110th Street

110th St resident DJs Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin return...

Mon, 13 May 2013 14:14:33 +0100

110th St resident DJs Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin return under their revived Hive banner to Róisín Dubh on Friday 17th May.

While 110th St is where we play mostly current four-to-the-floor records, The Hive is many clubs rolled into one. It’s where we get to draw on all corners of our record collections, old & new, with the onus on joining the dots between disco, house, hip-hop, Italo, techno, post-punk, new wave & lost classics. Anything to keep the party rolling.

Doors eleven thirty / A fiver in.

Brothers & sisters, we invite you to join us in numbers...

Wed, 01 May 2013 14:02:00 +0100

Brothers & sisters, we invite you to join us in numbers & to declare your support for our Rave Union!

All disco delegates are invited to our next meeting, which takes place at Factory on Friday 3rd May, where Cyril & Cian will be at hand to shine a strobe towards a better society for us all.

They will be drawing from their vast experience of house, techno, disco & bass - sounds that should represent your every dancefloor need (unless you’re into trance).

Get up from your couch and join our campaign.

Note - door is 3E until 23.30, then a fiver thereafter.

The Hive - Friday 19th April at Roisin Dubh

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:03:00 +0100

110th Street resident DJs Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin return under their resurrected Hive banner to Róisín Dubh on Friday 19th April.

We threw the first Hive party in almost five years last month and it went swimmingly. It felt like we’d never been away.

From what we can recall, tunes were played by New Order, Robert Palmer, TNGHT, Daft Punk, I:Cube, Dead Kennedys, Ariel Pink, LCD Soundsystem, The Chills, Blawan, Talking Heads, Telex, Ol Dirty Bastard, The Human League, Blood Orange, The Clash, The Jellies, Metro Area, Hot Chip, Len Faki etc.

Those tracks might give you some indication of how we roll. The Hive is a joyous & debonair voyage through all areas of our record collection that might get a dancefloor hopping: whether disco, house, hip-hop, Italo, techno, post-punk, new wave or lost classics.

Doors eleven fifteen-ish / A fiver in.

Unorthodox Church Of Rave

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 14:25:24 +0100

White smoke rising? It can mean only one thing. It’s a rave conclave.

110th Street returns in a blaze of pseudo-religious imagery to the hoy citadel of Factory on Friday 5th April with Cyril and Cian.

“110th Street on a Friday!” we hear you heathens exclaim, “is this a first?”

There have been precedents, most notably during birthday weekenders we used to have in the GPO back in the day, but this is our first Friday session in years. In another twist of musical synchronicity, our old chum Graham Dolan will be DJing upstairs in the Garden (he and Simpy used to host the second room during our years in GPO and Radission).

Make sure to come in early to maximise dancefloor enjoyment - doors 11pm.

Then God said unto Abraham “Blessed are the bangers”

110th Street presents The Hive

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 21:44:33 +0000

110th Street resident DJs Cian Ó Cíobháin & Cyril Briscoe are delighted to announce the resurrection of their club night ‘The Hive’ with a party in Galway’s Róisin Dubh on Friday March 22nd.

Some years ago, we ran ‘The Hive’ nights in various venues around Galway - with parties in Bar 903, the old Town Hall, De Burgo’s & Brennan’s Yard. We had some truly excellent nights and are thrilled to have the opportunity to revive the night in the Róisín Dubh, which we believe is the perfect fit for the “anything goes” ethos of the nights.

The notion behind ‘The Hive’ parties is to play club classics that we love from various eras of clubbing rather than focus on the fresh four-to-the-floor produce that soundtrack our 110th Street parties.

In other words, it’s an excuse to give us free rein to run riot through our record collections and spin disco, house, hip-hop, Italo, post-punk, new wave and lost classics.
Even though we might feature plenty of vintage fare, there’s always room to drop some current anthem that you might hear us spin at 110th Street. It’s also an opportunity for us to focus on different genres and tempos that we don’t get a chance to play at the Street. Whatever soundtrack the party requires, we shall endeavour to locate.

Admission is only a fiver.

We’re gonna be posting a serious amount of tune links on this Facebook event so turn off notifications if you wanna avoid the bombardment. If you have any suggestions, let’s hear them …

110th Street: I Believe in the Power of RaveSaturday March 2nd...

