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The fine art of promoting - Fuzzy style

Author: Michelle Pirovich
Thursday, October 24, 2002
In April this year over 1,500 mad up for it breaks lovers had to be turned away after a night dedicated to the 'History of Breaks' reached well over capacity. Since their beginning in 1996 Sydney club and event promoters 'Fuzzy' have carved out a niche in the dance music scene. Organising and promoting tours for music's biggest names; Fuzzy have not only taken breakbeat to new heights in Sydney but are also responsible for bringing outdoor partying to thousands of Sydney siders. I chat to the Fuzzy crew about the fine art of promoting.

The list of artists to have been given the Fuzzy tour treatment is impressive to say the least; John explains what Fuzzy look for in the talent they promote. 'Aside from the obvious necessities such as technical ability, taste and recognition, we like our artists to interact with the crowd. With all the egos abound in this industry we like to choose artists who deep down are nice people, not wankers who flip their lids over little things and request special treatment. It is always refreshing to meet someone who's appreciative of what you do and really believes in what they do as a DJ/producer.'

'Fuzzy Breaks' has fast become the name associated with all things breakbeat, we currently have Koma and Bones on our shores and past artists to tour with Fuzzy have included Plump DJs, DJ Touche and Krafty Kuts. Matt points out though that breaks aren't all that Fuzzy cover. 'We cover all genres - our Parklife event is house-music based, previously featuring Derrick Carter, Bob Sinclair & DJ Yellow and most recently, Mark Farina. Our regular club nights at Yu are primarily house music-based. We've also done quite a few techno and drum & bass events, with Jeff Mills, Luke Slater, Krust & Die, Aphrodite, Dom & Roland, Grooverider, and many more.'

With pigeonholing being one of the most cringe worthy things you can do in the industry these days, is it a faux pas Fuzzy are guilty of- 'Not at all.' says Matt. 'In fact we really like to promote diversity. The unpredictability of artists is what can make things really special - we enjoy hearing them play things that are totally unexpected, last year at Parklife we saw Derrick Carter drop a 15 minute swing intro that the crowd never expected but completely got into. That said though, our events are promoted according to genre, hence the Fuzzy Breaks label.'

Fuzzy came into being in 1996 with an under 18s events called 'Elevation' and Fuzzy movie-spoof parties such as 'Tunespotting', 'Once Were Ravers' and 'Natural Born Groovers' at Sublime, essentially Sydney's first superclub. It then went on to weekly nights Beatfix, Voodoo and Cargo, and in 2000, Fuzzy started Sublime@Home, but parted ways with Home the following year to commence running a range of their own events. Ming explains 'We really wanted to explore our own external events. We pushed the breaks medium out into the main room of Sydney clubs and finally took the music to picturesque outdoor venues like Centennial Park and The Domain, which had been previously inaccessible to clubbers. In Melbourne you've had Summadayze for several years now and it's great to have a similar outdoor vibe in the harbour city.'

The Domain is home to Field Day held on New Years Day where throngs of party goers turned up last year to enjoy the absolute best in house and breaks and this year it's only going to be bigger. 'Field Day is an ongoing affair for us we start working on it in February.' says Adelle.

What can we expect this year at Field Day- Well, Ming offers me a very tempting lineup. 'If you like the inimitable sound of Plump DJ's then jump on a plane! It's really going to be the place to be if you're a breaks fan - we've got Krafty Kuts, Soul of Man, Freq Nasty, Scratch Perverts - basically the royalty of the breakbeat genre. In terms of house, it will be the place to catch Dimitri from Paris playing a daytime set and you'll also catch Felix da Housecat, instigator of the electro-clash sound.
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