Who would have thought that a Pom and a Kiwi were the future of Sydney clubbing? Well if talent, passion and a genuine love for our dance music community are what make great DJs, them I’m glad Andy Jackson and Martin Jay have taken up residencies in Sydney’s clubbing scene.
Sydney’s clubbing scene in an interesting state at the moment. We have a severe lack of venues, only a small collection of ‘high profile’ promoters who seem to be dominating the scene, and a hell of a lot of DJs who are looking to be given their major break. Both being established DJs in their home countries, Andy and Martin were not content with moving to Australia to join the ranks of the bedroom DJs, so instead of waiting for something to happen, they made it happen; started their own club nights.
Andy Jackson (DJ Jackster) and fellow DJ partner Taz, run a monthly club night at the Burdekin Hotel called Clean & Serene. Known for its funky and vocal house, the 200 capacity club night attracts a dedicated bunch of people of mixed backgrounds and lifestyles. Being a small club night, Clean & Serene is becoming known for its very intimate and friendly atmosphere; “it’s a chance for me to put a night on that all of my friends would like”. Martin Jay runs Squeaky Clean, another monthly club night at The Burdekin Hotel with a similar musical policy and vibe to Clean & Serene.
These two club night are two of six regular nights held at The Burdekin Hotel. From gay & lesbian nights, to themed and mixed nights, all of these events have one thing in common, they’re intimate, they attract a somewhat older crowd, they’re welcoming to anyone and they are inexpensive. For the first time ever, these six club nights are coming together on Mardi Gras weekend, to be held all in the Burdekin on all levels. It is an interesting concept to turn these very small club nights into one large recovery/party and is a unique way to give lesser known DJs such as Andy and Martin a greater exposure to the Sydney scene.
While both Andy and Martin promote their respective nights, they definitely consider themselves DJs over promoters, putting on their own nights was a chance to play a regular gig. Martin explains that to him, Squeaky Clean is about the people first and foremost. The regular attendances of his night are his friends and their friends, so everyone’s there screaming out their favourite tracks because they know what Martin plays and that’s why they attend.
For Andy, he kept all of his contacts from when he first came to Australia. He fell in love with Sydney and when he went home he knew he would be back one day. He returned and it was only three weeks until he put on his first Clean & Serene night. Clean & Serene only charge five bucks entry so they cannot afford advertising. Both clubs nights are held on certain levels on the Burdekin, so they only hold about 220 people. If they did advertise and got more people through the door, it would probably work to their detriment as they’d get to full. Instead they built an email database and through friendships and word of mouth they get people through. This is quite common back in London where Andy is from, where many small / underground nights never advertise and only build a fan base through word of mouth. This is made possible because the scene is so large there. That is why this large recovery party all six nights are holding together is such a wonderful opportunity; it gives them a chance to get recognition for their respective club nights whilst at the same time allows the (virtually unknown) DJs to play to a much bigger audience. For the Burdekin Recovery, 1000 people may get a chance to experience the two nights instead of the 200 people each night could bring in.
Besides Clean & Serene and Squeaky Clean, both Andy and Martin have other gigs. The Civic Hotel is a common venue and Jackster (Andy) has recently had the opportunity to play the opening set at Ear Candy. Both DJs have full time jobs; Andy is in magazine sales and Martin is a marketing consultant. So their two nights are at one point a hobby, but in another way they do want to be DJs because “there’s nothing better than having a crap day at work and getting some inspiration in what you’re going to play on the weekend.” explain Martin, “there’s no better feeling than coming in with your record bag and playing the music you love”. Andy explains, “I’d like to get to the stage where I was at in London where I had there or four residencies every week.” Andy feels this is something that is very possible, “People now are more open to seeing up and coming DJs given a go, like the Ear Candy thing. It seems to be very well received by people, especially on the forums of inthemix, it can be boring going to the same night seeing the same DJs.”
Martin is also a much more established DJ back in New Zealand, “Back in New Zealand I had three or four gigs a week too, as well as a radio show. I’m lucky as I am trying to break into the Sydney market but I also have a few residencies back home and I can go back there and play a few gigs and then fly back here for my job.” This is something Martin relishes in, “It’s good, it’s hectic but I have a lot of mates and support back home, there’s a wealth of talent over there with the boys and girls.” As a side project martin wanting to try and bring some of his New Zealand mates such as Greg Churchill over and introduce them to the ‘bigger’ promoters in Sydney.
