Aka Aka Roar has been a part of Brighton's nightlife for a massive six months now, which means we have been peddling our own peculiar brand of 2-step/dubstep/house/techno every monday, for 24 weeks now.
We opened our doors with a bang for the Appleblim launch party, and since then it' s gone on and on - we've heard Jackmaster do his own karoake version of 'I Would Walk 5ooo Miles' by the Proclaimers, heard Greena's tips for the world cup about a milllion times over (we get it Dan, you're from South America and Argentina are gonna win), seen Tom Aka Roar spill soy sauce all over Appleblim's nice shirt.
We've seen Cappy fall asleep on the toilet, given Pariah his own personal 'reggae' themed hotel room (what DJs put in their riders these days...), heard about a million times over how enthusiastic Season Five's Snugfelix is for Pizza Express, how L5D feels about CD DJs (despite playing out on them regularly)
Essentially we've learnt how much I love Gin & Tonic and most importantly of all how much Nick Aka Roar loves Trim. We've also had some DJs play some actual music believe it or not, and the list of people who've featured is a varied one: Appleblim, Oneman, Brackles, Kode 9, Untold, El-B, Shortstuff, Greena, Mosca, Reecha, Pariah, Bok Bok, Hyetal, Deadboy, James Blake, Jackmaster, Shackleton, Ben UFO, Ramadanman, Pangaea, Fantastic Mr Fox, Nosaj Thing.
A pretty impressive booking history we reckon (apologies if this all comes across some what smug, but seeing as we managed to run a weekly night for 6 months without any fatalities).
However all good things have to come to an end, and mondays in Brighton will never be the same again from the end of June. Aka Aka Roar is taking a break over the summer, and returning in a more work/uni friendly format (friday nights anyone?) in September. The lineups will be beefier than ever though, so no fear on that front!
All that's left to be said is a few big-ups - out to Paul, Nick and Tom, without whom it would never have happened. Equally out to Stickie, Paste, L5d, Temple, Donga, Whistla, Dawntreader, Littlefoot, Renegade Youth, Tom Unlikely and the SeasonFive boys (
Furesshu and
Snugfelix) who warmed up and down for the headliners better than anyone could have asked. Last of all out to all the regulars, all of those who reached on a monday, even though it was a school night, even though they were broke - out to Phil Herbert, Cappy, Tom Loops, Sean Dubloke, Voytech, Will Bunch, Andreas, Christina (even though she had a 9am seminar on tuesdays ;), Grant, Greena and probably a whole load more who I've forgotten.
Anyways nuff' talk abou the past, what about the future? This monday LA hip-hop don Nosaj Thing graces the decks, with support from me back to back with Deadly Rhythm's Paste... and all of this for £2 before 12, as always! The week after our final monday headliner Fantastic Mr Fox is playing, with support from me and Temple.
It would be cruel to reminisce over six months of Aka Aka Roar without giving you any audio goodies - so find below a zipped package of goodies from a few of the producers who've graced our decks... I think you'll agree it's worth your while.
P.S... Sorry if you're not from Brighton.... this would have been an awfully boring blog post to read over.
