The Warehouse Project has been a stable of Manchester’s infamous music scene since 2006 – but it’s not your average clubbing institution. It’s not even a club in the traditional sense. It takes over a warehouse setting for 12 weeks every year with meticulously organised parties from September to January with the world’s top music acts from the length and breadth of the electronic music spectrum.
It’s a guerrilla club; it pops out of nowhere and then soon enough it’s gone again. But this is what sets it apart from the rest of the crowd. Over the last 5 years it has literally torn up the rulebook on what a club can be. It’s not focused on the bricks and mortar – but the people and the amazing lineups.
When it first burst into Manchester’s consciousness in 2006 the Warehouse Project was housed at the famous Boddingtons Brewery, just next door to the notorious Strangeways prison.
This was about as far away from up-market pretentious clubbing you could get. Originally set in two substantial warehouses’ it was a difficult first run. Sure it was massively popular – but having two equal size rooms with two different musical agendas didn’t really work – we saw it first hand – one room rocking and the other having less than 50 people in it.
Eventually the Warehouse Project was forced to find a new home. And they looked to Manchester’s past again and came across an unlikely new home; an old bomb shelter from the 40’s, which is now Store Street car park.
Every Friday the car park is cleared and the WHP comes alive. By Monday morning there’s no obvious sign of what has happened over the weekend, the only clues are a stage and some lighting rigs. It’s a herculean task to set up a fully functioning club and tear it all down again and repeat this process every weekend for 12 weeks.
If you’ve ever experienced Store Street you’ll know it exemplifies everything that is intoxicating about warehouse clubbing – the space is a shadowy, murky venue – set within an intimidating maze of unusual shapes and corridors that seem to go on forever.
During its love affair with Store Street, WHP has grown to be a massive success selling out within days of the lineups being released in August.
Well, Manchester is now about to say farewell to Store Street with the last ever 12-week run at the now famous Store Street venue.
Harder Blogger Faster is excited to announce that it has joined forces with Kopparberg Premium Cider to celebrate the Warehouse Project’s final season of parties at the now renowned and much-loved Store Street venue.
Harder Blogger Faster and Kopparberg Cider will present an exclusive series of competitions to the sell-out events as well as features, interviews and reviews.
Kopparberg is Sweden’s original, premium fruit cider and is dedicated to finding and supporting creative talent. Keep reading HBF to follow the series and check out www.findkopparberg.com to find out more about what Kopparberg are up to.
For more information on The Warehouse Project, visit www.thewarehouseproject.com
By Alan Thornber
The End of Store Street from Chris Cairns on Vimeo.
