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Written By: getdextrous |
If you've never been to Edinburgh at this time of year, you need to have some words with yourself - pronto. For the month of August, Scotland's capital is transformed from a historic, traditional city to a right old knees up. There's comedy, theatre, artists - and of course, there's music.
The festival brings all kinds of performers to Edinburgh, and if you're heading up here for a slice of the action you won't want to be missing out on the very best the city has to offer. Because of the vast selection here, at first it can be a bit difficult to find out where exactly the best places to party are. That's why tonight I've headed to We Are ... Electric, one of Edinburgh's hottest electronic nights, to speak to founder and resident DJ Gary Mac.
We Are ... Electric has a weekly slot at Edinburgh's most essential venue, Cabaret Voltaire: a club built quite literally into the underground of the city. Tonight is the first part of We Are Electric's third birthday celebrations, and Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y. has just taken over from Gary on the wheels of steel. Gary has been partying 'til the daylight in Edinburgh for the best part of 20 years - who better to give me the lowdown on what's hot right now in this crazy place?
Hi Gary. Can you start by giving me an insight into where your night has come from, and where it fits into the scene up here in Edinburgh?
Cabaret Voltaire is tied right in with We Are ... Electric. I used to co-promote with Zara, the manager here - we ran a night called Low Gravity at another great club called The Liquid Rooms, with our friend Felix. That ran from 2001 to 2004, and we had a really fun approach: we'd mix across hip hop, house, breaks, everything. Eventually Zara decided to take over Cabaret Voltaire, and she asked me and Felix to come over with her.
That was 3 years ago now, and we were all listening to electro and house, but there wasn't really anyone outside of The Arches in Glasgow that were pushing that kind of sound, and we originally chose a Wednesday because there were already loads of other nights on at weekends. There's something about Edinburgh Wednesdays, even Edinburgh Tuesdays - they've become the kind of nights where you get a great mix of people. Nowadays I'm the only resident because Felix moved to London, so I get local guys involved: people that I think have the right attitude and the right tunes to do it. I'm lucky because what I like musically really works on the Wednesday nights: it's the perfect combination because I get to play what I really love, and I get a great crowd to play it to. We also have resident DJs on rotation in the second room: it's an important part of the night for us, giving people an alternative to the straight up electronic music of the main room.
These days, if you pick up a copy of The List (Edinburgh's version of Time Out), it's clear that the scene is really healthy. We're lucky because being on a Wednesday we can keep the prices low but still have a great music policy. There's loads of student nights in town which only focus on having cheap booze, but we really want to run a night which is solely based on the music. We often get people that come along simply because they've heard that Cabaret Voltaire has a good reputation, who have never heard this kind of music. But they come back, they hang out long enough, and they really get into it.
In terms of the "year round" scene in Edinburgh, a lot of my friends run nights: Ultragroove is a regular Saturday night, and Gareth (who runs it) is one of the best DJs in Edinburgh. He's been doing it for about 20 years, like me. We've also got Sugarbeat club, which is more breaks orientated, and has Utah Saints as residents. Down at Bongo Club, you get stuff like dub, reggae and dubstep, and there's also people that put on a lot of broken beat, jazz and soulful kinda nights, so you've got a good spectrum. Musika also put some great stuff: they just put on Moby a couple of weeks ago.
So it sounds like even before you consider the festival, there's already loads going on here! What additional stuff does the festival bring?
Well, the obvious answer is that there's more people in town! The bars get a 3AM license, and the clubs get their licenses extended to 5AM. These festival tents also spring up: there's one called The Spiegeltent, another called The Underbelly. Quite often there'll be a really good night in there, so people can just hang out. Loads of the bars get a big budget to spend, for putting stuff on. Particularly if the weather's nice, you can go to some great bars and see some great stuff.