Mon, 25 Feb 2013 11:20:02 +0000

110th Street: I Believe in the Power of Rave

Saturday March 2nd and 110th Street crosses to the other side of the Corrib for a night of house, techno, bass and other sexual hybrids with residents Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin.

In an interview last year, London-based producer Bass Clef proclaimed with great sincerity, and without a modicum of self-consciousness, that he believes in the power of rave.

The phrase has stuck with us.

Though ephemeral and all as any rave experience may be – whether grinding the night away to booming bass in a jam-packed Brixton basement, or jacking to sweaty house beneath the arches of an erstwhile railway station, or succuming to the relentless, pummeling techno kickdrum clattering off a warehouse’s walls - there is undeniably something beautiful & powerful in losing yourself to whatever sounds that happen to be soundtracking this or that particular rave moment.

We love it all. We believe in the power of rave.

Do you?

Post your soundtrack suggestions for the first 110th Street at Factory here.

* Admission a fiver before midnight and 8E after.

We welcome you to dance without prejudice at the first 110th...

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:34:58 +0000

We welcome you to dance without prejudice at the first 110th Street party of 2013.

Joining residents Cyril & Cian will be Rory Bowens.

Rory Bowens is a final year English and History student in NUIG originally from Co. Meath. He presents ‘The Slip’ every Thursday night from 9-10.30pm on Flirt FM, spinning the very finest Electronic and Underground sounds. He is also the auditor of NUIG RadioSoc who was responsible for bringing Cian, along with Donal Dineen to Electric Garden for a back to back set last Saturday night.

Post your favourite music & must-see/hear links here.

http://www.songkick.com/concerts/15479279-110th-street-at-monroes-tavern

footage of 110th Street at Monroe’s Tavern taken from the...

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 17:17:11 +0000

footage of 110th Street at Monroe’s Tavern

taken from the documentary ‘Sounds of a Tribe’ filmed by Daniel Coogan and Amy Coyle.

Poster image of 110th Street Mix CD artwork dating all the way...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:56:00 +0000

Poster image of 110th Street Mix CD artwork dating all the way back to 2001.

We are making these old mixes the opening episodes of the new 110th Street Mixcast - you can subscribe to our feed here. Alternatively you can subscribe via iTunes (go to the store, search for 110th Street and filter for Podcasts).

The mixes are also available to stream here on Tumblr and on Mixcloud

Sat 15th December // Another Miracle on 110th Street Every...

Tue, 04 Dec 2012 21:06:00 +0000

Sat 15th December // Another Miracle on 110th Street

Every year, for our Xmas party, we like to cast our ears back on the year’s best electronic music records. Joining residents Cyril & Cian in Monroe’s Tavern on Sat 15th December will be Rory Gaffney, one of Galway’s unsung DJ talents. We’ve known Rory to see since he was a young buck showing up at Sunday night sessions in the Drum ten years ago. Originally from Co. Roscommon, but now resident of Ghana, Rory is back in town for the holiday season. He’s an avid buyer of records and is chomping at the bit to share his latest finds with us. This will be his 110th Street debut.

In November 2002, 2ManyDJs played at our 4th birthday in GPO,...

Fri, 23 Nov 2012 14:04:00 +0000

In November 2002, 2ManyDJs played at our 4th birthday in GPO, Galway as part of Arthur Baker’s ‘Return To New York’ tour.
Doors opened early and we didn’t announce the running order.
Arthur kicked off, Erol Alkan finished the night & somewhere in between the Dawaele brothers squeezed in this raucous set.

In August 2002, Erol Alkan played for us the first time. In...

Thu, 22 Nov 2012 12:33:01 +0000

In August 2002, Erol Alkan played for us the first time. In fact, his trip to Galway was his first time playing outside the UK. He had just started making a name for himself outside of his seminal Trash club night, picking up a residency at Bugged Out where Cian first met him. Having played Boogaloo in the Black Box, he joined us on Bank Holiday Sunday in the Drum. He had an early flight to catch so played earlier that hot, sweaty evening from 9.30pm to around 11.30pm.

This is a recording of that night.

  Here is also an email transcript from that time, Cian desperately seeking tunes (note: if you didn’t have the track on vinyl, you didn’t have it!)

