Well what can I say, another year has almost drawn to a close and with it 12 months of amazing music. We’ve had high’s and low’s, thrill’s and spills, but none the less it’s been a hell of a year…
This is the year that we saw a post hardcore front man become the crown prince of dubstep, we lost some of music’s brightest stars (RIP DJ Mehdi, Gill Scott-Heron & the original don Mr. Jimmy Saville) and bass music rocketed into the collective conscious of the nation as both DJ Fresh & Nero secured the covered #1 spot.
Steve Angelo got caught miming, Justin Biebers balls dropped, Korn came out of retirement and Pete tong had to get a restraining order placed on Shara Nelson of Massive Attack after she claimed to be his secret wife…
2011 was an interesting year for me personally also, it saw the start of another musical adventure in the way of joining the Superfy Family which through many influences saw me say goodbye to Drum & Bass and embrace a wider spectrum of music in my club sets that showcases the very best in UK Bass.
With 2012 fast approaching, and my label, Mugen Audio Recordings due to release it’s first ever track in the new year, I can only hope that next year bring as much excitement and change as the last.
So in no particular order here are some of my highlights from the year that was, and those to watch for the year to come…
Deadboy – Wish U Were Here [Numbers]
Spectr – Dance 4 Me [RKS]
Arkist + Kidkut – One Year Later [Hot Flush]
Damu – L.O.V.E [Keysound]
Star Slinger – Elizabeth Fraser (Cocteau Twins Rework) [White]
Mosca – Bax [Numbers]
Joe Goddard Feat. Valentina – Gabriel (Seiji Remix) [Greco-Roman]
Scuba – Never [Hot Flush]
Rustie – Surph [Warp Records]
Bwana – Baby, Let Me Finish [White]
Dusty Kid – Chentu Mizas [Boxer Recordings]
Wishing everyone a happy, safe and enjoyable Christmas + New Year.
Well what a crazy ass year we’ve had. Dubstep went back underground (Well the real stuff did…) I rediscovered house music.. (Or house music got good again….) We lost one of dance music’s finest (R.I.P. DJ Medhi) & Disco edits crashed into specific bar sets I performed with my good friend Sleazy Wonder.
Here’s my take on the records that rocked my world in 2011… (In NO particular order)
DeadBoy – Here 4 U
Lil Silva – Seasons
Sbtrkt – Wildfire
Jon Convex – Convexations
Jamie XX – Far Nearer
Untold – Cool Story Bro
Huxley – Shower Scene
Gonzales – Knight Moves (Lone Mix)
Jacques Greene – Lay It Down
Virgo Four – It’s A Crime (Hunee Mixes)
Scuba – Adrenalin EP (All tracks are killers!)
Addison Groove – This Is It / Make Em Bounce
Xxxy – Kerpow
Blawan – Vibe Decorium
A1 Bassline – Falsehood
Justin Martin & Ardalan – LEZGO
Ben Westbeech – Something for the weekend – Breach Mix
There are so many more records from 2011, but I could literally be here all day.
So onto 2012, and my take on who I’ll be following. Some of the following may not be fresh to the scene, but acts i’ve discovered throughout the year…. I’ve attached the artists Soundcloud so you can check em out.
2011 has been another amazing year for the underground music. weather that be House, Future Garage, post Dubstep (What people label it as. I call it new music, and its bloomin brilliant!
I’ve been out to some ridiculous places as well this year. Warehouse Project Storer Street Car park tops the venues I’ve visited. Greg Wilson at Bestival was a big DJ Set Highlight. Chic ‘Live’ at the Warehouse Project were amazing! Kasabien at Nottigham Trent arena. The Detonate Indoor Festival at Rock City, Stealth & Rescue Rooms was one of the most impressive gigs I’ve ever done, and been involved with…
We are all living in the age, in which the pursuit of all values other than; money, success, fame, glamour, has either been discredited or destroyed.
It’s been a while since the last time I put digital pen to paper and wrote an update for Superfly City. The last few weeks have been interesting if not borderline schizophrenic in nature.
