Area 709

After a bit of gentle persuasion, I recently acquiesced to a good friend's long-standing request to participate in her ongoing series of DJ interviews.  The interview process has given me an opportunity to reflect back on the last couple of years, and more importantly ask myself what comes next.  As tends to be the case when I retreat from the scene to self-reflect, I've been spending the majority of my spare time road tripping to interior BC and Squamish, climbing.  March and early April were busy months, and I definitely felt the need to draw back and take stock of things.   

Soundproof had a really successful turnout for our last indoor party, "Tronic" on March 28.  A personal highlight for me was getting the chance to play a 2-hour tag team session with one of my techno heroes, Drew David at this last party.  This is something that's been a while in the making, and the process of the two of us feeding off each other's creativity has definitely become more fluid with each event we've chosen to team up for.  Drew has been a huge influence on me the entire time I've been with Soundproof, so getting the chance to explore our tagging dynamic, at peak time from 1:00am to 3:00am, was a huge honor.  Passing off the controls to Chris was a huge deal too - It doesn't seem all that long ago that Chris and I were the book-ends for these parties, designated openers and closers as opposed to peak time hitters.  

As per usual, everyone played brilliantly and the crew went a bit overboard constructing props for the event.  The theme of the event was loosely based on the 80s sci fi movie, "Tron" so there was no end to the glow-in-the-dark props, grid lines on the floor and walls lit up by blacklights and a massive stage facade which took the form of one of the tanks from the movie.  Massive, massive props to two old Soundproof hands, Silver Dave and Dermot, for returning and constructing the staging, as well as the visuals for this one.  

The following week, a couple of us were involved in an event at Cliffhanger Climbing Gym in Coquitlam.  None of us were really sure what to expect, but the organizers effectively transformed the gym into a packed nightclub from 10:00pm to 2:00am.  The lights got dimmed, spotlights and lazers were trained on the walls and Colleen, Chris and I pounded out the tunes while the crowd climbed and hung out until the wee hours.  I think close to 300 people rolled through over the course of the evening!  We'll definitely be doing this again, and I'll provide ample notice ahead of time for the next round.  

In between "Tronic" and the Cliffhanger party, I also seem to remember playing two club nights at the Anza with the rest of the Soundproof crew.  Thus far, 2010 has been a real blur of activity, so I'm grateful for the recent downtime following these gigs and time spent on the road for work.  I realized the other day that Soundproof has thrown 5 parties in the last year.  This might not seem a lot, but when you're responsible for all the logistics of sound, decorations, lights, on top of actually playing, it takes a lot out of you.  Add in a couple of Anza nights and 3 other larger events with other crews, and well, that's more sleep deprivation than I'd like to admit!  

So, what comes next?  Who knows.  Despite all the navel gazing, I'm comfortable leaving things floating in the aether a while longer, figuring out next steps when I get back into town.  

For now, all my climbing gear is packed and I have a plane ticket back East for a long overdue trip back to New England.

kpd
- Jones

Wow.  It's been a while since I've noted anything down in my blog, here at Area709... 

First off, a couple of us are playing at the Anza Club this Saturday.  It also happens to be Julie Singer's birthday, so please come by and say hello and wish her all the best while she's behind the decks.    The Anza nights are low-key affairs which take place on a Saturday night, usually every 6 weeks. 

I haven't been the best about giving a huge amount of notice for these things, but blog about them here about a week ahead of time.  There's no cover, drinks are cheap and we've always packed the dance floor and the rest of the bar numerous nights over the last year.  At the last one - which happened to be Colleen's birthday - we actually had a lineup outside for the first time.  Honestly though, that was a little weird.   

Off on the events listings on the left, you might have already noticed that Soundproof is having a proper party - "Tronic" - at the end of March.  While the Anza nights are a blast, the bigger, all-night parties is what Soundproof is best known for, and these are the events we look forward to the most.  I'll be posting the flyer next week, but for the time being I can at least confirm what the line-up is going to be (in no particular order):  
PK
Jeff Johnson
Chris Singer
Miss Innocent
Evan Jones vs. Drew David
The Trucker
Johan "Yo" Thornton    

One last note, thank you for all of the praise with "Archives," the latest DJ set I posted back in January.  These projects are few and far between for me, so I'm glad that it's been enjoyed...  

kpd - Jones