When we were party animals

I HAD shied away from the nightlife scene three years when Dave Avran, editor of Smoove Pinch, said, “We are organising a succession of parties, called The Remember Series, to pay tribute to the popular clubs of the 1980s and 1990s, from April to December. Would you like to come?”

Of course!

Avran and I go back a long way, almost 10 years. This was when I was a cub reporter for a small publication called Movin’ KL. We’d badger the former manager of Roxy Club at Renaissance to allow us in to cover the VIP parties. And good ole Dave always gave in despite the complaints from his guests. How the memories are returning.

DJ Bernie

The Remember Series is what you’d get when an “uncle” decides that he is not ready to relinquish his Harley bike for the rocking chair just yet.

“The senior DJs and patrons told us crazy stories about the fun they had back then. They said it was missing in today’s clubbing scene and suggested it would be nice to bring it back,” says Avran. And that was how The Remember Series was born.

The first party was on April 8 at Bond in AvenueK. So far there have been eight Remember Series parties recalling the popular clubs of the 1990s, like Baze, Scandals, Saqs, Boom Boom Room, Heaven at Modesto’s Forum, Barbarran Bar and Dance Club, DV8, Viva Dance Club,

Bringing the past to the present is not easy since most of the old clubs no longer exist. Avran and his team had to track down former nightclub owners to get an accurate picture of how they did things back then.

“We needed a place that could fit the crowd and be flexible enough to cater to the various nuances of our tribute nights. Bond Lounge in AvenueK was very supportive of our needs and fitted the image we wanted.

“But the plan is not to stick to one place, as we also want the crowd to experience other venues. For example, the Betelnut and Brannigans tribute night was held at Sugar Club at Crowne Plaza Mutiara Hotel,” Avran says.

All the Remember parties, they decided, would be held on weekend nights.

“We knew our target market could only be persuaded to come out on a weekend night. This is so that they can recuperate after dancing and singing the night away. Understandably, most say they aren’t as energetic as they used to be,” admits Avran.

Getting the music right

Then came the little detail called the music. DJs from the old clubs, like Mr Q of Baze, Groovemaster of Viva, and Philippe de Souza (now spinning in Rum Jungle) of Betelnut were called in.

According to Avran, finding the DJs weren’t a problem but getting them to play the songs from the old days was. Some had sold off or given away their music collection. Others had retired and become rusty. And the vinyl of some of the old records had warped with the years.

One 31-year-old deejay, who only wants to be known as DJ JD, tells me that some rare club versions like After The Love Has Gone by Princess and JD Taylor’s Long Hot Summer Night had to be re-mastered and remixed again after being downloaded from the Internet.

“Altogether it was a long and tedious process of searching for the songs because they are no longer found in the record shops. And because we could only get 10% of the sound from the MP3 format, we had to bring the sound up to 100% again,” says JD. Jeremy Lee, aka Groovemaster, 30, says the Remember parties certainly bring back the old memories. Jeremy, who began deejaying at 15 in shopping malls, was only 25 when he played at Viva but by then he was already one of the most expensive DJs around, making around RM8,000 a month.

Groovemaster and DJ Royston at the Viva tribute night at Bond in avenueK.

“When we were in Viva, people had this perception that we were arrogant because we didn’t entertain requests. This was for work reasons because requests interrupt the flow of the music. The idea was to build the tempo slowly and then go to a high. We created an upmarket dance club with the brand of music that we played.

“We also played mambo jambo, which is mainstream R&B, and 1970s and 1980s music, where you’d get Kool and the Gang and Billy Joel. Then from 1am till closing time, it would be Happy House (disco type of beat),” recalls Lee, who now runs his own golf consulting business.”

The scene has changed, Lee observes.

“During the 1980s, people could go to clubs without worrying about raids. But now people are starting to rely on unnecessary substances. This, I think, started to happen in the 1990s when I had my first experience of being in the middle of a raid at a club in Bukit Bintang,” said Lee.

JD thinks the pill-popping trend does not contribute to the party atmosphere at all.

“Back in those days, we would be on a natural high and when people danced, you could feel a sense of camaraderie,” he remarks.

“Now,” chips in Lee, “there is a very cold and pretentious feeling with the people in the clubs.”JD also thinks people in those days had more class. They had a certain style because clubbing was an occasion to dress up. Nowadays, the crowd is not only unpolished but too hip-hop. Also many of today’s clubbers tend to go to a club alone compared to back then when people went in groups, which contributed to a better party atmosphere.

DJ Bernie, 36, whose real name is Bernard Charles, says there is little variety in the clubbing scene in terms of music. He reckons that the nightclub owners had better do something about this before the people start heading overseas to party for the weekend.

These deejays cannot help but miss the bygone days. What JD misses most of all is the music flow of today’s clubs.

“The new deejays seem to have taken the shortcut where everything sounds like it has been cut and pasted together. Back then, we would blend in and remix the songs so that it would not sound choppy,” he says. “Nowadays,” Lee adds, “I get the impression that the new deejays are either deaf or mute. You seldom hear them speak. In those days, we would build up the hype by doing things like turning the volume down so that the crowd could sing along.”

While the Remember parties are just the thing for nostalgic deejays, some were sceptical the parties would really take off. After all, the party animals of the previous decade have become the parents of this decade.

“They couldn’t believe that we managed to get these old regulars to come out of their family lives for just one night to celebrate their hey days,” explains Avran. “I think some of them got very sentimental about it and realised that all those years of being a DJ had a meaning after all.”

For the climax, watch out for the Remember Series bash in December called “Reunite – Class of 1980-2000”. Expecting close to 3000 people, Avran and his team from Smoove Pinch will be playing 25 years’ worth of music in one night.

Coming tribute parties in November and December are listed below. Cover charge: RM 30 with one free drink unless stated otherwise. Remember: Tin Mine, Rumours & Club Oz Remember: The Backroom KL Immaculate & Silhouette Sessions 1999-2000 Reunion Remember: Movement Remember: Echo, Ohm & White Room Bangsar The Remember Series Finale – Reunite For more information on dates and venues, visit: www.SmoovePinch.com or contact Dave Avran at 019-235 4775.

The Star, Saturday October 14, 2006