Purple Sneakers at the Gladstone

So the Abercrombie days are gone. Any last words or funny stories?
The biggest highlight for me at Purple Sneakers was, and will always be, the incredible sense of community in the club. The connection that the patrons have with each other and with good indie music has always inspired me and in a weird kinda way if feels as though everybody in there is friends because of it. There have been lots of moments, lots of bands, lots of party peeps. Everyone from Bloc Party, Interpol, Arctic Monkeys and Kings of Leon have come to hang at Purple Sneakers, and loads have played live and also spun tunes like Vampire Weekend, Lily Allen, Maximo Park and the Presets over the last 5 years. Philadelphia Grand Jury even played on the roof of the Abercrombie. Twice!
 
But one moment that stands out the most for me was about two months ago when I got kicked out of my own club. Not because I got kicked out but because of the feeling of the whole night... it was an epic. One of those nights that you'll remember forever. I was among awesome friends and my favourite Australian DJs, Yacht Club DJs and Surecut Kids, were both playing. I was pretty loose I guess and I ran behind the bar, grabbed a bottle of Jager (sorry to Alex the licensee!) and some Red Bull cans, stood above the crowd and DJs and started Jagerbombing people's faces.
 
As you can imagine the bar manager was pretty irate and I got turfed out. And although I ended up watching the club from outside on the street there were loads of people coming up to me, just random strangers, telling me how much fun they'd just had. So even though I wasn't able to finish the night off inside I felt as though something I'd done in the last five years had clicked with people and that in some sort of way I was adding to the culture of this generation. It was one of those bittersweet memories.
 
The Abercrombie is and was a legendary venue. And I think the venue we have chosen to move into has everything it takes to become legendary in its own right and to keep Purple Sneakers going for many years to come.

What's the plan with the new nights? Anything changed?
I guess the bottom line with Purple Sneakers is that it is as close to a house party as you can get whilst still being not in your house. And when we chose the Gladstone Hotel on Regent Street that's exactly what we wanted to keep: the grit, the pubbiness, the couches, that old comfort of not being in a slick venue. And importantly having a courtyard so that people can drink, smoke and dance at the same time - so no changes there.

But there will be some changes. Because the venue is smaller we get to cater that extra bit to the people who really want to be there for the right reasons. We get to treat our patrons extra specially, we get to be that little bit tighter with things like music policy, crowd control and stuff like that. So in a way Purple Sneakers will be even more special than it ever has been.

I haven't been in a while. What's the crowd like these days?
I guess when I made Purple Sneakers, aside from starting it to fund the records I wanted to release on my label, it was also a bit selfish because I explicitly wanted it to be a place where I could feel comfortable partying. It has pretty universal appeal. People from all walks of life come to Purple Sneakers and I'm guessing the thing that ties all the people together is their musical tastes.

I once had Purple Sneakers explained to me as a rite of passage for the indie scene. Everybody has been there at some stage and everyone has their own fond story.

Any special events happening in 2010?
2009 was pretty big for us. As DJs we toured around the country quite a few times. It's kinda surprising actually, for some reason whenever we go to other cities people like what we do. It's really odd walking through Perth, for example, and being recognised as the Purple Sneakers dude. But I guess it means we are connecting with people in some sort of way.

My company Boundary Sounds has a big year ahead. Aside from carrying on our weekly Sydney night and our monthly Canberra night, we'll also be opening Purple Sneakers weekly in Melbourne with the help of some of our club friends down there. We are bringing the Club NME brand to Australia from the UK and we are doing a series of national Club NME tours featuring large international acts. And of course we will do the Purple Sneakers New Years Eve House Party again.

Is there a story behind the name Purple Sneakers?
Yes of course! It's the name of track number 6 on my favourite You Am I album, Hi Fi Way. If you don't have it you should get it. It is seriously one of the best Australian rock ‘n' roll albums ever.
 
If Purple Sneakers wrote its memoirs, what would the title be?
Purple Sneakers: The Story of How Good Music and Alcohol Can and Should Be Mixed.

Purple Sneakers takes place every Friday at the Gladstone Hotel.