The 2006 Smirnoff Ice InTheMix Party Series began for Perth on
Saturday night  at Northbridge’s home of deep-house, Geisha Bar, with a blend of up and
coming and resident DJs specialising in house/breaks.

The excitement of the night ahead was evident early on as the stiff
small crowd easily lost their statue like tension and began to move around as the dance
floor was built up between 10 and 11pm by Gussigan, InTheMix’s first up and coming Dj
for the night. His easily accessible breaks/hip-hop tunes were a suitable start for the
night, luring his mingling and fast growing audience onto the dance floor. The second up
and comer from ITM, Greg Sev introduced more of a tech/house feeling into the filling
room, which operated as a carry-on from Gussigan’s introduction to the nights’ theme.
By the close of Greg’s set the club was packed with a queue flowing out the door to get
in. Navigation through the masses to the bar or toilets wasn’t always the easiest, but
everyone was up for it and loving it. Amongst it all two photographers were trying to
move around the central area as people huddled around them wanting their picture
taken.

After Greg Sev’s interesting mix in the tech/house genre, Geisha
resident Dj, James A, known for his surgical skill in deep house, continued beyond
midnight with a jacking set of funky house. Keeping up with the rhythm set by the two
ITM Dj’s brought an easy flow of dance and movement throughout the whole bar as more
patrons entered up the dark staircase. James A played through the morning to around
2am.

Paul Raphael, who frequently shows Geisha audiences the meaning of
deep-house began his shift after James A and had the full dedication of all of the house-
drunk patrons with his mix of new and old tracks. He introduced segments of techno/beat
into his mix which built up the audience for the final Dj, long time Geisha resident, Joby
Vaughn.

When Joby took over from Paul at 4am the crowd showed no signs of
fatigue after dancing to Paul’s rapid house/techno beats. To introduce some mainstream
air-play vocals into the patrons’ diet Joby played the Stanton’s mix of the Gorillaz, ‘Feel
Good Inc’, to produce his well-known funky tech-house tune. Joby ceased the dancing
dead on six with a smile on his face as a few of the audience yelled for more.
Unfortunately the 24-hour party people had no luck in keeping Joby mixing. The mass of
people, fatigued without the Geisha Bars’ music playing, filed out into the startling
daylight.

Geishas’ uncomplicated, freedom felt design was the best place to
relax and dance to the deep house genre and the bar staff were friendly and helpful in
trying to understand my sign language when ordering red bulls. The Smirnoff InTheMix
Party Series couldn’t have kicked off at a better venue for both the RSVP’d InTheMix’ers
and Geisha casuals.  

Even though the Geisha Bar is somewhat smaller than the 2004 and
2005 Smirnoff Series Perth hosts, Ambar and The Church, the limited capacity didn’t
seem bother the kinetic patrons from dancing on through dawn.