I totally blame the secret dare that our Sounds on Sunday DJs had going on. I’m only guessing about that, but it seems like more than a coincidence. If my mate and I didn’t already have our own secret dare going on (completely unrelated by the way), I might not have even noticed.

Suspected DJ Secret Dare: to drop at least one Presets and Daft Punk track into every set.
Dare I got Sucked into: Tequila shot every time a Presets or Daft Punk track was dropped. Terribly unfortunate wouldn’t you say? How could I have let this happen? All too easily friends, all too easily!

Sounds on Sunday at the Greenwood Hotel is a Sydney institution. If you haven’t been, you would have heard peeps bangin’ on about the atmospheric old buildings, the outdoor ‘rooftop bar amongst the high-rises’ vibe, the many crevices and spaces, the fun and laid back crowd, the awesome music.… How it’s a totally sweet way to suck the last essence of magic out of your weekend, and so forth. Some of my own opinions were very different up until now; the last time I went several years ago it wasn;’t the most pleasant of Sunday afternoons. It was the very memorable Easter Weekend when Infusion played. It was utterly packed, it was a complete fashion parade, a girl caused a near riot by using the urinal and it rained a lot. And yes, the police came. Infusion were utterly hot though. As promoters unfortunately don’t have any control over the weather (or when the boys in blue decide to make an appearance), it was probably unfair for me to base my judgment upon that, and it should be noted that it was just before Fuzzy officially took the whole thing over last year. But the 9th Birthday Bash has totally turned me around. It’s all true. Everything those SOS aficionados say is totally true. This place is fun.

The 9th Birthday Celebration was billed as a ‘Musical Retrospective’, a tribute to big bundle of artists, genres and tracks that have been pleasuring the SOS crowd for almost a decade. Oh, and it was also billed as a just a great big party too. Which as it turns out, aint the half of it. We arrived just as the stars were starting to come out and the highrise lights switching on, at the tailend of one of the warmest sunshiny days Sydney has had for an age. Ben Morris and James Taylor were laying down some serious 4/4 beats to a joyful crowd in the courtyard, and I was loving the tunes already. We had a quick ‘tour of the facility’, sussed out the three well-stocked and well-staffed bars, laughed at the lovers getting fresh in the chillout booths already, bought a sausage at the BBQ (nice!) and had a ‘whoo yeah’ groove to Teez in the Chop Shop (that’s the old Chappel, if you’re wondering). Very happy with what we’d found, and rearing for what was suddenly looking like a great night, we were back to the courtyard just in time to catch Kato and Spruce Lee taking over and dropping Daft Punk’s Around the World. And off went our DJs, into a party-busting mixup of funky house, techy beats, vocal samples, groovy old songs, bit of hip hop, crankin tech, even some trance…. And pretty much everything in between. I heard Zombie Nation. There was Wiley’s Wearing My Rolex. Old school grabs from Everybody Dance Now, Short Dick Man, Cold as Ice. And of course they played Yippiyo-Ay from The Presets.

This is where I started my dark descent into party carnage. In the rush of excitement I accepted the dare. I mean we’ve already heard both the Presets and Daftpunk today. Amidst all this diverse and eclectic sampling, what are the odds of them coming up again? Seriously? Then Ember and Wax Motif took over the decks (DJ double-ups in the Courtyard all day, teamwork makes the dreamwork). And sure enough, out popped Da Funk from Daft Punk! Off we all went on a mad foray into funkland, stompin’ housy beats and dirty gangsta hip hop. It was shaping up as mad bad six-hours of “I totally remember that track, what the hell is it?” There was a Sweet Dreams/War What is it Good For megamix, a bit of Sweet Child of Mine, Music Sounds Better with You and uh oh… that’s totally a sneaky bit of Are You the One. Presets. Unmistakably. Lick sip suck!

A bit more crunchy-housey fun later, and Jaime Doom and Gus Da Hoodrat were taking over to the tones of Daft Punk’s Robot Rock. Now this just can’t be coincidence can it? One of them is even wearing the t-shirt. I’m not making this shit up. There’s photos! And it was two hours of party goodness from these guys. They might have been raiding someone’s CD bag for a bit, because we’d already heard some of these tracks earlier today. But they’re forgiven for their crimes, coz they busted out some great tunes and got seriously funky. ‘Dudes with afros and safari suits’ funky. ‘Cowbells and Bongos’ funky. And more “whoo yeahs” than should be legal. And wait, there was Around the World (lick sip suck) at roughly the same time Sleater Brockman and Dan de Caires were dropping the Presets’ When I Was Young in the Chop Shop. I know this because at that very same moment, I was between the two ‘rooms’ trying to fast-talk the barman into filling my shotglass with water instead of tequila. Back to the courtyard for a lush vocal mix of This Boy’s In Love. Back to the Chop Shop for Talk Like That. And the crowd are still up for it, and still rolling with every mix and mash. Oh god… no more Presets….noooooo!

Sounds on Sunday the 9th Birthday. An absolute blast and total treat for the ‘jumping up and down’ massive! Ahhhhh gotta love Daft Punk and The Presets too. Now try and tell me this wasn’t all done on purpose! Funniest night ever.