KEEP IT DEEP – UNDERGROUND LONDON KUBICLE

UNDERGROUND LONDON

London the city with bright lights and star filled nights, as busy as the days are the cities nights equally buzz with life and energy.  Here at K / D we will highlight and present these particular parties that underline the good, the great and the diverse that makes this city what it is whatever the situation day or night.

The city that never sleeps, polite and cosmopolitan juxtaposing all faces, colours, creeds and vices, intimate and local mixed with international and global. As we slowly feed ourselves out of a very dubious financial situation and look forward to a prosperous new year and soon to be summer. Here at K / D we will feature some of London’s best kept underground hotspots that have risen and raised there game to stand firm in tougher times. We will be dissecting the philosophy, the music, and the key ingredients, not to mention mulling over all the gossip, hearsay and future plans for each party. To keep things moving forward we need to feel support and confidence within and from those around us, in the face of trouble waters we need to stand defiant and fearless always, assured we will make it to the promise land.

Name and background?

Kubicle was set up back in the summer 2005 by the ‘Kubicle  Girls’, Liz Mendez and Sonia Anderson. Our aim was to fill a gap in London nightlife by creating a welcoming space for lovers of cutting edge electronic music to express ourselves outside of the confines of  London’s mainstream club land. Inspired by summers spent at festivals like Glastonbury, The Glade, Bestival and Burning Man, plus regular trips abroad to parties in Berlin, Ibiza, LA, Miami and Barcelona. We wanted to throw small intimate events in unique hand-picked venues, with the focus firmly on good music, fun and self-expression. Since then we have gained national and international notoriety throwing parties and events at a wide range of venues in and around East London, including warehouses, roof-top penthouses, traditional London boozers, an aquarium and even an S&M dungeon! In Miami we threw a party in an 80’s strip club, in Ibiza a disused mechanic’s yard and in Berlin at the legendary circus commune Bar25. However, since the very beginning our main base of operations has been Public Life, a converted Victorian men’s public toilet under a pavement deep in the East End of London. With its polished tiled floor, eclectic colourful crowd and a capacity of just under a hundred, our close-nit weekly sell- out Sunday parties have become the stuff of legend with people traveling from all over the UK and beyond for a trip ‘down the Toilet’ to experience the electric atmosphere. Since Spring of last year we have also been throwing twice monthly Sunday evening parties at the recently re-opened T Bar on the edge of the City. In addition to our regular nights we have also be responsible for arranging after-parties for some of the world’s leading clubs including Superfreq, Circoloco and Mulletover.

why and when did you start the party?

We first started Kubicle in “the Toilet” during the Summer 2005. We basically had enough of holding after parties back at ours! We partied a lot especially on a Sunday at clubs like the End or Fabric, Machine etc and Mondays would always consist of all day parties back at our house.

My background was in promoting; I started out hosting hip-hop parties in the West End when I was still at University. I then went on to run “partyfavours” all over London which was more focused on house music and creating a house party vibe. I was helping to promote some of the newly established Sunday after-parties in East London and Sonia was a good friend of mine. We joined forces as we both wanted to create something special and “KUBICLE” was born. We needed something new and refreshing to happen. We were intent on an intimate party with friendly atmosphere and amazing music. Not the usual dark and moody after party that you used to get around those times. We wanted a space with great light and wanted to combine fun and fancy dress at all our parties. We searched for venues for a long time seeking a place with great character. We found public life in the summer of 2005 and basically took it over.  What began as a hobby between best friends blossomed into this special underground party, with vibe, energy, and enthusiasm of which we are very proud.

music policy and super star guests you have presented?

A passion for cutting-edge underground music, primarily house from deep to techno, with a sprinkling of disco, has always been at the heart of every Kubicle event. We have been really lucky to have great friends in the industry and support from the clubs like Fabric, Mr C (the end) and Tbar often when they have guests over they would come and play for us unannounced and this still happens today.

Our Core residents are:

Clive Henry

FB Julian

Antonio de Angeles

We have recently embraced Wolf and Lamb and really love what they have got going on and our newest resident im proud to announce is Lee Foss  (Hot Natured) We Met through Jamie Jones and I really love his style of music plus he has amazing range he can play a great house set with groove that gets everybody dancing, then he can go Disco. Swingbeat anything…. 🙂 we have a very similar taste in music and he’s perfect for Kubicle. Plus of course really talented in production his own and the music he makes with Jamie. He’s a friend and fits in with us all were really happy to have him. Lastly by no means least we have Derren (Tbar) who provides the Disco element to kubicle. our usual favourite guest djs and extended Kubicle family who you will often find behind the decks – Jamie Jones, Dyed Soundorom, Meat, Craig Richards, Dorian Paic, Einzelkind MANDY, Tobi Neumann, Lee Curtis, Shaun Reeves, Pier Bucci, Matthew Styles. Bill Patrick, etc

any early memories or funny moments?

