Last weekend was a marathon to say the least - a mini-tour of Russia, ostensibly to help promote my latest single, "Love Key". I managed to cover quite a few air miles (and road and rail miles) - 4 gigs over 3 nights in 3 different cities in different corners of the vast country that is Russia - how did I cope? Read on...
Left London on Thursday after a hectic couple of days back at the Oven Ready hq (I'd been away for 10 days previously so my inbox was overflowing - and still is!), managed to board my flight to Moscow after a minor ticket hiccup, then when I got there a mad scramble to find the rep with my tickets to Siberia and back... 3 or 4 hours later (and 6 hours ahead of GMT so early Friday morning) I land in Omsk, and am greeted by my old buddy Sasha who runs and promotes
Citrus Club. Manage to grab some rest, then later meet at the clubs restaurant for some lunch (Russian summer speciality Okroshka, which is a chilled cucumber, dill and cream soup, then Lamb Shashlik - yum yum yum) followed by a walk round Omsk. It's a fairly laidback place, and, contrary to preconceptions in Western Europe, Siberia is blisteringly hot in the summer. The river front is a hive of activity, more like a seaside vibe complete with beach and waterfront bars... We're near the border with Kazakhstan, and there's a distinctly Asian vibe about some of the city...
Later that night its time for the party - the club is wicked - top sound system and lavish decor. The DJ booth looks onto the dancefloor from a huge half orange up on a stage to one side, while mirroring it on the other side is the vip room, a sort of black metallic globe jutting out from the wall. Russia celebrates Independence Day this weekend, and for some reason they failed to give Omsk the Saturday off, but despite this the club is busy enough and the night goes off. I step up to the decks around 2am and do my thing and then leave things to the (excellent) resident to finish off.
After I finish playing, I always like to drink, hang out and meet people in the crowd (and usually wind up dancing like a tw*t till I get dragged back to the hotel by the promoters) and tonight is no exception... The rest of the night goes by all too quickly and before I know it I'm on the early morning plane back to Moscow (and still very drunk)
By the time I reach Domodedovo airport my drunkenness has inevitably begun morphing into a nausea-inducing hangover and I realise I need to get an appointment with a large bottle of fluid and some aspirin. I manage to drag myself onto my flight to St.Peterburg and by the time I get there I'm feeling better... I'm met by Misha, my friend and also my main booking agent in Russia. We head back to his house and I manage to freshen up and rest before my train ride to Petrazavodsk.
Now I love taking the train - there's something really relaxed about it. I get on planes most weekends and although they're quick and convenient there's an inherent stress about them... Also, Russian trains are great - for a start they're huge, our little English trains look like nervous whippets next to these majestic St.Bernards, and they run on time, which is something alien to British society, as anyone who lives here will tell you. I climb into my bed in the train berth and settle back for the long journey North-West...
When I get there its 1:00am and its still light - summer time is time for the White Nights in Northern Russia. Those of you who've experienced it will know that its slightly disorientating (in a good way) - I'm met by Pavel and the lovely Katya, and a short drive later we're at the venue for the first party of the night.
And what a party! The place is heaving with the most gorgeous and up for it crowd I've seen in ages and the vibe is absolutely having it... The venue is a bowling alley and billards hall by day, but they've decorated the whole place so its unrecognisable as such. A female DJ from St.Petersburg is playing electro clash stormers on the main dancefloor, and rocking it... I cant wait to get onto the decks. And later thats exactly what I do - the buzz is huge from start to finish of my set - opening gambit is the classic "In The Beginning There Was House" speech followed by Paradise Soul's sadly never to be released remix of Coloursound - "Fly with Me". I'm really feeding off the audience's vibe and having a ball - biggest reaction of the night goes to Dave Lambert's excellent "Yeah" which is currently tearing dancefloors apart for me... A few hours later local hero Leo comes up to take over, and I head into the crowd for what seems like only 1 minute before the promoter comes and grabs me: "We need to take you to the next gig now" (But I don't want to leave!)
So off we go to "Velvet" - it's small but perfectly formed, with a glam yet unpretentious crowd. The promoter is extremely affable and a few drinks later I'm ready for the second instalment of the night. I fly into the set and try to find the right groove for the club, early peak comes in the form of Spinky and Funky's wicked electro house bootleg of 50 Cent's "Candy Shop", but the top reactions are for later, again Dave Lambert's "Yeah", and also Thin White Duke's mix of The Killers - "Mr.Brightside". One girl is literally screaming at the top of her voice when I bring it in... After the set, I sit and chat with the promoters then head back to meet up with the first clubs promoters back at the hotel, who are having a properly bling after party (!), but before things descend into Bachannalian excess the car is here to take me and a couple of the other DJs back to St.Petersburg.
Only a couple of hours of sleep later I'm picked up from the hotel by Misha's friend Katya who shows me around St.Petersburg's beautiful city centre and plies me with Sushi. Then it's straight off to Red Club for the final leg of the tour. Red Club boasts a relatively young and up for it crowd, and a real underground vibe as opposed to the more glitzy St.petersburg haunts. On the decks when I arrive are local DJs "Good & Bad" who are actually just "Good". Come 2:00am I'm exhausted but I manage to find the energy from somewhere for another 2 hour set (highlights are the David Vendetta remix of Korovin - "I live for now" - out on Oven Ready in September, peeps - and Deepgroove's remix of Alter Ego - "Rocker" which turns the place upside down - Skint if you're listening you need to release this!) At 5:30am I finally manage to get back to the hotel, but not after having experienced a storming set by local legend Arram Montana...
...and then on Monday afternoon I fly back to London after my manic weekend, while today I struggle to keep my eyes open. Thanks to Plastique for organising everything. Looks like I will be back in Russia later in the summer - can't wait :)
