Giving Brisbane clubbing a right royal kick up the bollocks, Love & Roxy is 1 year old and kicking strong. ITM caught up with it’s esteemed leader for a chat about the past, the present, and the future of this revolution.

Love & Roxy began quietly on the Brisbane scene, with a regular slot once a month on Thursday nights upstairs at Ric’s. Its following soon grew, very quickly, and Ric’s took a huge punt by giving this very ambitious and unusual night a crack at Saturday’s. The rest as they say is history, with Love & Roxy now packing upstairs at Ric’s to the rafters with its regular monthly gig.

ITM: Love & Roxy is approaching its 1st Birthday in Brisbane, and is certainly something a little different to the club scene, can you tell us how it came about and give us a picture of its musical style.

Chris: Love & Roxy was triggered by a trip I took to London in August 2002. I visited Erol Alkan’s amazing Trash club, and also managed to check out a City Rockers “21st Century Body Rockers” party with FC Kahuna and 2 Many DJs. The energy and diversity of the music on offer was quite thrilling, as was the effort punters and organisers put in to make it seem like an event. Trash was the first place I’d heard the Rapture alongside acts like Le Tigre, Fischerspooner, Peaches, AC DC, the Pixies, Vitalic, Kylie Minougue, Liars, Legowelt, Nelly, Miss Kittin – it was a beautiful mess. Some sort of strange cross between a goth-glam indie disco and a proper electro/house/techno night. It reminded me of the approach taken by people like Richard Fearless and the Chemical Brothers in the early days of the Heavenly Social, which I also frequented in 96/97. While the Social was more about breaks, hip hop, and electro, the ‘anything-goes’ attitude was similar. There’s nothing that bores me more than a club night that features one genre of music from beginning to end.

Tired of the wall-to-wall breaks, hip hop, and house on offer in Brisbane, upon returning I decided to seek out some like-minded people and try and start something that would appeal to an audience willing to enjoy a variety of musical styles on the dancefloor. In no way a new idea, but something that seemed to be lacking at the time. There was a space to fill, and lots of great music to play, so Love & Roxy tried to fill it.


ITM: Obviously with quite a different and diverse music policy the DJ’s you have as residents would have to come from outside the usual DJ square, can you give us the run down on your crew and where they came from ?

Chris: D.Black is an old collaborator with more records than he knows what to do with. We used to DJ together in 97 at a club called “The Weinberg Method” at Channel 13, which was, for its time, Brisbane’s first breakbeat/big beat night. We were playing phat breaks before it really took off, and became the fairly uninspiring scene it is now. Mr Black is a gentleman and a scholar of music, a leftfield electronic composer, and is currently in my opinion, the best punk disco DJ in Brisbane. He has more post-punk records than a Rough Trade store, and knows his old-school electro inside and out. At the moment, he is playing the most interesting sets in Brisbane (yes, I am a fan and a friend).

Jacqueline D comes from an indie-rock DJ background, and has the kind of musical knowledge I envy every day. I knew she was interested in starting a club night before L&R began, so I thought I’d poach her talents early. Given that the new wave of garage rock and indie punk funk was so much fun, I thought L&R needed someone who could give it a genuine rock edge to counterbalance criticism it was simply a trendy ‘electroclash’ night. J D has since spread her net much wider, and was responsible for some of the crispest electro mixes at the last L&R. She’s moving to Melbourne after L’n’F’n’R to be with family, and she’ll be very much missed.

Jamie Whiteside is a true music enthusiast, extremely well versed in developments across electronic punk, electroclash and future rock. Plus he has a killer 80’s collection, and has earned my undying respect by playing NWA’s ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ recently at a Salt Lick. He probably understands the foundations and rhythms of the ‘scene’ (if there really is one) better than anyone else I know. He loves the music he plays, and it shows when he’s DJing. To me that transfer of energy is infectious, and personalises the clubbing experience (preventing L&R from being a bunch of lagered or pilled-up punters dancing to a paycheck DJ with a box full of filler). He’s starting his own monthly Saturday nighter soon at the Shamrock, which will be different from L&R. More indicative of his own style and interests, so it should be great.

As for myself (under the moniker of A.P.E.S.E.X.), I’m not a DJ really, but occasionally I buy records that I’d like to hear on a club system, and given that I organise the night, I figure people can damn well endure a few badly mixed tracks every now and again. These days I usually prefer to warm-up for the pros, as it gives me the opportunity to play some softer, less banging tunes (or alternatively, some completely undanceable art punk and leftfield oddities for the pleasure [?] of early-evening drinkers)

ITM: There seems to be a growing interest in DJ’s and club nights which mash genres, perhaps kicked off by the huge popularity of 2 Many DJ’s and guys like Jacques Le Cont. Do you feel that the industry is a little too fragmented by the multitude of genres these days and that within these genres and sub-genres people are tiring of DJ’s pumping out hour upon hour of similar music ?