———————————————————————————————————

Cian: Hi Erol, big thanks for rocking Galway this weekend. Sunday must have been the hottest night of the summer. There was perspiration dripping from the roof at the end of the night. We finished with Royksopp mix of Felix’s ‘What Does It Feel Like’ followed by Human Leagues’ ‘Don’t You Want Me Baby’. .

Erol: I HAD SO MUCH FUN! I WISH I COULD HAVE STAYED LONGER ON SUNDAY BUT I KNEW I WAS FADING EVEN BEFORE I PLAYED A RECORD!! EVERYONE WAS GREAT: GREAME, PADDY, YOUR BROTHERS, AS WELL AS CYRIL & YOUR GOOD SELF.

C: A few questions…On Sunday you played mixes of Blondie, Breeders,
New Order’s ‘Confusion’ Avalanches & Dead Or Alive…

E: BLONDIE - EXPERIENCE (? SAME GUY WHO DI EROTIC CITY) 12” ORANGE COVER
BREEDERS - MELANTE 12” ROUGH TRADE MAY STILL HAVE IT
NEW ORDER - LARRY T MIX, GONNA BE OUT ON ARTHUR BAKERS NEW LABEL
AVALANCHES - I CANT REMEMBER WHERE I GOT THAT, BUT IT WAS OFF A DAT THEY MADE DEAD OR ALIVE!! ORIGINAL 12” FROM THE 80’S (MURDER MIX)

C: Also, where can I find Tiga’s mix of ‘Madame Hollywood’?
E: TIGA GAVE IT TO ME, I THINK CITYROCKERS MAY BE PUTTING IT OUT SOON

C: Finally, if you can find a second copy of the Rough Trade Bastard Pop record could please you send it to:
YES, I’LL GET A LITTLE SOMETHING TOGETHER FOR YOU. CAN I PLEASE COME BACK AGAIN?

C: Hope that yesterday’s dovetail to Shannon didn’t ruin your night at Trash. Did you manage to find some energy in reserve?
E: YEP! DRANK SHITLOADS OF BRANDY. WOKE ME UP!!

C: Thanks again for all.

E: THANKS, I FUCKING LOVED IT. KEEP IN TOUCH E X

———————————————————————————————————

Images from 110th Street nights in GPO/Drum Galway. 110th Street...

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:26:00 +0000

Images from 110th Street nights in GPO/Drum Galway.

110th Street is celebrating 14 years of clubbing in Galway - this weekend, 24th November 2012 at Monroe’s Tavern

Reminiscences on run up to 14th birthday..

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 11:21:42 +0000

Press cutting from The Guardian, July 12th, 2003

back of flyer for 110th Street at City Limits, Cork with list of BIG tunes and unashamed proaganda

Flyer for 110th Street's 3rd Birthday Boogaloo

Apres Boogaloo flyer (these epic parties were held in Drum bar, part of GPO Nightclub)

Boogaloo flyer from 2003

flyer from that Radisson stint

Flyer for 2 gig series we did with Galway club Shake!

Flyer for 110th Street with Erol Alkan, 2 Many DJs, Soulwax & Arthur Baker

110th Street Christmas Party in the GPO. "Punky Funky Christmas Monkeys" - a tag line that could ONLY have been written by Kev Healy

Flyer from when Australia's gentleman DJ Dexter came to play. Rhis was the launch night of 110th Street at the Redbox, Dublin.

Reminiscences on run up to 14th birthday..

110th Street - 14th Birthday

Thu, 08 Nov 2012 12:38:00 +0000

On November 24th Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin will be blowing out the candles on 110th Street’s 14th birthday cake. The plan is to play anthems/bangers/big hitters that have defined our parties down through the years. If you can think of any, please post your suggestions here. It would be great to focus on some of the more recent stuff, from nights in the Cellar & Monroe’s.

Normal guest list suspended, but we’ll be giving away some golden tickets closer to the date.

Now, here’s our longest newsletter of all time. Think of it as a snapshot of Galway nightlife in 2002………

On the eve of our club night’s fourteenth anniversary, I’d like to take a look back on where we were at a decade ago – 2002 - which in many ways was year zero for 110th Street. I say that because around then our music policy changed from the funk, soul & hip-hop vibe that defined our early years to the electronic music policy that we’ve pursued over the past decade. Also, it was a year – to borrow the title of our second 110th Street mixtape from that time – that we were ‘on the move’. Twice.

