It's just moved to Aura, from Café Mamba, and big name DJs such as Rebekah, Radio 1's Yousef, Lottie, Nic Fanciulli and Seb Fontaine have already been booked as headliners in the forthcoming months. By building bigger and better events every time, Housework creators Marcus (aka Bobkat) and Matt Thorne aim to make the night the biggest in the South West. With this in mind, I decided it was time to have a chat with the Housework founders themselves to see what all the fuss is about. You can let us know what you think of Housework by using the form at the bottom of this page. Whereabouts are you from originally? Marcus: I was born in Taunton but I have roots in Essex and Plymouth.  | | Marcus owns Christmas Classic records! |
Matt: Taunton. How long have you been DJing? Marcus: About four years. Matt: I bought my first pair of decks in 1998. How, and why, did you get started? Marcus: I always enjoyed clubbing and just thought I could do what the DJ was doing. It wasn't as easy as I thought! Matt: I used to go to Koolwaters in Taunton and was fascinated by this new phenomenon 'clubbing'. Like most things that you enjoy, you want to get involved with it if you can. I used to look at the DJ playing on the night and wish that I was in that position. After practising, practising, practising and practising, Marcus and I made our own mix tape and through a friend passed it on to the owner of Koolwaters, Marc Vedo. Mr Vedo called me around a week later and said he liked the tape and asked if we wanted to play at the opening night of Koolwaters in Street. Of course, we said yes and the night was a huge success. We seemed to go down well and Marc asked us if we'd like to be the new residents at Koolwaters. That was it. We had our feet on the first rung of the DJ ladder. Where, and when, did you first DJ? Marcus and Matt: It was at a friend's birthday party at the British Legion social club in Taunton. It was horrible. We had to bring our own equipment and hated it from start to finish. How did you meet? Marcus: We went to school together and college. I would steal Matt's lunch money. Those were the days. Matt: Marcus and I met at Castle School in Taunton when we were 11. What's your style? Marcus: Primarily house music but with a lot of hints of other stuff like, tribal, electro, even rock. Matt: Sexy fat house and tribal. What is it about DJing? What do you love about it? Marcus: Just love the music; it can make you feel so many different ways, but also the buzz of playing in front of people who share the feeling with you is amazing. Matt: I love to play music that excites me to a club full of people. I still get excited about new tracks, and when you play them to a crowd that loves them as well, it's a great feeling. Do you argue with each other? If so, what about? Marcus: Not really; he does what I tell him and I think he's happier that way.  | | Clubbers lovin' it at Housework |
Matt: We don't really argue much as we have the same passion for the industry. If we do argue we soon realise that I'm in the right. What do you listen to when you're not DJing? Marcus: A lot of promos I'm sent. You have to check what you're gonna play out that night. I also love 80s music. Matt: More and more house music, I absolutely love it. I also enjoy The Streets, Zero 7 and chill out music. What gave you the idea for Housework? Marcus and Matt: We used to play trance music in the main room at Koolwaters. Our musical taste began to mature and we left the trance to move onto the housier side of things. We gave up the main room to concentrate on the back room. This enabled us to play the music we really like. After a short period of time, the back room at Koolwaters began to become really popular and some people would pay to come into the club just to come in the back room. After a while, we realised that perhaps we could hold our own night, which plays this type of music in the main room rather than a second room. There were no nights in the area that played this type of music so we decided to go for it. How did you come up with the name, Housework? Marcus: The name just came out of the fact we play house music. Matt: We wanted a name that would include the name 'house' to add a quirky edge if possible. Housework seemed to fit the bill nicely. How would you sum up the night in five words or less? Marcus: Sexy, fun, happy, funky, fresh. Matt: Modern, credible, growing, successful, happy. What's different about Housework compared to other nights? Marcus: Apart from all the five words above, we offer the best DJs in the world, who play a wide style of music to suit the crowd and atmosphere, which is always a party atmosphere. There's never any trouble at our nights - it's just happy party people having fun to great music. Matt: Although we are professional, we have a relaxed attitude. We don't enforce a dress code or anything like that. The music creates a carnival, party atmosphere and we run the night to complement that. It's a very hands on night - we enjoy talking to the clubbers and we don't keep ourselves away from the people, unlike some clubs. We have a live percussionist at every event. Nick 'Bongoman' Fisher is great. Not only is he a great bongo player, but he doesn't mind people having a go for themselves. | "We're going to be putting on some huge events at Housework with massive guests headlining" | | Marcus - aka Bobcat |
