News & Views

30 May 2012

A Message to Victoria Party Peeps

by Rennie Foster

Not one to just run out on a work in progress, while I was living in Japan I was trying my best to keep an eye on what was happening in the Victoria underground dance music community. I had been hearing about the Sunset Room and felt hopeful knowing that my beloved hometown had a proper after-hours, essential to a healthy underground anywhere, in my opinion, and a venue style I was growing very fond of playing in my travels. An after-hours environment for me differs from that of a club in that the possibilities for music and atmosphere are wide open with the potential to go deeper and further into the music …all the way to the morning light, the way it was supposed to be enjoyed! When I play an after-hours set over the course of several hours I will attempt to completely dissolve all rules of genre and programming. It sounds cliche but there is just no way of getting around using the somewhat tired word “journey” …more fitting perhaps is the word “trip”, because I am going for something of a transportive experience. Body, mind and yes, soul… (while we are embracing cliches we might as well go all the way.) But as cliche as it sounds in text, believe me, it makes sense on the floor at four in the morning deep into a stereotype defying groove that you can’t even tell what tempo you are dancing to. I am going for a unifying, shared expedition through music directly to the heart of dance music’s purpose within humanity. Believe it.

I first saw the Sunset Room with my own eyes in 2010 on my first trip back to BC in 6 years in order to play at the VEMF Festival. I had heard about it enough times but here it was, and I was very surprised. I knew right away there was something very special about the room. Since that first impression I have now played at the Sunset Room several times, including this past New Years eve. Let me tell you something, I have played at after-hours clubs in several countries, some very famous ones in fact such as Amate-Raxi in Tokyo and Le Batofar in Paris etc. and truthfully, in terms of space, atmosphere and sound, Sunset Room is on par, and perhaps superior in some ways to those venues. The sound system is warm, full and clear, the staff are the absolute opposite of the bully-ish bruisers who love nothing more to intimidate, so common at most every sketchy after-hours I have had the pleasure attending. Ever been to Vancouver’s premier after-hours? Yeah well let me tell you, the staff ain’t very friendly. The Sunset Room staff are always smiling and friendly, warmly welcoming anyone who wishes to come and get down in peace. It’s rare. Everything about the Sunset Room is quite rare in fact. I am not sure Victoria’s scene really understands or appreciates how dope that room really is. Need to step outside for some air? How about being right on the ocean behind a protective gate. Seriously. I have decided to spend some time this year trying to turn some people on to this amazing venue, because sharing something you are excited about is what DJing is really all about my friends.

It’s no secret that Hush is my home-base in Victoria. I love that room more than I can even describe and have said so very publicly even to site it repeatedly as my favourite place to play in several international interviews. I will be at Hush to do my thing with my Hush family on June 30th, so I hope to see you all there. However before that I will make a very special hometown visit on June 9th to do something quite a bit different that I hope you choose to check out because I am hoping to not only show you an amazing venue that you belong at (whether you realize it yet or not) but also expand your pre-conception of what I do as a DJ. When I play a club set I am there for 90 minutes of your partying pleasure and believe me, I was born to do it. However on June 9th I am privileged with a 3.5 hour set and plan to take full command of your after-hours experience. As part of the already great regular event “House Insurance” featuring Dotched from City of Nines and Naomi Nice, starting at 10pm, I will take over the decks at 2:00 am and take it all the way to the morning hopefully getting to know you all a whole lot better in the process. This is something special for me, in a special room with special folks and a whole bunch of extra special music. I am going to do my best to make it something we can remember for a long time and look back on from the future, smiling. Hope so much to see you there.

Sincerely, Your DJ, Rennie 🙂

1 Response

  1. janna

    rennie ‘dubnut’ foster 🙂 i think i havent heard his dj ing for probably 15 years! guess i better get my butt to victoria this summer to shake it up 🙂 thanks for sharing jason hope to see and hear you all soon 🙂

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