The start of October marked the official beginning to another season of clubbing in our fair city, and with 3000 extra bodies crowding the streets of Leicester there was a lot of hype surrounding the unofficial season launch of Fresher’s Week. Wandering around and engaging with the goings on of various clubs, nights and concepts really hit home a powerful message…
…and how disappointing that message was…
We are suffering hard times as a country, a lack of direction, a lack of vision, a lack of ideas. There is an overwhelming sense of apathy across people of all ages, and it now seems the same apathy has bled across the borderlines and into club land.
It has always disappointed me that concepts like ‘The porn party’ or ‘battle of the halls / sexes / eye colours’ (take your pick) succeed often at the sacrifice of intellectual musical pursuits.
Admittedly it’s not just these drab A-typical student orientated events that are slowly signalling a final curtain call for the underground music scene, but it’s certainly not doing us any favour’s that’s for sure.
From a popular perspective Underground music has never been so widely on the gestalt conscious of the masses, but yet it’s a hollow conscious rooted in lip service ideals.
It’s suddenly cool to like angry dirty dub step, clear cutting house beats, or frenetic drum and bass but no one seems to want to support the roots of this culture.
We are at the stage where a relatively unknown pair of music student’s from Leicester are storming around the official chart like it’s their own private sandbox and yet, how many 18 year olds do you think could accurately distinguish an Amen Break from their breakfast? I’m not a betting man but I’d happily say not many.
Where has the intelligence gone in intelligent dance?
I think it’s time the hive opened up their minds as well as their ears to a whole new world of possibilities and experiences the vast spectrum of music can deliver to you. One day, maybe not immediately, but soon; the scene will go through a down swing and Music will be the order of business as far as the recession chopping block goes.
He who joyfully marches to music in rank and file has already earned my contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord would suffice.
- Albert Einstein
To end in true SFC blog style; here are a few tracks that have got my toes tapping recently.
Until next time folks.
Timber x
DAMU – RIDIN’
JOE GODDARD FEAT. VALENTINA – GABRIEL (SEIJI REMIX)
It’s been a few weeks since my last blog but, as has been the way with me this year, a lot seems to have happened in a relatively short space of time. Having worked hard on new music all summer it seems that people have started to take notice of my productions and I have had tracks signed to Sishi Rosch and Diego Moreno’s Barcelona based label, Digital delight
The label is going from strength to strength and is attracting a lot of attention from some of the big players of the house music world. As if that wasn’t enough I have an EP which will see wax early next year on new imprint “Hourglass music”. You can hear the tracks here http://soundcloud.com/hourglassmusic”
Naturally I am really excited about releasing tracks alongside artists such as Rosch and Puente, Wildkats, Julian Sandre, Death on the balcony, Aquarius heaven, the list of peers goes on. Both labels reflect a sound and attitude I both respect and admire and I can’t wait to see my tracks out in the open! Before that happens I have a new job starting at the beginning of November. I am, all of a sudden, going to have an awful lot on my plate but I enjoy being busy. It’s all to easy to relax and feel comfortable with what you’ve got but I have never been like that, I have to follow my heart and do what is necessary. The Job may not have been expected but it feels like the right path to take and we all need to make a little money, right?
I don’t expect anything to get in the way of my musical dreams however, I see this path as a path of learning, an attitude I have learnt the late Steve Jobs had when he dropped out of college. His passing earlier this month was not something I expected to be affected by but I watched this video last week and was pretty moved by his words.
If you have ever doubted or doubt what you are doing in life watch this video, it’s incredibly inspiring. The man was a visionary and if you are in any way creative then I am sure you will have had your life somewhat touched by an apple device. No one has changed the world more than this man in the last 20 years.
The weekend of the 21st/22nd of October sees Oxjam smack Leicester around the chops and then saying “It’s okay its for charity”. Two days of events, parties and culture hit the city with everyone getting involved. Sonido will be rocking the warehouse look on the Saturday, guaranteed to be huge and all for a good cause. Save the Pony are no different, we are putting on one last charity hoorah on the Friday (21st October) in Leicester. We have once again enlisted the help of Kubicle and Fabric’s FB Julian as well as support from our residents. Julian’s stock is rising fast and since we last had him down to one of our Pony parties he’s been rocking Fabric on several occasions including last Saturday’s Rebel Rave. A special mention goes out to a début Back 2 Back set from Jack and Lacosta (if he’s still allowed in the club!), definitely not to be missed. The event will be held downstairs at the interlude and we will have collection buckets dotted around the place for donations to Oxfam.