I guess there's a danger that people can get blinded by the sheer amount of stuff that's on: when you look at the festival guide it can be a bit scary simply by how big it is! We also get loads of people in town from loads of different countries, and as a promoter you'll often get people from all over the world coming up to you and saying "I never thought that I'd find this kind of music here!" and having a really great night.
For the city as a whole, the festival is great. It's so good to have a lot of interesting people in town, and on top of that it's our night's birthday in the middle of it all, so we always have big names on! This year we've got Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y. tonight, and Larry Tee here next week, because we wanted to cover all aspects of the sounds we're pushing. We're trying to offer like a "double sided coin" of a birthday party: two different acts at the top of their games, but doing a very different thing.
And what's it like to DJ here during the festival?
I guess it's all to do with what new music I've found that week. If there's good stuff out there, then I'll go with that, if there's not so much then I'm the kind of guy that likes to go back and look for B-sides of stuff that I've already got, and find stuff that's new to me that way. I think during the festival we really try to be a bit more accessible, just in case there's a lot of new people that have come in and need to get into the vibe before you can bring out the deeper dance music. Sometimes during the festival you get these weird requests which are way off of what you're trying to do, but you have to persevere and win people over that way.
Which artists are you particularly looking forward to during the festival this year?
There's this four piece rock band called The X Vectors, they have this "bleepy" element to their music. It's quite syncopated, like a bass and drums groove. They always go down really well in a dance music environment. Then there's Stanton Warriors playing a double headliner with Krafty Kuts - they're probably the big one of the festival, the one that everyone's talking about. After that, we've got Digitalism live up here too, which I'm going to be doing a warm up DJ set for. I'm really looking forward to them. There's absolutely loads of stuff.
And do you have any particular memories of great artists at the festival in the past few years?
Actually, I saw Franz Ferdinand here a couple of years ago. It was just as they were releasing Take Me Out, and they reminded me of some crazy cross between New Order and The Jam. It was syncopated, sharp beats - they were fantastic. The venue had booked them to play before they'd got famous, and then by the time the gig came around everyone was saying how they couldn't believe that they were playing.
Last year, I actually went to a show with Philipp from M.A.N.D.Y., and we saw this fantastic Argentinean troupe doing physical theatre with electronic music. It was mental. I'm also really into the film festival up here. In the last 3 or 4 years I've done some crazy stuff like seeing twenty films over ten days.
What are your top tips for someone coming to Edinburgh for the festival?
Every space - every cupboard - in Edinburgh becomes a venue. Places that have never put an event on in their life: churches, youth clubs, embassies - they all put some great stuff on in the festival. People should really check them out. I'd personally recommend going to Late And Live: it's one of the shows where you don't know who it's going to be, but you get some great comedy acts there. You should also have a wander up and down the high street in the middle of the day too: you get all the street performers doing their stuff, and loads of acts doing some previews of the kind of stuff that they do in their main shows at night.
Imagine I've just woken up on my first morning here at the festival. I'm ready for a big day and night out - what should I do?
You should definitely start by having a good wander around the old town. You can find a lot of good, traditional Scottish bars round there, and there's some pretty good shops up and down there too. Then take a wander over to the Meadows - it's like the Hyde Park of Edinburgh, situated in the student area. If you're looking for some food, come to my juice bar, Beetlejuice! It's got the vibe of the coffee shops in Barcelona. Then for the afternoon, you could head down to the shore: there's loads of nice places to eat and drink round there. There's loads of great people round there, and a few mates of mine have recording studios and graphic design places. It's out of the city centre, so you need to get a bus, but it's definitely worth a trip.
Next you should come back into town and hit The City Cafe: it's a bar which has been running for about 20 years, and it's a traditional style ‘50s diner and bar. I think it's even mentioned in Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting! It's right across the road from Cabaret Voltaire, and so loads of people meet up there, have a drink and come across to the club. Biased as I may be (because I run a night there!), I really think that Cabaret Voltaire is the most happening club in Edinburgh. It's got a great sound system, all the staff are top, and it's got a selection of the best nights in town. It's a unique little club: a lot of the big guests come and tell us "This place is fucking old school!" It's a little cavern with a warm, tight soundsystem. They love it.
