“It’s really nice to bring people together, bringing all these people into one space together at these new events and make a little community in itself which is really nice.”
The rave scene in Manchester is one of the best in the country, incredible underground nights and events popping up all the time, put on by some amazingly talented event organisers. However, these nights, as safely as they are organised, can come with certain difficulties – it’s just the nature of packing people into dark rooms, and as a result sometimes people can feel uncomfortable or unsafe. A local Manchester based events company Absent Antiks have taken the Manchester rave scene by storm in the past year by carving out their own safe space for women earlier this year with a woman only rave ‘Fannytastic’.
After the roaring success of this night, the company is now putting on their fourth event ‘Down Under’ at Stage and Radio on the 13th of June, this time for everyone. We had the privilege of talking to one of the founders Abo Forse in May about the organisation so far and the upcoming event.
Photo by @pictures_byabi
The Beginning of Events
“I feel like I’ve been into electronic music forever” says Abo as I sit opposite, sitting outside of a coffee shop, talking about her time in the music industry “my mum was very into raves in the 80s and 90s, she introduced me to Basement Jaxx which is really good fun and then my dad more so the [The] Progidy” she continues, explaining how she was introduced to the world of electronic music.
However, it wasn’t until coming to Manchester that Abo properly fell in love with electronic music for herself, she tells me “I went to Hidden in Manchester when I first came here which was really great, and then my next big one after that was Warehouse Project and that kind of introduced me to the love of it”.
From this, the natural progression of things was to go into putting on her own nights due to her previous love of events, as she tells me “honestly, [I] really just loved putting on parties in high school and a levels . . . Looking at [what] to do next after a levels I was like, ‘oh events, I love putting on events and parties’”. She goes on to tell me about the joys of putting on events as she says, “It kind of started from there really, but it’s really nice to bring people together, bringing all these people into one space and make a little community in itself which is really nice”.
Abo began her journey into event management during her first year of university, with her friend Kiran another founder of Absent Antiks. She tells me about the first events they put on as she tells me “we did one together, then I did one by myself, so ive done four, this is my fourth one so far”, continuing she goes on to say “first was Deep, it was DnB and liquid, second was Going Deeper – I did that by myself so I could then do all the ‘Fannytastic’ girls only stuff”.
Fannytastic
“I think there does need to be a proper safe community, especially in DnB because there’s so many men” Abo says as I ask about the idea behind ‘Fannytastic’ “that was the main thing that I wanted to do, make a safe space”. It’s fair to say that the event was a success and not just in a ‘safe’ aspect, but also as an incredible night; Abo tells me about the success of the night as she says “It was SO much fun . . . it went really well, I had some really lovely reviews and messages . . . even the bouncers were like ‘oh yeh this is a different kind of vibe’”.
The event didn’t just create a safe space for women, but also boosted and worked with other women in the community. “We had a tooth gem company come to the event . . . a girl ran company” Abo says as she shows off one of the gems to me, “the company contacted us from Liverpool, and [they] wanted to collab”.
Photo by @radiosez.co.uk
However, just as all things of this nature, it was not without its own share of backlash and criticism. Abo tells me about some of the negativity as she says, “the occasional guy would be like ‘oh isn’t that sexist, you’re just a man hater’. They really don’t quite understand the need for the safe spaces”. Abo continues, explaining the need for the event as she says “I think it’s just explaining why women don’t necessarily feel safe in some situations like dark raves . . . it’s not that I want there to be only girl raves, but the backlash was people focussing on it being sexist and that was just not the point, it wasn’t we hate men, it was we love women and trying to lift them”.
Social Media
“I do enjoy it, I think people now have that little adrenaline rush of ‘oh ive posted, how’s it going to do, how’s it going to do online with all the stats and shares and stuff” Abo says, discussing the need for social media in managing events, continuing she says, “but then sometimes it does feel a bit overwhelming”. Abo goes on to explain some of these social media issues as she says “XLR have no signal, so I was trying to post stuff online, having to run up the stairs and run back down to film . . . since starting Absent Antiks my phone hours have gone to like 5 or 6 hours a day which I’m really trying to coax down”.
Down Under
“So, this [next] one is more [of an] all inclusive event . . . this one’s for everyone” Abo says talking about their next event “’Fannytastic’ is so much fun but it’s nice to do something different as well because I do want to do more inclusive events too, I do want my guy friends to be there and new people to come and see it”.
She goes on to talk about the lineup for the night as she says, “it is a predominantly female lineup but then ive got my friend Joe DJing as well”. Telling me more about the lineup Abo says “I know radio sez, I’ve met her a couple times [and] she’s great, she does loads of presenting and she’s helped me with marketing some of my other events as well. THT GRL contacted me after ‘Fannytastic’ and I went to see her at Skepsis at Joshua Brooks and she came and danced with me. R4VEBABY is in my year at university, and she runs the Mint Warehouse raves in Leeds, they always sell out and she does really good DnB, she’s very cool”.
The Future
Abo tells me that she wants to move ‘Fannytastic’ towards a “bimonthly” time frame, switching between ‘Fannytastic’ and a more all-inclusive event each month. But going forward this next event ‘Down Under’ is at the recently refurbished Stage & Radio on the 13th of June. A perfect way to “cure the post Parklife blues”. The lineup for the night so far is RAVEB4BY, THT GRL, KEMI, SEZ, KRIEG and VISPERA and you can catch Absent Antiks on any of their social media platforms here, or alternatively find information on their upcoming event here.
