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Eddy Says
Eddy Says: Thursday is the new Friday
By Eddy Temple-Morris | Published on Monday 12 July 2010
I think we’ve all been aware, dear readers, that something has been missing from our lives for some time now.
Sure, we can listen to four hours of dance music that rocks on The Remix every Friday night, but where do we go to experience a bunch of the acts who make this music live, all under one roof? The last time there was such a thing was at last September’s Remix All-nighter at Matter. Broadcast live on Xfm, The Whip, Mixhell and Crystal Fighters played live, while Pendulum, Zombie Nation, Stereo:Type, Hervé and Streetlife DJs all put in awesome DJ sets. It was amazing. Sadly though, that was our final jaunt to Matter and, with the venue now out of action, work has been going on behind the scenes to bring that monster of a night back elsewhere.
At the same time Eddy has been looking to start something else, something more regular, and it’s that something else we bring you news of this week – our own weekly hang out where we can all get together, drink a few of beers and check out how those bands, producers, DJs and remixers we listen to on the radio every week do it live. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s over to Eddy Temple-Morris with a special announcement…
It was with a heavy heart that Remix walked away from Matter, I loved that place. It always had such a bad rep transport-wise, everybody ragged on about how far away it was, so much so that I was shocked the first time I went there for Remix Night, and it took me 20 minutes by car from Archway, where I lived at the time. It took me longer to get to flipping Shoreditch!
And that soundsystem was the best one I ever heard. Standing on that piston-driven dancefloor was like nothing on Earth, outside a soundman’s wet dream. The people who ran Matter were lovely, and the staff were nice, even the security guys were polite and helpful… I shall miss that place very much.
We’ve since been trying to find a home for the Remix All-nighter and I won’t lie, it’s been a proper ball-ache. We found a great venue in Shoreditch, recce’d it, the deal was done. It took months but everyone was happy, then – kapow! – the venue told us they couldn’t get the 6am licence they’d promised. Back to square one. We found another place, again in Shoreditch, a natural home for Remix after all those years at Cargo, but that was scuppered within a month when our venue contact was made redundant. Finally, we found the perfect place, but in the riverside hinterland that is Vauxhall. On the surface it seemed ideal, but again we were scuppered after much to-ing and fro-ing when the venue told us we couldn’t have live bands there.
The latest chapter in this saga unfolded last week. My agent called me and asked if I’d like a residency in Camden. That’s interesting, I thought, subversion has always been my thing, and the current generation of Camden indie-kids have long been much more open minded than their predecessors. Proud Galleries, he said, and I smiled at the thought. I’d played there several times, at either The Playground or Bangers & Mash, and had a great time at both, with Losers and DJing.
Then came the punchline:
“It’s every Thursday”
“What?! Weekly?!”
“Yep, they want you to do a weekly… Thursday is the new Friday”
Initially I was horrified by the idea. All the negative points hammered home: I have to get up and take my son Tone to school on Friday morning, plus the stress of running a weekly night is a killer. I remember my bosom buddy Danny MacNamara doing one in Manchester and coaxing out several new grey hairs as a result.
But then I thought about it properly, and I remembered what a pain in the gonads filling out Matter was on a Friday night. I could never persuade the 3000 people who came to the last Remix Night at SeOne to come to Matter,and we were always under such pressure to book big acts that I was forever having to turn down little acts I love, the Fenech-Solers and Killaflaws of this world.
The fact that Matter was such a big venue also made booking big acts a nightmare, even those I was pivotal in breaking to a wider audience, like 2ManyDJs. Their agent simply refused to let them play because she claimed it would interfere with their plans to play Brixton Academy. That happened again and again with pretty much every huge band I was friends with. The fact it was on a Friday also exacerbated this.
Thursdays at Proud Galleries would be much easier, I was told. Midweek gigs are much easier to book talent for, and I could go back to supporting up-and-coming bands again – The Remix has always been primarily about breaking new artists and bigging up unsung heroes. That combined with the thought of subverting that Camden crowd by slipping the proverbial E into their pints, well, that made me smile.
I also thought it’d be a great opportunity for those ‘secret’ shows, where bands like Alex Metric’s may find themselves playing a warm up gig before their big Friday show somewhere more high profile, or Vince Frankmusik could come and play a set to a really receptive crowd. I also love the idea of bringing some leftfield beats to a traditionally indie home-turf. I’ll be looking to get the likes of Jakwob, Skism and Nero to play there, and will be interested to see how the crowd react.
We’ll see pretty quickly, I think, what works and what doesn’t. It’s always been a very eclectic night. Tom Middleton, the greatest eclectic in dance music, told me it’s his favourite night to play because he knows he can get away with ANYTHING. I really hope we can continue this along the same lines.
So there you have it, it’s called ‘Club Remix’. It’s on Thursday nights at Proud Galleries starting in September. The Remix All-nighter is still on the shelf and can be brought out and dusted off when the need arises and we want to do something huge.
I’m also going to get these sets recorded, thanks to the nice people at Jägermeister, for live session tracks and live mixes to be played on the show.
So, if you’re in a little band that wants a gig get in touch, we’re even programming indie bands towards the front of the night. If you’re in a medium band, get in touch, because this is perfect for you. And if you’re one of my famous chums in a big band, then come have some fun with no pressure, on a Thursday night. It’s the new Friday, didn’t you know?
Eddy xx
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