Black Light
Dave Clarke, Luke Slater
Mint
Saturday 3rd November
9.30pm – 6am
£17

If you’re a techno fan and you live within a five mile radius of Leeds, you should be heading to Mint on November 3rd. Promoters Black Light, having hosted their own stage at the first ever Mint Festival, are set to do big things to the techno scene in Leeds if the lineup for their launch night is anything to go by.

The word legend is used all too much these days, with bandwagon-jumping DJs ascending to stadium status without so much as a decent mix to their name. But if there’s any DJ deserving of the accolade legend it’s Dave Clarke, also known as The Baron of Techno. Known for mixing serious techno and the darkest electro, Clarke has a repuation as a DJ’s DJ. Despite having been around since techno’s early days, the Baron isn’t one to cling on to the past and has always been vocal about looking to the future, with regards to both club technology and the music itself. With more than a handful of critically acclaimed mixes to his name and his own radio slot showcasing exciting new sounds, Dave Clarke is a DJ known for his ability to both educate and enthral the crowd.

No less legendary both at home and on the continent is fellow Brit Luke Slater, also known as L.B. Dub Corp, Planetary Assault Systems, Offset, Morganistic… Luckily for us Slater is as brilliant behind the decks as he is prolific in the studio. Famous for mixing the purity of classic Detroit rhythms with British eccentricity, we’re hoping he brings the eclecticism and pure mixing genius of Fabric 32 to Mint’s pounding sound system. Warming things up you can expect the well-practiced Ed Mackie to whet your appetites nicely, with Mark Turner bringing up the rear. Early bird tickets sold out almost immediately, and with good reason. If you’re serious about techno, and you miss this, consider yourself a serious idiot.

words: Tabitha Thorlu-Bangura