Chris: Very much so. Diversity is the key at the moment. The mash-up style is the pinnacle of mix-tape DJing – putting tunes together that you love, not just because the beats lock perfectly. And with the multitude of genres and sub-genres, only the truly unimaginative or those suffering from tunnel vision wouldn’t find something to appreciate in styles outside their normal sphere. For example, no-one who loves music can deny that R’n’B is a site of innovation, and can be enjoyed alongside totally different styles if dropped at the right time. Plus there is so much cross-pollination now between genres, it’s getting easier and easier to move around styles in a set, so why wouldn’t you? Commitment to a particular genre is admirable, especially when it deserves wider appreciation (eg, drum’n’bass), but chin-stroking devotion looks a lot like fanaticism to me, which is never a good thing.

ITM: You have developed a couple of spin off nights from Love & Roxy, such as Salt Lick and LnFnR, can you tell us a little about those ?

Chris: Salt Lick was created as the ‘away’ version of Love & Roxy. Anytime we play outside Ric’s, be it at the Elephant and Wheelbarrow or Berlin Bar, it’s usually under the Salt Lick banner. It’s also intended to be a more populist mash-up version of L&R, with guests like Aniki and Dangerous Dan, who play ‘drunken party music’ generally. There’ll be more Salt Licks in Brisbane in the future, as we work on getting more interstate guests.

L’n’F’n’R was meant to be a novelty ‘rock-only’ night at Ric’s during the Valley Fiesta Rock Lock-Down they hosted. It was received so well though, we thought we’d do another after Livid (given the huge number of great rock bands playing, like Liars, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, BRMC, and White Stripes). The success of it was kind of surprising really, seeing people willing to shake booty to rock music. I haven’t seen anything like it since the early 90’s. I think D.Black scared a few people by dropping ‘Paranoid Android’ during his set, and it was a crack-up seeing people go off to “Eye Of the Tiger”. Jacqui D really comes into her own at L’n’F’n’R, and new kids on the block Dotchki should carry on the rock DJ tradition in style once JD vacates.

The post-Livid L’n’F’n’R is shaping up to be pretty amazing, with some incredible international guests planning to turn up and spin some tunes. We can’t give details, suffice to say I’m gonna need to be sedated when theyyy [sic] arrive…

ITM: It was interesting to see L & R score a tent at Splendour in the Grass this year – a rather large feather in your cap and something you don’t see very often at festivals. How did that come about and was it well received ?

Chris: The L&R hosting of the Splendid Cocktail Lounge came about due to a number of reasons. Partially an inside job (thanks JR), a little bit of dumb luck, and the willingness of organisers Village Sounds to take a punt on us. We figured the L&R mix would go down well with a festival crowd, and it also seemed like a good way to get Danny and Reuben of Ladytron some wider exposure on their DJ tour. Overall it was a massive success, with pretty much a full tent all day. Everyone played great sets, particularly Danny and Reuben where they received a much better response than at Robotika, and by the time Aniki came on I thought there would be a riot. There was a 25metre long line to enter the tent, and eventually we had to close it down due to overcrowding. I’d always hoped to run a night that would be shut down by ‘the man’. Definitely a highlight of this year.

ITM: The collision of music and fashion seems to be one of the great energies of L & R. Is this something deliberate or just something that evolved almost by accident ?

Chris: It’s more a result of the creative energies involved. Abby Bennett, our ‘visual stylist’, has been part of the planning and execution of L&R since day 1. Seeing as she’s a celebrated clothing designer in her own right, the use of fashion slide shoots (produced in collaboration with super-foxy artist and photographer Jo Laboo) has been instrumental in giving L&R an identity and aesthetic.

We’ve been criticised for the perceived fashion ‘bias’ of the club, but if people are too blinkered to see that it’s only one element of what we do, that’s their misconception. As a group we’re inspired by a lot of things, be it art, film, design, fashion, music, etc. We’ve had film screenings (our Neon Noir special with Wong Kar Wai movies and Liquid Sky – not to be confused with Jamie’s Sunday club of the same name), and a lot of planning and discussion goes into our artwork, produced by the obscenely talented Joel Booy. It’s not all mullet disco, distressed denim, and trucker’s caps y’know…but if people want to dress up for an L&R night out, it makes for a more colourful dancefloor than you’d find elsewhere.

ITM: The monthly Saturday nights at Ric’s have basically reached capacity for that venue. Are there any plans to move to a larger venue or are you happy with the vibe that’s there ?

