Nightlife
What began as a day party in Sydney ten years ago has now expanded around the country.
S.A.S.H might be the only Australian club night that can boast a presence in four cities. What started as a Sunday sesh in Sydney back in 2011 has now expanded to Brisbane, Melbourne and Wollongong, with further interstate incursions planned.
The party has been a fixture of Sydney’s weekends for over ten years and it’s not winding down any time soon. In fact, as founder Kerry Wallace says, “I think we're just starting to get going.”
So to celebrate Australia’s return to nightlife, we got Wallace on the phone to reminisce about ten years of good times -- and find out what the future holds for one of the country’s best-loved parties.
The origin story
As synonymous with Sydney as S.A.S.H may be, the party actually began in a different city: London.
In 2004, Wallace was living in the England capital and putting on a weekly Sunday afternoon kick-on. After storied nightclub Egg closed at midday, crowds would roll onto a venue called Chapel Bar for S.A.S.H.
When Wallace moved back to Sydney, he saw a gap in the market that was perfect for the little party he’d been running abroad. He first set up at the White Horse in Surry Hills before moving onto the Abercrombie, the since-shuttered venue that was also home to Purple Sneakers and some very sticky carpet. There, S.A.S.H quickly became a Sunday institution.
House music all day
From day dot, S.A.S.H has been about one sound: house.
“House music: that's what we are, really,” says Wallace. “We might do minimal house or some more techy house, but ultimately S.A.S.H as a whole is a house music party.”
Fresh from his time in London (and many stints in Ibiza) Wallace was in tune with the best in the genre when he landed in Sydney. Having a finger firmly on the pulse helped S.A.S.H find its early following, as its reputation for offering “something a little bit different and more nuanced” grew.
Their music policy was different to what you might find elsewhere. That’s because S.A.S.H never let trends steer their selectors, Wallace says.
“We’re really not about what’s in fashion, because house music's been around for many, many years. It will never go out of fashion. The residents -- being myself, Gabbie and Jake Hoff -- we essentially play what we want to play and we're the directors of the music.”
“We're sourcing music every week -- so it's new music, fresh music, unreleased music, white labels and we're all digging on a weekly basis to find the best of the best. But certainly, the odd classic here and there for good measure is not something we ever shy away from.”
House music's been around for many, many years. It will never go out of fashion
Sorry About Sundays, Honey
And if you’ve ever wondered what S.A.S.H actually stands for?
“People don't know this, but it doesn't stand for anything. It never has,” Wallace laughs.
“One day in London me and my friend were trying to work out the name for a party and the sitcom M.A.S.H came on TV. One of us said, ‘What about S.A.S.H?’ And that was that.”
“We've done competitions [getting people to name what they think it stands for]. I think one was ‘Sorry About Sundays, Honey’. But ultimately, the truth is it stands for absolutely nothing.”
“We don't really aim to book Carl Cox”
For its second ever Sydney party, S.A.S.H managed to pull off a coup: they booked Kollektiv Turmstrasse. “I remember for that party we absolutely filled the place, and I guess from that moment on we haven't really stopped,” Wallace says.
And while the German duo aren’t the only big names who’ve stopped by S.A.S.H, Wallace says securing A-listers isn’t actually his focus.
“We don't set out to book the biggest acts in the world -- that's not really what we care about,” he says. “I think we care more about the music that these artists are playing. So for many of our tours, a lot of people maybe wouldn't know the act coming in but they’d leave saying, ‘Wow, who was that guy? That was amazing.’”
“So we don't really aim to book Carl Cox, to be honest. There's nothing wrong with him but he's not really of interest to us. We'd rather book someone who's on the rise and is just absolutely on the button with the forefront of the music. It's more important to us.”
We don't set out to book the biggest acts in the world -- that's not really what we care about
The disaster gigs
But across ten years of partying, not every event has gone exactly to plan. Wallace isn’t afraid to talk about the gigs that went topsy-turvy.
“I remember we had an artist come for New Year's Day -- and I won't mention his name, but he was just the biggest prima donna in the world. We had to change his hotel twice and nothing was ever perfect,” Wallace recalls. “Then he ended up playing terribly at the event.”
Another time, a certain DJ played S.A.S.H on a Saturday night in Brisbane and was due to fly to Sydney the next day for the regular weekly event. He didn’t even make it to the airport.
“Instead of getting on his plane Sunday morning he was still kicking on with a group of people,” Wallace says. “He was meant to play at S.A.S.H By Day at I think probably 6pm, he managed to get the last flight over to Sydney and ended up turning up to Home at about 11pm.”
“But he was kicking on, so we can't get that angry,” Wallace laughs.
And for their ninth birthday, Wallace and team splashed out to bring in a professional décor person, so that they could really make the venue look and feel special. It ended up being a “proper disaster”.
“He created this centrepiece for Home Nightclub -- a huge [number] nine -- and he couldn't even get it into the door of Home, so it didn't even make it inside,” Wallace remembers. “He tried to cut it in bits and then as it was being brought in bit by bit, a gust of wind came, picked it up, blew it away and smashed it into pieces.”
Interstate expansions
On Boxing Day 2020, S.A.S.H ticked off an important milestone: it launched north of the border. The move to Brisbane came when the owners of a new venue called The Prince Consort -- who are also behind the Greenwood Hotel in Sydney -- convinced Wallace to bring the party up to Queensland.
Wallace didn’t need his arm twisted. “The venue is spectacular,” he says. “It has an outdoor terrace -- much like Abercrombie, actually. It also had a 3am outdoor license meaning we could party outdoors until 3am, which is almost unheard of.”
But Wallace did have one condition for coming to Brisbane. “I told [the owner] they needed to buy us a brand new Funktion-One, and they did.”
And as well as the weekly Sydney and Brisbane parties, S.A.S.H is now monthly in Melbourne and bi-monthly in Wollongong. But they’re not stopping there: “We're in discussions for some special, sporadic special events in Cairns and in Perth,” Wallace says.
They’re even planning an outdoor event for Sydney called S.A.S.H in the Park for the early stages of 2022.
Wherever they go, the music policy won’t change much.
“I think that our idea in each city is to always be us. We don't do anything that we wouldn't do here in Sydney,” Wallace says. “The reason we're going there is to do S.A.S.H and be S.A.S.H.”
2022 and beyond
With lockdown over, Wallace is excited to see Sydney’s nightlife light up again.
He’s predicting a boom in new events -- and believes the city will spark up again, with Oxford Street poised to be the centre of the fun. “Everyone's going to come out of the gates running,” he says. “There’s always new DJs and promoters coming through”.
In Brisbane, meanwhile, Wallace is excited to see how the scene grows. He thinks the River City has a fresh and exciting energy on its side.
“There's a lot of younger people that are starting to go out and hear music that they haven't heard before and it's a young scene that's bubbling away,” he says.
“The music scene there is definitely more tilted towards progressive house and a little bit tougher music. So we’re bringing the more housey afternoon stuff.”
For Wallace, the game plan is to continue to “build and build” around Australia, eventually bringing most cities up to a weekly party schedule. If S.A.S.H’s track record is anything to go by, national domination is in the bag.