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The Big Column
By Big Dave Photos by Corey Blackburn Electronic Music.. What is it? Why are people into it.. Dance parties? What on earth are they? This is how I felt back in the day, hearing bits and pieces about a scene that kept itself a pretty low profile from the public perspective. Going out used to be just turning up to a club, paying your door charge, and dancing. From our perspective, it’s a 40 hour a week full time job keeping that going, but seeing the smiles on people faces all night makes it so worth it! Throughout these columns we will explore the myriad of Dance music genres, different clubs in town (including my own), and the out there and ridiculously fun experiences we al having living bang smack in the ‘scene’ Also, what’s coming up in the land including the ‘Big’ gigs, what’s going to go off and what’s probably going to end up being the embarrassing flop that costs someone a LOT of money. Intertwined in the dance scene is the promotions game (putting on parties), which is so fickle that winning and losing can depend on what time it rained that night. We will look at this in this column and see what works and what doesn’t, and the crazy things we do to get people to parties! Today we will look at the club that we run called Space. Space Bar launched in July 2006, with the help of our esteemed colleague Richard of Newmarket (Everyone knows Richard in the local block, hence his name). With the $100,000 Opus Audio sound rig that had been imported from the UK which was just sitting in the garage (we were SICK of hiring out cos we had to carry it), we decided to install it in what was Phoenix Disco and Bar (Yes, DISCO and bar). Discos aren’t cool anymore believe it or not, so it had to be renamed pretty much soon as, and chose Space Bar because it made is easy to tell people over the phone – “like on your keyboard…”. At that time the venue was being used for private functions, with the occasional dance party. It got to the point that hiring out the venue with a state of the art sound system, an advanced lighting rig, 2 projectors and a classy bar for .. wait for it .. Yugoslavian Karaoke (yes it exists) was just ridiculous, and something had to be done! It had to be transformed from a ‘private function venue’ to a ‘club’. By losing lots of the wood, and replacing with silver and blue, and getting rid of much of the awful seating and installing booths (clubbers like booths) the place was changed dramatically. All the bits that had been ripped out to make way for the Opus Rig were then pieced together and constructed to create a pretty phat and loud soundsystem in the second room, which allowed promoters to put on events that had 2 genres of music at the same time. This always draws more punters! Now it was time to get the punters in there after our overhaul, and we were fortunate enough to get events such as Pure NRG, Dimension, Illogic and Gimic to happen there, which helped shape space’s name in the Hardhouse scene. Some of the best dance events of the year (according to members of the dance music website NZRave.com) have happened at Space. The space isn’t your normal long room with the DJ booth at one end, its sort of quirky with a big long bar that goes all the way along the main room, and some kind of stage installation (where the DJ plays) opposite the bar. This strange design has caused a distinct lack of symmetry, but it helps create the energy that is unique to Space. This ‘vibe’ as people call it is also directly as a result of the Opus sound rig, which is very loud yet completely clear and create an awesome party atmosphere because clubbers are enjoying the music more than at other venues – this is the Space experience. Now the name is out there, its time to establish a consistent multi-genre product (no one dance scene in Auckland is big enough to make Space feasible – except House music) that can be promoted to the wider community. All those in Auckland will hear about this in the coming months – we will ensure that you do! Next time we will talk about club promotion, and massive part of the running of a nightclub, and look at all the crazy things we have done to make it work in the backwaters of Newmarket. See you next time! 
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