Wow there are so many im not sure where to begin but a lot of the weird and wonderful ones come from the after parties in the “Whipping House”. A friend of mine suggested we go check out this venue in Limehouse – It was an S&M studio run by a dominatrix called Madame K!! who was up for letting us use it for afterparties. The first time we entered The Whipping House, it was like stepping into old Victorian torture chamber. It was literally an S&M Studio with a makeshift bar manned by a blonde transvestite. We were shown around this fascinating space by the infamous Madame K (who was quite lovely actually). Whilst we sat trying to envisage one of our Kubicle parties around us Madame K told the blond behind the bar to make us a drink, and introduced us to another member of staff called Paul…whom she casually referred to as her gimp. The whole thing was completely bizarre and we fell for the place right away. We arranged to do a party there the following week. On the night of the first party we arrived to find that Madam K had been holding her own little soiree just before us and we got to see everything in full swing so to speak.

We were met at the door by Paul in full gimp costume with his Dick hanging out, deadpan saying “hello girls, can I get you anything?”As we got inside, there were more sights to see.  There was an old guy walking around in a nappy and lots and lots of saggy bits floating around – not really the kind of thing you want to see when you enter an after party. We had M.A.N.D.Y. come and play for us at that first party and we literally had to go round and tell everybody if they wanted to stay they would have to pull their trousers back on! We learnt a lot from that  party and decided that although the weird and wonderful surroundings of The Whipping House made a great venue for our party, combining Madame K’s clientele with it all was perhaps that one step to far.

Another favourite was when our door girl of the time Cassie let the police in to our party without any warning. Our security man had fallen asleep in the car at the door! Cassie thought they were ravers in fancy dress and just let them all in. We were completely over capacity and had to try and shove everybody into the office but that’s another story

where is the party now and how has it changed?

it’s been a gradual progression really we could have gone straight into doing big warehouse monthly parties and banging it out but that’s not the route we wanted to go down.  We still do special once a month toilet parties and now we have T bar our new residency which lets us grow at a nice speed. We can do all the things we never had the chance to do before – we can actually book a big name and advertise properly instead of just waiting to see whose is in town.  Although we have more space and bigger numbers coming through, we are careful not to  lose the “house party” intimacy  and we make sure the crowd is all cool. We are quite strict really on the door. If you don’t look like you have a good vibe there are plenty or other Sunday parties on where you will be welcome. Its also nice to introduce the more “festival esque” treats like our old 80s Mini or taxi cab converted into a photo booth. Kubicle boudoir corner with our lovely make up girls etc… and of course being able to have the second room to do the Kubi-disco and chill out is really important to us. I mean a lot of people have tried to imitate our ideas which I take as a compliment but you cant beat the “kubicle experience”

how did the recession effect your party?/what have you learnt most through this period?

To be honest I don’t think it really has effected us.  If anything I find that people are becoming more discerning about which parties to attend and luckily Kubicle is on their list. People not spending as much behind the bar would be the only effect but the vibe is still there.  At times like this you just want to let you hair down and have a good time, dance the night away,  get lost in music around like minded souls. Its simple really. Its our pleasure to provide this platform.

what three songs describe your party?

Don’t stop till you get enough Michael Jackson, Life is a cabaret Liza Minnelli, Big time Sensuality Bjork

who can we expect to see on your dance floor?

Bright young things …..

summer 2010 any big plans?

The summer is going to be so exciting for Kubicle catch us at all our favourite festivals Glade has confirmed for Sunday 18th July. We are also in the middle of sorting Glastonbury we have a new “Animal Farm” concept which you are going to love… Also this will be our first Kubicle outing to Burning Man planning base camp as we speak. Berlin is calling, Bar 25 booked for 6th June. Ibiza beach parties. Plus of course Kubicle London will go to once a month over the summer as we are to busy jetting around enjoying ourselves to do any more 🙂

describe your party in one sentence.

sorry more of a paragraph…KUBICLE is the “music lovers” party of choice full of musically, creative, electronic souls who come from all over the globe to experience KUBICLE. The crowd is eclectic, full of vibe and color, the atmosphere is intimate with a feeling of exclusivity like you have been let into a little secret.

It it had to be one sentence it would be…

I cant remember it…. 🙂

MX DETAILS:

who mixed the promo, what was the concept and where was it recorded?

We asked Lee Foss to do this exclusive mix for you guys in fitting with us announcing him as our new resident. I mentioned we wanted a Kubicle sound of the Summer mix and he came back with this little gem. It was recorded at his studio in LA. He does not want to give a track list because he has a lot of unreleased and re edits on there.

Next party we should attend?

All of them 🙂 but in particular Berlin Bar 25 6th June, Glade festival 18th July Tbar second and last of the month.

Links:

www.myspace.com/kubicle

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12332750539&ref=search&sid=591491600.1424950194..1