It's elements such as this that help to create such an easygoing, relaxed, happy, attitude-free night. Why did you move to Aura? Marcus and Matt: Having put on events at Café Mamba for a year and a half, and filling the club every time, the opportunity arose to move Housework to Aura. Aura holds three times the amount of people as Café Mamba. It's just been redeveloped and it looks great. The sound system is superb and the staff that work there are on our wavelength. We've always wanted to put on big name superstar DJs but have been unable to due to the size of Café Mamba. It was just too small and wasn't feasible to do. Now we have moved to Aura, these plans have been put into place and we have some huge names lined up to come to Housework. What was the opening night at Aura like? Marcus and Matt: AMAZING! The place was rammed and everyone was loving it! Couldn't have hoped for a better opener. Where would you like to see Housework end up in the future ? Marcus: We have already taken our night abroad to places like South Africa, Kiev, Moscow and around the UK, but we would never want to leave our home, the place it all started, Taunton. We just want to make the night as big as possible. Matt: We don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We feel Housework is established now but we need to maintain it. We are doing nights in conjunction with various clubs up and down the UK. We would like to be the biggest night in the South West and the way things are going, this target is achievable. Of course, eventually we'd like to be a worldwide brand but this will take some time. Where else have you DJ'd? Marcus and Matt: Tons of places, some of the best though would have to be Glastonbury 2004, Ministry of Sound, and Slinky. All the European gigs have been amazing too. Do you DJ anywhere else currently? Marcus and Matt: We still hold our residency with Koolwaters. Although we don't play trance anymore, we still get a lot of work with them. What's your most memorable DJ experience?  | | Papua New Guinea is Matt's fave tune |
Marcus: We have recently been making our own tunes with a producer called Codebreakers so playing our own tunes in our sets is a real buzz, especially when the crowd has a big reaction to them. But I would say Glastonbury was most memorable - it was just so different to what we're used to. Matt: Probably headlining the Modern Amazon Tent at Glastonbury 2004. It was our first time at the festival and it was superb. We have already been confirmed for 2005 and so can't wait for that. Who's your favourite DJ? Marcus: Eric Morrilo, Roger Sanchez, Lisa Loud, Pete Tong. Matt: Pete Tong, Seb Fontaine, Danny Tenaglia. Are there any DJs you dislike? Marcus: Don't know really. If I thought though it would probably be one who plays hard house. Matt: Dave Pearce, amongst others. What's your fave tune in the world ever? Marcus: So hard to answer this question when I'm asked. There's too many to pick one but my favorite at the moment is Rapido by Alma Matris. Matt: Papua New Guinea – Future Sound of London. What's the most embarrassing record you've bought? Marcus: A double pack of Christmas Classics! Matt: No comment! I've wiped it from my mind. If you could DJ anywhere, where would it be? Marcus and Matt: The Terrace @ Space, Ibiza. It's the best club in the world. What advice do you have for any budding DJs out there? Marcus: Be prepared for the long haul. It doesn't happen overnight and you need to be prepared for the knock-backs. There's a lot of work that needs to happen in order to get to play where you want to, but if you really love DJing you won't give it up no matter what happens. Persistence is the key. Matt: Hassle, hassle and hassle. Practice, practice and practice. It's a good idea to try and produce your own tracks. Playing your own tracks rather than someone else's is a great start; it makes you unique. What's next for you? Marcus: Well, we have interest at the moment in a few of our tunes from some pretty big record labels so we're gonna keep working on our productions and obviously keep putting on huge events @ Aura with Housework. Matt: Concentrating on Housework for the next 12 months as well as the international gigs. We're also in the studio a lot at the moment with The Codebreakers producing our own tracks. These are just about to be signed to record labels which is all very exciting. What's next for Housework? Marcus: We will be taking the night on the road again next year but as I say our main concern is the nights @ Aura. We'll keep putting on huge events there for a long time to come! Matt: Building better and bigger events every time with some massive guests to headline our Taunton events.
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