Ill arrive to the movie theatre in time to watch all twenty minutes worth of previews and I have no problem getting to the airport hours before my flight departs though I know half an hour will suffice, but never have I made a conscious effort to arrive to the club early enough to see the opening DJ (except Cattaneo). In reality, the routine is to arrive at the tail end of the opening DJs set and thats only because I want to observe how the main DJ takes his/her place behind the decks and note if the preceding set has any bearing on his/hers.
On the night that Mr. C played everything was going haywire and I arrived at The Lotus at 24:15. I was shrill with panic because I hate being late and I had been looking forward to Mr. C, the supposed creator of tech-house, for a while now. Luckily, I was wrong. I got to witness the exciting spectacle of seeing Mr. C step behind the decks, put on the headphones and do the preliminary flicking, sliding, and turning of knobs. But, more importantly, I got to hear Vancouvers
http://www.deepen.cc Vernon and
http://www.jaytripwire.com Jay Tripwire go off.
These two were remarkably good. Even before I entered The Lotus I could hear solid, pumping tech house blaring (in my rush to get into the club I almost fell down the stairs). When I finally placed myself in a strategic quadrant of the dancefloor, all stoked to mimic a malfunctioning robot, I realized that locals Tripwire and Vernon were spinning and not Mr. C as I had presumed.
Their music and the mixing were great, a combination of stellar disjointed beats and exceptional marksmanship. I couldnt help but think that if the music was already this manic at midnight who knew what freakish heights the evening would take us to. It seemed like everyone around me was totally enjoying the music so they would have definitely been able to handle it if they decided to turn it up a notch. And then do you know what happened? Tripwire played Herbie Hancocks Rockit. Everyone went off and then some.
A few tracks after Rockit there was a bit of a regression. The music seemed to take a step away from the tech and towards the house. I looked up to see the ex-Shamen. Mr. C was in control now and he didnt want to continue the thread that Jay Tripwire and Vernon had started spinning.
Mr. Cs set soon took off. Once the first two or three songs passed he played track after track of bass-heavy tech house which was comparable to the gems that had been previously heard. What was not comparable was Mr. Cs attitude. He seemed so glum. Perhaps he wasnt in the mood, or perhaps hes DJd too many years, or perhaps he had a premonition of what was going to happen half an hour down the road. Either way he looked so sad, going through the motions as if hed rather be watching a football game or reading the latest issue of
http://www.janes.com Janes
At some point I decided I would boost Mr. Cs morale by complimenting him on a fine set. His response was a hateful glare that shocked me. A second later he ripped the needle from the current record. The club swelled with cheers but he told us to shut up. Someone had taken his CD crate and he was threatening to stop the party if the thief didnt return them promptly. You can imagine that the klepto was no where to be found (but regardless they checked most peoples bags when leaving). A few minutes later Mr. C was back to playing records but if he had been unenthusiastic beforehand you can imagine how much effort he was putting in now.
I guess, from his point of view, the evening bit. From mine the evening was excellent. Great music all around, excitement and drama (unfortunately at Mr. Cs expense) and a very receptive crowd (that would have screamed and hollered as much as they did even if they werent trying to console Mr. C).
For information on Mr. C please visit
http://www.the-end.co.uk
