#15 | Deeper Into Outer Space | Marion Hawkes
The Belfast-born DJ and owner of the esteemed Sound Advice record shop tells all about the city’s nightlife and why it needs more spaces to survive and thrive…
Belfast-based selector, queer party promoter and owner of esteemed music retailer Sound Advice, Marion Hawkes is an essential cog in the city’s electronic music scene ecosystem - a “local legend and facilitator of culture” as she was introduced at her 2023 AVA Boiler Room set.
“If you buy records you might just love the music,” she says. “But then there are those who take it another step further, the collectors who are in it for the chase, the dig and the thrill of finding new records. I’m one of them…”
DJing since 2011, Sound Advice is one of a number of businesses living in the old spinning mill where Banana Block resides in the east of Belfast and acts as a hub for lovers of dance music that goes bump in the night. Beyond the shop, Marion plays all over the city and beyond while her queer night Ponyhawke has acted as “an inclusive space for the curious, outrageous and free spirits”.
All her endeavours have helped forge fertile spaces for leftfield dance music culture to grow and shine with her time in record shops and club nights always invested in forging in-person connections and experiences.
“I was always fascinated by the actual act of going to a shop and digging through the racks and finding music you didn’t know you wanted,” she says.
“It’s not just about purchasing, it’s about the people who come and congregate, they are great meeting places particularly for the next generation. We have groups of young kids coming down to Sound Advice, bouncing ideas off each other and starting new nights - and that’s kind of what this is all about.”
Rave outside the club
Marion’s initial forays into electronic music came as a teenager via Pete Tong and the Essential Mix, alongside magazines such as Muzik and Jockey Slut. Rather than going out, she absorbed every drop of the culture through rave ephemera.
“I wasn’t really a clubber, I started living vicariously through the music that I would listen to in my bedroom,” she says. “But I would collect everything around club culture - decks, magazines, I’d get the flyers, that was my outlet as I felt restricted by having anxiety attacks all the time. So, as you can imagine, going out to clubs wasn’t something I was capable of.”
Marion may not have been out but she invested her energies into amassing a huge record collection. She was offered the chance to DJ at a queer bar in Belfast that was looking for a female DJ and initially played records from DFA records and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, then progressed into disco edits and Chicago house music. Her perspectives of clubs stem more from DJing behind the decks than the dancefloor.
“That first residency was so basic, it was just with a controller, but was an amazing opportunity to learn on the job and build from there,” she says. “
“I started to make a bit of a name for myself on the local scene, it is small here in Belfast, especially if you’re a woman, people take notice, you’re the token for a while but I had a background in music, really knew my stuff and that proved to be important.”
“Having a residency in a bar is a really effective way of forming an understanding of how to work a room,” Marion continues. “My reputation has built up and I’ve managed to pick up some really solid gigs, although it’s a long process. It’s been about 12 years of gigging now, and it feels like things don’t happen until you’ve got about 10 years under your belt.”
Sound Advice
The world of music retail opened up to Marion via a part-time job in a second hand rock and pop outlet. She was balancing shifting records in the day alongside DJing when Covid hit and her night-time work evaporated.
“I started having thoughts about having something a bit more secure,” she says. “Not that selling records is ever going to make you rich. But it felt a bit more permanent than DJing, particularly when so many clubs had shut due to the pandemic.”
After the first few lockdown restrictions had started to ease, Marion’s partner Emma set up a viewing of the premises over east. Things took a further leap forward when a friend got in touch as she was in the process of setting up this new warehouse space, which turned out to be Banana Block.
“It all went very quickly from me having thoughts about this shop to making it a reality. I was like ‘ shit, I’ve got to set up a company’ - but sometimes you have to have a bit of blind faith that it’s going to work.”
Since opening, Marion has grown the space into one of the most respected indie retailers. Alongside the act of shifting records, there have been in-store events, record launches, book panels (look out for one for ‘Out of Space’ in May), video shoots and more.
“Afterwards, a lot of people said to me it was a really ballsy move but I hadn’t thought about it like that at the time, it felt natural,” she says. “I’m not in it to make a tonne of money, it serves its purpose of being a hub and outlet for local DJs and musicians, creatives and there was a necessary gap in the market there. It’s been exciting to see it go beyond retail - and replenish the counter culture that I think we were really missing here in Belfast.”
Banana Block
I’ve previously spoken with Conleth McGillan at Banana Block (he’s just recently left his role) about the importance of the building in breathing cultural life into the east of Belfast. For those willing to take the short trip out of the city centre, the energy and businesses it houses offer multiple rewards.
