Inside-Us-All's AV stage set at a festival in Italy © Giovanni De Angelis
Fabric’s new club Matter
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By Dave Swindells
Posted: Mon Sep 15 2008 -
Time Out London eagerly awaits the launch of Fabric's new club and music venue Matter – not least for its revolutionary bodykinetic dancefloor
This weekend, the people behind Fabric launch Matter, the most significant new venue in London. It’s no coincidence that Matter is a hop, skip and jump away from the 02 Arena. Building a new club beneath the 02 has given architects and engineers of both venues the freedom to start afresh and incorporate the latest technology into the core of their structures. Why does Matter matter? Because even apart from their music programme, it promises to deliver the best possible AVL (that’s audio, visual and lighting) experience in the world today. This revolutionary system incorporates high-tech gizmos and radical visuals that would make ‘Star Trek XV: Journey to Planet Disko’ look like old news. Feature continues
AdvertisementMatter’s AVL is a fully integrated, 360-degree system enabling resident VJs to project on to any surface around the main auditorium, and DJs and audio crew to literally shift the sound system around within the 3D space of the building. The techniques used to achieve the AVL system are too complex to explain here, suffice to say that the team behind Matter, headed by Fabric’s Creative Director Keith Reilly and Managing Director Cameron Leslie, has invested millions to bring their aims to reality. Matter is important not just for what it will enable DJs, VJs, bands and performers to create, but because, speaking from a partisan point of view, it isn’t in Tokyo or Berlin or a seven-star hotel in Dubai that the future of clubland is being revolutionised, but right here in our backyard. It makes a refreshing change after a year in which the biggest nightlife stories have often been about London clubs and live venues closing.
© inside-us-all.com The key word at Matter is ‘immersive’, as in creating ‘immersive, multi-sensory stimulation so that people lose themselves in the music’. Dave Parry, the man responsible for the overall AVL system (he also built the sound systems at Fabric among many others), he uses the word frequently when describing what the new club’s technological innovation will achieve. Dave Green, one of the Pixel Addicts visual installation team who is also one of the trio of resident VJs Inside-Us-All (currently the most popular VJs in the world) agrees.
‘I’ve always been fascinated by the Kandinsky Principle,’ explains Parry. ‘[The Russian artist] Kandinsky wrote about music, lights and colour, movement and vibrations sending you into a trance-like state, which is what I’ve always wanted to do. I love music and it’s about immersing people within this fantastic sound system, and combining that with video, the dancefloor and the lighting to create a cohesive whole.’ Parry doesn’t pull his punches in his description of how this works: ‘The idea is to get every sense attuned to what is happening around you. So that while you’re feeling the music through your feet and through your entire body [on the bodykinetic dancefloor], it’s also hitting you in the ears and punching you in the chest. Mind you,’ he laughs, ‘I try not to put it that way because people may get scared, but, Jesus, this sound system is phenomenal.’
© inside-us-all.com Green makes a similar point. ‘It’s all about escapism when you’re in a club environment. The more you’re immersed in that experience, the more real it is, so it’s fair to call it all-encompassing,’ he says. ‘The visuals will surround the viewers and stimulate their peripheral vision as much as their focal-point vision. It’s an exciting new direction for us as until now we’ve mostly worked with stages at festivals [including Glastonbury, Exit and Dissonanze] and have often been limited by production restraints. Finally we can put imagery wherever we want.’
‘In some ways I’m jealous of people who’ll see Matter for the first time at the opening nights,’ says Luke Pepper, an established DJ-producer who is also technical director of Djenerate, the company that created Fabric’s bodysonic dancefloor and the vastly more powerful bodykinetic dancefloor here. Like Parry, Pepper is well aware that technology at Matter open up new creative possibilities that may present challenges that DJs and bands might not be quite ready for – many DJs aren’t used to synchronising music and visuals. ‘The “wow” factor will be there from day one,’ claims Pepper, ‘but the proof of the pudding will be after a few months. Let’s see if the DJs are willing to step up to the challenge or not. The interfaces we’re designing mean it won’t necessarily be a massive learning curve. It comes down to imagination – we will have a team on hand to make almost anything possible.’
Matter: live launch is on Sept 19; Matter: club launch is on Sept 20 with Carl Cox & Yousef.- Add your comment to this feature
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17 comments
I think this is dreadful. The whole of O2 is a soul destroying tick on the backside of Blairs empty 'Gruel Britannia' While Camden burns, and clubs with soul are closed by developers, these gadget freaks build 'bigger, better, more techno' Where the hell are we, Dresden? Here's a warning to all developers and Londoners. Soon you will have sucked the life and soul from this beautiful city and there'll be no reason to come here anymore. Places like O2 are done better elsewhere in the world, where there is sun and easy transport. London's cool comes from the hipness of its people. A project like this will be populated my tourists who don't mind being raped at the bar, treated like cattle at the door by terminators and are generally too thick to realise that sound and light technology have never made for the best nights out. Absolutely dire.