In January 2002, having spent over three years throwing the parties of our lives in the Town Hall Theatre bar, we found ourselves in the rather confusing situation of being wooed by several would-be suitors around town: promoters and club owners asking us if we’d like to bring 110th Street to such and such a venue. I say confusing because it was hard to decide if (a) we wanted to leave behind the perfect series of conditions that had given rise to create the ideal block party in the Town Hall and (b) were we to go, which of these offers should we take up. It was an appetite for change as much as anything which motivated our decision to try hosting our parties elsewhere. Also, it was the era of the Celtic Tiger and there was a sense that you should be moving up in the world and trying out exciting new projects. Stasis was frowned upon. The Town Hall nights had been undeniably magical and it was with a heavy heart and some regret that Cyril hosted our last party there in January 2002 (although we did return to play there on two occasions in later years before the fire officer put the brakes on us).

LE METRO @ THE RADISSON SAS
Initially, we found ourselves in the wrong place, playing to the wrong crowd. From February to April 2002, we threw weekly parties at Le Metro @ the Radisson which had just opened their doors to weekend club nights. We were offered a Saturday night residency and found ourselves playing to in excess of a thousand punters every Sat night (one particular night, there were just shy of 1,500 punters in the place – still a record for 110th Street). This was a huge leap from the 200 or so die-hard party bitches that used to cram into the Town Hall. We didn’t kid ourselves in believing that 110th Street was the main attraction. Much of the excitement had to do with the opening of a new venue. Plus people had a much better cash flow back then.

On Saturday afternoons, queues stretched out the doors of Mulligan’s Records on Middle St, where people could buy tickets in advance. It was a given that you’d buy your ticket in advance to avoid the disappointment of not getting in on the night. Even when we started in the GPO, tickets were sold in advance from Drum bar, possibly a continuation of the hysteria that was associated with buying tickets in advance for our nights in Town Hall and Black Box. We knew it was going to be a challenge to replicate the intensity of the party spirit of our legendary Town Hall nights … and we were right. The vibe was watered down not so much by the larger volume of people present, but more so by the style of punter. Our regulars found themselves outnumbered by more casual pisshead/meat market Saturday night types and after a few weeks of jostling with them for space on the dancefloor, had enough and gradually stopped coming. In a manner of weeks, it became a real chore to lift ourselves to play for the check-shirt-&-mini-skirted masses. I recall one night looking down over the balcony at the scenes below with the stark realistation: “These are not our people”. We felt that we needed to move on and quickly… or (we felt, somewhat histrionically maybe) we’d quickly be consigned to the dustbin of irrelevance.

[Records from that muddled time – the Bushwacka! Remix of ‘Billie Jean,’ Kaori cover of ‘Good Life’ by Inner City, Basement Jaxx ‘Where’s Your Head At?’, Ben Watt remix of ‘By Your Side’ by Sade, some tune whose name I can’t recall by the Drummatic Twins on Finger Lickin’ Records].

GIPPO
Luckily for us Kevin Healy - now of Róisín Dubh & main mover behind the recent comedy festival; then guru of GPO and clubbing.com - was keen to have us play in his club and came to our rescue by offering us a rotating residency alongside the 091 crew. Kevin was the main patron of clubbing in the west of Ireland and the GPO (which is now Carbon) had a reputation of being a dance music mecca, with a knowledgeable crowd of heads well into their tunes. The previous September, Kevin had organised for 100 plus clubbers to spend a week partying in Ibiza via his clubbing.com venture (clubbing.com was a monthly dance mag and website that reported on the Irish dance scene, mostly written by people heavily involved in the scene). Cork-based TV company Forefront Productions sent Hector Ó hEochagáin & myself along to cover the week of excess and hedonism. You may have seen the TG4 show called ‘Ionsaí Ibiza’? If you haven’t, it will be screened in the Blue Note prior to our Monroe’s gig on Sat 24th at 8pm!

