Graham Cordery - Bring The Soulful House Experience Home
With Sydney clubbing mainplayer She about to release their first CD, 3D catches up with club owner and compilation mixer Graham Cordery.
You’re a familiar face in Sydney clubs. What are your thoughts on the next year-
Next year is looking great on the Sydney scene for all genres. There are new venues cropping up in the city’s hotspots Oxford St and the Cross, so I see things becoming even more vibrant as we enter ’09. We’re lucky in Sydney that the culture here is hedonistic, we love to party and the Sydney weather just adds to a great vibe in the club scene that lasts all summer. I can also see house making a comeback, with many of the newer and more hyped venues having a house music policy – be it soulful, main room, tech or other variations – so the future’s definitely looking good!
Your longstanding club night SHE has been around since 2004, which is quite an achievement in the music industry – what do you think has made SHE such a mainstay in the Sydney scene-
SHE stands for ‘Soulful House Experience’, so we were going against the tide a little when we created the brand, because soulful house music was definitely under-represented in Sydney at the time. I think that’s worked for us as we’ve been able to fill a gap for many people and created a real brand loyalty; promoting a party with a specific music policy has its advantages because the people who are into it remain fiercely loyal and you can grow a scene together.
What is it you love about soulful house in particular, compared to other styles of dance music-
Being a bit of a soul and disco freak, I love the fact that soulful house is the genre of dance music which best reflects the roots of where modern day dance and DJ culture began – namely in the black disco and early house clubs of New York and Chicago, such as Paradise Garage, Studio 54 and The Warehouse. I think it’s important to keep those influences alive and strong in the music – probably the greatest compliment I’ve had about the forthcoming SHE CD is when I heard someone say, “this makes me want to be naked and black”. Lol.
So tell us about your new CD, SHE Summer Essentials, the first release from your club. Has it been a long time coming-
Yeah, the compilation is something that I’ve wanted to do for a long time – it’s nice to have had some breathing space this winter to get the tracks and licenses together and really excited to see it hit the shelves on 1 November.
Is the CD replicating a typical set at SHE, or is it a companion…-
The mix isn’t really typical of a peak-time club set at SHE, but you would definitely hear this kind of mix at our summer parties – for instance our Rooftop parties or Boat parties… The influences for the CD are classic house compilations by people such as Dimitri From Paris and Joey Negro (both of who appear on the CD) so I’ve included a healthy dose of undiscovered gems and upfront soulful house alongside a healthy dose of SHE classics, and most of the tracks contain heavy disco influences to add to those feel-good summer vibes!
Are you concentrating on the Sydney market with this release, or are you in talks for an international release- We’re sure you’ve got one or two hook-ups overseas!
Yeah, we’ve got some interest in licensing this release overseas which is great. Next winter we’ll be taking off on the first SHE branded club tour for Asia and Europe. This year we had SHE residents Liam Sampras and Nick Vidal touring Europe appearing at venues such as Pacha Ibiza and Paradise Club, Mykonos… Next year should be even bigger as there’s been strong interest in the full SHE club tour experience from some European based agents. Watch this space!
So tell us what’s on the cards for SHE New Year’s Eve-
This New Year’s Eve we return to The Loft and Bungalow 8 for a two-level party with house music legends David Morales (Def mix USA) and Ron Carroll (Chicago). I can’t wait as we have not had David play for us before and Big Ron is pretty much a member of the SHE Family now … we had him play at The Argyle last NYD and he blew the place apart – it will be great to see both of these giants of the scene perform on the same night!
WHO: Graham Cordery
WHAT: SHE Summer Essentials through MGM / Plays SHE Rooftop Party at Overseas Passenger Terminal / SHE Boat Party, departing Sydney Opera House
WHEN: Out Saturday 1 November / Saturday 25 October / Saturday 1 November
MORE: shesydney.com