Although they’ve been working behind the scenes on Sounds On Sunday for a little while now, this weekend Fuzzy will step out of the shadows and into the limelight as curators of Sydney’s most revered daytime clubbing event. Fast approaching its 8th birthday, Sounds On Sunday is very much an institution on the local club scene; who can say they haven’t spent at least one Sunday desperately attempting to keep hold of the last remaining hours of the weekend in the Greenwood courtyard?

With Fuzzy taking over command, the biggest changes in Sounds On Sunday’s history are about to be instituted, including a complete overhaul to the music policy. ITM’s Tim Hardaker recently sat down with Fuzzy impresario Jonathan Wall, and Sounds On Sunday’s new promoter Cassandra Pittman, to find out what the changes they have in store.

Fuzzy have had involvement with Sounds On Sunday for a little while now, what are the main changes that will be brought about with you re-launching the club under the Fuzzy name?

John: The Greenwood asked us to start running it a little while ago, but it was temporary. We were just king of helping out and kept it going as it was. Now we’ve got a contract with the venue for the next few years, so it’s kind of like now it’s for real, instead of just a holding pattern. So that means instead of just booking some DJs, booking some ads, and coasting along, we’ve sat down and thought; ‘right, what’s the best possible version of Sounds On Sunday that we could come up with?’ Now that we’re familiar with it, we’re ready to make it our own.

Cassandra: When we first got involved there weren’t any changes made, we were just keeping the status quo.

John: Now it’s time to do it the Fuzzy way!

Sounds On Sunday has been on the Sydney club scene for quite a while now for almost 8 years, that’s quite a feat as the club scene can be quite fickle.

John: It’s been around for so long, it’s kind of like an institution. Everybody has to spend some time in an institution…

It’s also unique to other parties in that it’s a day club, but without the usual seediness that can come with a kick-on type party. What elements do you think have been the key to Sounds On Sunday’s ongoing success?

Cassandra: I think the venue is a major factor. It’s one of the most beautiful club venues in Sydney. It’s a heritage listed building, has an outdoor courtyard, gardens, city views, and a license to actually party.

Does the fact it’s a heritage listed venue come up as a problem ever, do you find you’re restricted with what you can do in the space?

John: Not in a significant way. I mean we can’t just show up with a power drill and start drilling into the sandstone! It’s much more of an advantage than anything else. There’s not many other venues that look that beautiful.

Cassandra: It’s also a bit of an island there on its own. During the week North Sydney is all hustle and bustle, but on Sunday it’s basically a ghost town.

Do you each have favourite Sounds On Sunday moments from across the years?

John: Not quite Sounds On Sunday, but Fuzzy did a gig with the Freestylers on Boxing Day about 5 years ago, and it was really funny. Matt from the Freestylers has never managed to live it down. He’d had a few drinks and jumped on the microphone… every time someone brings it up now he goes, ‘ohhhh nooooo, don’t mention it!’

Cassandra: Any of the big outdoor parties are great. The Kaskade events are always massive, everyone’s happy and there’s a good vibe.

Fuzzy’s focus over the past few years specifically has definitely been a shift away from club nights, with you guys no longer promoting events at Yu, and on to festivals. What brought about the decision to go back to promoting a weekly event?

John: I guess because it’s unique and because of the indoor/outdoor nature of it. Sounds On Sunday has more in common with our outdoor events than a dark, late-night club thing. It’s not as relevant as it used to be, but I also just hate inhaling smoke! That’s one of the reasons we started doing outdoor parties, we thought ‘wouldn’t it be nice to be outside in the fresh air’. I still like a dark, throbbing nightclub late at night, but it’s nice to have alternatives.

The new music policy is very much a reflection of what’s popular now in the Sydney clubbing scene. What sort of longevity do you think electro has? Will it still be around in a year, or 2 years?

Cassandra: It’s hard to tell, because everyone said house music wasn’t going to last and look what happened there! We’ll do whatever the people want, if we can see that the trends are changing then we will be dynamic and change with them.

John: 5 years ago there was a bit of electro around, but not that many people were putting it on [at parties]. We started putting it on, and it got popular, so kept putting more and more of it on. With Fuzzy we try and push new things as we get interested in them and see potential. With breaks in the mid 90s, we saw that there was a great sound and no one was pushing it. A lot of these things have a rise and fall.

Do you think it’s a new generation of clubbers coming through that are into it, or is it the existing clubbers growing tired of what they’ve been listening to and looking for something new?

Cassandra: I think it’s both. The existing generation gets influenced by the new guys because they want to feel like they’re hip and cool, and the new generation are always thinking about what the next cool thing is.

John: Some people will always stay with what they know. They listen to what they listened to when they turned 18, and it’s what they like so they’ll stick with it forever.

Cassandra: But most people get bored and want something new…

John: It terms of electro still being around in a year, though, people always underestimate how long it takes for a style to get popular and last. In 1988 people were saying techno was over, and then it got bigger and bigger over the next 10 years. Everyone said breaks was over in 1995!

Cassandra: I don’t think electro is going anywhere for a while.

Sounds On Sunday’s main courtyard had in the past always been dedicated to house music. How do you think the new direction will be accepted by punters, are you expecting any opposition?

John: I think any time you change anything some people love it and accept it, and others will say it was better way-back-when. It’s funny, when we did the second ever Fuzzy party, which was almost identical to the first, there were people there saying Fuzzy was so much better 6 weeks ago… it’s great to be nostalgic, but you have to keep moving forward. We’ll be doing ‘classics’ parties a couple of times a year, so everyone can look back then and say ‘wasn’t it great?’

So there’s electro in the main courtyard, and two rooms; Twisted Youth and Chop Shop. How will each of these areas differ, what’s the musical policy?

John: The courtyard is electro and electro house, big room sounds and four-four beats. It’s not completely gone from house music, it’s just kinda the current sound of house. We’re not being too uptight about categorising the music policy in each room too narrowly, because I think that’s a bit of a 90s thing. Chop Shop will be a mash-up thing, electro that’s not necessarily big room. 80s, rock, indie, baile funk, completely random shit!

Cassandra: Twisted Youth, it’s actually hard to say what direction that will take. They’re all up-and-comers, so they probably don’t even know what direction they’re headed in yet! It seems like all the younger guys I’ve booked for the room want to play harder, they really want to rave out! So we’ll run with that and give them a fun party room.

Sounds On Sunday’s massive Fuzzified relaunch takes place this weekend, May 27th, at the Greenwood Hotel, North Sydney. DJs include Ajax, Sam La More (Tonite Only), Bag Raiders, Ben Morris vs James Taylor, Kato, Ash Le Rouge and many more. In coming weeks they’ll also host the Freestylers (June 3rd) and Sandy Rivera (June 10th). For more info check out ITM Whatson.