Since January ‘02, 091 had been hosting Saturday nights in GPO on the back of throwing quality underground nights in De Burgo’s (before Gigantic took over down there – Mac, Tom & Olive cut their teeth DJing upstairs in Cuba that year). The 091 motto was ‘Kicking the truth to the Galway youth’ and their focus was on playing underground dance music to their dedicated posse. The main floor residents were Tiddlerz (now in Berlin), Lynam (who you may know from the Bierhaus) and Frenchie (who’s released some beautiful 4/4 down the years), while Deviant, Two Crown & their posse hosted hip-hop and drum’n’bass in GPO’s second room (The Drum). I think they were more comfortable with the idea of rotating Saturday nights with us than having to be there every week and from May 2002 until August 2004 each club took turns to host alternate Saturdays in GPO. The likes of Stanton Warriors, James Zabelia, The Youngsters, Calibre, Deadly Avenger, Josh Wink (?) & Adam Freeland played at 091 during that time.

NEW SOUND
We’d been striving to find a sound to play in the big rooms, as our previous funk/soul/disco music policy which rocked the more intimate floor in the Town Hall wasn’t the ideal soundtrack for a thronging Saturday night, yoked-up mainfloor. In the Radisson, we had relied on the more anthemic Ibiza-type house records, with Simpy and Graham Dolan (sometimes called Stroller) setting the tone earlier in the evening with choice funk, soul & hip-hop (a cornerstone of the original 110th Street that they continued to keep alive in room 2 of GPO, the Drum). However, for the peak-time mainfloor sound we were looking for something rawer & grittier (in the spirit of the old funk records that we used to play) to express ourselves with and the sassy Defected-style house that was prevalent in the house music scene of that time just didn’t cut the mustard.

In April 2012, we pretty much stumbled on the sound which would define us for the next few years. I was in London for one of my then regular clubbing weekends with my mate Paddy, who brought me to Bugged Out! where he introduced me to Erol Alkan, who was playing one of his first non-indie/non-Trash sets in the smaller attic room. He was relativly unknown outside of Trash at the time and blew the socks off us with a wonderfully dynamic soundclash that irreverently merged Michael Jackson with The Streets (‘Original Pirate Material’ had just come out) with International DeeJay Gigolo-style techno and some of the house hits du-jour (remember Junior Jack’s ‘Thrill Me’?), before finishing his set with The Carpenters’s ‘Close To You’. [For the record, also playing that night were Felix Da Housecat, Dave Clarke & Richard Fearless].

Electroclash was firmly leaving its mark on London’s dancefloors that year and through compilations like the ‘Futurism’ series on City Rockers (curated by Damian Lazarus, now of Crosstown Rebels), we fell for its spell. We were beguiled by the sexiness, the vitality and the freshness of the filthy electronic grooves, the deadpan vocals (Miss Kittin should get a job voicing ads for the financial regulator) and euphoric new waves samples. It was also the era that Soulwax - previously regarded as no-frills meat’n’2-veg indie band - cut up the rule book with their seminal ‘As Heard On Radio Soulwax’ mix. The stars were aligned. We had found our sound.

[Radisson flyers proclaimed a music policy of future funk, satellite soul & block party breaks. By the end of the year, GPO flyers announced us a purveyors of ‘punky funky, robo-pogo disco’]

In hindsight it’s easy to poke fun at the electroclash/bootleg scene of the early millenium, but it’s essential that we convey how fresh and new it sounded in clubland at the time. In later years we distanced ourselves from the sound as the scene became overrun and watered down by mediocre producers, sycophants and bandwagoners (every scene eventually loses its way). But in 2002 though, it was two fingers in the face of bland, corporate superclub brands such as Cream & Ministry which had been all the rage at the weekends for thousands of young folk around Ireland and the UK (po-faced superstar DJ playing anonymous prog-house/trance/breakbeat to the gurning masses). There was something irreverent and punk rock about bringing back an unpretentious party spirit to weekend clubbing. Indeed, electroclash was the perfect antidote to the anonymous techno scene (which needs a reality check/kick up the arse every few years). It brought a much needed splash of colour and personality back into the overly serious European techno scene.

For our 4th birthday party in the GPO that November, it seemed fitting that we hosted Erol Alkan, an in-form Soulwax & Arthur Baker (legendary producer of New Order, Afrika Bambatta, Freez et al). 110th Street also had a Friday night residency in Dublin’s Red Box in 2002 and same line-up stuffed the club the night before they hit Galway. We didn’t announce what order the DJs would be appearing so the nights were rammed early. Indeed, Soulwax (who, in theory were the main act) warmed up for Erol, who finished his Galway set with The Breeders’ ‘Cannonball’, leaping into the exuberant crowd, fag in mouth.

