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We’re 100, baby! To celebrate our 100th (!!) issue, we’re teaming up with @signaturebrew for a week of COVID-compliant celebrations, with @matthewmaltese, @blackhoneyuk and @spector playing some extra special (socially distanced, obv) live shows and @sportsteam hopping on the decks for our big closing party! Tix available tomorrow at 10am via @dicefm!

A post shared by DIY (@diymagazine) on Aug 24, 2020 at 6:01am PDT

DIY has been a staple publication within the Indie UK music scene for a while now. Like its name suggests, DIY was started in founding member Stephen Ackroyd’s University bedroom with limited resources. Since then it has become one of the most highly regarded UK music publications, boasting cover-features from the likes of Mike Skinner, Biffy Clyro and Wolf Alice.

Such an evolution can be owed to the hard work and passion of DIY’s contributors, as well as their ability to stay on the cutting edge by helping emerging artists gain recognition. The ‘Get to Know‘ section of their website promises to get readers ‘a little bit closer to the buzziest new acts‘. With features such as musical prodigy Alfie Templeman and the new Bristolian ‘heavy pop trio’ INDIGOS, it certainly succeeds in its aim.

The ‘100th Issue Party‘ will commence with a live performance from Matt Maltese on the 8th September. Maltese has been a recurring presence on the pages of DIY since his first EP was released back in 2016. He was recently interviewed by them on his  new EP Madhouse which came out on the 7th August. This interview saw Matt open up about, amongst other things, being dropped by Atlantic Records; and when the interviewer teasingly asks ‘Are you saying you’re cute Matt?’ it serves as a perfect example of how DIY mag often uses humour to make their features more personal and entertaining.

Matt posted on his instagram that he was looking forward to playing his ‘first gig in years celebrating @diymagazine 100th issue!’. On the following evening, 9th September, raucous indie-rock band Black Honey will take the stage. They too shared their enthusiasm on Instagram, stating ‘Woooahhh Can’t believe this is happening!’.

The week of live performances will surely be a joyous occasion, and it’s fair to say that DIY certainly deserves to celebrate such an impressive legacy!

The first eight copies were handed out for free to punters queing up outside the club, whilst the rest were sold when its readership reached 750. A book launch will held in Manchester on Saturday 2nd March featuring a question and answer session  with both of its editors, a performance from Classical Uproar and a DJ Set from Suddi Raval.  More information can be found here.

The zine had several fans who were key figures on the Manchester scene including New Order  guitarist Peter Hook, DJ Mike Pickering and Factory label boss Tony Wilson who described it as “the most important piece of journalism I’ve read in the last twenty years.”

During the time in which “Freaky Dancing” was produced the Hacienda was as infamous as it was famous. That particular twelve months saw some of the most glorious events in music and club culture happen but also some of the worst cases of drug abuse. This ultimately became its downfall, as the paranoia that many of its clientele faced as a result ended in things such as shootings. What made “Freaky Dancing” relevant was the fact that it chronicled this downfall as the editors saw it before their very eyes. The editors in question were Paul “Fish Kid” Gill and Ste Pickford who used to work on it during the week with input from Hacienda regulars before taking it to print.