Busy Busy Busy!

Phew! What a weekend! Friday night I went to check out VHS or Beta at the Factory and they were great. They are probably one of the most danceable indie bands around. They really put on a show. They played a few extended versions of their tracks where they morph into long extended instrumental jams, and it was super. ‘Bring On The Comets’ is just as good live as it is on record, which cements it as my favourite track. After their gig the whole band came down to Purple Sneakers to hang out and Craig and Mark from the band spun some tunes for an hour. And surprisingly for a guest DJ band they didn’t suck. I later found out from Craig that they had been working as professional DJs for about 10 years, which would explain why they were two of the tidiest mixers I’ve seen for a long time. Coming on to close the night out til 5am after VHS or Beta was a pleasure. Saturday morning was a combination of being hung over and trying to make my way to Luna Park. Purple Sneakers DJs were playing at Come Together Festival there, so I made my way out. It’s kinda weird, I always have greater energy levels in the night than during the day. For some reason it doesn’t matter how tired, hung over, or pre-occupied I am at the time but as soon as I get to a gig at night or start to see the city skyline I get this sudden rush of ‘fuck yeah bitches, let’s do this!! So although I really wasn’t feeling up to any djing or partying before I got there, as soon as I walked into the Big Top I felt my whole body say ‘GAME ON!!!’ So needless to say, Saturday was a riot. With just about all my mates in the same building how could it not be. Jake (from Bluejuice) played with a cast on his leg (courtesy of me the week before), Alex and the Sparkadia guys kicked ass, Nick Findlay and DJ Fle represented Sneakers behind the decks. And generally anyone who was anyone in the Sydney band scene was there. A highlight of the day was seeing The Dirty Secrets and Little Red play on a large stage. Both these bands are gonna be big. The rest of the night turned into a bit of a haze. We went on the rides, got in trouble for taking my video camera out on the dodgems, and then again on the big slippery slide thing. I lost the slippery slide competition. We decided that it was wind resistance and not weight that makes you go faster. Then afterward we all went to the after-party at The Supper Club drank free beer (thanks Tony!) and passed out late again. Sunday I am kinda lucky that with versatility of my djing and the appeal of Purple Sneakers that we are just as easily booked to play a band festival like Come Together as we are on a dance festival like We Love Sounds. I’d never previously been to We Love Sounds festival in the past, so being invited to play there was exciting. And I must say that aside from the awesome line up of DJs and bands that were on the bill, it is also probably one of the best-run festivals that I have ever played at. Throughout the day I did not encounter any hiccups nor see anything that made me think that it was anything but a slick operation. And the acts playing were great. I got to see DJs that I’d been wanting to see for a long time. Some, like Stefan Bodzin, Mr Oizo, The Whip and Duke Dumont were every bit as good as I had imagined, and others, like Cassius and Dubfire, were not as good as I had expected. Watching Mr Oizo was a highlight, even though I’m not a huge fan of deep crunchy electro, this guy played one of the more entertaining sets that I’d seen. His mixing was clever and the great thing was that he was able to step out in front of the decks every now and then and have fun with the crowd. The only low point for me was that I was billed to play at the same time as Mixmaster Mike so that meant I missed him. Everybody said he was awesome. Although at the same time I can’t complain because my set with Purple Sneakers DJ buddy Walkie Talkie was a killer. We started with the room about a third full and ended up with a barn full of raving kids. They even got down to the rockier stuff we dropped into the mix. That night came to a close with djing at an after party at Qbar. Then sleep. Monday, yes, it was a long weekend. Which meant that Monday I could do work without any disturbances. I am currently finishing off a Dirty Secrets remix with and I also got to play around with stems from tracks by the Jezabels and Bluejuice. So I slept in and then spent the next 16 hours working on music production and eating delivered pizza. Can’t really complain – a pretty perfect day to end a pretty perfect weekend.