Get to know Solardo, the tech-house duo who know how to throw a proper party

To go from playing your own tiny basement parties to hosting a headline UK club tour in the space of a year is the stuff DJs’ dreams are made of. To do it with a backstory of chips-are-down grit and determination is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters.

Make that a Manchester movie with a soundtrack of bass-heavy tech; one that smacks of the city’s party heritage from the Haçienda to The Warehouse Project via Sankeys. One wherein our two protagonists, Mark (MRK-1, veteran producer instrumental in building grime and dubstep’s foundations) and James (house connoisseur and longstanding Manchester scene head), put every penny into their Solardo project and end up releasing music on the likes of Hot Creations, Of Unsound Mind, ViVA, Snatch, Toolroom, Lost and MTA, are played by everyone from Jackmaster to Skream to Annie Mac to Jamie Jones, and host their own series of sold-out events – all within the space of a year.