The holiday period sees the launch of an innovative new monthly progressive house night in Melbourne. Private Function #1 is set to kick off on Thursday 27 December in the Salt side room. Polecat gets the lowdown on Private Function from resident DJs, Derrick Dennis and Dean Millson.

With such an interesting choice of name for their club night, I have to ask where this came from. “It’s a play on the word of mouth thing, that anyone can come” answers Dean. While the name has a great twist to it, feeling private yet open to all, Derrick and Dean hope it doesn’t confuse anyone when they arrive at Salt. We all have a laugh at this as we imagine people reading the party name outside the club. Private Function will be worth fronting up for though, if you’re interested in hearing some new talent behind the decks and looking for a monthly night to gather your crew for a catch up.

A night of deep progressive house sounds, Private Function goes that step further to offer something different to Melbourne’s progressive house fans. In addition to the four Private Function resident DJs, Hypnose, Chris Kasa, Derrick Dennis and Dean Millson, there will be a surprise guest DJ each month. As Derrick explains, “A big difference is the competition we will run, that any DJ, bedroom or club, can submit a mix to us to get themselves a guest spot.” Derrick is one of the people behind the website Tranzfusion.net. “We get mixes submitted all the time to Tranzfusion. That is the main feature of our site,” says Derrick. Tranzfusion.net is indeed a veritable treasure trove of DJ mixes submitted by both Melbourne locals and DJs from around the world, and available for streaming via Real Player. Within less than a week of advertising Private Function #1, Derrick has already received two mixes from DJs keen to guest at the party; one from a DJ in Canberra, and a second mix of top quality from a DJ in the country at Woodend.

Dean’s inspiration for starting the club night is a little more personal, his club DJing debut. “I wanted to get out there, so that was when I decided it would be good to do something like this. The atmosphere that we want to create is about people having a go and people having fun.” Derrick sums up the vibe they wish to create perfectly in saying “It’s an excuse to have a party, to invite all your friends along and a good opportunity to play good tunes over a loud sound system to different people.”

The four resident DJs each have different styles and tastes within the genre of progressive house. Hypnose is already well known to many Melbourne punters through his residency at @mosphere. He has also played at Hardware parties, and most recently in the Substance room at Advent*jah at Kyral Castle earlier this month. The Private Function party will give Hypnose a good chance to play what he likes, and expose a different side to his djing than people might have heard at @mosphere. Chris Kasa’s style differs from Hypnose’s by being on the deeper side of progressive house, slow yet driving.

To this array of styles Derrick and Dean bring both their passion for DJing and their own take on deep progressive. The pair jokingly call themselves “professional bedroom DJs,” and love nothing more than playing at house parties. Derrick used to do a weekly night at Cherry Tree in Richmond and recently did a party at Spy Bar. They now feel the time is right to take the next step, with a place behind the decks at a more regular club night. When I try to pin point them on their own tastes in progressive Derrick professes a love of melodic, not too repetitive, progressive, which stems from his liking for trance. Dean’s tastes run towards the sounds of the Bedrock label, which is partly run by John Digweed. With four residents of different styles, and the wide open genre that is “progressive”, Derrick sums it up best saying, “Progressive can be deeper, uplifting…you can get a few different styles in one night.” With differing tastes in progressive house, yet styles that mesh neatly, Derrick and Dean will add some energy to Private Function by doing back-to-back sets on the night.

The Private Function crew has taken an online approach to their promotion by using dance websites and forums within Melbourne to spread the word of Private Function. Derrick sees this as a chance to test the community within Tranzfusion.net, but also as a low risk way to promote their event. “We’re doing this for fun, not to make shitloads of money,” explains Derrick. Meanwhile Dean admires the Sunny party scene within Melbourne, both for the music and the way people look forward to it once a month. For Private Function though Dean says “We’re looking to create our own vibe and to generate a community through the Tranzfusion website, and people who have an interest in that style of music. The concept of the night is like what Tranzfusion does anyway. It’s about supporting DJs.”

Derrick explains how the guest DJ aspect of the night works. “We’ll give anyone a go, and you don’t have to know the right people just to get a gig somewhere. You just have to be decent enough to play to a crowd. We don’t care who you are as long as you’re good and play nice music. Bring it on!”

“It doesn’t have to be about who you are. It’s got a kind of integrity about it. Think of the first time you see a friend play or someone you know. You’re excited for each other. Seriously, I see it as getting a venue, telling your friends to come, hearing great music. It would be great if it was like a big lounge room. That’s the vibe we want. People can say, “my friend’s playing at Salt tonight. You should come on down,” and off it goes. People can relax and have a good time,” says Dean.

Derrick and Dean plan to build the club night up over time and there is also the opportunity for some high calibre guest DJs to appear at Private Function. “Tranzfusion is always getting big name DJs in contact with them” says Dean. To this Derrick adds, “We have a worldwide audience who submit mixes. We get lots of support from DJs around the world, so there is the opportunity in the future for International guest DJs to play for Private Function.”

Progressive house DJs who aspire to being a guest DJ at Private Function can contact Derrick via Tranzfusion.net to submit their mix sets.

Entry to Private Function #1 at Salt is $10 or $5 on the guest list. RSVP for the guest list here