In this column, I often mention various DJ things I have going on and this week we have a few Sultans Of Spin events happening. When I first started DJing years ago it was just on a laptop at the old Oxford Tavern and around a decade or so back, my friends Bodie and Jes said I should start doing vinyl DJ sets as they had a regular spot at The Prince. This evolved into me also doing a regular spot there and then when Yours & Owls started Sunday’s at the North Gong Hotel a few years later, I was asked to start spinning records there. This was the beginning of Sultans Of Spin, we didn’t have a name at that point, so James Sherley (who was working at Yours & Owls at the time and now runs Yakka) coined the name. Over the years since the collective has expanded and the venues we spin records at has diversified. We’ve really been trying to focus on putting on events more recently and the Spinning Around nights have built into a real fun time. This Thursday we are putting on the first edition of Date With the Night, featuring your favourite indie hits from the noughties, get tickets here. We’ll be backing it up on Saturday with our second block party. The first block party at the Servo in Port Kembla at the end of last year was great and this time we are taking it out north to Coledale RSL. Kicking off at midday we’ll have a pop up Music Farmers stall and there will be a bunch of the Sultans Of Spin crew on the decks all afternoon.
Also on Thursday evening James, who I mentioned above as coming up with the Sultans Of Spin name, has put on a fantastic event in Port Kembla and has invited the Sultans Of Spin crew to sound track it.
Back when I was in high school, I got really obsessed with Shellac and they were a huge influence on me in the short period of my life when I actually played in bands. They have recently announced they are back with their first album in a decade this May and we have copies up for per order now!
And while I’m talking early influences, next Thursday April 4th a legend of the nineties desert rock scene, Brant Bjork, is in Wollongong to play a show at Dicey Rileys hotel. Brant co-founded stoner rock legends Kyuss and then went on to play drums in Fu Manchu. I spent so much of my teenage and early twenties years listening to both these bands before I ended up closely working with Nick Oliveri, a fellow Kyuss co-founder. Through that I’d have some brief interactions with Brant and in 2010 while I was touring through Europe with Nick (this weeks feature pic is a photo from that tour), three of the four Kyuss members were playing on the same bill at Hellfest in France where they decided to get up and play a few Kyuss songs together. I got to stand side of stage and watch this pretty iconic moment for the stoner rock scene. Brant has been super prolific since his time in the bands, releasing a bunch of solo records and it will be great to see him playing back in Wollongong. If you’re into all things heavy and fuzzed out, have a listen to my Superfuzz Selections playlist below and see you at Diceys next week!