“The city centre for a while has been stagnating, it’s a UK-wide thing with shops closing,” Marion says. “Now it’s pound shops, vape shops, American candy shops, all this shit, it’s taken the soul out of any centre. East is quite a loyalist part of town but there are a lot of things happening out here as it’s cheaper than the middle of the city.”
Indeed, alongside Sound Advice, different makers and creators of all kinds call it home - The Green East, Bodega Bagels and Hearty Growers are all independents based there and offering this part of town something fresh and new.
“It felt like a lot of energy was bubbling here and there’s something ready to burst through,” she says.
“Some people struggle with stepping outside the city centre, even though Belfast is so small. But the more things that are here, hopefully it creates more buzz for people to come out this way and attracts like-minds.”
The local community has also responded positively to the space and this has deepened the foundations for greater creativity and more business endeavours to take root in the area.
“I was born and raised here, I wanted something to happen in my area. I wanted my culture to be catered for,” says Marion. “So starting something here was important for me and there’s now a community that is really bouncing off each other.”
Belfast clubs
Belfast has a rich history of vivid nightlife, hedonism and legendary clubs.
David Holmes is perhaps one of the most notable selectors from his Sugar Sweet acid house nights while Bicep are hometown heroes setting an ever-evolving bar for how DJs and producers can host parties and showcase music. On the ground at a grassroots level, club life sprang back in the wake of Covid but this energy has since plateaued. Marion says the nocturnal scene’s positives can be found in how united the city’s nightlife community is.
“In Belfast, lots of promoters reshare news online and do their bit to support each other,” says Marion. “We’re all in it together, the idea of competition is very healthy here, there’s no one who isn’t ready to big someone else up. The problem is a lack of space which is again a UK-wide thing, there were some great clubs here that didn’t reopen after the pandemic.”
The likes of the Menagerie and Libertine are among the closures while some that have remained open are unsure of the benefits of hosting a club night - instead, the old-fashioned view of electronic music of party goers causing mayhem and taking drugs comes into view. This fails to comprehend its importance, not only for communities but what it can do for a city’s cultural clout and economy.
“Finding venues is certainly challenging in this landscape,” says Marion. “You may not be able to get a 3am licence or you might need to hire a PA for the venue you’ve found. You do need to think outside the box in terms of where you might host a night. In terms of sound and good solid nights, we are well stacked - which is why it’s frustrating - we don’t have the spaces.”
The Ulster Sports Club is an old working men’s club with an amazing rig and lights/sound system (and some great merch too). Despite the regularity of parties there, it’s a vital part of nightlife in Belfast.
“If you get booked, it’s often here - which can be weird when it’s the fourth time in a month,” Marion explains. “But I do love it, without it the city would be really fucked as we just don’t have enough choice.”
As with other cities across the UK, Belfast’s club community has come together in the form of Free the Night initiative, a task force set up to address licensing laws and protect other elements of electronic music culture. And as with nightlife elsewhere, the aim for this is to champion the benefits.
“I was walking through the city centre the other weekend and it’s pure chaos with people in bars,” says Marion. “It’s not clubs that necessarily bring the negative side of the night. I feel like hospitality is being governed by people who don’t understand how it works.”
The night czar roles are in place around the UK - but Marion is slightly sceptical of their ability to effect genuine change and overhaul perceptions.
“It would be great for us to have someone here - but if they're just going to be someone else on the council who are powerless to do anything, then what is the point? It needs to be about genuine change, not empty gestures.”
Queer spaces
Ponyhawke is Marion’s night and one of the few queer clubs that operates in Belfast offering an alternative late night soundtrack. The challenges facing marginalised nights are amplified when working in the LGBTQIA+ space fighting for representation.
“The gay bars that are here are cheesy, drag, tacky - pretty much what you might imagine them to be,” says Marion. “So we wanted to create something different. As there no queer spaces here, we have to fit ourselves into other venues while still being mindful of protecting our community.”
Ponyhawke has been running for over eight years and, alongside welcoming DJs including Bonzai Bonner, has developed a tight-knit congregation, with as much life outside the dancefloor as on it.
“The thing about our night is the community that comes out of it, the families we have on the dancefloor, nurturing this space and letting it grow is so important,” says Marion
“All these things that come out of the club night are crucial - there’s nothing like the queer community for supporting other queer offshades. We have a social, a trans book library that has been put together by some of our punters. We are the minority, and always need to make things happen and create an outlet and avenue for ourselves. Brining people together like this is just as important as doing so through our nights.”
Big up to Marion for her time and find out more about her various endeavours here:
Sound Advice | Ponyhawke | Marion Hawkes | Banana Block
Plans are afoot for a launch do at Sound Advice for the new edition of my book, ‘Out of Space: How UK Cities Shaped Rave Culture’. Stay tuned for more updates.
You can order a copy of my book via the Velocity Press website.