Nudity, dancing that requires your own sweat towel, inflatable rafts and lights being pulled from the ceilings isn’t really the kind of thing you can imagine when planning a wedding. But according to Gaz, one half of YACHT CLUB DJS, this is exactly what the groom ordered. “We’re doing a mate’s wedding today,” he reveals. “It’s a bit awkward – I forgot to pack my suit so I’m wearing a Beastie Boys shirt and some ripped jeans. Hopefully we won’t upset the parents too much.”
When you ask him if it’s how he saw things happening when he was spending his time in Echuca polishing glasses he admits “I remember watching the DJs and just thinking they were the coolest guys in the world. So it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a really long time.”
Renowned for their wild parties and leaving bars in their wake, the duo started out a little far from their current home. “Guy and I met playing in punk bands together and we were both in them for a long time,” says Gaz. “Before this really took off Guy was teaching drums and I was doing some competitions for DJing and it just reached a point where we decided we wanted to really try and go somewhere with it and get it happening.” And it seems like they did just that, with the last 18 months including support slots with Does It Offend You, Yeah?, the upcoming Groovin’ the Moo Festival, a nationwide tour and 2009’s Splendour in the Grass. “I’m forever going to be known from Splendour as the guy who slapped Mick Jones [from The Clash] in the balls. I’d had too much to drink and thought he was a sound guy and found out later what had happened.”
With the announcement of their second nationwide tour, the guys are more excited than ever about bringing their unique fix of mashing and partying to Canberra again. “Last time we played in Canberra [supporting Dappled Cities] there were a few problems with our gear and it didn’t quite work properly. But this time it’s our own and it will be quite different. It’s just way more fun to have a gig as a party – it makes us wanna throw down and have a party.”
When I ask about what we can expect, the basic idea is that there’s nothing we can certainly expect. “Sometimes we crowd surf through inflatable rafts, but if anyone wants to bring along stuff to party with, we’d love that. We’ve had people come along with a change of clothes because they know what it’s going to get like by the end of the night. But if anyone wants to bring along some beach balls we’d love that. Just so long as the bar won’t kick us out,” he says with a laugh.
After hearing all I have, makes me really want to know how that wedding turned out.
Catch Yacht Club DJs at Transit Bar on Thursday March 25. Free entry!
