Our spotlight this week falls on House of Flying Daggers, a dancehall night run by a crew of Manchester students hailing from south London. Having climbed the ranks of student promo companies in quick time, HoFD have gone from throwing packed out parties at Fallowfield’s famous Koh Tao, through less student-focused venues like South nightclub and Mint Lounge, to even getting a supporting slot on David Rodigan’s Ram Jam at Warehouse Project. To find out more about this student success story, The Mancunion spoke to founding member Jacob about what to expect from a Flying Daggers event.
“Our nights propound a vibe which celebrates the dancehall and bashment genres, and their evolution in the UK scene, from dancehall through to jungle and now the more contemporary genres of funky and grime. To reflect this, our nights tend to begin with dancehall and end in darker grime & funky vibes.”
There is a good chance you will have seen Flying Daggers promotional material, whether on campus or decorating a wall near you. The distinctive artworks draw inspiration from East Asian tradition, which underlies part of the Flying Daggers philosophy:
“To us, daggering is a martial art. The kind of tekkers exhibited on the dance floor of a good DJ is comparable to the physical power and technical skill of martial artists.”
Having staged nights not just in Manchester but also in their native south London at Brixton’s Phonox, as well as in Leeds, it is clear that the HoFD crew are doing something right. Their next party is scheduled for Thursday the 8th of December at Rusholme’s Antwerp Mansion, with Boiler Room graduate Champion and Manchester legend Chimpo set to bless the decks, as well as the Flying Daggers resident DJs. For any London heads in the mood for some festive daggering, they are also returning to Phonox on the 27th of December.
If you are looking to switch up your night out from Manchester’s ubiquitous house, techno and tech-house to something with a bit more flavour, do yourself a favour and enter the House of Flying Daggers.