For more details head here
http://www.facebook.com/Savethepony
Now I shall leave you with some more music in the form of a little top 5 of sorts… Enjoy
What do you get if you suppress half of Germany for nigh on half a century, then rip down a wall allowing said half a nation to live in a free democratic state with no censorship of culture? Well lots of things, all good, but in this particular blog I would say you get the magnificent two piece ‘Modeselektor’.
Gernot Bronsert and Sebastian Szary grew up on the bad side of the Berlin wall in east Germany and were coming of age when self-proclaimed communism destroyer David Hasslehoff sang at the final evening of east German oppression under the Commies, single handedly reuniting Deutschland.
(Hasslehoff does actually believe he helped bring down the communist regime, whereas actually 50 years of poor accounting destroyed Russia’s ability to support the east German dictatorship…bit of history there for you…don’t worry there won’t be anymore). So even though the first official music of the newly free country was “Looking for Freedom” mimed by the Hoff, the German people got over that pretty quickly, finding that organising free parties without harassment from the law was easy. So like the rest of the free world electronic music and in particular Acid House took over…Wooo hooo!
So back to the heroes of this tale, ModeSelektor. The duo met in 1995 in a Berlin where all western culture was a preferred alternative to anything that came before. Szary was already playing live Acid House, but not long after the two met they started their musical journey together under the name ‘Fundamental knowledge’. In 1996 the pair changed to ‘Modeselektor’ a name taken from an old Roland analogue effects unit.
They got their first big break in 1999 remixing for Berlin based VJ ‘Pfadfinderei ‘ and then in 2000 signed for Ellen Aliens ‘B pitch control’ label and have never looked back.
Their first album ‘Hello mum’ released in 2005 set the tone for the rest of their musical releases and two years later their second album ‘Happy Birthday’ proved that the modeselektor style was working and would be around for a long time to come. The pair never stick to a distinct style in any of their productions, gliding seamlessly between techno house dubstep and IDM . The only common ground between each track is how different they are from the last yet still intriguing and above all fun, which has made Modeselektor the jokers of the German techno scene.
They have since collaborated with ‘Apperat’ (Sascha Ring) under the name ‘Moderat’ and furthur musical visual projects with Pfadfinderei namely ‘Pfadselektor’ they have even lectured at the ‘Merz Akademie’ in Stuttgart reflecting on their musical journey since the wall fell and how they create their midi based live performances.
The highly respected duo are a big favorite with ‘Radiohead’s’ genius front man Thom Yorke and while not only appearing as remixer’s on his ‘Skip divided’ release but under the ‘Moderat’ collaboration have supported Radiohead at concerts across Europe.
Monkeytown the latest long player from Modeselektor is a blend of bass heavy tech house, combined with a large slice of non-formulaic dubstep and Bass, with a bit of hip hop thrown in for good measure by collaborating with their friend French rapper ‘Siriusmo’. The album includes two tracks collaborating with Thom Yorke, both of which I would say are more for the bedroom listener than the dance floor; but by far the stand out tune of the album is ‘Black block’ a banging electro / techno monster which is well and truly aimed at blowing your ears off your head.
Modeselektor are on fire at the moment and are truly a positive product of Germany’s inevitable embracing of western culture. Proving the fall of communism did produce a lot of good reactions, unlike say the failing socialist giants’ negative effects on the safety monitoring of Chernobyl, which to be quite frank is a reaction we could have all done without (sorry a bit more history…ish).
Sometimes days come in this industry where no matter who you are, your background, your style, your genre, all differences are put aside to remember fallen dancefloor soldiers, and yesterday was a particularly poignant example of this.
