Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you started to organise events?

My father is a professional jazz drummer, so I grew up playing drums and guitar and by 1997 I had a band. We were playing punk rock and hardcore music. Electronic music came by the end of 1997 – while traveling in Miami I was introduced to breaks and house music. At home besides playing with the band,

I was taking my PC everywhere playing this ‘weird’ 4 x 4 music, unknown to everyone that surrounded me, with a Winamp and a mouse.

In 2002 I moved to London where I touched a real mixer for the first time and had my first paid gig in a club. In 2003 I met Enrico and Ross from the Antiworld Events. At first I asked for a gig, but I ended up distributing flyers all over London. From being a flyer distributor to main promoter and resident DJ, I believe that I learnt the art and tricks of promoting with these guys – they were sharp! In 2004, myself and two other partners started our own events company called Digital Hive. At our second event we gathered 1 500 people. In 2006 I decided to create something new, something more daylight, something fresh. Kinky Disco was born and we’ve been operating since then.

What was your initial motivation behind the Kinky Disco events?

We promoted an event in an old abandoned library in South London. The main room was huge, the ceiling was very high and made out of glass. Sunday morning the sun rose and shone inside the venue, it was a different environment for a dance floor, taking into consideration that for the majority of the time people in London spent their weekend dancing in dark rooms. You could see in everyone’s faces that everyone was cheering up merely because

they could see the sky from the dance floor and there was natural light.

A good friend of mine approached me and said ’I wish we had more venues like this man’. I heard the ’ding’ and saw an imaginary light bulb on the top of my head. Since then I decided to take my dance floors outdoors.

Six years since the first Kinky Disco party – looking back, what have been some of your favourite memories?

A good memory was at the first Kinky Disco rooftop party of last year’s season. By the end of the event (2am) the dance floor was at its best – just like it was six hours before. But our time was over and we had to cut the music off.

The crowd went mental, nobody wanted to leave the dance floor – it was crazy.

And the next moment everyone on the dance floor was singing songs. It was a funny moment because you could feel the high vibrations and it took us about two hours to exit 400 people out of the venue.

Being involved in throwing parties for this long – do you think there are other organisations that are following the Kinky Disco concept nowadays? If so, how do you feel about this?

Sure there are. I feel honoured. It’s great to know that my vision and concept is tight to the point to influence other promoters. As long as newcomer promoters don’t see each other as competitors, but as work mates and walk in the same direction, only great things can come out of it. In the end we are all doing the same thing, we must all look after our guests in the best way possible and keep everybody together.

What is going to make this summer’s Kinky Disco events special?

Great music, great locations and a musically educated crowd. This is a sublime combination and we are very fortunate to have that. Besides that, we want to create a sort of ‘entertainment centre’ whenever possible, where guests have the option to walk onto the dance floor and party, or enjoy external activities like the pool, volley ball, football, slip ‘n’ slide, art and a clothing exhibition by local designers among a few other surprises that we want to keep as a secret for now.

What is the worst thing that could happen when organising an event like that?
Rain.

Tell us what the most important thing is when it comes to choosing the artists to perform at the Kinky Disco events?

It all comes down to music quality. We create a musical journey that starts at 90 BPM and gradually finishes at 120 BPM, in between you can expect down tempo, minimal, electronica, deep house, tech-house and some other weird stuff that you have to hear to understand.

It’s like choosing the right pilots to fly an aircraft.

It sometimes takes me three or four days to plan a line-up.

Is it important to have international acts?

It is and it is not. From the point of view of a promoter, it’s always nice to offer something new. It’s great to have internationals down here broadcasting fresh music, influencing local DJs and party people. However, I’ve seen well respected artists coming down and delivering a terrible performance, where a local DJ could have done way better.

Have you been to the European summer daylight parties? How do they compare to the SA ones?
I’ve spent seven years in Europe so I’ve been to quite a few. The big difference is: everything in Europe is much more affordable, especially technology. With a small budget you can have an amazing set-up and with a big budget you can create a mind blowing city. Another point is,

you can fly artists pretty much all over Europe for under R 1000 and because the market for big names is a bit saturated up there, their set fees are very different than here.

