After sitting round the pub drinking beer and eating wedges with sweetchilli sauce, it was not long before masterminds Daniel C and Crispin came up with Sydney’s most successful progressive night, Sweetchilli. Together the duo put in the hard yards using their experience as promoters and DJs – combined with their friendly party goer natures- to form their new club night where “at 6am the next morning you walk out of the club with a whole bunch of new friends”.
When the opportunity came up from the club, it was their shared vision to create something new and exciting that led to the development of a new night. The new Sweetchilli followed on from the popular monthly night Playtime, which in no doubt has contributed to their success of running great parties. The boys have been known to put on some memorable parties such as Sweetchilli with Dave Seaman at Space in 2003, Sweetchilli at Gas with James Holden and Steve Gerard, as well as a couple of huge parties at the Cauldron in the early days. Both Daniel Crocetti and Crispin have maintained success as a duo as well as independents. It is perhaps their solo work that has given them the confidence and knowledge to achieve what they have today.
With his name from thespian times, Crispin surely knows what’s going on today in Sydney’s world of dance music. His initial work as a promoter began running Saturday night’s Insatiable at Sugareef up until 2000. Crispin admits it was not all fun and games, “It was a full-time job for a while and I think running a weekly event you need to put in a full time effort to ensure its success… I got jaded, partied too hard and wasn’t really into the music being played there. I was essentially catering for the crowd rather than trying to create something”. Crispin has since created something that has come from his own vision and passions and it has been the Sweetchilli opportunity that has become what Crispin describes as “A seriously enjoyable party with great people… Progressive is not a huge genre in Sydney but those that are into it are really into it. It’s because of this passion that when new people come to Sweetchilli they are really surprised. The guys and girls whoop it up and the atmosphere is massively fun”.
Daneil Crocetti, the other half of Sweetchilli landed himself the new promo gig quite randomly after creating a website for Crispin and Caspar (now in the UK). After partying alongside Crispin and becoming more involved, the decision to create Sweetchilli was unanimous, thus the ever popular prog night was born. Crocetti offers solid advice to those wanting to start their own successful night based on his own new experiences as a promoter. “My advice would be…start off small, make sure you get you friends involved and try and do something different. It’s no picnic; it takes a lot of hard yards and a lot of money! And don’t spend too much on advertising to start with”.
I was curious to find out how hard it was to work with a style of music such as progressive…a sound, which, in my opinion seemed to change much and you listen to as you get, well, ....Older. Daniel Crocetti explains to me, “Progressive sounds are definitely growing and changing, it’s incorporating elements from a lot of other genres such as breaks, tech, trance, techno…. It’s changed from the sound of a few years back when it was disappearing up its own arse, with no melodies, no tunes etc. There are so many talented producers out there pushing the boundaries and expanding the sounds”. Crispin offers his own opinion as to why progressive remains popular today. “I don’t have the answer as to why you appreciate progressive more as you get older…. Maybe because it’s not played at a million miles an hour but it’s still dance floor friendly. When you’re a little older you don’t want to dance like a maniac desperately trying to keep up with the music. At Sweetchilli the age spectrum is broad from 18-35 or so and it’s great to see people of all ages enjoying the same thing.. Good Music”. Having said that, both the lads know what stirs the crowd having both (independently) performed behind the decks. Aside from the truckload of parties they are known for, the boys have played their own individual sounds and have scored some massive gigs.
Crispin’s career as a DJ evolved through the common network of friend’s parties, and after his first ever ‘party’ mix DJing has only continued get bigger for Crispin. Internationally Crispin has played in the UK at Club 414 alongside John Askew and appeared on Ministry of Sound radio. Amazingly, he has also taken himself to places such as Papua New Guinea, most recently having been drawn back to play with Mark Dynamix.
It is somewhere near the Sydney Harbour Bridge however that we can hear Crispin playing interesting bassline driven progressive tunes that ranges from dark and soulful to edgy and rough-tech while always ensuring the music is dance floor friendly. The countless hours of mixing and practicing has in no doubt enabled him to land gigs at events such as Renaissance, Two Tribes, Sounds on Sunday, Lucid and Kink. He’s performed and impressed alongside internationals such as Hybrid, Lucien Fort, Sander Kleinenberg, Dave Seaman, Chab, Infusion and Green Velvet to name but a few. Whether it be at home, in a club or at an event you won’t fail to find Crispin in his true element behind the decks. The future looks very promising, for the next year or so will allow Crispin to concentrate on the dynamics of missing and actively find more gigs. His goals include grabbing a few interstate gigs as well expanding overseas to the likes of New York… having said that, a little birdy tells me that his roster is currently full, evidently a good measure of his talent and success.
Daniel Crocetti is known for the mixture of sounds he is able to continually produce, versatile to the places he performs. “I try to incorporate a wide range of styles depending on where I play, driving prog, tech, broken beats, trancey element and trippy atmospheric builders…..I (also) like playing deeper house and jazzy stuff”. His approach to music has given him the opportunity to play alongside some true dancefloor masters with Sander Kleinenberg, James Holden, Dave Seaman, Infusion and Kasey Taylor being pegged as some of his proudest moments. His ability to mix it up has enabled Crocetti to have fun with his music, reflected through a continually carved up dancefloor wherever his records take him. The future looks bright for Crocetti, with plans to continue to both DJ and promote more parties with Sweetchilli sidekick Crispin.
You can catch the boys supporting Nick Warren and Way Out West at Sydney’s Metro, Tuesday 12th October (BUY TICKETS). Also be sure to check out the all local lineup at Sweetchilli on Saturday the 23rd October, as the boys again put on another thriving party showcasing Sydney’s best progressive talents.
