After a long stint on the sidelines due to university holidays and family commitments, I was ready to tackle the legacy of Timo Maas with a fresh set of legs and semi healthy liver. With a set already under his belt on the Gold Coast only five days earlier, I was expecting a somewhat ‘up tempo’ groove for the night.

Being greeted in the member’s line by who some may call “Tash’s apprentice”, I was ushered into the supreme club which is Family at the ripe time of 10:20pm. The plan of attack was to catch the end of Syke’s set in the main room and see what Baby Gee had in store with his warm up.

The distinct change in musical choice was apparent as groovy bass lines and repetitive beats flowed through the main room. It almost felt as though the world famous Fridays@Family sound had been completely thrown out the window and the unsuspecting punters were in disarray with one commenting to me “I’d kill for some trance right now”.

With the beats pumping in the mid 120s per a minute, Syke had the dance floor moving as one towards the end of his allotted timeslot. Mixing everything that is progressive and tech, he looked calm and collective in the booth without the trademark ‘Syke hip thrusts’. As he slowly upped the tempo around the 11:15pm mark, it became clear that the icon that is Baby Gee was no where to be seen. Continually increasing the tempo and building tracks up had Syke working the basement with what I thought to be an excellent set. Had the tempo dropped into the low 120s the dance floor would have been empty due to the expectations that come with a set on Friday.

Entering the box at around 11:45pm armed with a duo of managers or what I like to call ‘helper monkeys’ was the man everyone was their to see, Timo Maas. With tech induced sounds igniting the dance floor, a little whisper into Syke’s ear which later turned out to be something along the lines of, “I’ll be dropping the tempo a lot”, had Syke slowing down his set before handing over the decks.

As the clock struck 12:03am Timo dropped his intro about ‘the cycles of life’ and first tune with the tempo bumping at around 122bpm. With a packed dance floor the minimal tunes started to flow ever so smoothly as he teased the crowd by nudging the tempo up and down. The chunky bass lines came into play after half an hour, but he still had me thinking I was experiencing Sasha and Digweed rather than a Friday night at Family. Timo had a distinct way of working the crowd as Phoebe Kenny liked to put it, “A great use of sub lines and dramatic breaks to build the energy in the crowd”. After entering the members toilet after one of Timo’s ‘helper monkeys’ quickly left with a smirk on his face I was greeted with the toilet seat being duct taped down which left me a bit puzzled as to what these guys actually did for Timo.

Toilet drama aside it was time to witness the master weave his magic on the decks. Spinning the most vinyl I have seen in a long time made it that little bit more interesting and his mixing was absolutely supreme. Blending each bass line perfectly while constantly fiddling with the highs and mids made his set that little bit more enjoyable and apart from one record skipping, the technical aspect of his set was amazing to watch and listen to.

With a packed dance floor moving as one, the music briefly came to a halt at 2am which left the crowd gazing at the DJ booth and chanting for more. The next hour saw him dibble with tracks in the mid 120s including AME’s REJ as he prepared the punters for a smashing close. I was buzzing with anticipation for what was to come. The techy tunes made an appearance again as Timo picked the tempo up to what Syke was playing earlier in the night and the crowd certainly appreciated it. Catching the crowd off guard with an absolutely banging tune around 3:30am had the dance floor looking like a tin of sardines and the lyrics “To my beat!” were being sung as one. The tunes played between 3:15am and 3:45am were what the crowd had held out for and were certainly worth the wait, but he soon lost it after that with a far from spectacular final fifteen minutes.

Leaving the booth smack on 4am I was able to corner Timo in the bathroom and get a few questions in before he left the club. He described his set as “Timo’s sound” and wanted to introduce the Brisbane crowd to a powerful style of music they aren’t used to. By jumping between genres and generally playing a low tempo he recognised the crowd ‘gazing’ at him at stages, but persisted with his choice.

Closing the room was tyDi. He immediately smashed the tunes out in an effort to keep the crowd going after a much slower than expected set from Timo Maas. I called it a day after opening my young ears to a completely new style of music. Timo’s calmness in the booth showed why he is such a popular and well respected DJ as he had the patience to build a set and explore different genres without losing the crowds interest. With a 4 hour set to work with he had no trouble keeping the wide eyed punters waiting in anticipation before a smashing 45 minute period that quite literally tore the Family main room a new one. I couldn’t have had a better initiation into everything that is minimal, progressive and tech than that of what Timo Maas had to offer.