That year, the anthems kept coming: Vitalic’s ‘La Roc 01’, LCD Soundsystem ‘Losing My Edge’, Felix Housecat ‘Silver Screen – House Scene (Thin White Duke Mix),’ The Rapture – ‘House Of Jealous Lovers,’ FC Kahna – ‘Mindset To Cycle.’ Pretty much all the tunes you’ll find on our ‘Fast n Bulbous’ mix (AKA The Purple CD) which Disko Briscoe brilliantly mixed in the GPO one night in November 2002. Indeed, 2002 was also the year that Cyril & I began DJing together as a team. He patiently taught me how to beatmatch and in an interview with local ‘zine G-Mag that year I’m quoted as saying “I’ve been watching Cyril and been learning from him. I think he’s really hitting his peak as a DJ”. A decade later, there still ain’t no mountain high enough to acknowledge his mastery of the groove.

VINYL OR NOTHING
We were pretty much playing almost all vinyl at the time, like every other DJ. If you didn’t have a tune and wanted to play it, there was no way you’d be able to pick it up as a quick download, you’d have to ring around your DJ mates and borrow it from one of them! While we were buying our records online (Hard To Find, Juno), in Dublin (Big Brother), in London (Koobla, Sounds Of The Universe, Atlas), we were also able to source records on home turf, whether in the much missed Mulligan’s on Middle Street or in Noel Phelan’s Wax Factor record store . Even Golden Discs on Eglington St and Zhivago on Eyre Square sold vinyl! Our research was done through combing through the record reviews in Jockey Slut and Muzik every month.

One thing that we took for granted back then but that we hugely miss now is the opportunities that a regular residency gives you building up a rapport with your crowd and breaking new records until they eventually became club anthems. It might have been the following year that we started playing ‘Drop The Pressure’ by Mylo which was, as he insisted upon telling us when we bumped into him a few years later, a throwaway track he put together after a few hours in the pub one night, on the B-side of the ‘Paris Four Hundred EP.’ We had played it for weeks on end to benign indifference before – without warning- one night on the GPO dancefloor one Saturday it detonated. The first few bars and everyone started flipping out and by the time we got to the breakdown you could hardly hear the tune for the screaming. Playing regularly gave us the opportunity to create anthems by virtue of playing records over and over again (much in the same way that people become familiar with pop tunes through constant exposure on the radio). It’s not as easy to create anthems when you’re not playing week in and week out, but these days I guess we highlight tunes we’d like to become anthems through YouTube links on Facebook event pages.

SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER
2002. Memories of rocking up to the GPO just before 11pm, picking up our tipple – a certain Irish cider - for the night from Drum off license. Joe, Shocks, Nicola, Peadar, Monty, JD & the two Timmys on the door, Debbie or Karen or Jackie on the cash desk, Conall & Cathal vibing, Heidi & Sinéad on flyers, 200 people (first 200 free in before 11pm through Drum, remember!) straining on their leashes to get the party started, then into the club with Sumo on light/visuals beside us in the DJ booth. Then you had Mark, Jason, Dooley, Barry, Kieran, Windows 98, Fiona, Judith, Peadar, Gummy, John Griffin, Ross & Lally working the bars, Greg or Alex overseeing that everything was running smoothly and the younger Healy gals looking after your coat for the evening.

2002 was a year that friendships were forged with the likes of Graham Dolan, Prime Time and Ger Regan (AKA Ger Z, who Cyril took under his wing where they played Fridays in Drum). It was the summer that Roy Keane walked out on the Irish camp in Saipan and our World Cup dream came to an end when we lost to Spain on penalties . GPO was thronged for the match and an impromptu party broke out in Drum that afternoon which continued in the upstairs offices well after closing time. It was the year that Dexter from The Avalanches first played for us. It was a time that Boogaloo and Outrageous were regualarly bringing The Rave to the Black Box. Pirate radio station Wild West Wadio was broadcasting all manners of 4/4 from its secret hub to bedsits across the city. Shake’s Aran & Ray were putting on brilliant parties every Friday night in the old bar Cuba, bringing over the likes of Gilles Peterson, Mr Scruff & Norman Jay. Ben Ó Faoláin began hosting his O a Dó parties in Club Áras na nGael.

