Manuka Honey Interview: "Staking your whole life on a vision is the risk you take as an artist..."

The third and final event in the Relentless x Keep Hush 'Without Limits' series went down as another huge success. Following headline performances from rising Bristol star Grove and UK rave trailblazer Scratchclart, the closing night fell into the hands of Manuka Honey. 

Taking place May 9, the third 'Without Limits' party landed on the Tuesday after a hectic bank holiday weekend. You'd be forgiven for assuming that numbers would be lower, party-goers would be tired, and the high energy present during the first two events would take a dip - but this simply wasn't the case. Corsica Studios opened its doors to yet another bubbly and high-octane crowd and Manuka Honey and her friends did what they do best.

Exploring diasporic language formation, mysticism, and occult practices in her music, the US-born talent brought her party-starting prowess to South London to cap off the successful run of raves. Joining Manuka on the night, Ex.sses, Glor1a and Oscar NÑ helped spotlight Latin America and its diaspora, as well forming a full line-up spectrum of Queer representation. Following the night, we sat down with the selector, party-curator and astrologer to get her opinion on the night. 

How did the night go down?

"I was so happy with that night and so honoured to have local and international guests on the line up, I was really excited about curating that. Having Oscar NÑ there was a really important moment because he's the founder of Poppy Juice, the queer party the predates Pxssy Palace. He's such a community legend and happened to be visiting from New York so was great to have him over. On the other end of the spectrum we had Ex.sses who's a local DJ and literally lives next to Corsica and is just starting her journey as an artist. So having that full spectrum of queer representation was great. On the night itself I knew that that sound would really resonate. The turn out was great, anyone who came was really ready for any vibe. It was a really sexy, intense environment. 

"Oscar is also Latin American and we were repping that diaspora of music but then mixing it with drum n bass and techno and all sorts of permutations of everything. Glor1a hosting was also really perfect because she is also a queer underground legend. It was her party nine nights that championed Black representation in the uk and the underground. Her energy was great and it was such an honour - I had a moment where I was thinking wow my friends are so fucking talented. It's just nice seeing how amazing your community is."

Have you had much experience curating your own line ups before?

"Yeah definitely, I run a party her in London called Sucio - in Spanish that means dirty - and so I've been putting up line ups for that for over a year now and before that I've been consulting for different parties and trying to Internationally connect artists. I'm from the States but I've lived in London for almost 7 years now and I know so many amazing artists from the states and London is such a port of culture, everybody comes over at a certain point, so I'm always trying to put people on and suggest people for different line ups. I've had people from Boiler Room reaching out for my advice as to who they should book. When it comes to curation, that's such an important part of every night. That is the flow of energy, who's playing first who's playing last, who you're choosing - we have social responsibility as community leaders to not be lazy about who we're putting on and not be lazy with things. It's really frustrating seeing the same 25 DJs get booked for everything - not to say they're not talented - but giving everyone space to do their thing and not defaulting to who the current talent is is such an important part of keeping things moving in the underground."

Corsica Studios are pretty good at that as well.

"Oh totally and the way they do it is really seamless and not tokenistic at all. It's just like this person is really sick we're going to book them. And they also represent this community."

Can you explain a bit about your set on the night? The sound, the influence etc?

"I started really hardcore, slow vibes and I started on hardcore, slow vibes and i think the overarching theme was that it was very sexy. People turned up in the hottest outfits and were surrounding me the whole set. I was playing French dance hall, reggaeton edits and instrumentals, it had some really dark moments, people were doing their own dances from their own cultures. A lot of the people who come to Keep Hush nights are artists themselves, so afterwards I spoke to a lot of people about coming to their nights so it was great. It got progressively more unhinged as the night went on, by the time excess played everyone was so riled up. I think I licked the mixer at one point. Everyone was so hyped so consistently. Glor1a did at good job at making sure people felt comfortable being around the artists, it's so important to show an artist love while they're playing and I think when things are being recorded it can be harder to let loose but people were super loose all night which I was super grateful."

Did you have any favourite moments in particular which stood out?

"There was a moment when Oscar was giving it to us at the end and that transition over where we were hugging and like 'thanks babe'. It was this moment of appreciation because I've played poppy juice loads of times and now that I've been curating my own shit in London I can finally pay it back to the people who have been putting me on for a long time. And then there was a really nice moment in my set where I slapped the decks and there was someone in the back waving their country's flag and people were just throwing ass. I looked behind me and everyone was going nuts and that was great."

It sounds like the energy in the crowd was really good then?

"Yeah and I was surprised too! Not that I didn't think it would be a great night but it was a Tuesday and it was early on a Tuesday. And it was right off the back of such a crazy bank holiday weekend. People had been partying all weekend and then we were like 'Tuesday guys, come to Corsica early', and so I was really not staking too much on the turn out but it was busy from the start."

The Without Limits event was all about helping young people to push boundaries in their lives. How you make sure you're always pushing boundaries in your life and career?

"I feel like pushing boundaries is so normal to me, it's standard practice, because who I am and what I create is something that there's precedent for but no one else has done quite like me. Not to sound egotistical but there's not too many mixed race Latina DJ astrologers out there. So for me, pushing boundaries means not being afraid to face rejection and not being afraid to do something that nobody has done before. It's about carving out your own path and it takes a lot go guts to do that. There's people who I admire and look at as role models and icons in my life but I know that the space I want to occupy is not quite defined and that's something that I have to do myself. Staking your whole life on a vision is the risk you take as an artist but that's the only way I want to live."

What advice would you give to young people who want to push boundaries in their own lives?

"Take criticism, don't be afraid to admit to when you've done something wrong but also don't be afraid to upset people."

You mentioned about being an astrologer, where did you interest in this come from?

I come from a really spiritual family, my grandmother was a tarot reader, my mum is a Mexican Catholic which has a lot of spiritual practice within it. I grew up as a classic rebellious goth teenager and I remember hearing about astrology and really questioning it because I thought 'why does this system of beliefs think it can categorise me into one of twelve things that's really dumb'. And then I did loads of research about it because when I hate something I have to know everything about it. And then I was like wait this Is actually such a nuanced practice and the side you see in the media is very shallow. It made me realise instead of putting yourself in a box, astrology opens up so many doors because it's about thinking about yourself and the world as archetype. I've been obsessed with it, read every book, took online courses and it got to a point where I got asked to start writing for magazines. That transitioned into me founding the astrology section of Galdem magazine. Sadly they closed their doors last month but I'll be announcing my new astrology residency very soon.

Do you think your interests in spirituality bleed into your music and creative output?

"Yeah 100%. The first EP I released was very much around spiritual meditation and if you think about what a ritual is, it's a repetitive thing you do with intention. When you play a song over and over in a club with intention you're entrancing an audience, it's such a spiritual practice. The idea of humans gathering and dancing, listening to and creating music is something we can trace as long as humans have been around. As much as the west likes to divorce spirituality from things like going to night clubs, I just don't agree with that at all."