BOTS has become quite synonymous with Canberra clubbing over the last year, with United 7 Productions continually hosting this night with a traditional emphasis on up-and-coming & female DJ’s. This night was no different, with Chia (recently moved to Sydney) and Brad Revell (Brisbane) headlining the night. Chia’s harder energetic style and Brad’s hard and uplifting trance promised to give the hard crowd their fix in the main room, while DJ’s like Bec Paton vs Mikah Freeman in the back bar gave those house and breaks heads a haven of their own.

The night started out with Ex-it vs Peekz playing back to back in the main room to a small crowd. Ex-it’s progressive and melodic style of breaks combined with his smooth use of the mixer & effects is always a great listen. This combined with Peekz’s playing of breaks with a dash of trance was an excellent warm-up for the night, despite some technical difficulties at times playing havoc with the speakers. Checking out the back room found Holistic’s tasty chunky prog filling an empty room. Ideal for the start of an evening, but where were the punters? It’s disappointing that Canberra crowds repeatedly don’t start their nights early, repeatedly missing out on this fine local talent we’ve got on offer.

Ladychoon vs OLLiE took over in the main room, going from smooth breaks to furiously hard and banging in a matter of seconds, really changing the mood of the night. Seemed a tad abrasive, but there were obviously a few waiting in the crowd for the hard stuff, the dance floor in use by a few by this stage. A few classics in their set, leading to a nice if not abrupt beginning of proceedings. The back room was rocking with Absolute vs Bojangles belting out juicy phat breaks and funky beats. Absolute, in his first set out, played very well, tracks like Fatboy Slim’s “Love Island” turning a few heads and ears at times. Really nice follow up from Holistic, and the back bar had started to fill.

The back bar’s timeslot for Bec Paton vs Mikah Freeman arrived, and so did the extremely dark & dirty tribal with quirky wacky breaks. Always full of funk and always interesting, these two played a fantastic moving set, often changing styles and moods. I’m definitely going to be looking out for these guys playing back to back in the future. At one stage during this, I stumbled in to the main room to here hard trance classic “The Drill” by Dirt Devils… triggering memories of Gatecrasher events at Homebush and good old times, I ran out on to the dancefloor and had a good ol’ jump around, really enjoying Brad Revell’s set. It’s been a while since I’ve danced to hard dance music, and I gotta say it was damn good, reminiscing about the fun in the past. Next time you hear some hard stuff, and you think you’re over it, jump out there and give it a burl. You just might have some fun. Chia followed with even harder hardstyle, hopefully satisfying those the appetite. While running between rooms, I can’t remember a time when the dancefloor wasn’t full during these two’s sets, so I’m sure they were doing what they do right

As Bec & Mikah finished up in the back room, Tomic took over, whipping out a mammoth set of vintage techno/booty techno/ghetto tech/electro (& clash)... I could continue, but I don’t have space. For two hours (Hyperion not showing up due to sickness) he belted out such variety in a techno set that I’ve not heard in a long time. At times it was very minimal and hard, possibly scaring away those with it’s inaccessible style. For me (a massive techno fan), it was an excellent set with good mixing and clever tricks with the Ecler mixer in use. The crowd started to peter away at about 3:30 though, as Artemis Vs Berry started their happy hardcore set in the main room. Playing classic tunes and old school breakbeat style, these guys took command of the remaining crowd, whipping them into a hardcore frenzy, even tiring myself out for the rest of the night. Sharrif polished off proceeding in the back bar with some nice smooth breaks, although he seemed to have issues with equipment at times. Erin, after enjoying herself all night with the crowd, jumped on the decks in the main room with the Bee Gees, an instant crowd-pleaser. After her disco opener, she dropped into the hard dance we’ve come to know from her, always keeping the crowd happy.

I should also make mention to the sound in the back room, which thanks to a totally different PA, was excellent. Not too overpowering in either bass or treble, and clear sound in the back room! Good sound makes such a difference to a night, and the night was a whole lot better because of it.

Yet another fantastic night from the folks at United 7.. bring on the next.