SINISTRY - The Harder and Darker side of dance music

Octane and Squelcher - Leading the Hardstyle Revolution in London!!!

Friday 20th Feb 2010 | Tags: Octane and Squelcher, Sinistry, London

Octane and Squelcher are bringing Hardstyle to London in a big, big way! With Octane & Squelcher in association with Sinistry on 12th March not far away, we decided to give the Sinners a taste of what they can expect from 2 of the hardest promotions in London!!!

Octane was started in 2009 by the very enthusiastic Andy Swann. Fed up with a lack of Hardstyle in London, he decided to make the jump and start promoting his own night, focusing on the European sound. Their first event was held at London's Mass club in August 2009 with Kidd Kaos, D4rk and Nutty T as headliners. The night was a huge success, with loads of ravers coming out to either support Hardstyle or to see what Hardstyle had to offer. Andy wanted to make the next event even bigger & better and this lead to the alliance with Squelcher.

Squelcher started life nearly 6 years ago, holding numerous successful parties in the capital at venues such as SEOne, Hidden, Club Life (The Factory), 3rd Bass (Mass) and the infamous South Side Bar. Though not a Hardstyle orientated night to begin with, it's focus has shifted alongside that of it's promoter, D4RK! A champion of Hardstyle in London for several years, he wanted to run club nights that showcased the Harder Styles to a much wider audience.

With the rise in popularity of Hardstyle over the last few years and the success of Octane's opening night, Andy and D4RK decided to pool all their resources and contacts together to put on the biggest night of Hardstyle London had ever seen! In November 2009, Octane vs Squelcher took over the huge Blue Room @ SEOne and put on a line-up that had fans of the Harder Styles very, very excited:

The night was an overwhelming success, with one of the highlights being when the crowd rushed onto the stage at the end of the night as Steinbeck banged out the some seriously hard tunes!!

The guys had made a massive effort with décor, with projectors, L.E.D. lighting covering the walls, banners, inflatable's and most importantly, lasers! They really did make a big difference to SEOne and you can see the results below:

After such a great event, more good news came through when they were asked by Frantic to host a room at their upcoming NYE event "Future Frantic". Once again an amazing line-up was assembled to showcase the Harder Styles:

The Hardstyle room was packed from the first tune to the last and it was great to see so many people enjoying the Harder Styles! So much so, the room stayed open an extra hour at the end! The feedback on the message boards was glowing and it went a long way to show how much Hardstyle has grown in London.

3 months on, and the next Octane and Squelcher event is upon us. Sinistry has very gratefully accepted the offer of hosting the 2nd room at Vauxhall's amazing Lightbox club! In preparation for the event, we caught up with D4RK to get the low-down on what you can expect from the most unholy of alliances!!!

Thanks for taking some time out with us D4RK. Can you tell us a bit about Squelcher and your involvement with the promotion?

Many moons ago, well March 16th 2004 in fact, Squelch was formed by a group of friends, Myself, Loki (aka Tranny), RJ and Rumbles when we hosted my birthday party at the Walrus Bar in London. We'd all just started learning to DJ, and wanted to test our skills on our extended group of friends. The party was awesome, with a mix of everything from Electro, House, Breaks, Techno, Hardhouse and believe it or not - Hardstyle. In fact, the party got so hot when I dropped Donkey Rollers "Thunder" we set off the fire alarm and ended up being evacuated outside in the rain for 20 minutes!!

Following the success of the party we wanted to do more, however it took another 6 months to find a proper venue... Deep Blue @ SEOne. The rest, as they say, is history! We gained a reputation for hosting one of the friendliest underground events, with a production to rival that of the big names that had been holding events for years, offering DJs and Live PAs such as Kevin Energy, Cally Gage, Space Sentinelz, Orpheus Live, Group 185, Stakka and JP & Jukesey. The event also offered the perfect platform to showcase up and coming talents. We've also teamed up with some great promotions such as Frantic, HDS, Guilt, Ez-Duzzit/Hectic UK and Happy Nation for events called Red Planet and Squelcher Nation.

How did the partnership between Octane and Squelcher come about?

Squelcher had taken a bit of back seat for 12 months leading up to the Octane event at Mass in August 2009. I'd been more focused on my DJing & the record label, and of course the lovely day job!! However, having seen an impressive turn out for the Octane, the dedication of the new Hardstyle fans, some of which I'd never seen on the dance floors I've been playing, and, of course, my love for the Harder styled music, it seemed an awesome opportunity to combine our forces and take things to another level. It's been a dream of mine to create a dedicated Hardstyle event in London over the last couple of years, with more and more of it being introduced at other events such as Frantic, Glowball, Raindance, etc.

So I guess it was an opportunity not to be missed and I think together we make a great team and an exceptional party!

You've been a huge fan of the Harder Styles for a long time now. What is it about the European sound that grabs you the most?

