Rock Da House

Rip It Up, Issue 230, 1 October 1996, Page 26

Rock Da House

Bursting into the scene a month or so back was Wobble, which people are still talking about. The promoters behind Wobble are Crow Bar DJs Howie and Chris W. Both passionate lovers of house music Chris is into, “house music, on a deep or hard edge”, while Howie plays, “similar to Chris, but a bit more up tempo”. Combine a love of the music and the desire to put on quality events and you get promoters like Chris and Howie who, more than most, know what’s really going on. To get a clearer understanding of Auckland’s house scene I spoke to both the Wobble lads, and later, Billy Bremner — resident at Redzone, another new entry into the danceclub market. Howie, Chris, what’s Wobble all about then? “A night in Squid, with two floors, quality DJs on both floors,” explains Howie. “We want the music and DJs to be the main attraction, that’s what our parties are about. Music before the money. We only want people that are right into it and right up for it.” What do you guys think of Auckland’s current dance scene? “Definitely on the up. Kiwis are really starting to embrace it,” says Chris. “I think the dance scene here is like a college campus, that’s why it hasn’t taken off as much as it should have. The wrong people have been running the parties, but that’s changing now that there’s more of a chance for the DJs to be involved. It’s the DJs who know each other and know what makes a party work.” So, Howie, do you think the DJs are they key to it all then? “Oh, yeah, totally. We treat our DJs the way they should be treated, you know, a bit of respect and appreciation. Deejaying is hard work, the mental concentration involved in mixing records together hour after hour is pretty intense.” What is it about house music that is so special? “It lifts your spirits, it’s a very good stress relief and a way of expressing yourself to other people in a way you normally wouldn’t do. It’s vibrant, you’re communicating on a feeling level.”

So, what’s coming up for the future? “We want to start bringing over some British and American DJs, so New Zealand DJs can learn from them. We’d prefer to book DJs we know are shit hot. Right now we’re talking to Chris Martin from Strawberry Sunday, and hopefully we’ll get him out here.” Great, anything else you’d like to add? “Manchester United are going to win the league and the European Cup!” Meanwhile, up in the Redzone at De Brett’s, things are starting to get rather interesting. They have a quality (bloody banging!) soundsystem, a very nice line in intelligent lighting, and suddenly a host of international DJs scheduled to visit. First up were UK house kings Chris & James on October 4. The Redzone has been open a few months now (since they knocked down that wall), and boasts the talents of resident DJs Billy Bremner and Rob Warner. Rumours Billy is an ex-hip-hop DJ turned house lover are unconfirmed, but those mad scratching skills do seem rather suspicious. What’s the score, Billy? “The idea with the Redzone is to have an international standard club, so it goes part and parcel to have international class DJs. We expect to have regular internationals through the club. Chris and James were just the beginning, we’re now chasing Josh Wink and Paul ‘Trouble’ Anderson.” How do you rate the state of this house music thing in the AK? “It’s on the up. I work down at Quaff, and the amount of house CDs we sell has multiplied big time. And the punters that are coming upstairs, faces that I saw a year ago and would look at me like I was a space cadet for playing this music, are realising that the music is all about a vibe and a feeling, it’s not about standing around singing your favourite songs. This summer will be great and next summer’s gonna be amazing. You’ve got the Box, Crow Bar and us all being sustained by music no one knows. That’s not bad going.” Not at all. Er, one last thing, who’s gonna win the English soccer league? “Leeds, mate, Leeds.”

ANDY PICKERING