I recently had the pleasure of chatting to Josh Boyd about his party, MODU:LAR, which has been warming the hearts of Merseyside clubbers since it was formed, eighteen months ago. As a Lancashire lad myself, it has been great to see quality line ups in the area and especially in Liverpool, which is a beautiful city in itself. With tINI, Fumiya Tanaka and even Rhadoo already making their journeys up to the North-West, I wanted to dig a little bit deeper into MODU:LAR and find out some more about their events so far...
Hey Josh, so when did you discover your passion for dance music? What gave you your inspiration?
Hey, I guess growing up in a city that’s all about dance music, our group of friends were treated to a wide range of events, environments, genres and artists in the early days of going out in Liverpool. The best party I’ve ever been to is mUmU in Tobacco Warehouse with Anja Schneidjer and Pier Bucci (Live). It was a totally new experience and I still carry it with me today, a true game changer. Not solely because of the music, but the combination of everything else that came along with it. You probably had to be there - sub zero temperatures and girls in floor length fur coats! Madness.
What was the concept behind MODU:LAR then, and how did it come to fruition?
MODU:LAR was a project that took a while to decide to run with. The name stems from the fact that we wanted to piece together all those things that we’ve enjoyed through the years and to package those parts up in our own way. MODU:LAR by name, modular by nature. I wanted to hear more of the sounds that I’d grown to love and I wanted to hear them in my home city. Myself and Scott Grant, who’d been resident at mUmU and had had the privilege of playing some great parties during his time there, (including RM3 in Fabric) decided it was the time to have a go ourselves. It was born from the love of music, as any good party should be.
Can you take us through the first couple of events then? I know you had some big names on the bill like Rhadoo, Julian Perez, Bella Sarris...
The first date was arranged for 1st March 2014 at the popular warehouse location, HAUS in Liverpool’s creative district, the Baltic Triangle. Ion Ludwig, an artist we’d admired for a long time, was the first ever booking thanks to Isis at Toi.Toi, and he was paired with Dan Andrei and our good friend Leroy Roberts to create a lineup that we knew would make for a totally unique experience in Liverpool. It was a perfect launch and we never looked back.
Following this, and, with some help from our now resident and old friend Thomas Marren, on 4th April we welcomed another booking designed to challenge the tastes of party people in the city, Rhadoo. He’d played in Liverpool before, but not for a good few years and for a new party this was a big deal. Musically it was the best thing we could have asked for.
From this point, and with some challenges to face through summer (including winning over the locals), we’d switched to an infamous, intimate venue called The Magnet, booking both Sam Russo and Bella Sarris on consecutive dates. It provided the opportunity to really cement that home crowd and the equally talented selectors did it justice for us.
September came around and to open the winter season with intent, we’d invited Julian Perez to play who was for us, the perfect booking at the time. He performed alongside a truly talented and rising artist in Jack Wickham at The Magnet again, and with it being my birthday weekend, I probably enjoyed it more than most and I’m sure close friends can back that one up!
I know you had worked hard to book tINI as well, how did that go down in the end?
The night was developing well at this point, and when we moved to another new location we welcomed tINI to the city, six weeks after her set at Amnesia’s Closing Party. A true coup for us, and one I can only thank her for taking. It was a long time in the making and I think our ethos of being purely about the music, as well as creating an environment that offers a platform for different artists to enter the wide electronic music sphere of the city, really did seal it for her.
CDV regular and all round great guy, Sander Baan also travelled to play at the party and has since become a good friend. We were musically blown away, and, at a sellout capacity of 500 people, the hard work had finally paid off. It was a tough one to deliver - hotel problems, lost baggage from connecting flights (the worst) and loads of lighting never arrived, but no one noticed I’m sure. I even had to cycle across town at one point with an hour to go before the party. But these things happen to the best of us!
And then it was your first birthday in March?
So we had a couple of months off (and a few Sunday parties inbetween with the moniker Sonntag) and then returned for our 1st birthday party at Camp and Furnace with our original guest, Ion Ludwig, one year on from his Liverpool debut! Full circle. He was joined by another idol on the scene and one of the best DJ’s we’ve had the pleasure of meeting, Fumiya Tanaka. To push the boat out, Andrew Watts also provided insane live visuals and made it a true occasion. It was a great way to celebrate the first year.
Your Easter party looked particularly good fun aswell...
Yeah Easter is a traditionally busy period in Liverpool, and we opted for an out of the box lineup, bringing two artists together, Evan Baggs and Molly, who have equal and varying qualities that made for an unbelievable evening of music. Despite huge events going on around the date, it all came together and it was a party with a true vibe, one of our top favourites in all honesty.
Which brings us nicely to Summer 2015, where you decided to start an open air series at Constellations right?
Yes, so to welcome a new musical outlook, we had to match by changing our surroundings. For the first party, we invited New York house legend Tony Rodriguez aka Brothers’ Vibe, and a Liverpool favourite from Desolat, Yaya. It was a huge day, followed by driving afterparty at a super cool location, 24 Kitchen Street.
Part two of the summer was in the same two venues, and this time it allowed us to welcome two fantastic artists in Martinez and Francesco Del Garda. They impressed as expected and played an amazing b2b to take us well into the morning at Kitchen Street, on a scarily accurate sound system... it was another unforgettable night with more stand out moments than you could remember. The series also welcomed a number of local acts, some that had played before and some that hadn’t: Brennan, Danny Fleming, Sam Power and Michael Dowding.
Wicked - so far, so good! What is in store for this winter then? I know you just had D'Julz play for you...
D'Julz and Archie Hamilton played on 26th September which was great. It was billed as our winter opening, but some unseasonal weather allowed us to open up the outdoor space and it made for a great night. It was good to see some new faces with students coming back and again, and we couldn't have asked for anything more from the artists. D'Julz actually saw Josh Wink, who's a long time friend of his at the airport in Paris, who was also on his way to play in Liverpool - so the other promoter gave him a lift into the city from the airport to save us a journey. I couldn't get in touch with him and by chance saw him in a record shop where Josh was playing a pre-party. He had a beer in his hand and was dancing away in the corner so a bit of a worry for us but he was unphased - a cool customer!
Coming up we have a number of dates set for the winter season, with a special party planned for 24 Kitchen Street welcoming an extended set in intimate surroundings from none other than Sonja Moonear on 5th December, one of the artists of the moment, making her Liverpool debut. There’s also New Year’s Day party to be announced that brings a few new faces to the decks, as well as a follow on date on 6th February with another lady of Perlon who’s one of my personal all time favourites. Really excited for those.
Following that? Our own artists are developing all the time; Scott Grant, Nerram and co. will be driving us forward as ever. We’re working on MODU:LAR’s 2nd birthday in March and only more and more good times to come.
Thanks Josh!
As part of our regular compeition series, MEOKO are giving away 2 tickets to MODU:LAR's next event with Sonja Moonear on 5th December, with dinner for two at Constellations and a £30 bar tab for the evening too.
For your chance to win, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with "MODULAR" as the subject title! Good luck!
For tickets to MODU:LAR w Sonja Moonear // click here
More MODU:LAR
More Sonja Moonear
More Scott Grant
More MEOKO?
