Now in its final days we asked some of those closest to Goodgod to share their favourite memories of the Small Club that's had a big impact on Sydney's nightlife and culture
Sydney's favourite basement danceteria has been dishing out late night good times for almost six years. A haven of dancefloor antics, fruity cocktails, vibrant personalities and no phone reception that was as inclusive as it was diverse and forward-thinking, while still maintaining an emphasis on unpretentious fun. As owners Jimmy and Hana move on from the Liverpool Street venue (but watch this space, there's plans for Goodgod in 2016, just not as a traditional club) we salute you, Goodgod Small Club.
Andrew Levins
It’s possible that I’ve spent more time inside Goodgod Small Club than Jimmy and Hana themselves, so picking a favourite memory from the thousands of amazing ones is borderline impossible. I can say though that nothing beat those first few visits in 2010, as the club filled with new structures and artwork and made the transition from La Campana to Goodgod. With every new addition we realised what a special place this was going to be.
Andrew Boon
My fave Goodgod memory would have to be one of the first nights I'd ever been down to the venue for one of the early Ro Sham Bo parties. We stayed until the end, and as was tradition 'Come On Eileen' played as the final song of the night. There was about 25-30 of us, all in a circle linking arms and doing a massive kick line during the...
Goodgod Small Club had its last dance on Liverpool Street late last year – but this didn’t mean they disappeared from Sydney forever. Since pulling down the awning for the last time Goodgod’s Jimmy Sing and Hana Shimada have been busy behind the scenes planning its incremental return, by the way of the Goodgod Super Club parties as a part of Vivid Live.
Alongside curating the line-up – which includes Bradley Zero, Junglepussy and Oneman – the duo also gained total creative control of the Opera House Studio's visuals, with some help from co-designer Jeremy Wolfe. Speaking to Time Out from the underbelly of the Opera House where set up for the Super Club was well under way, Sing explains. “It’s the first time we’re doing the full design... So that’s everything from the layout of the room to the sound system design to the lighting.”
Essentially the trio approached the space by considering the essential ingredients that make up the ultimate dancefloor. “Rather than going and trying to make it like a theme we just spent a whole month working through what is it that makes people comfortable to start dancing,” Sing explains.
“If you walk in at 9pm, it'll be totally different than it is at 2am.”
Lighting, layout and smoke are three of the cornerstones they’ve used to create an inclusive and immersive space. “We’ve kind of designed a whole bunch of really quite low-fi tricks,” Sing adds, “if you walk in at 9pm, it'ill be totally different than it is at 2am.”
To this end, they’ve deployed a cool 13 different types of smoke machines, a detailed piping system which acts as a false roof, a venetian blind curtained disco ball and light up corrugated Corinthian columns. “While [we had the club] we couldn’t afforded to spend this much time on it.” Sing says.
Finally a top-notch soundsystem is the icing on their disco cake. Wolf explains, “We’ve worked together with the audio team at the Opera House to create custom soundsystem. They had to go back to the German company to map out how the sound will behave and travel to find the position for the DJ.” Which informed centrepiece of the evening – a DJ booth, which sits smack bang in the middle of the dancefloor.
So once GG packs up shop again, can we expect to see more incarnations of the Goodgod brand beyond Vivid? “Yeah definitely. We intended for Goodgod to continue to be an experience. It was nightclub within four walls in the CBD for almost seven years, but now it’s other things. We’ve got other experiences planned." Sing explains: "We didn’t think we’d be doing like another nightclub space straight away, but this opportunity came up and it was so perfect.” And thank god it did.