I couldnt agree more. I found the whole experience absolutely dreadful. First off, they took my painkillers away which were in a sealed foil packet. Then I saw a boy collapse and the bouncers dragged him by his hands away, into a room which they wouldnt let his girlfiend into. Tequila's were £4 EACH the cash machine also rapes you. They are so busy policing people its hard to have a good time. Clubs need to stop hiring angry hitmen as bouncers. I wont be going back there in any hurry.
I have to agree with Ash - really good place but a bastard to get to... if your up for phatt line-ups good music it is worth the effort but be warned it's difficult to got to... really good sound system and the body kinetic floor is fucking quality! for a regular it's not the the place but odd's and randoms be pleasently suprised... especially the vip if you make it! ;)
Gotta say Dom couldn't agree with you less.
OK I managed to get on the VIP guestlist and maybe that's why I had a different experience.
Staff were uber friendly waited about a minute on average to get served at the bar. Couldn't recommend the place more.
OK the decor is a bit of an industrial catastrophe but all in all a good venue, good sound and nice visuales to keep you nicely at a canter.
If you love clubbing you will hate matter, bad location, rude staff, no soul or atmosphere, bad layout and too hot. Its like clubbing in the boiler room of a large office building all concrete and pipes- yuk ,went to see Justice on Saturday with an open mind but sadly hated it. A good comparison would be the 02 Arena yeah its big and flash but with non of the passion, style or fun and like the 02 it will be full every week; full of PR and Media lovies on the guestlist and those who have been lured there by the biggest names in music...only to be dissapointed and unlikely to return. Gutted. Such a shame.
If McDonalds did nightclubs....
I have but it's full of people begging for tickets rather than selling them just the same as me! I've located a guest list now so I'm all good but thanks for getting back to me.
So how was it when you went? Will the visual make my spine curl up on itself? :)
Ash, have you tried Gumtree?
I need tickets for Justice perrrrlease!
Looking forward to being blown away, there are too many crap clubs with a crap vibe and fleece the punter attitude. Bring it on!
Hit the club last night for the press launch, anyone going for the live launch or the club launch are in for a treat. the BodyKinetic floor is crazy, sending shockwaves all through the body.. The sound system is immense. Last night was good, but not great, they were trying too hard to demonstrate both the club and the live aspects of Matter, and the mix didn't work well enough to be a good experience for a true club head, but the free drinks had everyone enjoying themselves, If you're going tonight - enjoy.
Gee GGJ, talk about a fun-sucker.
I'm going tonight and will make a judgement once I've actually been. You, on the other hand, seriously need to lighten up!
ggj - I am starting to wonder whether you are arguing for the sake of arguing. Name me a great club in London which has freedom, reasonable prices, and staff that treat you like human beings. These things are not things you go clubbing for. And you mention opening DJ's, I really don't see how UNKLE (with Ian Brown) and Justice is what you call a tescofication???? These are top class DJ's who infrequently play club nights in London. THE FACT IS, ALOT OF "Cool Kid" CLUBBERS ARE REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE POTENTIAL OF THIS CLUB.
If the owners of this nightclub can promise that personality, not technology will rule the day, ground breakingly original parties and not profit. If They can guarantee people freedom, reasonable prices, being treated like human beings and being given room to feel part of the process...then you might have a chance. But I can already see from the choice of location, techie rhetoric and choice of opening DJs...this is the tescofication of clubbing. Rest assured the cool kids will find something more interesting to do.
As long as the Fabric nightclub in Farringdon stays open, I'll be happy. I'm interested to see how club vibes change with the advent of new technology, be it better or for worse. Clubbers generally are forward looking people, and this sort of thing proves that London is the most forward looking clubbing city in the world.
Ketamine Soldier - Fabric the owners of Matter are putting on extra boat services every half an hour all night until 6am. Going to be one of the highlights of the night. How often do you get a chance to take a boat home from a club??
ggj - I have to disagree strongly with your opinion, I have been clubbing in London for a good 8 years now, and 7 friends and I already have our tickets for Justice @ Matter (best thing to come out of France since Daft Punk) Although I understand that a new club like this may lack soul initially, the technology will bring unrivalled sound quality and the atmosphere will come from the excitement of the club goers.
The End has had some great times, but this venue would be incapable of holding events of this magnitude. Let's hope that we can have more of these modern venues purpose built and also keep some older venues going. After all is the mix of old and new not what we all love about London??
I think this is dreadful. The whole of O2 is a soul destroying tick on the backside of Blairs empty 'Gruel Britannia' While Camden burns, and clubs with soul are closed by developers, these gadget freaks build 'bigger, better, more techno' Where the hell are we, Dresden? Here's a warning to all developers and Londoners. Soon you will have sucked the life and soul from this beautiful city and there'll be no reason to come here anymore. Places like O2 are done better elsewhere in the world, where there is sun and easy transport. London's cool comes from the hipness of its people. A project like this will be populated my tourists who don't mind being raped at the bar, treated like cattle at the door by terminators and are generally too thick to realise that sound and light technology have never made for the best nights out. Absolutely dire.