September 13th 2011 marked the 15 year anniversary of the death of one of america’s greatest urban poets; Tupac Shakur. A terrible loss for his family, friends and the hip hop industry, Shakur’s legacy is still ever present today as it was all those years ago. He is one of the few artist’s to sell more records post-humorously then he did whilst alive. Which I guess goes to not only show you something about middle America’s music buying habits, but also the reach of this iconic star and his message.
I was sat at my desk in Superfly HQ pondering the impact of Tupac and other musician’s who have now left us for the great gig in the sky when news began to break across the internet that would turn a reflective moment into something much more bittersweet…
One of the biggest stars in French dance music and lynch pin of the phenomenal ‘Ed Banger’ imprint DJ Mehdi had passed away. The shock hit me like a kick to the chest and reeling I forwarded the information on to rest of the Superfly office crew, who were struck with equal shock and dumbfounding.
‘No way man! I saw him perform with Riton as Carte Blanche not 2 days ago at Bestival!’ exclaimed our head of promotions Pasquale.
Eager for more information I took to the Twitterverse in hopes of mining some more information out of people about the shocking and untimely demise of yet another great musical pioneer. I had not long since clicked the bookmark on my browser before the extent of the news, and it’s reach within the dance music community could already be felt. Names such as Fake Blood and Shy FX, through to the likes of Toddla T & Annie Nightingale were all feverishly posting their condolences, memories and regrets. Away from all the usual bureaucracy and nepotism that surrounds professional artists there was an overwhelming sense of collective loss.
It will never cease to amaze me the effect some musicians can have on there peers, fans and friends alike. So many shining stars fade too soon into their short lives, but the warmth of their light inspires people eternally across generations irregardless.
So in memory I’m going to close the blog post with a dedication to some of music’s brightest stars, taken too soon, but will keep on shining as long as the music keeps on playing…
It was a busy August for me and September is shaping up to be even busier. After Sonido made a brief and honorable retreat indoors, it returns to it’s favoured outdoor habitat this Sunday the 18th September. I am looking forward to playing a rooftop party alongside friends and head liners of the usual quality. Check out the event page for full details but Illusion front man Tom Craven and Cloak + Dagger’s Samu.L are sure to bring the usual quality to Leicester’s premier house event. It looks to be a fond farewell to a summer of great parties, I know everyone will have their fingers firmly crossed for great weather.
As is now routine for myself and the rest of the Save the Pony crew, we are frantically preparing for our end of month party. This one promises to be our biggest one yet. Richy Amhed, fresh from a US tour alongside Crosstown rebel’s, will be bringing the curtain down on our STP events in Leicester for the year. His stock has gone up and up since releasing “Suck it” on the Hot waves compilation. High profile dj sets have followed and his approachable smile, sense of fun and love of the party have lead to well deserved popularity across the world. He also happens to be partly responsible for one of the hottest records of the moment…
and has now been given the honour of a set at DC10 closing. The future is bright for Richy and we are ecstatic to have him out our humble Pony appreciation seminar. Hope you can make it down, it’s free via the guest list, just RSVP on our Facebook event page HERE
That will not be the end of STP though, we have parties lined up for other cities before the year is through, then we will return to our Leicester roots. As long as there is a need to help out all the Ponies in Leicester, we will be there, sound system in tow, providing a welcoming stable and fresh bails of hay…
In other music related Rebel news I have recently put together a podcast for Artful division. You can Listen here
It includes lots of fresh new tunes from me and some other gems…
The website is the brain child of local lads Jon Brooks (Jon Samwell and Will Brooks) who have held down a residency at Sonido and been part of the Leicester club scene for the last couple of years now. They are great dj’s and are currently working hard in the studio to hone a sound they can call their own. I am confident we will be hearing much more from them in the future.
Once upon a time, in the magical kingdom of Club land, a young boy brought some KAM BDX300 belt drive decks, which in all honesty were £360 worth of crap. But after a few months the bright eyed boy, full of dreams and having practiced loads, could just about beat mix, and more importantly was hooked on DJ’ing. The boy, already in love with the whole dance music scene and especially the art of DJ’ing splashed out on the most expensive items he had ever paid for, the mystical wheels of steel that were the Technics 1210 mark 2’s, his preferred weapon of choice.With his new armoury of expensive decks and hundreds of 12”s decide it was time to take this love of DJ’ing and music further and become a Vinyl Selecta… but unfortunately at around the same time so did a trillion other starry eyed Carl Cox wannabees.
