Venue Spotlight: an opportunity to shine a light on our wonderful new venue manager, a face that you will see around the Melodic Bar for the foreseeable future!
Over the past couple of months, we have had the pleasure of welcoming our new Venue Trainee Manager to MD HQ.
Ryan is a friendly face of Melodic Distraction, a well known figure in the Liverpool music scene and now, an asset to the team of Melodic Bar.
Introducing Ryan!
1. We’re loving your Wake Up shows co-hosted with Olive. What vibe do you bring each morning on air? What’s your go to wake up song or genre that gets up and moving?
I absolutely love doing morning shows. Honestly, it’s such a beautiful way to start your day especially when it’s with my best friend too! I feel like we proper vibe off each other, it’s always good energy that we want to send out to others. Normally we pick a genre then go and discover music individually, so it’s still a surprise for us both as well as the listeners. We’re always going off on a ramble with the chat too, plenty of stories for you to laugh along too. I rediscovered Trip Hop all over again the start of this year. It’s big time my jam in the morning at the moment, so if I was to pick a tune it would probably be of that style.
I’ll go for Groove Armada – My Friend, check it out it’s an absolute bop!
2. You’re a part of an amazing collective that has been a major part of Liverpool’s music scene, could you tell us a bit more about Humble Abode?
I feel incredible lucky to be a part of it. Originally what started as a series of house parties and has grown into becoming a widely known safe space for LGBTQ+ and allies to express themselves openly and freely. It’s my baby, I love it so much. Abbie and Sam have been a mainstay through it all and I can’t thank them enough. We’ve become a queer trinity as we’ve spread so much love and happiness between so many people. We’ve creating nightlife spaces through dance music, keeping at the core of everything, safety, accessibility, diversity and freedom of expression.
We’ve got a few plans for the back end of the year, so keep your eyes peeled, get yourselves down for a boogie!
3. Humble Abode is widely recognised within the events scene, what would be your favourite events hosted by Humble & why?
I’d say our last one Chippy Nonstop was my fave, it was ridiculous thinking back to it. I feel like it was a real moment where we showed everyone exactly what we we’re all about. We do everything in our own style and this all came together in a beautiful night of chaotic energy and the buzz was hard to describe it felt like everyone was throwing the maddest shapes and dancing in every way they felt they wanted to. There was so much glitter everywhere, so many new friendships were born that night, it was truly incredible. It’ll be a night I remember and smile about for the rest of my life.
4. Formerly known as Hector Lee, we’ve noticed a new alias that you’ve adopted – now known as DJ Sweetspot! What sparked the change and what’s the vision for the new path that DJ Sweetspot is taking?
Well… It’s all rather exciting! I came out as non-binary this past year, this caused a real shift in my perspective towards myself which caused my confidence to grow. I began to understand myself much deeper, I felt the importance of self-love and how I wanted to identify was a major part of that journey. Within this my alias Hector Lee no longer felt aligned with me, it felt more like a mask to use a name which is seen as predominately masculine. Side note… so many people had started calling me Hector when my name is Ryan… it was becoming a nightmare which was hard to explain!
Therefore, it had to go. I needed to find the in between, something that was more fluid, a middle ground but not tidied down to any specific gender. That’s when I thought of that as the sweet spot and DJ Sweetspot was born into existence. I’ve got my first ever release “Beyond Binaries” coming up on a compilation EP with PLUSH X Machine North, it’s looking like it’ll come out late August, early September. It’s an absolute fire record including tracks from Sound Of Drowning, All Trades, DJ Xtract and Lucy Grey, be sure to check it out!
5. Your style lights up any room you walk into from bright colours, patterns & combinations. What are your thoughts on style and clothing as a form of self-expression?
I’m all for it, I love how everyone has their own individual style, whether it’s what makes them feel comfortable, feel confident and feel sexy, it’s so important to encourage people to express themselves. I love when people are adventurous with their style especially when it comes to messing with the gender norms of society. It makes me feel so happy when I see people feeling themselves vibing in whatever they’re wearing.
Personally, I’m a mix and match kinda person, the brighter the better. I absolutely love colours and patterns. I don’t feel it’s even a conscious choice to wear them, it’s what I’m drawn to. Nothing really has to match, if it feels like it does even better, but I love comfort and as well as style, that’s the exact balance I’m always going for with how I style myself.
6. Giving your love for being outdoors, travelling into the countryside & hiking, how important is being in nature to you and balancing out club environments with downtime?
Growing up as a countryside kid the outdoors has always had a special place in my heart. I was quite isolated throughout my childhood literally the closest town was 6 miles away from where I lived! I feel being out in nature became a space for relaxation and contemplation without my really realising until I look back now that I’m older. It’s become a major part of what makes me feel aligned in the world.
I sometimes get overwhelmed by city life and taking a break away from it helps me to hit the reset button. Hiking is so grounding, while I’m walking I always try to immerse myself in the environment around me through identifying plants, trees and wildlife and this also sparked a real passion for herbalism and foraging. Nature truly is wonderful, the more you begin to appreciate it, the more you get draw into it and the more it gives back to you.
Get yourselves outside for a little walk especially now the sun is shining and summer is here trust me you’ll feel better for it afterwards.
|| DJ SWEETSPOT ||