House Solution took a break during October after a smaller than expected turnout to their third event, back in that pre-Olympic melee. House Solution 4 came in riding on the crest of a huge publicity drive preaching about a lineup featuring the accomplished Rob Tissera, Madison Avenue’s Andy Van, and house diva Barbara Tucker.
Although I am not averse to Tissera’s music, it was curiosity more than anything that drew me back to Wharf 8. It would be interesting to see how House Solution would bounce back.
First impressions were positive ones. Through the entrance, beyond the friendly staff manning the door, it was straight into the chillout area; a huge warehouse cavern swathed in black curtain. Minimally but effectively decorated with fairy lights, the comfy couches were already hosting a room of people warming up for the night.
The previous configurations of Wharf 8 had been changed for this House Solution – the arthouse cinema theatrette had combined with the chillout, the two both taking the space of what was the main dancefloor. The huge white room was now the main dancefloor, and the outside area now hosted a marquee featuring the local lineup.
Sound was impressive at some points in the warehouse but the redesign of the layout had not been thought out with sound engineering in mind. The speakers were good, but not populous or arranged such that the sound evenly filled the huge space – not an easy job at all ! The lighting was fairly satisfactory but employed a rather sad-looking single head green laser that was out of place in the big white room, and also featured a curious slideshow of Cathy Freeman on the walls of both the marquee and main room. Don’t ask. Where was I ? Ah, the music…
Andy Van would be the first headliner to take control of the main room, and did so credibly, a nice mix of funky house to get one’s behind twitching. He played lots of familiar tracks, as well as some less overplayed material that got the warehouse grooving. The sheds were nowhere near full to capacity, which, while unfortunate, gave lots of room to move.
Not that it was the kind of party with everyone dripping sweat from dancing so hard. I was reminded of a very apt forum post leading up to House Solution: “The crowd [is] very advertising agency/modelling agency/anything agency… and it has been alocohol [sic] and coke oriented rather than e and speed oriented.” It was an astute observation then by Mr Bob Dobilina (:P), and it held true. That’s not to say there was an off-putting aura of drug-use – there wasn’t. But for me it was a relaxing, indulgent evening; great company to share drinks with and great tunes in the background. A good portion of the conversation was about the party’s atmosphere, and what had brought the punters out.
The crowd was diverse, to say the least. From poseurs taking a night off from Double Bay nosheries and expensive chardonnay, to a group of b-boys straight out of a Rocksteady Crew film clip, to Alex Zabotto-Bentley and the Morissey lackeys from “Search For A Supermodel”, to the more regularly named and more serious music lover, to familiar faces from around the industry and out in clubland; House Solution had brought people from near and far.
Sadly though, it seemed House Solution hadn’t drawn enough people. The outside marquee shut before the close of Andy Van’s set, and the far room, although set up, never opened.
Still, it was an appreciative group that crowded the stage as Andy Van made way for Barbara Tucker. I had liked Van’s set quite a bit – I even got into the David Morales handbag house – but Barbara Tucker’s performance was a bit of a letdown for me. She was brash and loud. The sound system did her no favours, not least during her annoying, chatty interludes between songs. I’m a fan of a couple of Tucker’s songs, but I didn’t like the way she belted them out; especially when she stopped lip synching to talk up the crowd while her ‘singing’ continued unabated.
In fact, it was almost a relief to see Rob Tissera setting up on the decks behind Tucker’s support vocalists. With a lengthy ‘praise God’ signoff, Tucker handed over the microphone to an MC who loudly reported Rob Tissera was about to hit the decks (at least he didn’t use the term “wheels of steel” as he did when introducing Andy Van’s set !)
Tissera picked the night up again and got back into the funky stuff. Not having seen him play in the house vein before, I wondered how his discography of more progressive, trancey material would translate into his House Solution set. He played a great house set with a couple of little trance tidbits influencing some of the tracks.
Tissera was the best part of the night but his set was the worst. Confused ? that’s exactly how I was, when, inexplicably throughout Tissera’s set, the microphone would suddenly pop up in a House Solutioner’s hands. Those in front of the speakers would have to block their ears as Wharf 8 was treated to such inspired commentary as ‘yeah, yeah’, ‘let me see your hands, let me hear you scream’ as well as some random karaoke and extended monologues no-one could understand anyway. Everyone seemed to want a piece of the action, the guys from Mano Negra, Mike Kerry, even one of the bouncers gave it a burl.
I’m not too sure what the motivation for these interruptions were. They certainly weren’t timed to coincide with a break in the music. I’d very much like to know what Rob Tissera made of it all. One of the pack on the stage even had the audacity to shove the microphone under Tissera’s nose – he managed to squeeze out an embarrassed ‘how you doing Sydney ?’ before hastily pushing the mike away.
It was laughable, but it wasn’t all funny: it spoilt a fair set from Mr Tissera. At least it made for conversation. House Solution was, on the face of it, an average night. The turnout was average, the sound system was average, Barbara Tucker was average, that piddly green laser was average, the microphone antics of the promoters were average. But I actually had a great time at House Solution. I was in the company of friends old and new, and we chatted and boogied and laughed until Tissera finished his lengthy encore. He wouldn’t stop playing – although perhaps it’s significant that every time he finished, just as someone started hollering on the microphone, Tissera would cut them off with a new track :P
Walking out through the chillout – whose arthouse films and soundtracks had been getting progressively weirder as the night progressed – it struck me what potential Wharf 8 has. Sydney now has a venue that can surely fit in over 6000 people across two and a half warehouses. Then there’s a massive outdoor dock going all the way down to the water to play with. Why aren’t more promoters using Wharf 8 ?! Hopefully the new year will bring some massive parties down there.
But for this year we’ve had to content ourselves with House Solution. It too has shown much potential. In many respects this House Solution again failed to deliver, but for me it was a fun night of conversation. Thanks to the people that made my evening, and Ben, I hope you found your handbag ;).
View: photos of House Solution 4.
View video footage of the event thanks to our partners at MusicLive