Decks began to out sell guitars and DJ’s became the new rock star’s, getting paid thousands of pounds for 90 minutes of easy work (Judge Jules reportedly got paid a million pounds for a 2 hour set on the millennium new year’s eve…and I bet it was awful…actually it was new year’s so dancing to someone banging a bucket in time would have been good…and probably £1,999,999.50 cheaper). But even with the huge competition, our young hero eventually got to play out and even got asked for a CD by another nice young man, who became quite the promoter himself (Tomwaa I will do you that CD one day I promise). Before long our hero became a legendary world leading DJ’ing master, performing to the kings and queens of Club land for ever and ever … the end.
Unfortunately this like all other fairy tales is bollocks and where as I would love to tell you of this impressionable young man’s meteoric rise to fame as a superstar DJ, jetting off to Ibiza every week, DJ’ing for Galliano’s Paris fashion shows, participating in never ending coke fuelled orgies with smacked up super models (don’t do drugs kids), marrying a washed up ex film star and eventually retiring at 34, with half a liver and a one nostral’d nose as a constant reminder of the good old days… alas I cannot.
You see two things happened which ultimately snatched the boys dreams of a life on dialysis out from his grasp. Firstly I (oh the boy was me by the way)decided I enjoyed being on the good side of the turntables i.e. the dance floor, rather than kissing the arse of jumped megalomaniac promoters (present Superfly company excluded) for a Tuesday night unpaid set at some empty dive. The second reason was the introduction of the Pioneer CDJ. DJ’ing with cd’s is a totally different skill to vinyl. The main issue being there is no room for error with cd’s; one heavy touch on the fake platter and the DJ is suddenly propelled into a world of trouble that sounds like a bunch of rampant horses being dragged by the tail through the speakers. Nothing a little practice wouldn’t sort out? Probably, but at the price of a small car, not being able to afford CDJ’s became the death of my beat juggling dream’s… cue the violins. So I decided I wouldn’t bother anymore and concentrated on my career as an engineer, which turned out to be a bad idea, as ironically I again would have to kiss the arses of megalomaniac’s to get anywhere…I think I have authority issues…thankfully.
Anyway back to the point, the change in technology was a huge thing at the time, practically killing vinyl sales and forcing dance music into a fully digital world. A world that eventually became enhanced further by the invention of effects units, allowing the wealthy DJ to improve the tracks they were playing on the fly and giving DJ’s a new level of creative ability in their performances, while still keeping the original skills involved in beat matching.
Then some clever dick invented laptop DJ’ing. No need to touch anything other than your keyboard or some specialist midi mixing box where everything is synced and keyed in automatically and removing the need to pay for any music at all (haha greedy record industry bosses Mp3’s not looking so profitable now hey?)
So many years after hanging up my headphones I bought what I consider to be the best DJ’ing software on the market, Traktor Pro, a Behringer BCR2000 rotary knob controller (less sexy than it sounds) and in my opinion the daddy of all midi controllers, the Native Instruments Machine. I can now mix like Jesus Christ might have done in biblical times without even touching a spinning disk. I have all the effects a Christ like DJ could need and I can say I’m better than any DJ I have ever heard….
Ok this is also a fairy tale and I’m still average at best and the only Christ like part of me is my mass of facial hair; but mixing with a laptop is like painting DJ sets by numbers. I don’t even need to use the headphones that I hung up all those years ago. It is now pretty easy to sound like a plausible DJ without a lot of practice; but with a lot of practice you too can sound like an eight armed James Zabiela.
Now this is the issue, when I started telling people I had this new-fangled box of tricks connected to my laptop, all proud and gleeful, my DJ’ing friends, literally every one of them and sometimes even their non DJ’ing friends who didn’t even know me, broke down in fits of laughter and told me “that’s not mixing Si, you’re a fake, you are not a DJ unless you use decks…you tit!”. To say the least I was disappointed, a broken man, ashamed even…I took a shower and tried to forget the whole sorry incident.
