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Guestlist Recommends: The Hydra @ Studio Spaces E1
House | Wednesday 20th August 2014 |
We're all very excited for the 2014 edition of the Hydra series here at Guestlist. Beginning in 2012, Ajay Jayaram and Dolan Bergin initially set up The Hydra as a platform for the very best names in electronic music to perform across a range of interesting venues in London. It quickly became established as one of the best and most exciting music projects in the city. For 2014, The Hydra have managed to secure a permanent home in Wapping's Studio Spaces - a huge photography studio away from the usual Shoreditch/Dalston clichés. We were lucky enough to catch up with Ajay and Dolan ahead of the launch to talk more about what they have in store for us this autumn.
What made you decide to start up The Hydra series?
When my partner Dolan and I joined forces we both had labels and parties that we were working on. They weren’t completely disparate so it made sense to pool our resources and aptitudes and consolidate the events under one banner, thus The Hydra was born.
How did you formulate and put together this year’s lineups? Are there any nights in particular that you’re especially proud of/looking forward to?
We endeavor for the series to reflect the collective tastes of the team, which are broad and varied, but hopefully there is a little something in there for everyone. We’re generally quite happy with what we have put together, but there is always room to grow and evolve. The opening weekend is a particular highlight for us all.
How did you decide on the Studio Spaces in Wapping as your 2014 venue? Can you tell us a bit more about it?
We’ve actually held several events there before in the past (including the very first parties that took place there) as the venue owners Yuval and Ellis are friends of ours; it’s a fully functioning Photographic Studio during the day. Once we discovered there was the possibility of introducing an extra room to proceedings, all four of us collectively decided that we should work together and try to provide The Hydra with a suitable home for 2014 and beyond.
Are you running any other events this year outside of the Studio Spaces or even outside of London?
Studio Spaces E1 will now be our London home for the foreseeable future, but we have two stages at Dimensions again this year and we’re hoping to do a few other European club shows before the year is out.
Can you tell us a bit more about your backgrounds and how it’s influenced the way you decided to run The Hydra?
I was the Head of Programming at The End for 10 years until it closed. Dolan was running electric minds (the parties and the label), now in it’s eighth year. We basically put everything we had on the table and took it from there…
Now that you’re mainly based in one venue, what makes you stand out from the other regular club nights in east London?
I like to think that there is an interesting diversity and depth to what we do. We also stay firmly committed to our core values of presenting exceptional music and sound in the best possible way.
What do you think about the current electronic music clubbing scene in London? Why do you think more and more promoters are turning to warehouses to host their events?
Simply put there is a dearth of venues in London. There are some amazing clubs in the capital, but London (and the UK on the whole really) is a key territory for electronic music and as such there really aren’t enough spaces of the requisite calibre, given the world class artists – there is so much good music out there - playing the city week in, week out. It’s a huge shame.
Last year Time Out described you as “The Proms” of London clubbing… what made 2013 such a successful year for you? How are you going to build on that in 2014?
Always nice to receive compliments and 2013 went well for us, but I do think that the program for this year, aligned with a brand new space (and regular home) hopefully already shows good progress for 2014.
Looking further ahead, do you have any more big plans or projects in the works after the 2014 series is finished?
I guess we’re constantly looking at new ideas and projects, but to be perfectly honest we’re mainly focusing on the now and trying to make the current series a success – hopefully we can pull that off.
More info available on the Hydra website: http://the-hydra.net/
Check out the full series of collaborators:
Launch Weekend:
22/08 RESIDENT ADVISOR
23/08 GHOSTLY INTERNATIONAL
24/08 BLUEPRINT
Main Series:
26/9 XOYO LOVES & THE MAGICIAN PRSENT: POTION
27/09 LOVEBOX AFTER DARK
3/11 EASTERN ELECTRICS
4/10 BUGGED OUT – DUSKY ‘THE NEXT STEP’
25/10 FXHE 10 x NON PLUS 5
31/10 FULL PUPP 10 X HORSE MEAT DISCO
8/11 ELECTRIC MINDS x KOMPAKT
22/11 LEISURE SYSTEM x HOUNDSTOOTH
28/11 ITEMS & THINGS
29/11 ERASED TAPES
5/12 SOUND SIGNATURE x RUNNING BACK
6/12 NINJA TUNE
12/12 OSTGUT TON
13/12 FMB
@MiriamEJohnson
