Polaroid Club

Eschatio!

Optimo aka Twitch & Wilkes know how to rock a party. With their deep knowledge of music and eclectic selections mixing up rock, disco and techno they are a duo that never disappoint a dance floor. The diverse pair have released a string of acclaimed DJ mix albums over the past couple of years, including How To Kill The DJ Part 2, Psyche Out on Eskimo and the recent Walkabout mix on Kompakt. Their Optimo Espacio night at the Sub Club in Glasgow is one of the UK�s best loved and longest running parties, sticking two fingers up at so called super clubs with a do-it-yourself, anything goes ethos. We caugh up with Jonnie to chat about thier long running party ahead of his gig at Polaroid this Friday.

Hey Jonnie. How are you and where are you?

I’m grand thank you. I’m just back in the house after the local Halloween parade round the houses with my son Walter. He was dressed as Jango Fett, I was dressed in a black linen cowl like one of Sunno ))). Keith (JD Twitch) and I dressed as Sunno ))) to our Optimo Halloween �Espookio� party on Sunday where we performed a version of The Monster Mash on stage with The Irreverend Randy B Cockburn.

How is the club going? You’ll be having your 10th birthday next month. That is an amazing achievement for a club night, especially one that runs on a Sunday evening. Any plans to stop or are you just gonna keep going!?

It’s been a great year for the club, a very busy year too – the live program especially has been really diverse and exciting. I think the live shows are such an important element of the Optimo party. DJ-ing to our beloved home crowd is overwhelming sometimes – we’re very lucky in this respect, it�s rare these day for a DJ to have a great residency in their home town. We’re going to keep doing our party until we stop enjoying it and at the moment it’s so much fun. We have so much energy for it so why stop?

What makes Optimo Espacio so special?

I hope first and foremost it’s the music we play. The club has many sides to it – from being a “social club” – (we play no dance music until after midnight, when people arrive they just chat and have drinks), then we have a live band or some kind of performance, then Twitch and I play records…
The venue (Sub Club) is great; we have good sound, friendly security who don’t work against us and supportive management. This all make it a nice place to be. We’ve worked hard over the years to try and make it feel different – kind of the reason we started Optimo.

What are your favourite memories from Optimo down the years?

There are so many – it’s been a blast since the start and still is. I tell you, I’ve seen a few sights and it’s been outrageous at times. The commitment of our home crowd to getting totally INTO it is thrilling when you play there week to week. The Hogmanay Parties have been really special too, The Boat Trips, The Barn Dance, The Halloween “Espookio” parties, getting interviewed by Strathclyde Police following a complaint for showing “explicit” videos, hosting a Whitehouse show, watching the venue burn to the ground (not a favourite memory, but vivid) – there’s too many to mention…

Dance music seems to be going though a renaissance at the moment and new parties and club nights are being started all the time. What advice would you give to anyone wanting to start their own night?

Decide if you have anything to bring to the party and bring it. If the management suggest you compromise your ideas to get more people through the door, leave immediately. There are some good guys who own clubs but there a lot of greedy bastards too.

And how about budding DJ’s. It’s harder than ever to be a DJ these days, what advice would you give to anyone wanting to get behind the decks?

There’s worse jobs. Central to the craft is entertaining your audience, giving them a good time and surprising them if you can. It’s so rewarding when you have taken a risk with music you really love and you get support back from the crowd.

You use a sampler and Ableton in your sets to weave the together diverse music you play. Is the inclusion of technology in a DJ’s set up becoming compulsory do you think or can the art of mixing two records together still have the desired effect for a crowd?

Keith (JD Twitch) and I work differently. He uses Ableton and vinyl (about half and half) and I use solely vinyl. So yes, obviously I think the art of mixing two records together is still effective. I’m very attached to the tradition. I love the medium of vinyl and the technology of the turntable – it feels right to me to use these to play music to people in a night club.

I understand the limitations but they just don’t bother me. I think you can achieve amazing dynamics and play diverse stuff from a set of turntables. I’m very lucky to work so closely with Keith – he really pushes ideas in club mixing a long way. I even hear him cut up tracks and remixes I’ve done sometimes, mix them with the most unlikely of things in Ableton and it’s awesome. When we sometimes play together, say at the end of a party and I’ll be mixing vinyl into his Ableton sessions – that really works , it�s great fun.

As well as Optimo, you record under the Mount Florida and Naum monikers. Have you got any releases or remixes coming up?

I produce as �Naum� with my friend James Savage. Since we made the records for Kompakt a few years ago we haven�t released anything of our own We have done quite a few remixes as �Naum Gabo� which has been good to develop studio techniques and a good writing/producing partnership. Recently we�ve made some new tracks � they sound very different to the Kompakt stuff. There is no concept, like before�it�s free and even a bit live sounding. Something we made recently is coming out on Thisisnotanexit Records with a remix by �The Loving Hand� (Tim Goldsworthy from DFA). I think an EP of Naum Gabo on Mule Musiq (Japan) too.

You’ve played all over the place in some of the most discerning clubs in the world. Where is the best place to play for you, apart from Espacio of course!?

I think �Yellow� in Tokyo.

Who or what has been the most inspiration to you throughout your career?

The crowd at Optimo.

What record(s) never leave your record bag?

They all leave at one time or another but there are a few few that are a near permanent feature�Maybe something like �Sonny�s Burning� by The Birthday Party

You’ve done some critically acclaimed DJ mixes over the past couple of years. Any plans to do anymore?

Yes, there will be 3 new compilations in 2008 � all very different

So, what’s next for Optimo?

Onwards and upwards�.

Thanks, really looking forward to Polaroid.

Jonnie