How do they pick the DJs for their nights? Invariably they’re friends of friends and they like to bring in unknowns all the time to play the warm-up slot, “it is a chance for them to play tracks with her mates and who are we to get in the way of that.” With both their nights they’re lucky to find DJ partners who compliment each others sound. Martin has a fellow migrant New Zealander, Andy Hawkes, who is a promoter and DJ from Wellington. When Andy Hawkes plays with Martin they have a complimentary sound and have records that fill in the gaps for each others collection, “it’s great finding people of the same wavelength.” For Jackster, his DJ partner Taz plays chunky as he plays girly vocals so they work well together. They have something in common but are different enough for clubbers to know who is playing the set when you walk in.
Both being house music (and it’s respective sub-genres) enthusiasts, how do Andy and Martin feel their music fits in Sydney? “It suits more intimidate, more smaller venues”, explains Andy, “I thought Yu was going to be much bigger than it was, but now it all fits. With the music Shamus is playing it doesn’t suit Gas or home, but it suits smaller venues with intimate atmospheres.” Martin agrees, “I prefer playing smaller venues, I’ve played big parties in New Zealand, the ‘Hero’ parties which are similar to the Mardi Gras parties here. I’ve played to a crowd of 5000 and it’s really hard work as you have to play a bigger sound.” Andy has experienced the same, “One of the bigger rooms I played was at ‘Cafe de Paris’ in France which was 2000 people and my music has big breakdowns and lots of percussion and I don’t think that works well in a big room.” But it’s not just the size of a club that has something in common with the music they play. “I think our sort of funky house is the stuff that people sort of mature into,” says Andy “our average age is 27 or 28, so venues love it because people are buying drinks and not in the bathrooms filling up bottles of water. I think that trance and progressive appeals to teens and early twenties, same with breakbeat, and I think funky house is what people settle into it.” Martin was introduced to that disco sound when he first started listening to dance music, but it was when he saw Digweed one time that he was inspired to play that sound thinking was “that is the music”, but now he’s back to that deep and percussive house sound that he was originally inspired by. Demographics of both of the nights are the same with 25-30s being the average age. “The other night in Clean Serene there was a couple in the downstairs bar that were in their mid 40s, they stayed all night, and came up at the end and said ‘if you told us we would have spent all night in a club, we wouldn’t have believed you’. Most of the music Andy plays contains a riff from the 70s or piano riff from the 80s so it brings back the elements many used to dance to.
Clean & Serene is on $5 entry, so why are their nights so cheap? “We’re not doing it to make money” explains Andy, “and when you make it more expensive then you move into a space where you are competing against major nights saying to clubbers “don’t go to Yu or don’t go to home etc.” Andy and Martin and the other nights at the Burdekin are not into that and they don’t want to compete, ”$5 in enough to cover your basis and maybe buy a few records for the weekend.” explains Martin, “the crowd too are very supportive and are your mates so it’s kind of like a payback for their support giving them a cheap night where everyone listens to good music.”
This brings us the Burdekin Recovery which is being held this Mardi Gras Sunday. It was Alice’s (manager of the venue) idea to bring the six main nights together, all the nights play similar music so there wasn’t going to be a clash, people can go through the building and get an experience of all of the nights. The Burdekin Recovery is their first big event in terms of size and promotion, but even the event itself is cheap at $20. Mardi Gras weekend is a weekend which is generally known for its inflated prices due to the tourists coming in, but for the Burdekin nights it’s more of a preference to get people in who can experience the sounds of the DJs and the nights. All the nights are banding together as they all have the same view point of just charging as much to cover their basis and get enough people in. This will give exposure to the nights to gain a bigger market. Martin feels this has high value to the patrons, “the recovery is at a price where people also don’t feel burdened to stay, you can come and go at a good price but if you want to stay then it’s an excellent price.”
Both Andy and Martin are looking forward to this weekend very much. I ask Andy to sum up their event in one sentence and Andy explains the philosophy behind the recovery as well as the philosophy behind Clean & Serene; “You don’t have to be in a big venue to play big tunes”.
