31.8.07

Secretsundaze - best summer club in London. Standard




I've said it once (see post of 18.08.07), but I'll say it again. Secretsundaze is the best summer club in London. Here's an interview piece - I did for Metro - with its residents and promoters James Priestley (R) and Giles Smith (L). Top lads the pair of them.

This Sunday Ame guest - Ame are my favourite electronic DJs of the moment, their 'Mixing' CD on Sonar Kollektiv is the finest dance music compilation I've heard in years. All the underground clubs across Europe doing the whole deep warm, fuzzy, electro, techno, house blend, well Ame were doing it tiiiiiime ago. And Mixing, as well as, the single Rej is ample proof. My only issue is braving Canvas.

Here's the set times for this Sunday: 2-3 giles;3-5.30 james; 5.30-7 einzelkind; 7-9 ame; 9-10.30 giles.

I had a brief chat with Giles this morning about the Metro piece, where the wrong release date for the album was published. Doh. The LP - which is superb - is out on September 17th not October 1st. Sincere apologies. My bad. Tardy journalism. (Though I've since discovered this date was inserted in the editing process, and I didn't put the wrong date - even more annoying, but shit happens)

By all accounts SSD was the place to be at last weekend's TDK Festival. Secretsundaze's outdoor arena went on til noon on Monday. That's midday, when the finish time was 7am. Giles carried on DJing til 8am, but literally couldn't manage it due to fatigue and er, other, factors. So then it was find a DJ. Loco Dice's flight was imminent so that was a no no. but one half of Tiefschwarz, Ali I think and Geddes (Mulletover) went back to back and saved the day. It sounds like a very special moment... the sun coming up on Bank Holiday Monday morning and not just one more tune but five more hours...

CLUBS

Secretsundaze

Hosting outdoor summer parties on Sundays afternoons in London probably seems like insanity considering the unpredictable weather, yet Secretsundaze is the capital’s leading ‘destination club’ of recent years.

Secretsundaze was born out of accident rather than design. ‘We wanted to do a party with our friends and our music and we saw 93 Feet East's loft room: it was hidden, there was great lighting and a roof terrace, and it had a beautiful feel,’ explains Giles Smith, Secretsundaze’s co-promoter/resident with James Priestley. ‘We ended up doing a Sunday club because that was the only day we could get the loft room, so it happened organically and naturally.’

In 2002 Secretsundaze left 93 Feet East but continued to host unlicensed parties in the garden of a Spitalfields pub. Preistley and Smith realized they were onto something and simultaneously organized legitimate parties at Shoreditch’s The Light Bar. At the time, Smith and Priestley were 'anti press' and spread the word through mouth.

Now it’s known across Europe as a party phenomenon: this summer Secretsundaze’s taken residence on Canvas roof terrace, organized al fresco raves during Barcelona’s Sonar festival and is now a vital staple element of London festivals Cross Central and Lovebox.

‘A year ago we took a decision to do something with Secretsundaze: make it better organized, launch a label, release compilations, do parties abroad and bring on new talent,’ explains Priestley.

‘Guys who are huge now, like Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano and Tobi Neumann played with us in our second year, they were hardly known then,’ says Smith.

Secretsundaze’s biggest draw is it’s unique in London clubbing terms: dancing in sunshine, with a mixed flamboyant European crowd (the recent roof party at Brixton’s Dex there was a guy with a fur stole on his shoulders, a woman in a bikini and a man in a kimono and panama hat). Whether it’s because it’s light Secretsundaze seems less inhibited and more social, and there’s also the dynamic of the music getting darker as the sun goes down.

Secretsundaze feels more like Ibiza than London and there are just three dates remaining this summer: this Sunday features German duo Ame, September 16’s album launch party has Cassy (live) and Rahdoo, and September 30th’s closing party headliner is Steve Bug.

Like the party, the first Secretsundaze’s mix (two CDs mixed by Smithand Priestley, respectively, the first on Secretsundaze record label) flies in the face of club compilation wisdom. It’s a tantalizing super-slo motion mix of lush electronic music that wouldn’t be out of place on a chill compilation and is full of timeless house, techno and electropop from the last two decades.

‘It’s deeply confident music that we believe in, the music we’ve included doesn’t need to do this or that to be in our mix’, says Smith. ‘What we do comes very naturally, we do what we like and we don’t compromise - it comes from the heart and we wear our heart on our sleeve, with our venues and musically.’

Sun, Secretsundaze, Canvas, York Way N1, 2pm to 10.30pm, £12. Tel: 0870 060 0100. Tube: Kings Cross

A version of this appeared in London Metro on August 30th