Last week I was asking myself, “why am I doing this?”. Bearing in mind that I was organising a party to happen a week before I was moving house, so I was really questioning why I was organising and promoting a party too, concerned that nobody would turn up and that all my efforts (and those of others too whom I will thank later) would be in vain.
Well, those questions were well and truly answered by the smiles on people’s faces, the dancers, the randoms that so enthusiastically thanked me and most importantly the amazing friends that turned up and really enjoyed themselves.
Not to mention the fact that I had a brilliant time too.
I had been thinking since the first party in June as to which DJs to book. There are a good amount of really good local DJs, all with slightly differing styles and with 8 hours to play with, I wanted a variety of house music that I would enjoy, and hence given my unbeatable taste should equally entertain my guests (well I like my taste in music anyway). When myself and Samantha met to discuss a while back, there was no debate.
First up on Saturday at the leisurely hour of 4pm was the co-curator of Free House Project, Samantha Bond. The first set is probably the most difficult in any night, but she has tons of experience and played a beautiful set of melodic house and deep house, good afternoon vibes to kick us off.
I do get asked why we start so early at 4pm given that most people don’t go out until the evening. Firstly, if we started at 8pm then nobody would arrive until 10pm! Secondly the bar is only open until midnight and 8 hours gives us more options with regards to music and DJs and allows for more of a “journey”. And finally, nobody partied during the day in London years ago, so dearest darling disco dancers you just need to learn to change your habits ;-)
Next up was KingPinn, who truly excelled and exceeded my already high expectations. A DJ with such a wealth of knowledge about house music playing a variety of styles from soulful to disco to more techy underground house. I loved it as did everyone else who was there.
Then I played. Well, erm, I spent about 2 hours beforehand trying to work out what to play as my first track and decided about 3 minutes before, I messed up many of my mixes at first and was a bit all over the place, but eventually I got into my groove. I played mostly at 121bpm which is a speed I love at the moment, played lots of deep basslines, going a little dark and seedy at times, and I had a lot of compliments about my music, enough to surprise me.
Then came Sebastian Klone, who played some fantastic underground music, took over from me with more of a house sound than I was previously used to from him though I had a feeling this would be the case, he then played some more techy stuff and deeper stuff, another brilliant set.
Then I played a few more, and also thanks to Edd for spinning a few tunes in the last hour too (sorry I played Party Non Stop which you told me you were going to as I had cued it up…I didn’t know and someone had asked me for it so blame the young lady who asked me!).
Yes, I had two requests – one I played as above, and one that I hadn’t heard of but I was honoured to have received my first ever DJ request note, so thanks for that if you are reading, I was touched! It's quite a nice track too though I don't know how I would fit it in to my DJ set...never say never though.
I was absolutely delighted with all the DJs, even with myself in the end all things taken into account and hopefully you will be seeing them all back again for future parties.
Yes, there will be future parties without a doubt. Still subject to confirmation but there should be one more this year and maybe even monthly next year, once we are in the swing of things J
A big thanks most importantly to those who turned up, had a good time and the dancers – you made my night and I trust you all had a good time too.
Apologies for the lack of dance floor space, several people asked me about it - I did want to move the furniture but it isn’t my venue! And yes I know it gets rather warm in there when it is sunny and warm outside, but trust me, it is warmer Djing or behind the bar. All I can say is – wear less clothes.
Anyway, enough rambling, another huge thank you to those who came, those who DJ’d and those who loved it, and those who wished us well.
Please spread the word as the house music revolution of Reading has only just begun, but it needs you as much as us or the DJs.
Much love
James, FHP xxx
Don't forget to like us on Facebook to keep up to date with what is happening.
There are mixes from Samantha and a previous guest, Tim, on our Mixcloud page.
My mixes are on here, Samantha's are here, Sebastian Klone can be heard on Hoxton FM every Wednesday 8-10pm, and you can listen to some of his productions here, and finally Edd who played a few tracks in the last hour also appears as a guest DJ on Passion FM every other Thursday for Keshava Chandratheva's show.
We will be back.
