When we were pulling together our list of festive rave action, one night in particular caught our eye. mUmU (try typing that without swearing profusely at autocorrect) are a night who have built up a solid reputation for delivering underground house to some of the most interesting locations in Liverpool – Williamson Tunnels and Tobacco Factory were two of our favourites – and this Christmas they’re bringing the best present of all. Techno.

Not just any old Techno though, but the variety you’ll find in the notorious Berghain in Berlin, with their resident DJs Marcel Fengler and Ryan Elliott heading the bill. In keeping with tradition they’ve picked a top gaff to hold it in, the Blackie is a much loved Liverpool landmark and it’ll be really interesting to see how the genre and the venue work together.

So with that all in mind, we thought we’d catch up with one of the guys behind mUmU, Trevor
O’Loughlin, and have a bit of a gab about the year that’s gone, the year ahead and what we
can expect from their Boxing Night shindig…

A really obvious question to kick off but why mUmU? Where did that name come from?

I get asked this a lot as you can imagine but we prefer to keep the meaning of mUmU like the
venue situation – TBA!

Can you tell us a bit about the people behind the night and what inspires you?

mUmU is made up of a collective group of friends from when we lived in Ibiza together. Lee
Rands is our resident DJ in Liverpool / London & I look after the bookings/PR bits. Inspiration I guess comes from wanting to be as creative as possible with what we do. Parties in recent years like Below in Birmingham and Secretsundaze In London have always been creative in similar ways.

You’ve had a belter 2011, who has been your favourite guest?

That’s a tough one! We’ve had a great year hosting parties; room 3 at Fabric being one of the
highlights along with RadioSlave at Static Gallery in Liverpool. Guestwise, DJ W!ld was special on the terrace in London for my birthday back in July but I think Tale of Us impressed me the most in September and they will be even bigger in 2012 as that ‘Hot Creations’ sound is unstoppable right now.

And looking forward, what have you got planned for next year?

Oh lots! It’s our 4th birthday on 11th February, we have Tobi Neumann (Cocoon), Robert
Dietz (Cadenza) & the brilliant Laura Jones (Visionquest) headlining along with friends &
residents in an old favourite venue of ours…location is TBA as always! We’re back in Fabric London hosting room 3 in March and then a Sunday daytime party back in Liverpool in April so it’s a pretty busy time.

Lots of club nights have a permanent home, a venue that becomes linked with them. You’ve used a number of different place around town, from Silo on Mount Pleasant to the Tobacco Factory, Williamson Tunnels and now the Blackie. Is the reluctance to stick to one venue a considered one and what do you look for when you’re searching for your next digs?

Absolutely 100%, it’s as important to the party’s ethos as the DJs & the music. It keeps things fresh, things different, exciting and we love to see people guessing where we’re going next. We love the buzz of finding a new space, there’s nothing better than a blank canvas. Raw, stripped back, industrial, iconic a challenge, are all words that come to mind when we’re scouting about. I never thought old garages & warehouses would do it for me!

Berghain (right), probably the most infamous club in the world – even getting past the bouncers is an achievement. It’s renowned for its techno, how excited are you to have brought the residents to Liverpool? Did it take much planning/coercion?

Berghain is arguably the most important, influential club in the world at the moment so we’re really excited to bring the guys to Liverpool. There’s always so many parties to choose from in Liverpool on Boxing Night so we always planned to offer an experience as different as possible. So when I found the Blackie (an uncanny likeness to Berghain itself from the side) the time was right, the venue was definitely right, so we thought - let’s do it.

How would you describe a visit to the Berghain in Berlin?

It’s an experience! Amazing music that gets better the deeper into Sunday you get.

Your line ups are noticeably more underground than most other nights in the city, in
fact it’s what your reputation is built on. After 4 years is it hard to always keep it fresh
and new?

It can be sometimes. 4 years in we’re now balancing existing relationships with labels and DJs while always trying to break new talent. We’re a monthly party so that can be hard but if it was easy, everyone would be doing it!

If you had to choose to listen to only one for the rest of your days - Techno or House?

Oooh neither I think! Away from mUmU I love bands and lots of old / alternative music…BUT if pushed I’d say House, Techno for the rest of my days might give me a bit of a headache!

What have you got planned for New Year’s Eve?

Nothing! I’m planning on keeping it chilled out and then head down to London on New Years Day to check out my friend Enzo’s party Fuse.

And finally, probably most importantly, what do you want for Christmas?

A tree! To my shame we’ve been so busy we still haven’t put one up.

mUmU/Berghain
The Black-E, Great George St, Liverpool
Monday 26th December
Info/Tickets – www.youmemumu.com