Empathy has put on events all over Europe, including its home in Bristol, with an array of DJs and Producers ranging from Nick Warren to James Holden, Timo Maas, Adam Freeland and James Zabiela and a broad musical spectrum from Electro to Breaks, Tech-House to Progressive. Ever since the Thursday night Summer Specials on the Bar Latino terrace, the all-nighters’ in Prague, it’s second home, and the mental Boat Parties down the River Avon, Empathy proved itself as a purveyor of messy parties, moving to Timbuk2 on Small Street after the closure of Bar Latino in 2005.
The Early Days: Born on the 29th March 2001 at Bar Latino, its first residential venue, the weekly Thursday soirees continuously made headlines in the local press with its vast array of guests, from every corner of the globe, such as Jay Tripwire from Canada, Pako & Frederick from Holland, Jondi & Spesh from Los Angeles, Austin Leeds from Miami and Phil K from Australia, just to name a few. It also created the opportunity for local bedroom jocks to play alongside some heavy-weight UK based DJs such as Cass, Main Element (2nd Birthday Main Guest), Jonathan Lisle, Greg Vickers, James Holden, and James Talk. On occasion, there was a good chance you’d catch Massive Attack, Nick Warren or even the cast of Casualty popping in for a grope of the infamous pillar, found in the middle of the dance floor. There are many reasons Empathy took off the way it did like the popularity of progressive house at the right time or Bristol being strongly rooted in Dance music due to the presence of WayOutWest, Hope Recordings, Starecase, NRK and the Full Cycle Crew, but ultimately the connoisseurs of good music identified the need for a quality Thursday night event to fill the gap.
Hope Recordings: Around 2002, Empathy promoter Stuart Wilkinson started working closely with Hope Recording on various projects. The first one, a collaboration for a club night at Blue Mountain, ‘Loop’ was a monthly Friday event with residents Dan Wilcox & Stuart Wilkinson and featured guests such as Nick Warren, DJ Remy, and Ashley Casselle. Next came the Hope Vs Empathy Christmas Party, with a 4 hour set from Timo Maas & Loco Dice alongside Jody WayOutWest, Starecase, Jean Jacques Smoothie and Leon Alexander, Hope Recordings head honcho. One of the most memorable Hope associated parties has to be the WayOutWest Boat Party. It was an incredible day; a sunny summers Sunday afternoon sailing down the River Avon towards Hanham with Nick & Jody playing exclusive tracks from their new album. You had to be there! The next Boat Party, which saw a near miss by Adam Freeland following a very dramatic appearance at a Czech festival and after party featuring Mixmags James Mowbray tearing the roof off il Bordello, was a night to remember. Since then, there have been numerous parties with Hyper, General Midi and Parallel Sound at Bar Latino plus Mr C, Nick Warren & Hyper at Arc as well as the hugely popular Dave Seaman (Audio Therapy) alongside 16Bit Lolitas & Jody at Timbuk2 in 2006. The cavernous club Bar Latino was pretty much unknown until the boost it was given from hosting such nights as Rubiks, Timecode and Funky Onion. Its biggest attraction was the Garden Terrace on which the Empathy Summer Specials were held, with Big Mike’s ever popular BBQ provided his signature ‘Big Mike with Cheese’ to the masses. In 2003, Bar Latino was had a dramatic facelift giving it a new edge and allowing it to grow alongside Empathy’s success. Stuart nearly crashed his car when Pete Tong named Empathy as the Best Up & Coming Club Night on his Essential Selection.
Residents: The one thing a good club night needs is great residents. All 6 Empathy residents have proved capable of the fundamentals; warming up, entertaining and pulling out some killer tunes when needed. Nick Farrant was there at the start and his style of deep percussive house was perfect for warming up as well as the much fun back rooms of Slinky, Creation. Sam Richardson was one of the most enthusiastic DJs to ever play at an Empathy event, despite some very strange records he still had the confidence to educate a crowd without losing them and still made them dance. Jim Rivers was a regular guest from the moment he passed over his demo in 2003. Even when he wasn’t playing he would come down and check everyone out. When Empathy moved lock, stock and barrel to Timbuk2, Jim launched his residency. The Boy Rivers is also on a mission, his recent productions are hugely popular with all the big jocks and proved a force to be reckoned with in 2007. In January 2005, Empathy brought in Chicago resident Jay Russell, a hit with the ladies, is technically gifted, and can work the dance floor into a frenzy! The only resident to be there throughout is Empathy front man Stuart Wilkinson, more on him later.
Global Industry55 was the venue for Empathy bi-monthly stint, with residents Stuart Wilkinson, Petr Holman and Mysh plus various guests from all over europe treated the 600 capacity club to some amazing nights over a 12 month period until the venue was sadly turned into apartments. In 2004 Empathy secured a monthly date at Sub Logic in the West End of London, the 200 capacity venue with Graham Dunn from Groove Exponents Dj Agency and Stuart as resident’s. With some amazing guests from Sumsonic Chris Gainer, Lee Morrison from Wallop, Chris Salt from Silver Planet and many more. In 2006 Empathy hosted T3 at Turnmills in Clerkenwell West London with Jamie Anderson, Nigel Marcussen, Andy Newland plus the lovely resseis.
Stuart Wilkinson: The man behind it all first moved to Bristol in 2000 and soon got a job working for OutOfHand magazine, distributing the magazine to all the clubs across the south west, it wasn’t long before he got a gig here and there and soon realised the potential of Bar Latino after the OutOfHand Christmas party, he was lucky enough to secure weekly Thursdays. After a while Stuart’s popularity as a result of Empathy grew with Bookings at Slinky, Creamfields (Festival & Warm Up Parties), a guest mix on Europa Radio, gigs in Turkey, Portugal plus various tours of Poland and coutless gigs in and around Bristol He has recently been installed of top Bristol clubnight Dirty Blue, its monthly parties at Arc have seen some amazing guests and gives Stuart a chance to really flex his muscles and play a real party set.
WoC Gallery's 2nd installment of some of the UK's finest Graffiti artists. Group show opening invite
Saturday 13th June 5-10pm. Free entry Exhibition runs until the Sunday 5th July 2009
----------------------------------------------- 14 St Michael’s Hill Bristol BS2 8DT ----------------------------------------------- http://weaponofchoicegallery.blogspot.com
Ahoy there matey. There's a new Outlaws mix CD out, you could hunt down a copy in the real world, in shops and stuff, but let's face it, you'll probably download it from the internet anyway! So to save you the trouble of Googling it, here's a picture of the cover and a link to it:
Yes it's all true, a gap has been found in the hardcore raving schedule and, like a magical golden condor egg, 60 minutes of top notch party action have been laid down as an offering to you, the ravers. Hopefully you'll enjoy it, it kind of hurts laying a golden condor egg. But don't think of the pain of the Outlaw, get swept away by the magical wonder of rave. That's enough of that anyway. There's a picture of the cover below with the tracks (all 54 of them) lovingly written on it. Click on it and your download into the world of wonderment will begin!
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