Spinning at a wide range of events in and around the capital including the Satellite festival, the ongoing Skylounge outdoor series, UG Beats and the ever Eclectic Electric, Bec Paton and Calico are well versed at bringing the voodoo to the big speakers. Even someone who has only attended a handful of their gigs would also quickly cotton on to the fact that while they’re both seriously knowledgable DJs with extensive collections, they nimbly avoid the pitfalls of ‘genre’ sets, constructing sets built around mood, fun and feel, rather than the orthodoxy of the bpm.

They’ve also ventured over the border for Sydney gigs at the recently departed Frigid weekly night as well as support slots for NYC electro-rock act ARE Weapons and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, while Calico currently also holds down the host slot for a national FM radio electronic music show. So these are clearly two people who aren’t joshing around.

But just wait till you see what they’re about to unleash upon the unsuspecting city of roundabouts and bureaucrats…

ITM: The name ‘People Get Real’ has a slightly ‘confrontational’ vibe to it – what sorts of ideas and decisions went into its generation?

BP: The name ‘People Get Real’ was chosen because it really can’t be pinned down. It’s not meant to be in-your-face but rather abstracted, taking on meaning as defined by the person dealing with it. It changes for me, depending on my mood – sometimes it means that we’re making a party where people shed their skins and can celebrate each other in a raw sense. Sometimes I just see weird, dark, blobby objects moving together and vibrating with bass drops, (might be having issues with the words ‘people’ and ‘pupil’ here!)

C: We just wanted to get away from the one-word names most club nights have. At first we thought something like ‘bdoomp’, but I really like the way one person picks it up as ‘People, get real!’ while someone else might think ‘People get real?’


ITM: Did you pick the Church Bar (formerly Aree) as a venue for any particular reasons? Obviously the main room is now bigger with a better PA – how will this all tie in with the ‘extreme makeover’ that you’re promising on the night itself?

BP: This is the only space that I’m aware of in Canberra which can transform into an underground music den! Picture people shaking, noodling together around the perimeter and the air thick with sound and smoke. It’s a really approachable place for all species of people too – glam to grunge, and is not greedy with prices but isn’t crustified either!

C: I’ve always loved hanging out at Areebar – the messy Fuse nights when I first moved to Canberra were some of the best times I’ve had down here. And Ug Beats always rocks out. It’s got a really relaxed, low-key vibe, cheap drinks, but still has a space that can go crazy with the right DJs. The renovation of the club lifts the capacity and extends the licence, giving us more time to make The Church bump.


ITM: Is there a unifying aesthetic associated with the ‘People Get Real’ nights, or can people attending simply expect the unexpected? Are future nights also going to be on an electro tip?

C: We’re not really into expecting the unexpected – just expect some goodness ;)

There’ll be plenty of electro. But we’ll also play everything from jazzed-out breaks, latin and deep house through to drum’n’bass, dubby 2step and hip hop.

BP: The unifying element will definitely be that a great deal of care, dreaming and sweat will have gone into each party to create an experience that is both unique and stimulating. A strong emphasis is placed on making a space where the feel is so infectious you’ll be sucked into party mode. We also want to make sure that there’s more to the experience than a bunch of people laying down cool music – clubbing can be way more interactive and rich than that!

As for the music policy – even for this instalment, it won’t all be electro. All of those involved are bass junkies and so bottom heavy beats are to be expected, but genre wise there’s no rules, (thank god ‘coz it gets pretty boring!) We all search constantly for fresh tunes with some innovative twist that pricks our ears.


ITM: You have DJ Toupee jetting up from Melbourne for your opening night on the 12th, as well as her regular partner-in-crime DJ Glitch – I think it must be around 2 years since Toupee last brought her potent electro-brew to Canberra. What other special guests do you have planned in the future?

C: We’ve always been keen on what Toupee and Glitch do (as well as loving Toupee’s wicked shop in Melbourne – Slap Records). We haven’t hyped them on our flyers as being some huge DJs from interstate, but the reality is that Toupee has played loads of gigs around the country (and the world), toured on the Big Day Out and had several wicked records out (with Nicole Skeltys from Biftek).

They’re great DJs, but we reckon that our local jocks are just as good and we’ll be getting a range of wicked local DJs to do guest slots on an equal footing to any outsiders. Deejays like Low-ki, Shunji, The Grandson and Mexi are set to show up in the next few months as well as interstate selectors like Sub Bass Snarl and Luscious Lorna.

