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| ctprincess |
Article on Godskitchen/Spundae in Citybeat
THE BRITISH
ARE CLUBBING
by Dennis Romero
As recently as the late ’90s, the outside dance-music world viewed Los Angeles as a clubbing backwater, a place where industry suits ruled exclusive Sunset Strip watering holes and teenage raving dominated the sport of dancing ’til dawn. Little was left for fans who had experienced the human swap meet of the big clubs in New York, Miami, and San Francisco.
Today, L.A. finally has serious choices for Saturday-night clubbing. Last week, Spundae attempted to take the lead in local nightlife with news that London super-club Godskitchen, after nearly a year of negotiation, was buying it out for an undisclosed amount. Although other U.K. club brands – Ministry of Sound, Cream – failed to infiltrate the American market at the turn of the millennium, the folks at Spundae say it’s different this time.
“Cream and Ministry of Sound tried to come here, and they fell on their asses,” says Neil Thomas, who runs Spundae’s Hollywood night at Circus Disco. “They didn’t understand how different the American market is to Europe. European dance music is ingrained in society. It’s on the radio, on TV, and in the supermarket. I think Godskitchen is smart enough to realize they can’t come in and say, like the others, they’re going to take over. They’ve said they’re going to take the best people who know the market – that’s Spundae – and said, ‘Hey, we can offer you the resources and the sponsorship backing to take it to the next level and really start putting on large-scale events and developing venue ownership.’”
Clubs are key missing elements in the development of electronic dance music in America. While England and Europe have had a circuit of safe, clean, legitimate environments for dancing and performance, the United States’ main outlet has been @#$%-crazed raves. That’s fine if you’re 17, but not so good for industry showcases, tours, and record sales. Even as legit club nights have saved the day in L.A., Spundae is still a promoted night at someone else’s venue. Gods-kitchen wants to buy its own venues in America, as well as organize one or two large-scale (crowds of 10,000 or more) electronic music festivals in Southern California as soon as this summer, according to Thomas. The East Coast is also a target for such festivals.
“We would like to incorporate live dance acts in our concert events – Chemical Brothers, Basement Jaxx, Crystal Method, that level of artist,” he says.
The arrangement could also create the leveraging ability of a corporate merger. In this case, Godskitchen and Spundae could tie up superstar DJs for exclusive world tours at their events and push the artists to lower their fees.
“I can say to a DJ, ‘You’re going to play 20 dates in a year in all these different markets,’” says Thomas. “As we get better prices and develop loyalty, we have more control over where they play. Obviously, the fees the DJs are charging are going to be adjusted accordingly.”
Godskitchen holds super-club nights in Birmingham and Liverpool, England; sponsors DJ tours of the United States, Asia, and Australia; and this summer will host its fourth annual outdoor Global Gathering festival, with a capacity of 35,000. Godskitchen reportedly reaches 350,000 clubbers worldwide. Spundae, which began as a Sunday club night in San Francisco 11 years ago, organizes nights in that city, Hollywood, Las Vegas, Houston, and Chicago. Godskitchen will apparently keep the Spundae banner on those events, at least for the next year, Thomas says.
The acquisition should be a boost for Spundae. Rival party Giant became the belle of the local super-club ball after it took over Saturday nights at the city’s newest and shiniest big venue, Avalon Hollywood. (The Avalon Group has venues in Boston and New York and plans to open a club in Las Vegas as well.) Giant director Dave Dean actually launched the night that became Spundae Hollywood back in 2000, but when Circus owner Gene La Pietra ousted him a year later, Thomas and Spundae took over Saturday nights. Giant and Spundae have been rivals ever since, and every time one club announces a move, the other seems to strike back with an even bigger move. With Giant allied with Avalon and its growing chain of venues, and Spundae bought out by Godskitchen and its U.S. expansion plans, it’s shaping up to be an ambitious year in L.A. clubland.
“This deal is about leveraging a global base to forward dance music in North America,” stated Spundae partner/Godskitchen North America CEO Brooks Pettus. “Gods-kitchen North America may just give our U.K. partners a run for their money as the leading country in electronic dance music.”
There goes the neighborhood. |
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| DaveT |
| You won't be seeing any changes by Spundae at the club level, at least not anytime soon... |
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| neile |
You know whats funny the guy who runs Spundae has my name!!
My First name is Neil, my middle name is Thomas, and my Radio Dj name was(is) Neil Thomas!!! Kinda Stupid but thought Id share:tongue2
That'd be cool though if God's bought Vision and we got some really awesome resident Trance Djs there!!!
-Neile |
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| ctprincess |
| quote: | Originally posted by neile
That'd be cool though if God's bought Vision and we got some really awesome resident Trance Djs there!!!
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no - i like the variety that spundae brings in......sorry. |
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| dj2kTA |
| quote: | Originally posted by ctprincess
no - i like the variety that spundae brings in......sorry. |
me2
:) |
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