Back in 2002, Gugaí was running Monday nights in the Drum and Strange Brew in the Warwick every Thursday. DJ Ferg had taken over Saturdays in the Radisson after we left and and started his Lowdown residency every Wednesday in Cuba (with Graham Dolan’s The Magic Number upstairs). The 091 crew were throwing illegal raves in forests and other secluded woodland areas with their Kibosh SoundSystem. The Commander and Noel Phelan ran Fridays in Gippo. Sundays were hopping in Drum where the spirit of Saturday night lived on under the guidance of whichever of us DJs were booked for the gig. Keith Disconaut, Diarmuid Flavin & Damian Gerahty hosted Sidewaze parties in Monroe’s while Padraic Disco represented Galway in Barcelona. Ted & Dean, having been running Friday nights in the GPO for over six years, moved their Essence parties to Cuba. There was a wealth of good nights happening in Galway, many of which we haven’t had the opportunity to mention here. There always are.

To paraphrase a great scribe, all the world was a club and all the men and women merely ravers.

Cian Ó Cíobháin, November 2012

[Special thanks to Graham Dolan, Cyril Briscoe & Conall Ó Cíobháin for contributing lost memories]

PS Here’s some charts as featured in the last 110th Street newsletter of 2002.

CYRIL & CIAN’S TEN FROM GPO MAINFLOOR
Vitalic – La Roc 01 / International Deejay Gigolo
The Rapture – House Of Jealous Lovers / DFA
Audio Bullys – We Don’t Care / Source
Primal Scream Vs Beck – Rocksexx (C&C ‘110th St’ re-edit) / cdr
Tiga & Zyntherius - Blue Sunglasses (Tom Middleton re-edit) / City Rockers
DJ Marky & Xrs – LK / V Recordings Electric Six - Danger! High Voltage (Soulchild Mix) / XL
Felix Da Housecat - What Does It Feel Like? (Royksopp Return To The Sun Rmx) / City Rockers
LCD Soundsystem – Losing My Edge / Output
Sugababes - Round Round (Soulwax Rmx) / Island

SIMPY & STROLLER’S TEN FROM DRUM
The Streets - Let’s Push Things Forward / Locked On
People Under The Stairs - Hang Loose / PUTS
RSL - Beanflicker / Sub-Tub Players
Treva Whateva - Singalong / Tru-Thoughts
Johnny Jones & The King Casuals - Purple Haze / 13 Amp Dr. John - Right Place, Wrong Time / Warner
The Demigodz - Don’t You Even Go There / Ill Boogie Biz Markie - Let Me Turn You On / Cold Chillin
Carol Cool - Upside Down / Soul Jazz
The Coral - Dreaming Of You / Sony

Photo

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 11:34:00 +0000

On Saturday November 24th, 110th Street will be celebrating 14 years of crosstown clubbing with a...

Thu, 01 Nov 2012 17:39:13 +0000

On Saturday November 24th, 110th Street will be celebrating 14 years of crosstown clubbing with a party @ Monroe’s in Galway.

Dublin-based clubber, DJ, producer and writer Gavin Paisley remembers his own introduction to ‘the Street’ at the GPO in 2002.

One drunken night ten years ago, I announced to Cian and Cyril that 110th St was Ireland’s very own Heavenly Social. It was late in the evening, so I now can’t remember whether they agreed with me or gave me a dig for being such a music journalist. But I still stand by it. The music, the crowd, the vibe, the influence.

The plates were shifting in dance music at the time, somewhere out there bands like LCD Soundsystem and The Rapture were making rock music you could rave all night to, Audio Bullies strutted a line between terrace chants, serrated rock samples and basement beats, Erol Alkan and Soulwax were changing the face of club DJ-ing and bootleg culture, Vitalic was leathering crowds with heavy metal disco. Somewhere out there. And in Ireland, it was at 110th St.

Listen to Fast And Bulbous, their first CD, created at the height of euphoria in late ‘02. All those artists are on it, along with forgotten heroes like Playgroup and Detroit Grand Pubahs. Even the Fischerspooner track on it is good. But that’s just the music.

There was the crowd and their fanatical loyalty. Every second Saturday in 2002 the GPO was a raucous shockwave of sex, glamour, fun, style. Cian and Cyril were conducting it, right on it and right in it. One of the biggest cliches in the dance music book is that the residents were generally better than the superstar guests, but that’s true here too, as any regular would tell you.

