Underground sounds

Warehouse party

19 AUGUST 2006

RENEWED INTEREST IN UNDERGROUND SOUNDS

UPFRONT, NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2006, COMMENTS

Ex-Homelands promoter Darren Hughes’s We Love… club brand celebrated Ibizan superclub Space’s 17th birthday on 13 August, with a record crowd of over 8,000 people through the doors over the venue’s 22 hour opening period.

This year We Love…, which has hosted Space’s legendary Sunday sessions since 1998, has taken a noticeable change in musical direction, inviting artists such as Riton, ATA, DJ Hell, Swayzak, Miss Kitten, Geddes, Alex Smoke and Serge Santiago to join residents Tiefshwarz, Paul Woolford, Nic Fanciulli, Dan Ghenacia, James Zabeila and Smokin Jo, as well as other We Love… favourites Jeff Mills, Danny Tenaglia, Layo and Bushwacka! and 2ManyDJs to play the club.

The move to mix more underground sounds into the formula has obviously paid off.

“Who would have thought three years ago that literally thousands of people would have been cheering on the likes of ATA, Abe Duque and Serge Santiago - names normally associated with he underground clubs of Berlin and Dalston - here in Ibiza in Space,” says Hughes.

“It’s a fantastic feeling to see your work paying off … and we are very happy to have guys on board who are pushing the envelope musically. Last week the turnout almost rivalled that at the opening and closing parties - with their more traditional crowd pleasing line ups.”

Back at home, promoters of groundbreaking club initiative The Warehouse Project have also noticed high levels of interest in the more underground events in their recently released schedule.

“The Three Chairs event [featuring Theo Parrish and Moodyman] is getting a phenomenal response and that’s great, because it’s one of the most underground shows we’re going to put on,” says the Project’s promoter Rich McGinnis.

Owner of Manchester clubbing institution Sankeys, David Vincent, will also be bearing this in mind in the bookings for his refurbished club when it reopens in September.

“We’re taking Sankeys back to its underground roots,” says David Vincent. “85% of the DJs we’ve got booked have never played Manchester before and that is always good for the scene. It helps music move forward and evolve.”

From: September 2006 Issue

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