Finn is Manchester’s beloved party-starter

Finn McCorry knows his way around a good party. Known simply as ​“Finn” by his friends and his fans, over the last decade, the DJ/​producer/​label boss/​promoter/​radio host has become one of the most respected heads in underground UK club music.

He throws his regular club night, A Party Called, at SOUP and the White Hotel in Manchester, with regular pit stops at the Carpet Shop in Peckham (often with line-ups featuring Manchester legends Anz, Chunky and Tom Boogizm). That’s on the side of releasing ​“international freaky club music” via his 2 B REAL imprint and hosting a monthly UKG and house radio show, Sunday Club, on NTS. During the pandemic, he also launched Mixtape Club, a mix series that paid DJs for their time. We’ve all got 24 hours in a day, but no one makes them count like Finn.

He’s in a good mood today, too, having just passed his driving test. ​“I’ve just been driving between my house and my parents’ to get used to it,” he says. ​“It’s quite boring but sort of exciting at the same time. At 30, it was overdue, innit?”

Born in Derbyshire in the Peak District, Finn’s dad was a huge Bob Dylan fan while he was growing up, ​“which I didn’t want to listen to because I was a dickhead teenager. But in my year abroad [in the US] at university, I did a module called ​‘Bob Dylan’ and was taught by one of the world’s leading Bob Dylan scholars. I came home and apologised to my dad, and whenever I go home, we both obsess over him.”

Dylan fascination aside, Finn had some of his formative rave experiences in Sheffield. While at uni in Hull a few years later, Finn split his time between there and Manchester, where he eventually settled down in his early twenties.

​“I’ve been part of the club scene there ever since,” he continues. Things really kicked off for Finn – as many electronic music success stories often do – after a chat with Femi Adeyemi, the founder of NTS.

​“I went to see him when I was 19, 20, asking for advice about starting my own radio station,” Finn says. ​“He was like, you shouldn’t do this because you’re too young and it’s too stressful, you won’t enjoy it. And I said, well, I’m gonna do it anyway. To which he suggested I start NTS Manchester, which is something I’ve been doing ever since.” Producing people’s shows, noting down tracklists, introducing himself to all the radio DJs – that’s how Finn initially made his mark. Now, it feels good to look back on all the hard graft.

​“I’ve gotten better at making music I wanna listen to. I feel like I can express myself, like I’m starting to make stuff that resonates with me,” he says. ​“I feel at home with Sunday Club on NTS. I’ve matured into a place where I know what I’m into and I feel happy with it. I feel like I’m in my lane, you know?”

What’s your favourite thing about your job?

Free beers while you’re DJing. And throwing parties, which I genuinely really do enjoy. I think that’s the one thing I’m really buzzed on right now in dance music.

What’s your rider?

Beers.

How do you want people to talk to their mates about your parties?

I talked to someone recently about the White Hotel, and how they’d never stayed until the end of a night there, which is like 7:30am. It can feel like a real slog. But reaching that end moment after a night and not feeling like you were just hanging around until the end, but the lights came on and you didn’t expect them to – that’s quite a rare feeling. When the lights come on and you see a hundred people still in the club. The day after is going to be really hard for everyone, and there’s solidarity there. It’s nice that people spend that discomfort on you.

What’s a bad habit you wish you could kick?

I’m really bad for eating crisps. I eat so many crisps on the sofa. I’ve got a snacking impulse. I’m trying to move onto popcorn, because I think you can probably eat as much popcorn as you want, even though it’s still a lot of salt. I’ve tried moving on to fruit, but then I’ll eat like five satsumas during a film. That’s not healthy either, is it?

So you just need to chew on something, anything, basically?

That’s terrible isn’t it, hearing that about yourself? ​“I need a dog toy to chew on while I watch a film”.

Favourite crisp flavour?

Salt and vinegar. But with popcorn, right, I’ve been doing salt and pepper, which is apparently not a thing. But I think it makes sense. It’s quite elevated, even. Maybe that’ll be my next venture. I can be like: ​“There’s a new flavour of popcorn in town!”

What’s your phone background?

I have multiple screensavers at the moment, which you can do on an iPhone. I’ve got one which is my logo from Sunday Club, which is a bit naff, I know. The other one is my cat who died last year. People keep asking me about him like, ​“oh is that your cat?” and I have to say, ​“yeah, and he died last year”. I’m quite sick of that as a conversation starter, actually.

Do you have any interesting scars?

Yeah, I’ve got a scar on my head from when my mum gave birth to me and they used forceps. I didn’t realise they used them anymore but they do! They’re still on the table, still an option. Seems medieval to me. I’m half blind in my left eye as well from it. When I came out, I had a big fat black eye and a cauliflower ear from where they grabbed me. Apparently they showed me to my mum, who was just delirious. She went, ​“put him back, put him back!” Which I think is really funny. I think she might be making it up, but it’s very witty.

What’s the most memorable DM you’ve ever received?

Before a night I was playing at once, I kept getting DMs off these four lads, proper tops-off Ibiza boys. They were identical messages, kind of like a short poem, about how they wanted guest list for The White Hotel – something like, ​“White Hotel’s sold out tonight, we blame you, but you can make it up to us by sending guest list, lots of love!” They were ringing me as well. But the night wasn’t even sold out! They could’ve just bought a bloody ticket.

What can artists do to help save the world?

Probably nothing. I know that’s a depressing answer, but I’m not sure I believe artists can do anything to help save the world. In a podcast recently, George Osborne said: ​“My hero is Bob Dylan”. And I just thought, what is the point of any of this if George Osborne believes his hero is Bob Dylan? Artists have no agency over who their fans are; no one learns anything from them. Sorry guys, George Osborne really spoiled it for me. That was my last bit of hope.