But the guests were phenomenal, with Erol Alkan playing his first ever Irish gig there that year (as Justice were to do three years later) and Soulwax in their prime, both legendary nights in the GPO.

Galway 1 - Dublin 0 as well, the capital was miles behind, with a few Dublin promoters and DJs bring a bit of stardust back with them on the (poxy, freezing cold) early Sunday morning train back home, and starting and shaping their own clubnights on the Street template. That’s another story.

2002 in Galway at the GPO for 110th Street. Magic.

On the floor at The Street..

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 21:32:29 +0100

On the floor at The Street..

Sat 13th October // 110th Street - Calling All...

Mon, 01 Oct 2012 14:37:00 +0100

Sat 13th October // 110th Street - Calling All Bassheads!
110th Street @ Monroe’s Tavern,
with Cyril Briscoe & Cian Ó Cíobháin
Door 10E (concessions available online & in various venues in the west)
Doors 11PM

* “Bass leads us in. It’s the reverberating throb from the underground or loft; the first clue, the ravesignal number one – sensed not with the ears but with the entire body – that tells us we’re in the right place (or the wrong place).”
[Joe Muggs ]

On Sat 13th October, Moe’s Tavern will become the temple of boom as we celebrate the primal heartbeat that powers every rave – the elemental vibration that has the capacity to tap into buildings & structures as well as rattle your ribcage.

It’s going to be all about the bass, the bottom end, that low end frequency that is felt as much as heard.

There are famous basslines that have thrilled dancers the world over, from James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’ to LFO’s two-note ‘LFO’ to the bowel-moving bottom-end of 90s jungle.

What are the basslines that rock your world?
Post your suggestions to residents Cian Ó Cíobháin & Cyril Briscoe VIA our Facebook event and they’ll do their utmost to unleash them on the 13th.

* “Bass – how low can you go?” [Public Enemy]

* “Bass leads us in. It’s the reverberating throb from the underground or loft; the first clue, the ravesignal number one – sensed not with the ears but with the entire body – that tells us we’re in the right place (or the wrong place).”
[Joe Muggs ]

…

* “If your chest ain’t rattling, it ain’t happening” [DJ Pinch]

On Sat 13th October, Moe’s Tavern will become the temple of boom as we celebrate the primal heartbeat that powers every rave – the elemental vibration that has the capacity to tap into buildings & structures as well as rattle your ribcage.

It’s going to be all about the bass, the bottom end, that low end frequency that is felt as much as heard.

There are famous basslines that have thrilled dancers the world over, from James Brown’s ‘Sex Machine’ to LFO’s two-note ‘LFO’ to the bowel-moving bottom-end of 90s jungle.

What are the basslines that rock your world?
Post your suggestions here:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/441503522553914/

* Top tip - don’t listen to these recommendations VIA tinny computer speakers. If you have the opportunity, wire up a bassbin or two.

This is going to be our last party in Monroe’s until late...

Tue, 07 Aug 2012 19:40:59 +0100

This is going to be our last party in Monroe’s until late autumn. We’re delighted that we’re going to be joined by one of Galway’s bright young house music enthusiasts, Matchbox Youth.

Cruising Towards Dawn - the name of the party is from a track off the forthcoming Deepchord LP ‘Sommer’. The track evokes one of the things that clubbing and dancing does best - making you feel invincible and caring little for the fact that night will soon be day. Time doesn’t matter anymore.

Recently, People have been mentioning that there seems to be a mini-renaissance happening in Galway clubbing. We can’t speak on behalf of anyone but ourselves, but credit where credit’s due, it’s true we’ve had more fun throwing parties in the past few months than we’ve had in a while. Us grizzled veterans of the clubbing wars always been the first to complain when things don’t seem to be as good as they used to be. But we recognise a good thing when we see it. Our parties this summer - whether in Monroe’s or the Blue Note - have been intense and joyful affairs. Long may it continue.

For track suggestions, as always post your current favs on our face book event HERE.

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/403630089693514/

But also, have a think about tracks along these lines: you know when you’re at a party and the dancing’s stopped, people just sitting around, sinking into sofas, the euphoria dissipating, the night winding down. Then someone puts something on that not only grabs everyone’s attention but gets everyone dancing again. The tunes that resurrect that ‘cruising towards dawn’ feeling. Let’s hear them!