Fighting against the defeatism that sees people escaping the city for party weekends in Berlin and assuming that the same can’t be done here. This trio have created a night of seriously forward thinking techno music aimed at bringing together the homosexual community and pushing the vibe of the underground gay, warehouse party with their night Chapter 10. We sat down with the guys over a slice of pizza and an ice cold can of Ting ahead of this weekend’s session of Hackney Wick hedonism.
Have you guys thrown parties before?
Dan. Me and Charlie have used to run this party together called Macho City, which was a high energy night at the George and Dragon.
Charlie: We were spending a fortune on the jukebox so we just asked if we could start playing records.
Dan: We all thought that there was a need to have really good DJs in a completely gay environment, which is something we’d experienced in clubs all around the world, but not in London.
Is that always something you’d get angry about?
Dan: The thing is there are loads of great gay parties, but there is nothing that is quite as substantial as the kind of stuff we wanted to go to to dance. There’s all this horrible EDM chat that’s going around, about how you can strip all the gayness out of house and techno and just leave it with this cynical music industry nonsense, and I thought it was so important to be the absolute polar opposite.
It’s kind of injecting the history back into it, because it started with Paradise Garage and the gay nights in New York, so I guess you’re kind of bringing it back a bit.
Dan: We’ve always felt that context is really important and I think that if you’re listening late at night to sweaty house and techno then there should be a lot of benders in the room.
Morgan: It creates an atmosphere and, as you said, it’s one that is historically important. I think that’s a great thing that you have Jackmaster, who often plays a very gay house and techno set to bros on the dancer floor.
So you wanted to bring that Berlin vibe?
All: Yep.
Charlie: There are also nights like CockTail d’Amore and Homopatik, but there didn’t seem to be anything like that in London. Those parties and DJs carry weight in the real world, not just the imaginary gay club scene in Vauxhall. They’re DJs and producers first and foremost before they’re seen as having any kind of gay identity. We’re doing the opposite of that and putting them in a gay context.
Morgan: But also on a big scale a sense of kinship and celebration. I think those are things that some gay clubs in London have been missing for a bit.
Clubs like Berghain are still open to people not in the gay community. Would that be the same for Chapter 10?
All: Absolutely.
How do you feel about more and more people paying money to go and see an artist/DJ play their hits instead of going to see a DJ play a DJ set?
Dan: I always think that resident DJs are hugely important and really underrated. Resident DJs tell a different story to big world touring DJs. There’s also the gateway argument that some kid goes to an EDM rave and has an amazing experience with that guy who throws cake at people, but then might see someone else on the same bill like Carl Craig who is a bit more interesting, they might slowly get into more forward thinking music.
What’s your ideal DJ set?
Morgan: It sounds really pedestrian but think its that moment where you’re totally lost in the music and you just get that moment and it doesn’t really matter what genre it is or how many barbituants you’ve taken, when you see someone that’s really good you just have that moment that makes you think “That’s it, I’m having a great time” and the good DJs are the ones who can sustain that.
Dan: In those kind of environments, dancing to music you love is brilliant, dancing to music you don’t know is better, dancing to music that you didn’t even think you liked is even better than that.
Who is your ideal booking?
Charlie: We’ve got one of our ideal bookings playing in November, DJ Sprinkles. Also Prosumer and Mr. G, I’m obsessed with Mr. G!
What record would you play at the end of the night?
Maybe This Time by Norma Lewis. Disco
Describe Chapter 10 in three words.
Charlie: Uncompromising
Morgan: Gay
Dan: Ravey… Gravy! Uncompromising Gravy.
Credits
Text James Hutchins
For tickets and more information head here.