Then, if you're still going, The Phoenix Bar in Broughton Street, is where people that have been partying all night gravitate with their sunglasses on. I ended up there on New Year’s Day at about 8AM - it's always quite amusing.
And if people can't make it up here in time for the festival, is there still a good amount of stuff to do here for the rest of the year?
GM: Absolutely! In We Are ... Electric alone, we've got Dollz at Play coming up, and we've got Lopazz playing live soon too. We're also trying something cool out soon: we're having a Zurich night in October, with Kalabrese and Zwicker. They're going to be bringing over their own VJ too, so they'll do the whole package.
*
Tonight Cabaret Voltaire is absolutely jumping. Philipp M.A.N.D.Y. is playing to an absolutely packed crowd who are out to show everyone that weekends aren't the only time to party. Upstairs in The Speakeasy, the club offers a stylish table service as the ravers kick back and chill out. It's a stark contrast to the energy downstairs: picking up on the warm, dark vibe of the space, Philipp dishes out some of Get Physical's finest, embedded in a solid set of playful house and warm techno. Reworks of some of the label's staples give the soundsystem a healthy workout, and the bassy, energetic climaxes in the set send the crowd into a frenzy. The words on everyone's lips are that the music is awesome, and it definitely echoes the inclusive, fresh energy of We Are ... Electric. There's people from all over the world here for the festival, partying on down with the Edinburgh locals - and everyone is loving every second of it.
*
Fast forward to the weekend, and it's Bass Syndicate's Krafty Kuts and Stanton Warriors night, at The Liquid Rooms. Having spent the evening catching a couple of Fringe comedy shows, I get to the venue just as Krafty takes to the stage. The fact that I've been a little underwhelmed by some of the bigger names in breaks recently only goes to heighten the fact that tonight I am absolutely blown away. There's staples from all over the electronic spectrum brandished around like weapons of mass destruction: from electro and techy sounds right through to some raw dubstep - for four solid hours, everything feels towering and immense.
Starting out with a set that feels pretty close to energetic perfection, Krafty Kuts wins the crowd over, and keeps pushing the boundaries harder and harder. Spicing up the ride with an array of his own productions, the set is as much playful as it is invigorating. Performing seamless yet hard, harsh cuts between tracks, Krafty Kuts displays the kind of dexterity in his set that really brings the night alive. The great layout of the venue, with its all-encompassing dancefloor surrounded only by an imposing balcony (which is also packed to the rafters with people dancing their cotton socks off) carries the atmosphere and the excitement of the night through everyone within the four walls.
As the sun is just threatening to rear its ugly head over the smokers in the courtyard, Stanton Warriors smash out what is perhaps the most intelligent breaks sets I've ever seen. Sure, it's still fun and sure, the energy in the room doesn't dip one joule, but this is dark, dark stuff - and they know it. One Stanton takes care of mixing while the other edits loops and vocal samples live, creating a seamless string of familiar moments over an ever-evolving backdrop. At times it was tense and sparse, at others it was pounding and almost too intense. The culmination of recorded tracks and "on the fly" sampling works perfectly: if Richie Hawtin did breaks, then this would have been the set he told his kids about. If he had kids.
As the ravers gave in to the daylight and the first of the Sunday's festival performances were just getting set up across town, the cobbled streets of Edinburgh saw yet another influx of people onto its windy, cobbled streets. Interested in chatting to punters to see from which neck of the woods they've travelled from, I'm met with people from all over the globe who've headed here for arts, drama and music - and everyone seems to agree that the it really doesn't get much better than this.
The Edinburgh International Festival continues until the end of August and features some huge shows. Many of the art exhibitions and installations also continue into September.
http://www.eif.co.uk/
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