The main reason for my shame wasn’t the fact that I was a fake tit DJ…ill rephrase that, a fake DJ who is a tit, but that when CDJ’s were starting to destroy my dreams of a life funded by playing music, I had used the same argument.
“You’re not a DJ if you use CD’s…you tit’s” I’d say, knowing in the back of my mind that it didn’t matter what you play on, just as long as the crowds of ravers dance so hard they need hip replacements by the age of 30; I was having my own argument thrown back in my face and it hurt. So I decided to stop caring and keep on dancing; but some people really do care, to the point of looking down their noses and slagging off DJ’s who use computers and here finally is the whole point of this heartfelt blog. Does anyone really care other than DJ’s? Should people care? Does it matter at all as long as paying customers have the nights of their lives?
Isn’t it better for clubs to think logically and put the money that in my opinion is wasted on big name DJ’s back into improving the production, atmosphere and fun of their nights? Especially now that Midi DJ’ing has made it easier and relatively cheap for anyone standing on the business side of the decks, cd’s or whatever they prefer to use, to give the crowd musically a good night? Does it really matter if Superstar DJ whoever is on your line up? Does this guarantee a good night anymore? Does anyone really care after 10 Jager bombs? Is anyone even reading this? I don’t know is the answer. I know I don’t care, even though I appreciate the skills of DJ’ing and how difficult and technical it really is to make people dance for 5 hours non-stop. At the end of the day, is it important who is doing it and with what? Or is it the smiley, happy people dancing their arses off around you that makes a good night?
I’d appreciate your input here…let’s see if it really does matter…leave some comments on the subject and maybe, finally, we can put this issue to bed once and for all, and I can start sleeping again at nights instead of constantly thinking about this at bed time…which is also why this blog is a little bit far out in places as I can’t sleep…I apologise.
We’re fast approaching the re-opening of Superfly in it’s new home, it’s a very exciting time for us all here and we hope that your excited too. It got me thinking about the last 3 and a bit years in general, the great (and not so great!) times we have had. For so many of you, there will be experiences of the club that have been enjoyed and savored, from the big name djs to the fancy dress themed nights, from Shivoo to Sonido and the many rammed mid-week nights.
For some of you also, there will be the nights you didn’t enjoy so much (slipping on the stairs, seeing your own breath – freezing on the dance floor, negotiating the toilets!) but I suppose that was all part of the fun? ‘We’ll sort you out some freebies’ ‘It’ll warm up in a bit’. ‘It usually gets busy later’, ‘there getting done in a few weeks’ are some of the standard excuses we used, generally speaking though it did warm up, we gave away loadsa freebies, we did get busy and we also managed to get one set of toilets done! (Gents downstairs, if your wondering ladies!)
There’s a new generation of students and young people that haven’t been introduced to Superfly or Leicester yet and to be honest Leicester’s clubland is probably in a worse state than at anytime in my recent memory. Don’t get me wrong there are some great events out there to attend, but having been involved in this industry for way too long, year on year there is always seems to be a subtle decline – or is it just a change?
But that’s always been the case in Leicester I think.
Not wanting to turn this blog into a Leicester scene / club post – I’ll get back on track (before I do a pat on the back for those promoters still doing it! Sonido, Save the Pony, City Fly, Drop, Skrabble, TMC, DBE, Moda etc) Superfly in the first instance was always about improving what was already there and in most ways I would like to think we have achieved that. ‘That’ being an improvement in our fair city’s somewhat muted nightlife.
We brought the biggest of names to the smallest of club rooms inc Zane Lowe, Erol Alkan, High Contrast, DJ Yoda, Craze & James Zabiela. We brought sets from relative unknowns such as Skream (playing a disco set, no less) Sbtrkt, and local boy done good Jakwob, and along the way had a whale of a time with the crews from Shivoo, Sonido, LMP, We The People, Filthy Beats and Formation. Not to mention 3 indoor festivals and a few too many midweek mash-ups. The list of guests is too large to list, but let’s say it was an A-Z of who’s who in dance music today.
