Sounds on Sunday feat. Hoxton Whores @ The Greenwood, Sydney (17/02/08)
The Hoxton Whores have been co-producing records as a team now for five years, and are inspired by the aim of producing music that “immediately works the dance floor to give back to the crowd energy and inspiration that the crowd have given to them.” They have created many monster club anthems worldwide including Friday Saturday Love, Fusion, Sunrise, Sunshine of My Love and much, much more. They were represented this time around by Kevin Andrews and playing at Sounds on Sunday. He, along with his partner Gary Dedman, have been on the DJ circuit now for around 15 years, gracing most top London Clubs and throwing many different parties. Successfully hosting there own night Flaunt It, which has now been running once a month for the past 10 years, I was interested to see how the Greenwood would be coping with the Good Vibes hangover. The crowd who represent a particularly young demographic were about to be bombarded by a set that would contain a multitude of remixes from a long ago period, and it would be good to see whether they would be able to keep the pace considering Saturday’s shenanigans.
The weather did not bode well as the drizzle came down. As we rounded the corner to encounter the always-welcoming courtyard, it was clear that maybe the cost both monetarily and physically had taken its toll on attendance figures. Despite that, Shamus was banging out his smorgasbord of chunky electro and those that were there were well into it. Shamus is a local DJ whose talent I have always enjoyed. He works the crowd well and drops in the occasional favourite to keep them rocking. He slipped in a remix of Let’s All Chant and followed it up nicely with some other stomping tracks.
As the sun dipped behind the office towers of North Sydney, the Hoxton Whore took on the decks and began to take us on his journey. He started off quite subdued but as the courtyard began to fill, he took everyone to a new level with a remix of Daft Punk’s Around The World. As he did, the drizzle that had been around all day suddenly turned into an absolute downpour. It meant that the party faithful were huddled under the awnings, but it did not prevent the feel good vibe from continuing unabated. He slammed in Funkagenda’s What The F*** and drove us onwards with Underworld’s Born Slippy. He then dropped in two tracks that I consider to be absolute floorfillers of the highest quality. Patrick Bryze & Jim Tonique’s latest release Better World Part 1 with its infectious hook, was which followed by the Angello & Ingrossio remix of Hard-Fi’s Suburban Knights. Both are hands in the air material if ever there was, and I loved every mighty slab of those two tracks.
His set was permeated by a remix of Faithless’ Insomnia and also The D.O.N.S. Big Fun. All their own tracks made it on to the decks, with the likes of Sunrise making an appearance. The only disappointment for me was that he didn’t drop their remix of N-Joi’s Anthem. But beggars cant be choosers. Then as the rain abated, Kevin finished off his set. He did admit to pulling off some dodgy mixes in the middle but what the heck. He was jetlagged to the max and had just finished at playing one of the biggest festival events in Australia. So, much can be forgiven.
What I loved about this particular Whore, and it’s what sets him apart from most international DJs, is that after the set he still took the time to talk to his fans and didn’t disappear into some back room VIP area. Many a DJ could learn from his example. So, it was a wet old Sunday at an outdoor venue with only one whore to go round. Did we enjoy it? You bet we did.
