Sean Quinn @ The Lounge, Launceston (14/09/02)
Reported by Bing Monday, September 16 2002
On the road again, going places that I?ve never been (since the last big gig road trip anyway!). This time round the destination was Launceston?s The Lounge. I?ve been here before and it was a top little venue for a Friday night drink, but truthfully I was a little apprehensive about being packed in there with three hundred other punters. Luckily for everyone I was quite wrong. With the couches all but removed entirely, the room opened up into a wicked clubbing venue- the low slung lights gave it a sleazy vibe, there are lots of corners to hide in, lots of room to dance, a funky house chill out area in the back and slamming progressive house in the main room. Really, what more could you ask for?
Opening the club in the main room was Hobart?s local rock star Gillie. Combining a smooth house fueled beginning with the funky, deep progressive sounds he is known for really got the party off and running with a bang. The first third of Gillie?s set was unfortunately wasted on punters coming through the doors and relaxing into the event, rather than getting on the floor and vibeing off his energy as a DJ. Never the less, Gillie always delivers a consummate performance.
One AM rocked around quickly as the first of two Melbourne based DJ?s hit the decks. Sean Quinn was up first in a curiously short one and a half-hour set. I am a big fan of Sean?s music but was really surprised (in a good way) by his choice of tracks. For the most part he stayed away from the progressive sounds he is known for opting for a far housier groove, broken up with a little breaks and eventually turning in some fairly light, vocal orientated progressive towards the end. Simply stated he rocked it. The dance floor was packed up the front and it was fairly obvious whom the punters were there to see. The biggest track would have to have been the Josh Wink house remix of Radiohead's Everything In Its Right Place. Massive.
After Mr. Quinn, eSKay was due on but I headed out the back for some proper house music and a bit of a chill out and a chat. While this was going on Chris B and a guy from San Francisco (names, who?d remember them?) dropped a lot of vocal orientated funk. Always good.
Back out into the main room Jason Digby was on and he was tearing the place up. Deep, dark, driving progressive house with fat arced bass lines was the sound being spat out. Jason did a nice job of interweaving a few big, vocal progressive house anthems (think Story Reel, Walking On Fire etc?) perfectly breaking up the twisted stuff.
Closing out the night was another Launceston local, Bluff. In line with the last few times I?ve seen this guy play he mixed up genres like there was no tomorrow (or indeed no rules as to what usually sounds right together!). Basically he just has an amazing ear for what sounds shit hot. Bluff?s funky, breaks heavy set had the energy levels picked right back up again and offered Tasmania a different look at what a closing set should be (I?m so sick of DJ?s that bang it out hard as nails just because its after 5.30am).
So that was it in a nutshell. The crowd were pretty up-for-it, the atmosphere was electric at times and the music was very cool (but could have been louder).
Hang on a second that wasn?t it at all. I almost forgot the after party!
The after party was directly upstairs in this huge, ex bank turned nightclub. Earlier in the evening horrid cover bands provided the sound track to the drunken skanks with their sleazy boyfriends, but now the tempo was completely different with Gillie and Chris B storming the decks and providing a wicked, impromptu, back-to-back set of house bombs! Genius, just what the doctor ordered. After that Judas scared the crap out of me with his take on psy-trance (the large majority of punters go into it) but for us it was time to get back in the car. See you next time around with Aussie superstar DJ Kasey Taylor.
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