Locked is a monthly techno night based in Manchester, England and was originally started in early 2003 by Jay Knight, Adam Rayner, Oliver Mackrill and Greg Marriott. The main inspiration behind starting the night up was to push all forms of techno and its sub-genres, promote new artists and Djs from around the world and give the resident Djs a solid platform to push their own sound and style.

Locked was originally held at the dark and intimate Attic venue throughout 2003 but after bringing artists as diverse and original as Pacou to play in Manchester, Locked soon outgrew the space and moved to the bigger Park venue at the start of 2004. It was around this time that Jay and Adam parted company with Oliver and Greg and both parties went their separate ways.

Throughout 2004, Locked played host many high-profile, international Djs including Surgeon, Angela Flame and Dj Amok, helping to push Manchester’s underground techno scene into the UK spotlight. As the reputation of the night gathered momentum and numbers attending the monthly party grew every month, the decision was taken by Jay and Adam to move once again, this time teaming up with Manchester electro crew, Computer Controlled, to take over both floors of the bigger Phoenix venue, Locked’s permanent home from 2005.

Those who have visited Locked previously will know that there is a unique vibe and energy that not many other clubs can boast about due to the high quality of the techno being played out and the artists booked to play at the night. As both promoters share ownership of record label Locked Records and produce and release techno themselves the club has strong links with international techno artists and labels within the scene and are therefore able to book more ‘hard to come by’ Djs, often resulting in UK exclusives that many people travel to Manchester to see.

2006 saw Locked move to Joshua Brooks bringing dj’s like Ben Sims, James Ruskin, Paul Damage and Steve Rachmad to the turntables. 2006 also saw us join forces with Leeds 3 deck master Sam Horam, not only bringing a fresh new sound to Locked but enabling us to have a stronger web presence. Mixes were now made available online helping to push our sound further around the World.

Now in 2007 we are embarking on a new project to coincide with the digital era. Locked Records Mp3 is well underway with the aim of Free Mp3 downloads in the form of an Ep every month or so. The aim is to combine productions from new and local artists with those of some of our more established guests. The first release saw Pacou and Dominik Muller meet the sounds of Only and Sinistra, 2 very talented friends of ours. Watch this space for more releases….