It wasn’t all about big name DJs though, some of the best nights were given to us by the residents, just having a laugh, Djing with friends… to friends. I can personally testify to seeing some of the most underground local DJs / producers / heads throwing shapes. Some good and some bad, some very bad! To several different sounds in the bar. It was the house party you didn’t have to clean up after.
Thinking of those times kind of takes me back (near!) to where I wanted to be, I believe that the new venue will take Superfly back to where we are meant to be – improving Leicester’s nightlife for the better. Better events, great DJs and Superfly people, the new venue is less restrictive, air conditioned, with a large bar, seating areas and a dedicated dance floor. It still has that club feel that King Street did, the low ceilings, dirty basement and intimately lit. I’m sure the toilets may flood from time to time, but that’s just the way it is with clubs, people too busy partying to give a f**k.
The new location suits us as well, off the beaten track. I’ve heard some people moan that it’s too far out from town – it’s 5 minutes walk, if you can’t make the effort then we probably don’t want you there and you probably don’t really want to be there. It’s a lose, lose situation for everyone.
But let’s talk about win, win. September will bring about a cycle of 3 years since the birth of Superfly. 3 years on and some customers, students, residents have left for pastures new and – let’s hope bigger and better things. There will be a fresh set of people to come through and if your reading this, then you care enough to keep this fire burning. So keep pushing, promoting, playing and ATTENDING events because Leicester needs you more than ever, but who knows with the recent success of current events in the city we could be on the cusp of something special!
Only time will tell, but we will do our bit… make sure you come and do yours!
Thanks for all the support and kind wishes and we will all hopefully see you on the 24th…
The Underground – Music | Culture | Art | Film | Life.
Denizens of The Underground; It is with great pleasure I release my second blog on Superfly City for the masses.
As I mentioned in my first blog post on the site, I am a man driven by the goings on of the underground music world. It’s people, music, art, culture, lifestyle, feeds almost every aspect of my daily life.
Working tirelessly over summer to create an event that can encapsulate these values and beliefs I am proud to announce the launch of ‘The Underground’.
The Underground is a weekly free club exhibition dedicated to the very best in cutting edge new music, art, film, culture & urban lifestyle from across the UK Underground scene.
Based in the heart of Leicester’s De Montfort University campus and hosted by some of the biggest and brightest stars of the music world to date, we guarantee this is an event unlike anything you will have experienced before. To make sure of that every Underground night is 100% free! It won’t cost you a penny at the door no matter who’s headlining!
We’re not stopping there though. Not content with regurgitating the same old tried and tested club methods, we’ve spent the summer locked away making sure we create a night that’s got substance, and this is what we’ve come up with…
Every single piece of promotional art we commission will be just that; ART.
Everyone likes to collect posters from there favourite events, so we thought we’d turn that concept on it’s head and throw bubble text out of the window.
We’ve recruited some of the most talented stars of the underground art world to create these masterpieces for us so that every month there will be a new set of prints to collect. Both as a set in there own right, as well as being part of the greater Underground Art Collection. Each one will be identified by one of our Underground Catalogue Codes so keeps those eyes peeled!
Each month we’ll also be releasing the Underground Sounds Podcast where you can expect to hear all the best cuts, classics and unreleased hits from all across the genre spectrum, backed up with banter, interviews and some pretty special prizes donated by each different weekly host.
We’ll also be exhibiting art, film & photography all through the night in our upstairs bar, which will including cinema showings for some of the most iconic works of fact & fiction associated with the Underground music world. So if your a budding bohemian and want to get your work out to the world, get in touch and your creations could find there way onto our walls!
Finish it all off with a huge helping of drinks offers and an award winning cocktail menu and there really is no place better to be on a Thursday from 8pm till 1am.
Whether your a lifelong soldier or just taking your first steps into discovery, this is going to be a night for you!
Headlining over the coming months, expect to see names like; The Brookes Brothers, Kasra, Nu:Tone, MJ Cole, No-Names, JFB, Boy Kid Cloud, DJ Quest, Goli & Ashburner, Rack N Ruin, Heavy Feet, CRST and many more in the run up to Christmas.
Check us out on Facebook, support the cause and support the start of the next great clubbing odyssey in Leicester.
