Pop Mutations is a product of that with so many artists and sounds all on one big line-up.
Pop Mutations will be held at venues across Glasgow from 13th - 16th October. Full line-up and tickets available now here . Connect with Pop Mutations: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
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