A FORMER Bury man is taking the country's club scene by storm with his unique blend of disco, soul, garage and funk.

Marc Rowlands (26) has already appeared in trendy style magazine The Face in an article on the Manchester club collective of DJs known as "Electrics".

He recently played at the Glastonbury Festival for the second time and has also been asked to perform at clubs in London and Glasgow.

Marc, who now lives in Salford, left Bury to attend Bolton School before pursuing his passion for music.

He found a job in a second-hand record shop in Manchester and started to take an interest in hip hop, disco and house, which was what the city's most renowned DJs were buying at the time.

Marc has now been a DJ for more than five years, but his career has taken off spectacularly in the past 12 months thanks to a resident slot at the monthly "Homo-Electric" night held at Follies in Manchester. He and the other DJs who are part of the Electrics collective have been hailed as clubbing heroes after the hugely successful series of "Electric Soul" nights held in a mystery venue every month.

Marc, who also regularly works for the many temporary licence radio stations set-up in the North West, such as Radio Sonic and Radio Space, is at his happiest when he can see the crowds up on their feet.

"That's the biggest compliment, to see people happy and dancing.

"I never plan what I'll play and take at least four times as many records with me as I'll need and then react to the crowd on the night," he said.

Marc claims there is no greater charlatan than a DJ who knows exactly what they will play and when.

He said: "They may as well play a tape instead of putting records on.

"A DJ's job is reacting to the crowd and feeding off them. I just don't see the point in having a set list of songs which you're going to play."

Marc has even started to be regarded as something of a celebrity out and about in Manchester.

He explained: "I bought a round of drinks with my credit card and the barman, who was Australian, said I couldn't be Marc Rowlands because he was a famous DJ.

"I think he must have been thinking of another Marc Rowlands!''

Anyone who fancies boogying away to Marc's DJing can check him out at the forthcoming Waters Edge Festival in Castlefield, Manchester.

The event, held this Saturday and Sunday (Aug 12 and 13), will be the biggest free music festival ever staged in the city and includes appearances from 35 bands and 100 DJs.