Oh mate it just makes me f*cking moist!! What more can I say?!!

I don't know what it is... I just love it. When I hear it, whether simply listening to, or playing it, it flicks a switch in my soul that makes me feel alive!! Whether I'm having a day from Hell, or a perfect weekend, Hardstyle has been there by my side making everything better! Sounds cheesy, but it's so true and I've had so much great feedback in the past where I've said the music has helped them through some really tough or down times.

What do you hope to achieve with the two promotions?

Half the bills, double the appreciation and twice as many drinks tokens for Cat!

The first Octane vs Squelcher event at SEOne was a massive success. What are you thoughts on how the night went?

Well Squelcher has hosted I think 12 events at Deep Blue at SEOne over the years and it was always a pipe dream to one day bring the event into the main room at SEOne. The party in November was nothing short of perfect! Some amazing DJs such as Flarup, Da Tweekaz, Sam Punk, Brian M & McBunn as well as the local heroes such as Steinbeck and Jester.

So many people commented on the effort that we'd put into the venue, claiming they'd never seen the venue look so good, and I guess the icing on the cake had to be over hearing a certain promoter of a well established Hardstyle event talking on the phone saying... "F*ck me mate, they've got a better line-up than us!!"

As you mentioned above, the last set of the night with Steinbeck on the decks and everyone on the stage; DJ's, dancers, ravers: never wanting the party to stop! It was emotional!

You also must have been delighted with the reaction the Octane vs Squelcher room received at "Future Frantic"?

I want it to be NYE all over again!! What a party!! The best room in the venue all night, I know I'm biased, but the room being packed from start to finish, full of positive happy people was awesome and says so much more than I can express in words!

You don't know how many times I've watched the Official After Movie on YouTube to relive the memories =)

The Lightbox is an incredible venue and this is the first Hard Dance event to be held there. For people who haven't been there before, can you tell us why you've decided to use it?

We were hunting high and low for a unique venue that would give the Hardstylers something special. Some venues were either too big, too small, too expensive or over used. We stumbled across the Lightbox and were blown away by the visuals provided by the 15,000 wall mounted LED walls and ceilings. It's a really, really cool venue with great production possibilities and it was surprising to hear no-one has been taken a Hard Dance event there before. It also provided the opportunity for a 2nd room, allowing us to introduce one of my favourite promotions into the event ;)

We're very honoured to have been asked to host the 2nd room. Why did you pick Sinistry?

You were cheap and I was hoping for a Sinistry booking in return, it's all about the DJ swaps baby!! Haha!!

We wanted to bring the right crowd and the right promotion to the event, with an element of overlap of styles, but additionally offering something different for the Octane & Squelcher masses. Every time I've played at Sinistry I've been very impressed with the Sinistry attitude towards production and line-up, but most importantly they've got an awesome positive crowd who love their Hard edged music.

The Octane and Squelcher room is packed with talent. Could you tell us a bit about the headliners?

We were so impressed with all the DJs from Octane & Squelcher in November at SEOne, it was half tempting to go with exactly the same line-up again!

However, we thought we'd go with the "getting married" approach: Something Old ... Da Tweekaz or maybe me... Something New... DJ Thera (Brennan & Heart)� Something Blue... Rob Da Rhythm from Scotland... Something Lacy... Steinbeck in my mum's underwear... should I stop there?!!

But seriously, Da Tweekaz simply blew us away at the last event! Top guys, top DJs/Producers, and an essential part of the party!

DJ Thera (Brennan & Heart) is a hugely respected DJ in Europe, has some fantastic productions under his belt, and a pleasure to have him gracing the decks for us at his London debut.

Rob Da Rhythm, Louk and Nick the Kid are all making big noises at the moment both in the UK and abroad, so again great to have them on board.

What would you say to people who've never been to a proper Hardstyle night before or that may be thinking about coming along?

J.F.D.I!!! Which translated from Geek Speak means "Just F*ckin Do It"!! Just come as you are, leave your troubles at the front door and keep you mind open to something new!

It's a tough one. I don't like to think that we are just any old Hardstyle or Hard Dance event. Squelcher has a reputation for production and the friendliest crowds, something we've strived to maintain over the years. So I hope that the energy and atmosphere of the event adds to the enjoyment of your night whether you're a Harder Styles virgin or a hardened Q-Dance veteran!

And finally, will the Hardstyle Army be making an appearance on the night?! They seemed to go down pretty well on NYE!!!

Haha! The Hardstyle army did go down really well for the majority of people. Although there were some questionable faces asking; "Why am I being given a guyliner'd duck?!?!"

They've made an impact outside the clubs as well, with a very good friend's 5-year-old daughter going home and converting her Barbie dolls to the Darkside too!! But yes, there's a few still in the cupboard at home waiting for conversion, and I definitely think Da Tweekaz should swap the Malteaser for a Hardstyle duck in their After Movie!!