Chris: We owe a lot to Ric’s as they took a real chance on us, and L&R is committed to the venue. It’s good to have a regular space that draws a consistently up-for-it crowd, even if it has been getting a little squishy in there recently. When we bring Salt Lick back to Brisbane we’ll look at different spaces for one-off shows, plus it’s easier for us to bring up guests if we can charge a small cover. Until then, Ric’s is home sweet home.


ITM: There have been some fabulous (and very interesting!) guests through the Love & Roxy doors this year, can you tell us a little bit about them and what they have bought to the night ?

Chris: Dangerous Dan
DD is the tsubi-designer genius who likes to moonlight playing ‘jiggy jiggy booty hip pop’ while nursing glitter girls under each arm. He is a righteous party-dj who lives the rock’n’roll lifestyle we all read about and scoff at, though secretly covet. Plus he’s piss funny, and has the best silly hats.

Ladytron DJ’s
Reuben and Danny Ladytron were the nicest internationals we’ve yet met. They were totally into the L&R vibe, and played perfect Love & Roxy style sets at both Splendour and Robotika (much to our amusement and many pill-freaks’ chagrin.). Abby remains buddies with both of them, and we hope to host them again when they do a whole band tour next year.

Tam Patton (Full Fathom Five and Nightstick)
With impeccable musical credentials, Tam selects the music we love to hear out that no-one else plays. For someone with such a serious demeanour, he always manages to bring a smile to my face when he gets in the booth. Proper electro, great leftfield tunes, and dancefloor oddities are the order of the day when he’s around. Always a pleasure.

Mark Briais & Chris Anderson
I think Mark and Chris enjoy the opportunity to play outside the square that they’re known for. Both of them have enormous record collections, and have an insider knowledge of dance music that we all envy. Mark in particular has played a few times for us, including at the L&R co-presented Miss Kittin show, and he’s one of the DJs I look forward to hearing the most. The sets are always pristine and funky as hell.

Aniki
I doubt much can be said about Aniki that he hasn’t already said himself, except that we at L&R are proud to contniue eroding his traditional chin-stroking techno fan base by giving him an outlet for his cheese-loving tendencies. Of course, when he’s not scaring the shit out of Jeff Mills fans with some top 40 tune mashed into Vitalic, he plays the best ‘bitch tech’ set in Brisbane. Phat dirty electro with a rock topping – always immaculately mixed.

Jase Frehley & Electr-Ho
Jase and the Ho are newcomers to the fold, but were almost solely responsible for the dancefloor mega-crush at the last L&R. I think for moonlighting prog house jocks, they understand the L&R approach better than almost anyone else, and if they keep playing the killer tunes, we’ll definitely see more of them.

smear
The electro-soul duo smear are in our opinion one of the most fun and exciting live acts we’ve ever hosted. I never get sick of seeing them play, and they fully deserve a much wider audience. Come on local record labels, get your act together and stop signing swamp rock supergroups – guitars ain’t everything you know.

There have been many other guests also that have added to the L & R phenomena including MC Tash, Metrognome, Mr Speaker, Carbon, Ghost Hype, 8 Bit Kate, Kid Kay Ferris, 7 & 7 is, Dotchki (formerly Triple Swirl), and Miss Kittin & The Hacker most recently.

ITM: Can you tell us about the 1st birthday celebrations ? Any surprises in store ?

Chris: The 1st birthday is going to be complete Roxy Muzik chaos from top to bottom. Electro fuzz pop trio Sekiden will headline downstairs, supported by Sydney synth-eccentric SPOD, and more acts TBA (with Dotchki spinning tunes in between). Upstairs will be the L&R irregulars, ably assisted by MC Hammered (Darren from Gerling), Akiko (J-pop and lounge mistress), and possibly some old guy from Smudge. There’s plenty more acts to be announced, and I really don’t know how we’re going to squeeze so much fun into Ric’s, even over both levels. There’ll be new visuals from Abby Bennett, Jo Laboo, and Joel Booy, with merchandise, giveaways, and badges (as always) for the L&R faithful. It’s a big thanks to everyone who’s supported us, and the only way we could do an event like this for free. We’ll be releasing more details as to what’s in store during the coming weeks, so keep an eye out.

Saturday the 18th of October sees the post Livid bash of L’n’F’n’R with some special guests popping in. Check out the What’s On listing for more details.

Saturday the 25th of October see’s the two floors 1st birthday celebrations with live acts and a special DJ set from Darren from Gerling amongst other guests and the LnR regulars. Check out the What’s On listing for more info.

Also be sure to check out the Love & Roxy website for all the latest happenings in their world.