Following the recent announcement that Broke-N-Beats would be vacating the side room at Kink after 4 years, many fans of the syncopated style were wondering if they’d now be left beatless on a Saturday night. Fear not, however, as the Broke-N-Beats crew are moving in to a brand new home as of July 7. The brainchild of The Jackal, Broke-N-Beats’ history pre-dates Kink, having first started as a weekly Sunday night at Zen (now Candy’s Apartment) way back in 2002. ITM caught up with him to talk about the new direction for Broke-N-Beats.

You’ve been carving up dancefloors for close to a decade now; but tell us where it all started before that. What was the inspiration?

I used to be a regular at the old Underground Café many, many years ago. I guess I was inspired by the reactions Mal (Russell) and Rob (Milton) used to constantly get from a packed to the rafters club. Because I loved the music so much, playing it became a natural progression for me.

Why breaks? Or hey, is it simply a case of – ‘why not’?

Yeah, back around 1999-2000 I was running Sunday Grooves at Sugareef at the time, and we had a back room just built into the club so I decided to push breaks as an alternative to the main room, which was funky house. I would play breaks in there every other week alongside Elroy and Oliver A, and it consistently went berserk. Soon after I was playing breaks gigs at Sounds on Sunday, and finally Broke-N-Beats started in January, 2002, at Zen (now Candy’s Apartment). The rest, they say, is history.

Your move to the second room at Kink in 2003, to say it was successful would be an obvious understatement. During that time, you’ve hosted some solid names – what have been some of the highlights?

There has been many highlights as you would imagine, Atomic Hooligan was awesome, he was cutting it up hard and the crowd was just loving it. Deekline & Wizard was huge as well, Bodysnatchers [Baobinga and 30hz] ripped it up hard both times they played, however I think when we had Stereo 8 play it coincided with Frenzie beginning his residency. It was a massive night and really kicked Broke-N-Beats in the right direction, so that was a special night for me. Very memorable times with many more to come at the Civic.

As well as Kink may have served you, you’re off to Civic Hotel. How’d that come about?

I had a meeting with Scott (Kink) and we were talking about the direction the club was going in, we both felt we had done just about everything we could have and decided that a fresh direction for both Kink and Broke-N-Beats would be a good thing. After a few phone calls and meetings we ended up locking in the Civic as the new weekly home for us. It all came together perfectly and felt 100% the right thing to do, as a result I am really looking forward to the times ahead.

Sounds like there have also been some amazing times on the snow fields; was this just a case of combining your two passions – snowboarding and getting behind the decks?

Totally, I have had so many big nights playing down there over the past 5 years I have lost count. Because I have many good friends in Jindabyne, and the fact that I love snowboarding, it is a good formula for some wicked times. I’d say it is definitely a case of combining both passions. This year in fact we are doing a Broke-N-Beats vs Break Inn party down at the Station Resort on 25th August which is shaping up to be huge.

A tough question perhaps, but the absolute highlight of your career..?

That is a tough one, it’s too hard for me to pinpoint one career highlight, so instead I’ll have to say any party where the crowd was open minded and “up for it”, and didn’t request ‘Put Your Hands Up For Detroit’.

It’s June, 2007… where do you see yourself, and dance music in general, taking us?

I’ve seen so many trends and fads come and go, it’s crazy. Dance music these days seems to be overlapping. You have house and electro producers and DJs playing and sampling breaks in their tunes and DJ sets, breaks producers and DJs making and playing house and electro, and even trance DJs playing house and breaks. In regards to myself, I’m just going to continue to do what I’ve always done, play good music with no limitations or boundaries, and try to keep an open minded attitude to everything.

Broke-N-Beats relaunches this Saturday night, July 7, at their new weekly home of the Civic Hotel. DJs playing the re-launch include Frenzie and The Jackal, Mark Walton, Loose on 12s, Dopamine, Elroy and Piper, and more. Stay tuned to ITM Whatson for more info.