Yesterday we were treated to an intimate performance by Bipolar Sunshine at Bose’s Urban Conductor music experience in Manchester.

Before that performance we managed to grab 15 minutes with Adio Marchant – he spoke candidly about the stigma of being labelled a “manchester act”, the origin of his unique name, how he’s trying to change people’s perceptions and why he’s trying shake-up Manchester’s music scene.

First of all, tell us about your name?
The name just came about from as an expression of life, you know, that life has its ups and downs, but quite often there’s light at the end of the tunnel. It’s kinda adding a positive spin to it I guess. It’s just a realism of that.

You were previously in a band Kid British, do you see Bipolar Sunshine as your final chance?
No. I would never say final, because life isn’t like that to be honest. It’s an opportunity, you know, I’m just here to enjoy myself and am prepared to put out some of best music the likes of which Manchester hasn’t seen for a while. I think myself and people like Jazz Purple are trying something different. Music is music, if you understand good music it doesn’t matter about anything else. I’m coming from a standpoint of ‘yeah I’m from Manchester in the same way as you are’ but I coming from my place.

How’s the album coming along? What’s the concept behind it, and can we expect a release date soon?
It’s cool man, there’s one or two songs left to do but to be honest I’ve not got a date for it yet, it should be coming out in the first half of next year. So I’m happy to leave it open but once I nail the last two songs I’ll be able to work on the concept and art style for it. Concept-wise, it’s always going to have its Manchester roots, you know, I’m from Manchester, so I’ll never be able to escape that in my music.

Tell us a bit about your musical experiences in Manchester?
I used to go to the old Warehouse Project, you know, to the house nights, but I’m more into hip hop so when some of the big names are here I’d go to a lot of those nights too. And band nights too, it’s all music and you learn to appreciate it all to be honest.

You recently did a collaboration with Lane 8 – how did that come about?
Someone from his management contacted my management. I didn’t know him beforehand to be honest – but I’m a writer at heart so when I heard the track and I liked it, I wrote something for it.

You recently moved away from Manchester – do you think you’re more creative in London?
It’s cool man. I don’t think I’m anymore creative down there than I am up in Manchester. There’s more things to do down there. I think people in Manchester have this stigma that you can’t leave. But you know what; Oasis left so quickly and no one said a thing, but as soon as someone else does it, it’s “oh you’ve left Manchester blah blah blah”, you know what I mean. But basically there’s more stuff to do down there. There’s no need to be local, you always know where you’re from, so I don’t think it’s an issue to be honest. I still think it’s a great place to live. I think the whole Manchester scene will see the newer guard push out the older ones out, you know. No one is talking about the Hacienda anymore, you know. Them vibes are dead. And you’ve still got those type of guys who think they know Manchester, but to be honest they don’t really.

What was the last album you bought?
Travis Scott, Days Before Rodeo, he’s an amazing rapper. It’s really good. He uses a lot of different styles, so his music is in all directions. I think the old mentality of genres, and that, doesn’t really exist anymore, the young ones don’t give a shit. It’s the older ones who still hold on to that ideal.

United or City?
Well I’m wearing red but I’m a mad blue, hahaha, my little brother plays for City.

Are there going to be any collaborations on the album?
Not really. But if the right ones come through then, yeah, maybe. I don’t care even if they’re massive, you know, like Celine Dione. If it isn’t right then I won’t do it. The music has be as pure as you can possibly get it, especially for the album. It’s all about keeping it how I started, you know, I started making tunes in Longsight, and I wasn’t thinking “what’s this gonna do”. It’s all about the journey.

What has been your favourite festival experience so far?
Glasto, but I wanna play MainStage though.  As an artist if you go to perform at a festival and you don’t feel like you should be on the Mainstage you shouldn’t really be there. There’s no point aiming to play a really small stage, right?

What are your thought on social media? Do you pay much attention to it?
You get these dickheads on Twitter who think it’s alright to abuse you, as long as it’s on Twitter. It’s weird. My music was made as a form of my own therapy, not really for anyone else. You go through certain things in life and you want to get those things off your chest. People can ask questions but I’d rather lay it out in the music. There are two different levels now, criticism and then abuse, and I think they’ve both kinda merged into one. I think some people don’t see music as art, you know, it’s lost its value due to piracy and the like, but people do still buy music. I think there’s also a perception that music doesn’t sell. It does sell, it’s just got to be the right music. You’ve got to continue to make music that’s right for you, and then hopefully people will buy into it.

So how would you qualify success?
I would qualify success as where you choose to take it, when I started I wasn’t thinking about the fame and fortune, it was a form of therapy. So to me that’s success. Everyone has their own ideas about success but for me it’s not a certain number of sales, it might be for others, but not me. For me, I’m trying to move Manchester forward, you know. There’s no one else like me here, when people see me they might think a certain way, but I’m not going to get angry about it, I’m just gonna do what I do and change people’s perceptions.

Were music lessons at school a big part in nurturing your talent?
Not really, they’re shit to be honest. There needs to be a sea change, you know, all schools should have copies of Logic or Ableton instead of these boring music lessons, if you had that at school you’d have loved it.

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The Bose ‘Urban Conductor’ based in Great Northern, Manchester is an immersive live experience which takes visitors through a gallery of digital content and visual art. Visitors will have the chance to mix their own tracks using Bose SoundTrue headphones and then share over social media using the official hashtag #ListenForYourself. The Bose ‘Urban Conductor’ opens to the public on the 10th October 16.00-21.00 / 11th October 11.00-18.00 / 12th October 11.00-18.00 and is situated at the Great Northern Warehouse, Manchester.