Featured interview: Secretsundaze’s Giles Smith and James Priestley

Featured interview: Secretsundaze’s Giles Smith and James Priestley

23 October, 2008 | 3.19AM

• Written by: svnvt
• Filed under: Music News: giles smith, james priestly, secretsundaze

To establish a series of parties is one thing. But to keep it fresh and growing over seven years is something entirely different.

London’s Secretsundaze crew with resident DJs Giles Smith and James Priestley achieved exactly that; molding their daytime party into an internationally acclaimed, hedonistic brand including a record label. And in the process they have re-established Sunday as one of the main rave-days of the week.

We talked to Giles Smith and James Priestley about the beginnings of Secretsundaze, London nightlife and their highly anticipated second Secretsundaze compilation.

What was the original idea behind Secretsundaze?

Giles: When we started the party, we had the cliched idea of organising a party where you could play the music you liked to your friends. That was the basic philosophy behind it. The whole Sunday thing was quite accidental really.

We didn’t have any preference where to do the party in London, be it east, north, south or west.

We wanted to find a nice venue that had the right feeling. We were looking at hundreds of venues all over London. Eventually we found 93 Feet East on Brick Lane, which is still a club but back then it had this loft room, which has now been rebuilt into office spaces.

This loft room had a really beautiful ambience and it felt just right.

But when we tried to secure the room for a Friday or Saturday, we got told that they would only rent out the whole venue, which had three rooms and a capacity of about 1000.

Obviously there was no way we could do that, as we were just starting and we didn’t have a following.

We kept coming back to this place though. Trying to find a way to make a party there. In the end we asked the owners about Sundays, and that was it.

The daytime thing kind of happened organically from there, because people have to work on Monday. And because the room had a balcony and a terrace we started to think about summer.

James: This loft room was really tucked-away and hidden; that’s where the secret in Secretsundaze came from.

It also meant that we did something different and alternative from what was mostly going on back then in London. When we started, it wasn’t so usual anymore to do something in venues which weren’t a regular club but just an open space where you had to bring your soundsystem and everything else.

Giles: To change locations also happened organically. The sound at 93 Feet East was traveling so much (because it was a loft) that we got complains and had to leave. From there we went to a pub with an outdoor courtyard. A very special place. It was completely illegal. Which was one of the reasons why we had to leave eventually. All that made us realise that moving the party from one venue to another is actually a good thing. And since then we are actively trying to find a new location every season. It is integral part to Secretsundaze, because it keeps people excited and it also keeps us excited and on our toes as well.

Around the time when you started Secretsundaze, people in the UK slowly started to notice what was going on musically in continental Europe. The focus shifted. How did that influence the sound at Secretsundaze?

Giles: In the first two years we had a lot of UK deep house guests and classic house DJs from the US like Doc Martin.

We’ve kind of come full circle with the sound now, as we play a lot of the great new deep house stuff at the moment.

The European influences - more minimal, more electronic - came during the second and especially the third year as the party really grew and we got a little bored with the house sound back then.

Until then we brought a lot of European DJs to UK for the first time - Cassy, Matthias Tanzmann or Dorian Paic to name a few.

Have there been any turning points in the development of the party that you remember?

Giles: It was all really sudden. During the first year we had around 150 people every time. And then in the second year the numbers suddenly climbed to a few hundred and then to a 1000.

I can remember the one party, standing on the terrace of 93 Feet East looking down the stairways into the courtyard, which was below, and seeing this snaking queue of people. Hundreds of them. And I was like: “They are coming to our party!”

When did you have the idea to start the label?

James: Giles and I always had this dream of running a record label. When we got to a certain stage, where the parties went well, it was a natural thing to do really.

We wanted to document what was going on so that people could experience it at home or wherever. The idea was there very early, but it took us a few years to really get to the point of sorting it out.

Was either one of you involved in label work before?

James: I used to work for a distribution company for a year and a half and after that shortly for a small label in London called Arision Records.

I worked part time in record shops for ten years. So I had some experience regarding distribution and retail, but we mostly learned how to do it as we went along.

Especially the second compilation that Tobi Neumann did was a very new experience for us.

Where was the difference?

James: Handing over the musical reigns to someone else. Tobi is one of our favourite DJs and was our first choice to do the second compilation, but we didn’t give him much direction or any boundaries regarding the track selection.

So in order to get to a place where we were all happy we had to ask him to do it again a few times. We talked to him about it and he agreed and improved a few bits and pieces.

I think this is a pretty standard and normal procedure but it was new to us. In the end we were all really happy with the compilation and he respected that we were honest and frank with him.

If Giles and I compile an album, like the new one, which is coming out soon, we know and trust each other so much, that we don’t necessarily tell each other which tracks we are going to use. We share the same idea of how it should sound.

You are both not just DJ’ing but also producing. Why haven’t you produced something together yet?

James: Actually we have. We have done a remix for this Sensitiva track, called ’Viola Tricolor’, which was on Tobi’s compilation.

That was the first time that Giles and I got together with our respective studio partners to work on music. I guess it won’t be the last time.

With Secretsundaze now being a global brand, what are the new challenges that come with this success?

Giles: The challenges are the things that are often discussed in terms of keeping the quality of the crowd.

We still do very low-key events on rooftops for around 300 people on an invite-only basis. It’s important to go back and remind you of your roots and also to do something just for fun and not for money.

What definitely has changed is that James’ and my careers as DJs and producers have really taken off.

We quit our daytime jobs during the second year of Secretsundaze. We now have an office and two employees - we have bills to pay and responsibilities like everybody else.

It’s a balance between staying underground and making a living. We like to think that we are still presenting cutting edge music and we are still bringing a lot of people over to the UK for the first time.

We also put a lot of effort into the locations and the events and try to keep things interesting. I am still very happy with and proud of our crowd and the party in general.

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