We were gagging for this one, and it turned out to be well worth the long wait. The best night out I’ve had in ages and the best INSEKT for a while too, confirming (as if there was any doubt) that this is the TOP hard house night in London if not the world.

Scala is a beautiful old former cinema where one can quite easily get lost trying to find the toilets. But it’s a great music venue IMO. Not too hot, a convenient smoking area and with three decent sized dance floors, as well as a decent sound system too.

What with there being a bit of queue outside from opening time, I unfortunately missed the first set by Jon BW. :o( Jon is one of the rising stars of the scene, as a DJ-producer in his own right, as well as an engineer for Tidy, so look out for his group on DSI to keep up with his activities.

INSEKT’s own fresh-faced Chris Combat ;o) was up next, and delivered a pretty damn ‘Seriously’ banging set of largely brand new stuff, including one of Dave Curtis’s new productions (sorry Dave – remind me of the name!).

The early hard fast pace, and the ambience of INSEKT seemed to inspire the two newby guests, ‘mad’ Olly Perris (who doubled up as one of the stage dancers, along with the Twisted Bliss girls – good spirit, Olly!) and MDA & Spherical (whose new stuff getting played by everyone at the moment, it seems).


The emphasis was on the ‘hard’ for these two hard trance sets, and MDA&S even ended with a couple of hard house tracks. Both these hard trance sets fitted in really well musically with the night as whole, despite not being the typical acts that have played INSEKT in the past…

James ‘Killer Hurts’ Nardi played a couple of BPM faster than I’ve usually seen him, and it was a superb set – one of the best I’ve seen from him: relentless danceability, and all the better for playing more of his own stuff, which has a very distinctive style and sound (dark, swirly, growling) and made for a very coherent set. One of the new tracks he dropped I think was ‘The Joker’. Nice one!



One of the things I really enjoyed about the night was meeting and chatting with so many lovely people, including lots of the top DJs in the scene. Unfortunately I got so carried away yacking at one point that I actually missed the whole of Dom Sweeten’s set! What a berk! :o( However, Dom was one of the people I had a chat with (in fact it was the first time I had met him despite both of us being Brighton boys!) Dom of course is the person that virtually every hard house DJ cites as the number one producer. After his memorable recent interview statement, ‘I prefer custard creams over bourbons, buddy’ we will never look at biscuits in the same way ever again! :o)

Next up was Mr INSEKT, Mr FlashPoint, Mr Tripoli, and surely now the best all-rounder in the business (as well as being a real sweetie) the mighty Marc Johnson.



This man always delivers the best in power and danceability, unremitting NRG, and can’t be topped IMO as an end of night specialist. This was my favourite set of the night; the test of that is simply how completely mental I went to it without a break. Indeed knew I was having a fantastic time cos so many people around me were staring at me (in alarm or amusement or both, I don’t know). The best music is the music that makes you go utterly mental and lose it, and this was it! In my state of almost mindless delirium, a few of the tracks I remember Marc dropping included ‘Something ugly’, the massive ‘Blunt force’, ‘Etherwave’, and my current favourite ‘Hyperscum’ – this one is 200% power; TURN IT UP!!!

Finally, it was Justin Bourne’s farewell to the night that he was the first resident at – a sad moment but also one to be savoured and enjoyed.



A lot of people were waiting for this. In line with the mega BPM that had gone before, this was Justin at his hardest and fastest. A brilliant high energy set and a little more varied and multi-textured than some of the others. His choice of tracks varied from his remix of the King Farley’s ‘Bring it back’, a version of the classic Energy 52 Café del Mar, a track using the Prodigy ‘No good for me’ chorus, and ‘Dreams’ by Mr sexypants Karim – oh yes indeed!!

The night really flew by, and was over far too fast, which says something about the quality and energy of the music that night. There were so many lovely people too, with a good attitude and spirit, and not as cold as some London crowds (why pay money to stand around looking cool for 8 hours? This is music to go mad to!!) There were ready smiles all round; and in fact I’m still on a high now, 48 hours later…



Thanks loads to the INSEKT boys for consistently providing the best night of irresistibly danceable music I’ve ever been to. LOVE ya!

:o)

indeed i think it was olly as i was in the changing rooms trying to top up my makeup while jumping around the room

We like a bit of booty ;o)

We like a bit of booty ;o)


Not like that John! lol

Wicked review Dr Nutter!!! :)

He'sa a doctor now? That's fucking scary! lol

Wicked review Dr Nutter!!! :)

Cheers James - it only reflected a totally wicked night :o) Insekt is always extra special for me, and this was the best night out I've had for months!!

He'sa a doctor now? That's fucking scary! lol

Rob, I've been a doc since you've known me! Check out my home page. Unfortunately I can do nothing for your bad back, let alone your ongoing mental instability LOL ;o)

Oh, then you're no use at all really, proving that you are, in fact, a doctor!

LOL :o)

lol

What an awesome night people! Really enjoyed playing there. Insekt's got a great crowd.

For people talking about hearing Pendulum - Slam, it was indeed Olly Perris' own bootleg mashed up with BK + Farley - Accelerate. It's top, and it guarantees to blow the roof when he drops it. Genius.

:o)

hello everyone!!!!! well what a ruddy awesome shindig that was!! I've always wanted to play at the Scala so thank you SO much to Marc & James for having me down to play!!! It was a wicked night and it was great to see the main room atmosphere buzzing!! top marks as well to Chris Comben and especially MDA & Spherical for nearly tearing the place a new roof! :D

ps: yeah it was me who played 'Slam', hehe! I always get a bit nervous before playing that cos I never know how it'll go down but it seemed to go down well on the night!! I hope you all enjoyed it anyway :D

Well done for trying that out mate, it worked brilliantly, I thought, if a little strange! I was really unsure how you and MDA and spherical would work at insekt, but I really emnjoyed the different slant on things. Nice contrats, and no cheesy shite. Top work!

i love it how people think that just because we go to hard house nights, we wouldn't know a breakbeat from a banana. andy c is my idol, and i'm going out to a drum'n'bass night tonight in fact!

I'm afraid I don't know what a breakbeat is. I like bananas though.

:o)