In celebration of Fabric’s 10th birthday, Loukia Constantinou interviews Tom McCathy from Fabriclive…

London’s infamous nightclub Fabric recently celebrated its 10th birthday. For 10 years it has been one of the main players in London’s nightlife. Spread across three rooms and showcasing an array of diverse music styles from electronic dance to dubstep, Fabric has become an establishment within itself. I recently caught up with Fabriclive’s Tom McCathy to talk about the night, the label and the fact that we can expect another 10 years of great things from something that began as a “disused meat storage area in Smithfields”…

What’s the short version of how Fabric got started?

The origins are well documented but suffice to say it was the brainchild of Keith Reilly who after years of searching for the right space struck upon a disused meat storage area in Smithfields….

How did YOU first get involved in Fabriclive?

I started working in the press department before being asked to move over into our Promotions department to work on our club nights with particular focus on Fabriclive.

What are the differences between working on the club night as opposed to the record label?

Well the usual differences between working in any club as opposed to a record label. With the club we’re looking at operational and bookings process as well as how to manage and promote events. The label is obviously release focussed with our monthly mix compilations dominating our release schedule. However the CDs directly reflect what’s happening in the club at that time so the two are definitely linked.

What are the most important elements involved in making the nights such a success?

A huge amount of effort goes into every single night we put on. From the admin behind the scenes sorting flights, work permits and travel arrangements to the street level promotion of the night and hugely complex logistics and operational functions to help thing run smoothly on the night, there is a big group of people working tirelessly to ensure our paying punters have a cracking night week in week out. As well as re-tweaking and testing the sound system too! That’s a very important part of what we do…then of course there’s the music….

How has the scene progressed or changed since you first got involved?

Dance music is constantly evolving so I think it changes from week to week! New sub genres come and go, old genre names become redundant, others merge and new avenues and branches develop all the time. Perhaps more than ever these genre tags are redundant as people have an appreciation of a huge array of styles and bpms and can pick and choose from different scenes etc. You also have a new generation of producers who share vastly different reference points to the generation before – and this is hugely exciting. Over the past few years we’ve seen the emergence of dubstep/dubtechno/funky/4/4 more broken sounds coming back into play – the resurgence of garage as an influence on today’s music.

How do you work out the balance of music styles to suit the wide-ranging tastes?

Well we program (very loosely) house and techno on Saturday nights and everything else on Fridays. That’s about it really – though we try to program the 3 rooms here sympathetically on all our nights. Its about giving people variation and introducing new DJs and styles to people that may not know a huge amount about that particular sound. I guess its akin to the “you may also like” recommendations on websites! Hopefully people can wander in to the different rooms and find something they like that they may not have heard before. There’s so much amazing music being made right now its sometimes hard to keep up but hopefully we get it about right…

There’s a whole new sound coming out of all genres of the UK music scene at the moment, how does fabric embrace that?

We embrace it by trying to represent new music in the club as much as we can. It feels like we have a responsibility to do this. A duty if you like…. Personally I’m keen to promote UK and London based artists in particular – that is where the club is based and we have a lot to be proud of in this country and on a smaller level from the city of London. Above all though its music that we like ourselves as a group – we’re constantly sending each other music and recommending artists and DJs to each other.

The line-ups are a result of that process as much as any other – we have a bunch of people working across the company who are very passionate about new dance music and as such we try to harness that into the music we present every weekend.

On this tip look out for a project entitled “Elevator Music” representing a host of new producers and artists that you may or may not know about.

How are the mixes compiled?

A very simple process really - we ask a DJ if they’re up for it and go from there! They have pretty much 100% artist freedom creatively (though there may be some tracks we can’t use if we’re unable to license…). They’re then submitted, mastered and out they go!

What’s your favourite Fabriclive mix?

I think recent favourites of mine include Marcus Intalex, Ame, Jon Tejada, Caspa & Rusko, Claude von Stroke and Commix - I’m really looking forward to our 100th release in the series – FABRICLIVE 50: D-Bridge and Instra:mental pres Autonomic.

What would you say has been the highlight thus far and what can we expect in the future?

More mixes from the label to reflect the amazing DJs we have come through our doors - as well as some original artist albums too. Continued diverse and exciting line-ups in the club, a much improved website and dynamic blog and hopefully another 10 years of great music and memorable club nights.

Words: Loukia Constantinou

To keep up to date with Fabric - behind the scenes, upcoming events and more:

http://www.fabriclondon.com/

LEAVE A COMMENT