To sum it up: in Europe you can have a high-end production with more super-star DJs on the line-up with the same amount of guests that would attend an SA event. But we are getting there.

Is there a philosophy or mindset that you would want party-goers to take away from the Kinky Disco parties?
Yes… go wild!

Kinky Disco parties go on for 12 hours so you might not be too worried about this – but I’m going to ask anyway – how do you feel about the South African law being so strict about closing clubs/parties at 4 or even 2am? Why can’t we have after-hour clubs like in Berlin, for example?

Good question. Why can’t we? I don’t believe stopping alcohol consumption at 2am or 4am will change the statistics of violence in this country. I’d spend more time and money to find a real solution to fight against real criminals and let people party a bit longer.

The kinkiest experience you’ve ever had is… ?

Hahaha. I take it you’re talking about events… still…. my answer might be inappropriate for an online magazine.

What’s on your summer playlist for 2012?

Lot’s of stuff. At home it ranges from Sublime to Massive Attack.
At the party it would be from Kompakt Records to No.19 or Hypercolour.

When are your next events?
November 10th – Kinky Disco feat. Phonokemi (Berlin) and December 1st – Kinky Disco feat. Jennifer Cardini (France).

Lastly, how exactly does one ‘Take Fun Seriously’?
When you wake up on Monday regretting everything that you have done over the weekend. (laughs)
Hence a Facebook status of a guest and good friend of ours:

‘’ Looking forward to act like a normal human being on the dancefloor, talking sense instead of playing out a victory scene from the movie Brave Heart… was fun though…’’ – Warren Bokwe

 
We caught up with various artists who performed at CTEMF and chatted to Dave Ireton, one of the organisers, to find out what they had to say looking back at the event – one which has surely been a milestone in South Africa’s electronic music scene history.


 
Fabio Di Cosmo aka DJ Cosmo from Digital Rocket(Listen!)
 

© Digital Rockit

The CTEMF exceeded my expectations in many ways, and although Sunday was not as busy as previous days, I was still amazed that on the third day the crowd had such a high level of energy.

Deep-house seemed to be the order of the day. Although I was only there for Black Coffee and Bruno Morphet, they both delivered quality sets with Bruno definitely delivering some of the deepest music of the festival. In the evening when we (Digital Rockit) played, the crowd was well into it and it went down really well, it was such a pleasure to play to them. I was very impressed with Regan’s underground quality techno and thought Goldfish killed it.

I thought the layout and location of the festival was pure genius, the sloped floor leading down towards the stage and backstage area were brilliant, the sound was amazing, the bars were always clean and quick and the weather just perfect.

Here’s to CTEMF 2013.
 
 
 
Floyd Lavine:

© Floyd Lavine

My CTEMF experience was one I will never forget, being able to say I was there from the beginning will one day be my ‘claim to fame when telling my gran kidz.’ I was booked to play on Sunday for CTEMF, I was rather nervous about my performance, firstly because it was great honour to be part of the first ever electronic music festival and secondly because I only had a little bit of sleep before my set which was at 13h00. When I arrived on Sunday it was rather empty so I was kind of relieved as my nerves were starting to get a hold of me. Many of the stage managers were very cool and professional, they made sure I was well looked after and made me feel at ease, which allowed me to focus on my set.

For me the most important part about CTEMF was how professional the whole event was run. Truly a worldclass event that I believe will grow, and in future become the cornerstone of the Cape Town music calendar.

I am very proud to have been one of the artists chosen.
 
 
 
Audiophile021 and Richard the Third:

Audiophile021

 
Do you think it was a good decision to have held the festival over three days?

Audiophile021:The three-day festival was a good idea as you cannot showcase the diversity of genres in only one day.

You need the time for the festival to grow – to morph. Numbers are not the most important thing. This is the first time we have hosted something like this in SA; CTEMF really set a standard, and people should be aware of that. (Audiophile021)

Richard the Third:It could only be done over three days. That’s the essence of a city festival like Sonar or Detroit Music Festival, that you go and party and come home and go out the next day. Also it was necessary to have at least three days to accommodate the line-up of artists that reflect SA electronic music; 1 day would have just scratched the surface.