BP: We’re not confining ourselves to DJs only either – live performances are bound to show up at some point!


ITM: You’re also looking at working with a range of emerging artists and multimedia people in order to construct installations and unique environments -what sorts of people are you looking at working with?

C: We just want to make our nights more like events, rather than just turning up at the club with a couple of boxes of records and a handful of the same DJs as everyone else is booking.

It’ll probably take at least a month or two to get happening. But we’re keen to work a visual component into our nights. We’re kicking off with some video mixing on the opening night. Scotch Fingers and Andrew have been getting people excited around town for their work at parties like Dark and eXXentricity, but they took it up a notch at Stonefest and are looking super-tight. Rhys is mostly known for his funked-up party DJing, but he’s going to showcase some of the experiments he’s been doing using sound equipment (effects pedals, etc) to mess around and manipulate video footage.

Long term, we’re keen to work with different artists to rework the whole club – installations, set design, painting, visuals, whatever really.

BP: We want to involve people who are into sensory stimulation visually the way we are with music. We also are incorporating design elements of our own in the club to enhance the mood. I love going to a party where I get a dose of eye candy while my ears swell with music – less is bore!


ITM: How did the hook-up with local distributor Inertia Records come about? Is this an ongoing relationship?

C: The guys from Inertia are great! As someone who spends a lot of time in record shops, it’s so cool to see the releases they pick up for distribution – everything from post-rock to mash it up hip hop and electro. So we got in touch with them about People Get Real and they asked us to launch the new compilation double CD from DJ Hell’s great International Deejay Gigolos label.

I love the way that Gigolo doesn’t feel the need to follow their stereotyped electro/tech sound. The two CDs range from well-known producers like Fischerspooner and P. Diddy through to the hip hop/folk of Psychonauts, and twisted great sounds from Freaks, Trevor Jackson, Richard Bartz, Mu and Terranova. Get down to the club early to get a copy and hear some of the cooler tracks that have come out on the label recently (a fair few of which Bec and I have been playing over the past few months).


ITM: Both of you have considerable backgrounds both in organising and spinning at a wide range of parties – what do you particularly want to do differently with People Get Real?

C: We love playing at all the other gigs we get booked for (and really aren’t that into promoting!). But we’ve been dying for the chance to play an eclectic range of kickarse party music – music that doesn’t have to be straight up but still gets you shaking it on the dancefloor!

We want to get back to club music being surprising and wild. To me, funk is a strange twist that makes you wanna do strange moves – the coolest thing about house when it first kicked off was just how mad and freaky the sounds were. So we’ll be playing wild music for a wild party, not just some night for hanging around the bar!

BP: We really just want to create a party that we would hang out madly to go to. Clubbing culture in Canberra is becoming more and more commercial which is fine, but there’s a whole range of clubbing experience that is rarely found here which we both crave. Rather than being whiny little bitches, were getting off our arses to try and provide something a bit fresh and stompingly good.


ITM: In a single word, what can people expect from People Get Real?

C: Stuff… ‘sif we can be pinned down to one word.

BP: Anti-default / Grins.

ITM: And this is all monthly – with a free ‘Zine, plus a mix Cd from Bec to be given away on the night!! Sounds like you will both have your hands full in the near future….

C: We’re both busy all the time! But we’re completely excited about People Get Real. Polly’s been working on putting together the first issue of Pencil zine for the night. Bec’s been developing her specially patented ‘super-ouch’ mixing technique for the first People Get Real CD (if her ITM-FM mix is anything to go by this should be brilliant). We’ll have giveaways of DJ Hell’s great new compilation. And we’ll have some decadently technological visuals from Scotch Fingers, Andrew and Rhys.

BP: Hands are way full, and have now also worked out how to use my feet in new and interesting ways! It’s going to be a really cool to build this night and watch it grow. The ideas come in a heavy constant stream and neither of us are afraid of trying new stuff which means it will be exciting each time for different reasons.

We love to surprise people so there will always be spunky treats to give away. Those who score my CD will be surprised to find a whole other side to me, and I can’t wait to see if people kick and hurt or pat and kiss – either way, there should be some sort of reaction!

People Get Real happens at the Church (Ex-Aree) Bar in Canberra this Friday December 12 from 9pm – entry is $5 (on the door). DJ Toupee and Glitch are joining Calico and Bec Paton, with live visual experimentation from Scotch Fingers & Andrew, and Rhys who’ll be showcasing some of the recent experiments he’s been doing using sound equipment to mess with live visuals.