It was a culmination of 30-plus year career that saw the production and DJ team of The Unabombers transcend their origins in cult night Electric Chair at Manchester’s long gone venue The Roadhouse, to become festival favourites and hosts of parties still spoken of in breathless terms. But with such massive growth, which later saw the pair moving into the hospitality industry, came the almost inevitable conclusion of burnout just as Covid brought the world to a standstill. Taking a sip of his mushroom soup, Luke Una is pondering how the parlous state of his health pre-Covid has led to clean living, an improved state of mind and an unforeseen career trajectory. “I had a few heart issues come up,” he says. “It was a case of being overweight and eating late and boozing and everything else, not looking after myself and stress and hard work.” Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to É Soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape. He seemingly revels in the licensing process, too, through which — with the help of the team at Mr Bongo — he was able to secure the rights to so many musical pearls, from shining light on the little-known Yargo B-side ‘Marimba’ to managing to represent the “pre-house, late 70s electronic sound of Japan” in the form of Bach Revolution’s ‘DE 108’. “We started the [licensing] process as soon as the last album was done. You don’t always get all the cherries, but that’s not a bad thing because you need to save some for the next moment.” When presented with news of Luke’s newfound sobriety, some of his friends expressed concern that the quality of his DJing might suffer as a result, but the absence of mind-alteration has in no way diminished his set-crafting inspiration. “In the beginning it was scary. You have no props. Nowhere to hide. But actually, I think I’m DJing better than I ever used to because I’m technically better. People say, ‘You don’t take as many risks when you’re sober’ but I dunno if that’s true.”

Luke Hannam has once again produced the album artwork for DJ Luke Una'smuch anticipated follow up album 'É Soul Cultura Volume 2’. Hannam also produced the artwork for the much acclaimed and award winning first volume last year. Luke Una is releasing a new compilation, titled Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura, via Mr Bongo this May. Luke’s Friday evening show on Worldwide FM captured imaginations and became a cult four-hour must-listen monthly journey for fans all over the world. Today, Luke remains, asever, at the forefront of a changing milieu, pairing the momentous legacy of Manchester’s 80s and 90s scene with the delivery of what today’s club communities need to get down. Luke Una Presents É Soul Cultura follows Mr Bongo’s release of The Brkn Record’s The Architecture of Oppression Part 1. Acid house, for me, probably more importantly than the music itself, blew the doors off in terms of my listening experience. Listening to majestic, weird records at 5am at someone’s house in Chorlton, you know. It could be a John Martyn record, it could be a pop record or a Brazilian record. I just suddenly started listening to music differently, and I’ve done that for a very long time.”

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Sheffield’s DJ Parrot – who is on the comp as Crooked Man – describes Una as “a mongrel of the Sheffield and Manchester scenes”, with Una’s sensibilities equally rooted in having his mind blown by hearing Cabaret Voltaire on speed and enjoying early house music on ecstasy. It was like a failed utopia, a hotbed of everything counterculture – a huge influence on British music at the time Luke Una on Manchester's Hulme Crescents estate

Merging new with old, abstract with burnished, Luke’s seasoned aptitude for audio alchemy permeates every corner of Vol 2. “It’s a bit like making a classic pasta sauce, you know. You don’t want too much garlic, too little onion, and so on.” Luke goes on to explain that he had no intention for the album to occupy the saccharine realms of the coffee table comp. “God forbid,” he says. “No disrespect to those albums, I just didn’t want that. I wanted a real collection of music, I wanted to reflect all the different corners of the pyramid, if you like.”Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair, a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene, and later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to E soul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront of Manchester’s LGBTQ cultural landscape. Beginning his career as an original Sheffield house young blood in the mid 1980s, Luke’s move to Manchester and partnership with Justin Crawford saw the birth of Electric Chair,a cornerstone cult night in the UK underground club scene. Then later Electric Elephant, a Croatian festival paying homage to their wild eclecticism from Balearic to Brazilian to ÉSoul, house, disco and techno. Luke’s much loved, long-running Homoelectric night and more recently Homobloc sell out festival for 10,000 souls has been at the forefront ofManchester’s LGBTQ+ cultural landscape.