Was a great night
Here is a Review done by Jonathan Helix which was posted on Facebook, and no we didn't ask him to review our gig or pay him.
http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=73948756187&id=586516202&ref=mf
For those of you not on facebook, text below.
The Dance Review - May 1
It was inevitable I'd have to review Sandwiches eventually, but I got to it faster than expected. Tonight the event hosted there was Stereotype (featuring Tim Richards). As usual, my aim was to spend a long time dancing, hopefully get tuckered out and have a good time.
I've said before I don't like Sandwiches as a venue so I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by this night. I've been there many times years ago, and last year for one of Dick Johnson's nights. I arrived at 11:30 to meet up with DJ Iain R and friends, and there was a small crowd dancing in the main room already. The back bar had people in it most of the night, but I didn't spend much time there.
I'd intentionally worn dark conservative clothes expecting that this was a Serious.House.Gig and they'd frown on frivolity. Not at all, there were even a few people dressed in fluffy and shiny clothes waving glow toys around. Yay! I could tell I was going to like this already. I texted around, and another friend turned up for a boogie too.
Music 4.5
I find reviewing this quite hard, because Tim's a mate from way back (before he started playing house). I bumped into him at the bar before his set and had a good catchup. As always, he's a nice guy. I don't keep friends who aren't nice, after all.
I haven't heard ANY of Tim's own music, that's how out of touch with him I've been. The first hour of his set didn't do much for me. It was slow, deep and dark. Going on at 1am he should have been hitting his peaktime stuff fairly quickly imo. Having said that, his second hour onwards was primo, with some nice squelchy uplifting electro sounds and the occasional vocal track but still mainly hitting the tech-y tip. My personal fave was his edit of a "Teardrops" remix (originally by Massive Attack). Tuuune! Not sure if it's his or not, but i *want*.
Before Tim was Vernon, and I must say this was one of the highlights of the night for me. He played what I would describe as trancey progressive house, and it was both beautiful and great to dance to. I'm a sucker for melody. Well done dude. He told me it was a slight change for him as he didn't want the night to have the same sound all night. Me likey.
Can't comment on the other DJs as I didn't hear enough of them, but I have no doubt they were good. I do have a very stylish mix CD which Stereotype was giving away with a mix by Johnny Kingdom, and it shows he can pull the right tunes out too. It also has a mix by Tim Richards, which is nice to re-live his set.
Sound 5
Best sound I've heard in Wellington for a long time. Nothing else to say.
Lighting/Decor 4.5
Good lighting, effectively used. Reasonably high ceiling which allows lighting to be given full play. 6 X Martin Macs, mirrorballs, robocolour/colourpros, various other spots. Judicious use of smoke without being over the top. With both sound and lighting it certainly helps to have a tech on hand for the whole night - Hi Sidney.
No special decor to speak of, Stereotype did have their banner up behind the DJs, and the venue had a data projector set on permanent rotate.
Venue 2
Crowd flow at Sammies is not good. Tonight it was ok as it wasn't very crowded, but I've been there on crowded/oversold nights (Minuit a few years back springs to mind) and it's hell fighting your way to get anywhere with no room to dance. If you get stuck behind the concrete pillars in the middle of the dancfloor you can't see a thing. Nothing they can do about that, they look structural to me. And concrete dancefloor = jarring on the body.
A large part of the crowd flow problems imo is the layout with door, 2 bars, coat check and toilets all in the same general space. I think it could be improved without too much expense, possibly by moving the door to what is now the smoking entrance and perhaps enforcing a one way traffic system once inside. Painful, but what can you do?
Having said that, the architechture/design is quite nice. Toilets were pretty good. But it's hard to see that when you have a sweaty armpit jammed in your face, five people try to squeeze past you to the bar, and the queue to the toilet is out the door. So although on this night movement was reasonably good, I have to give them a 2.
Staff/Drinks/Food 3
There is a facebook group for Sandwiches haters, which mostly seems to centre around an overzealous bouncer refusing someone entry. I found the bouncers outside friendly and welcoming, although inside a female bouncer was a little too keen on ensuring my friend wasn't asleep when she was resting her head on my shoulder at 4am. I guess they don't want anyone to be roofied which is good but it was rather annoying at the time.
The bar staff inside were competent enough, if a little aloof. House white wine was $9 per glass. Beh. Sammies operates as a restaurant apparently too. Anyone eaten there?
Punters 4.5
A really nice friendly crowd, which is what I'd hope for a dance or rave thing. Shut up, I was around when they were "raves" and still like the word. Classy, but not snobby from what I could tell. The women I must say were rather sexy, I asked *female friend* what she thought about the men but she declined to answer. Roughly 50/50 crowd, and the men were dancing, always a good sign. And a small number dressed in fluffy/glittery costumes for bonus points.
Overall 4
$10 on the door is a very reasonable price for a night like this, even a little too cheap. I've argued for years that ticket prices need to go up in New Zealand. I had a good time, as did many others, and I would come back again for one of your gigs - thankyou Stereotype.
Key
1 Crap
2 Below Par
3 Average
4 Very good
5 Couldn't be better
Websites
http://www.myspace.com/stereotypedsounds
http://www.sandwiches.co.nz
Pics stolen from Shot Photography http://groups.to/shotphotography - niiice Warwick!
I also got invited to Electric Avenue, but no thanks, not tonight. In the small hours I briefly visited Club Ivy (lame pop played by a very bored looking DJ), and a little longer at whatever Tupelo has become (great tunes, but closing for the night), before concluding that Sandwiches actually did have the best music on offer that night and headed back.
I was hoping to catch The Upbeats at Sandwiches the following night; some fast drum n bass would have been very welcome but ended up throwing a party at mine instead.
I wonder where I'll end up this week?
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