Richard the Third

You spoke to a whole lot of industry people and artists in the Red Bull workshops that led up to the CTEMF – which workshops were most informative for you, and any words you’d like to reiterate for artists that could not attend?

Audiophile021: The lectures leading up to CTEMF were all free for the public to absorb information and network with people they would never usually get a chance to meet. I mean when you’re starting off, how do you get a chance to really sit down and get to know these people? When you have Dominique Gawlowski from Griet – an artist and management events company – sitting on a couch telling you about how signing artists and her experiences, well, it’s fantastic. We do these talks often but dedicated three days of talks, getting to grips about the industry and for artists to find out things themselves was a great idea – and a really good marketing strategy.

You can never underestimate the value of lectures.(Audiophile021)

Richard the Third: That’s not something I can easily answer! Because I hosted all the Red Bull sessions, they were all equally informative and fascinating packed with information.

I guess if there is one overall point to come out of the workshops is that artists need to balance being as independent as possible in the modern music world, at least initially in their career, and always remain focused on the music that they love making and playing. (Richard the Third)

 

CTEMF

How was your set?

Audiophile021: Yeah, it was a good one – I played beats that I looked and searched hard for – that, without sounding cheesy, felt a connection to. I had a good one.

The sound system was fucking incredible. (Audiophile021)

Richard the Third: For my set, personally I found the crowd really open. Got to play a nice range of bassy, housy stuff and harder edged stuff which I can’t normally play at other venues.

 
Any suggestions – being someone in the industry – for CTEMF 2013?

Nothing for the organisers, rather more for the people of Cape Town.That they should embrace partying during the day. (Audiophile021)

I mean to stop the mentality of ‘let’s go see a 10pm movie and then head over to the festival’. The festival was the perfect day setting, views over granger bay – cream of the crop artists playing during the day. You don’t need drugs to have a good party!

Richard the Third: Nope Everything was perfect.

CTEMF

CTEMF

Your opinion concerning the venue of CTEMF and over all organisation of event?

Richard the Third: Very well organised, there were no hiccups from my side. The venue is great for it being a festival that attracts an international audience as it’s well-located and has a great view of the ocean and mountain. Nothing like raving with the smell of the sea in the air!

Did you watch any other sets, if so, who was your favourite?

Felix Laband and Fletcher were amazing, playing their own stuff mixed over with quirky South African voice samples and Kid Fonque played a really diverse and varied set which I enjoyed a lot, but overall I felt like everyone brought their A-Game.(Richard the Third)

 

CTEMF

CTEMF, Mr Sakitumi & The Grrrl

We are very happy with the way the festival ran, we did not have one issue all weekend, our team was incredible… bars ran smoothly, the door never had a hiccup, the production was incredible, no noise complaints and best of all, positive reviews! We are so excited to get working on CTEMF 2013, there are some areas we feel we can improve on! Personally my favourite acts were… Kalahari Surfer, Markus Wormstorm, Felix Laband, Mr Sakitumi & The Grrrl, El Gordo, Monique Pascall, Black Coffee, Bruno Morphet, Dean Fuel, Regan, Goldfish and Ivan Turanjanin but that’s because I’m a bit of a techno-head I guess. Everyone was brilliant!

Big thanks to all the people of who came along and were part of the first Cape Town electronic music festival, and a big thanks to all our partners without you guys this festival would never had happened!

CTEMF, artist: AKA

CTEMF

Well, that’s it for now. From the team at one small seed, thanks to the above peeps for taking the time to speak with us and big ups to Dave Ireton and Duncan Ringrose (the other main organiser behind the CTEMF) for making this event happen and keep us informed about the next one guys.

Some links to check out!
If you haven’t yet browsed through our EleKTRONiK Dialogue category on onesmallseed.com, then here’s a few links to some of our video interviews with artists who played at the CTEMF.

Niskerone

Tommy Gun

Bruce Willis??

Felix Laband

Blush n Bass

Keep posted for upcoming interviews with Audiophile021, Protoculture and Haezer! Keep posted to our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter @onesmallseedSAfor updates!.

CTEMF