Interview: Rob Waller, aka Soundcrash, Club Promoter

SallyB2
By SallyB2 Last edited 176 months ago
Interview: Rob Waller, aka Soundcrash, Club Promoter

0107.sound.jpg Some of Londonist's favourite club nights have been organised by an entity called Soundcrash. Multi-media, shiny, flashing, musical extravaganzas, with sounds and video and stuff flying at you from all directions. Party nights with knobs on.

We've got them to thank for introducing us to Hexstatic and The Cinematic Orchestra: both have become favourites.

But we thought we'd better find out a bit more about this club promotion stuff, who was behind it, and what made them tick. So meet Rob. Rob Waller.

What do you actually do and is it fun?

Put on my favourite music acts. Yes a lot of fun, but a lot more hard work than it might appear!

Are you musical yourself?

Not really in a performance sense so much. I used to DJ a fair bit but apart from the occasional warm up set I prefer to leave it to the professionals!

What do you listen to when you’re not up there promoting stuff? What’s on your iPod at the mo?

New on my ipod? A new EP from a Texan electronic producer called Yppah, the new Tim Exile LP, a few new cuts by NYC hip hoppers Anti-pop Consortium, an LP by a great soul singer from Norway called Kinny plus some summer reggae vibes from Trojan Sound System!

Is London where it’s at as far as music goes? Bearing in mind that Soundcrash productions crop up all over the place….

Well London is where Soundcrash hails from and is centered. Although we promote occasional events in Bristol, Glasgow and Paris we are proud of promoting the scene that emanates from London.

Who are the bands to watch at the moment?

Anti-Pop Consortium (hip hop), Anchorsong (beats, electronic), Grasscut (electronic), The Field (electronic).

And the top DJs?

Flying Lotus, Harmonic 313, Daedelus, DJ Cheeba, Edit.

What’s your favourite London venue? If you don’t want to upset anyone, we can split it: best club for vibes, best accoustics, most popular, best for trance, best for old school, best for R & B...

Best all round London venue: KOKO - Victorian opulence with a badass soundsystem! A night out there always feels special, I still keep on finding new rooms in that place!!

A new super-cool place in Shoreditch we really like is Village Underground - great when you find it! I think we'll start a new club night there in the Autumn.

Best outdoor vibe: the roof terrace at The Queen of Hoxton.

Best bigger venue: The Roundhouse, has a really sense of history!

Tell us how you see the future for London clubbing…

As strong as it has ever been! We have seen our combined club attendances up to 3000 per month, every month (at Koko and Cargo).

It seems the hunger for new fresh music and the Soundcrash name is stronger than ever. London will always be the best place in Europe to go out as it is constantly re-inventing itself in so many ways. And while the occasional central European city may get a bit of limelight occasionally the inevitable focus will always return to London nightlife like it has for the past 50 years.

Where do you live in London and why?

I live in Stoke Newington. Good beer gardens in Stokey. Easy to walk to work in Dalston, almost staggering distance for going out in Shoreditch, Islington, Hackney etc.

We’re sure stuff goes wrong sometimes: tell us something funny that’s happened on one of your evenings…

Where to start? Actually funny or scary? 7 ft tall US rapper 'Redman' smoking an entire tree onstage, stripping then deciding to stage-dive from a 10m speaker stack was amusing.

How will you remember Michael Jackson?

For Bille Jean!

Have you ever been sick on the tube?

No

You can catch up with Soundcrash doing their thing TONIGHT when Kid Koala will be playing at the Garage, and again on Saturday night, when Plaid will be putting on an AV show at KoKo, with support from Clark.

Last Updated 02 July 2009