On Friday I headed down to the lavish Viper Room that’s found upstairs at the Burdekin, for a night of new talent. Iw as expecting a great vibe, some decent tunes and maybe even an early(ish) night. Chatting to promoter Ben Lucid earlier in the week, I’d become intrigued by the ethos of the night – a place where new DJ’s can perform on an industry-standard setup to an open-minded crowd without the added nerves of competing against their peers. This straightforward idea has already won over a number of party-goers, and there is even interest for a sister night in Melbourne. On Friday, despite being only in its second incarnation, Homeskooled turned out to be a night of gratifying surprises and notable accomplishment all round and even a couple of cherries were popped by the end of it all.
I rock up just before 9pm at as Bangers N Mash are closing their 45 minute set to an appreciative and growing crowd. I grab a beer and take a seat in the lounge area next to a huge speaker as the talented Two N One step up and deliver a cracking set with some warehouse acid interspersed with a little Gallic swagger, and bizarrely enough, a head scratching blast of Survivor’s Eye of the Tiger. As Tang took to the fore and laid down a wintery breakbeat and seductive vocal, a temperamental mixer had other ideas. A couple of techies scratched their heads and wiggled leads as the likeable DJ laughed with the crowd, taking the situation very well. Persisting with the rogue hardware through a well thought-out vinyl set, it was great to see the crowd stick around on the dance floor and keep the excellent atmosphere alive.
Oliosky stepped in with an engaging Serato set that was great to watch, and it was at this point that the shuffling feet decided to break free and I spent the rest of the night camped out on the dancefloor. The next couple of hours fly by in a broken electro and tech flurry with some great track selection and flawless mixing as DMC and Scooba Squad took the packed appreciative floor into Saturday morning. At one random point in the sweaty haze, I almost miss Deadmau5’s Arguru as I head back from the ATM, and am left musing once more as Snow Patrol come over the speakers in a pretty surreal crossover. McBean step up and deliver some clashing electro sounds to a heaving crowd before the inimitable Smacktown take to the stage and absolutely smash the Viper Room.
Smacktown are the group that the Bang Gang mums feared their sons would grow up to be (and probably still do). Filthy electro house and bouncy hip hop beats have the floor shaking and the crowd jumping, hands punching the air. To my astonishment, Smacktown’s MC gets up on stage without warning and rips out a blinding tirade as DJ N3ry flings his arms around in surprisingly coordinated ecstasy before grabbing a mic and busting out some rhymes of his own. Clearly this hard-working crew is destined for prominence, and a browse through their MySpace lets me take another listen to their cracking remix of Boys Noize as well as revealing a great deal of respect from an army of fans.
It is clear that the Homeskooled crew takes this night very seriously. Despite running several other successful nights in the city, everything was painstakingly worked over to get things right: the culling of demos, the perfect sound levels, the intensifying set list and creative use of ready-made visuals from flicks like Ultraviolet. There was not a hint of pretension or attitude, and the fantastic atmosphere hosted some huge grins into the wee hours. This night definitely has a new fan, although from the look of things, I don’t think they are going to struggle for numbers.
Homeskooled? You’d never guess.
louislogic says...
bangers n mash was fucking sick! i love that guy!!!
Aphrodite552 says...
I agree, it was an awesome night if not for the fact that I was so knackered to begin with.