In the recent history of British nightlife, Flesh stands out as one of the most important club nights. Hosted at The Hacienda in Manchester throughout the 1990s, the night was founded by Paul Cons and Lucy Scher and was an opportunity for the area’s queer communities to get together in their best outfits and dance the night away. This would build a culture of inclusion that we see in British nightlife today.

Any given night, you could expect makeshift fashion shows, remixes of classic Disco and Soul cuts and live performances by the likes of The Pet Shop Boys and Take That, such was the club night’s popularity. One of the most important voices in Flesh’s history is DJ Paulette, a former resident at the night and now a celebrated DJ who has played everywhere from the Ministry of Sound to Ibiza Rocks.

Active for over 30 years, DJ Paulette has taken her experiences with Flesh across the world, breaking down racial and gender barriers along the way. To celebrate the release of her new book Welcome To The Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ, Paulette reminisces on Flesh, and how it changed UK nightlife forever. 

Well, what did Flesh mean to me? What was it all about? It was about the last Wednesday of every month, where everyone got dolled up in all their finery. It could have been designer, Destroy, Vivienne Westwood, John Richmond, you name it. Boy, we wore all the labels, but we also made our own clothes because we didn’t have Primark. We didn’t have Zara. If you wanted anything spangly, sequined or a bit over the top, you made it yourself. Flesh was over the top. Glamorous, sweaty, fun, flirty, fantastic. And it was the last Wednesday of every month, a big enormous gay night for dykes, queers, and their friends, at FAC51 The Hacienda, the first gay night it had ever had.

Now what was the significance of Flesh in terms of Manchester clubbing? Well, I can tell you, it changed the game. Before Flesh, gay people had a few places to go that catered to us, like Manto’s on Canal Street, The Number 1 Club, Thompsons Arms, The Rembrandt and Equinox. But up until Flesh started, nobody had a late license in Manchester. It was the first club night at The Hacienda to get a late license. We finished at 4am. Once Flesh got a late license, it opened the floodgates for everybody else. So you can definitely say we lit the match. 

You have to remember as well, for the first nine years of The Hacienda’s history, it did not have a gay night. So, we were there first. Like true pioneers. Flesh was a gay night in a superclub in a city that had an openly homophobic chief of police. We were flying in the face of everybody’s dislike. Out and proud. We weren’t going to shy away and we were going to party and have a safe space for all of us. That is exactly what it did. I think it changed the game for gay nights and for clubbing in fact, because we really did mix the tribes. We attracted a lot of different people.

There were loads of PAs from Juliet Roberts, the Pet Shop Boys, we even had Take That. We had Adeva and we had all sorts of people. But the club relied on its residents. So it was me downstairs hosting and holding court in the Pussy Parlour, and Kath McDermott, Dave Kendrick, and of course, the mighty Tim Lennox on the decks on the main floor. It was amazing.

Flesh was the beginning of my career as a DJ. It left the door open for lots of different people and promoters to see me there, and book me to go to other places. Through Flesh, I got my residencies at The Glory Hole and The World At Home. It’s where I met the people who employed me to work at Heaven. Where I met the people who employed me to work at the Zap Club and the Ministry of Sound. So a lot came from it and I’m very, very grateful. Of course, I had to have the talent, and I have the tunes!

One of my biggest tunes that I always loved playing – and I still love playing now – is Donna Giles’ ‘And I’m Telling You, I’m Not Going.’ And it was a Stonebridge Poppers Full Delight mix. Absolute amazingness. I can still play it now and it’s still absolutely slaps. On a Jazz-Funk level, it has to be The Blackbirds’ “Rock Creek Park.”  Another amazing record and an absolute Flesh anthem. There were many, but those are just two.

There are many memories from Flesh that I hold dear and I played there for four and a half years, so you can imagine a lot happened. But I absolutely loved doing one of the fashion shows there and my costume falling to bits on the runway. That was a big moment.

But the biggest moment has to be my silver outfit: silver metal bra, silver thigh high boots, silver shorts. It was for the first Flesh birthday party in 1993 and all the magazines were there. The Face was there, i-D, DJ Magazine, and it’s from there that we got the iconic photo of me. All in silver, with my bangles all a bit twisted, and a stick on tattoo! Which I’m really embarrassed about! But it was a moment that still follows me even now. That picture is iconic. And it was taken by Daniel Newman at DJ Mag. Very big moment for me.

All in all, Flesh was life-changing. It was a safe space for the dykes, queers and their friends. It integrated gay culture into rave culture. Prior to Flesh and after the height of the AIDS crisis, straight people didn’t really go or associate with gay events. Flesh created an environment that was so safe and cool that straight people wanted to go. We made queer clubbing beautifully visible.

Words by DJ Paulette

DJ Paulette’s book Welcome To The Club: The Life and Lessons of a Black Woman DJ is out now via Manchester University Press.