CC'd to houseaddict.com... i did a search to see if there was already a review thread for Switch...but I didn't see one!! So here is the start of one... just my two(uncultured) cents...

Ever since DJ Mag put out the switch mix, I've been eager to hear this guy live. I even ripped the CD and msn'd it to a pile of people hyping this guy up who has some REALLY sic mixes. This was a highly anticipated night. Read on for...



It was amazing to see the hype build up over this night online. Starting with excited MSN messages from uber-party-babe Besma, demanding I be at footwork on Feb 10th to w00t it up with her and other peeps as Switch hit the decks. "Switch!!" I exclaim to Leap... and she looked at me with this look that said 'what do you think you're doing?' You see, I had this pact with Leap that I'd be taking weekends to pour some extra hours into work and the home and take a break from things until Entrena (February 18 @ Comfort Zone, 1pm - 4pm!!). I told her "under no circumstances--let me go out until then, i have some stuff I need to do, and the reviews take some serious time--so I need to commit some time elsewhere." Then I get the msn from besma about switch. Well....FRIG. (excuse my language). So Back to me begging Leap to forgive me breaking the promise. This was a MAJOR producer that who's tracks I thoroughly enjoy. I missed Rene Amnesz @ Hotel...i wasn't about to miss this. In her benevolance, Leap let me out of the bind, under one condition--that I take her with. No problemo!! So we decided to commit to Switch, to be beheld at one of our FAVOURITE party places, Footwork.

This was on a Saturday night, not a Friday night, as I was used to visiting Footwork on. It reminded me of Carlo Lio's Mastiksoul party--had SUCH a g reat time at that party, so I had high expectations of this little gathering as well.

We arrived early (as I like to do), and because Disco and everyone else were sending out TXTs saying that it would be RAM-JAMED with people. It was hinted to be one of footwork's largest events. I wasn't about to miss out. We arrived early and had a Monster & chaser in the car to prep up. We met Lauren and Sarah in the car (hotttttnessss) and then made our way over to Footwork.

Holy mother of our heavenly FATHER was it cold out!! Just walking over froze me to the bone. We lined up--we were the first ones in line. I checked my watch...it was 10:10pm. We waited for a while more, and slowly felt frost bite eating away at our extremities. I eyeballed the heat lamps, later to be fired up for the smokers, and cursed them silently for their luck. For the future REALLY cold nights, I suggest the footwork crew consider using those heatlamps for those in LINE! Lea has a circulation problem in her fingers, so i was really worried about the frost bite. Finally, they called for advance ticket holders to come to the line. Ok, hold on. Advance ticket holders? I didn't even KNOW you could buy advance tickets. !! Not that I'm Mr. Plugged In or anything, but if i had known, i woulda done that. No problem...we were first in line, so i wasn't concerned about not getting in...too much. Finally there were no more advanced ticket holders to supercede us in line, and we were granted access. I pushed leap ahead so she'd get inside first...i knew she'd have to spend at least a good 10 mins getting circulation going again in her hands. Do you see the dangers of clubbing? Do you see the sacrifices? holla!

We finally got inside and paid the cover - $25 (increased cover due to the big name, I'm sure), and happily in we went. We imediately hit the washrooms (after an hour drive, an entire Monster energy drink and 45 mins standing in -18c weather, i had to pee like a banshee!). TMI eh?

Finally, to the club atmosphere. You all know I love footwork. Ever since Leap and my first time there back when they did a school uniform theme night (SO much fun), I've loved this place. Red-walled theme, great lights, fantastic sound system, and wicked employees. Something was different about tonight though, a special energy in the air. And, the sound ... it sounded... better! I can't explain it...but I think they upgraded the sound system. It was kickin' HARD. There was a minor problem with one speaker near the coat check, obviously some teething pains with the upgrade, but generally, it was banging solid, and we were loving it.

On the decks, ... i believe it was AD/D...



I can't really describe the type of music here... the beats were definitely banging, and people were enjoying the opening set beats quite a bit. It was harsher, a little darker, and he was employing a lot of scratching to amp up his beat layers. I used the opportunity to knab some pictures of the crew!

Miss_sweetness & Nino Tores's sister showed up to enjoy the sounds. Fascinating story behind Nino Tores's sister...after many years of separation, they were finally reunited only a month or so ago. Finally glad to see a happy ending to that story...if you see him, ask him about it.



The projector setups were cool--as I've mentioned before. However, this time, the imagery was pretty captivating. (I'm pretty sure that's a nipple. w00t!!)



Nino Tores & Leap Frog chillin in the back on the sweet suede sofas of bass heaven. Seriously, if you haven't sat back here for a few tracks...DO IT. The sound resonance is SWEET.



PhatCat and Disco showed up to add their wicked vibe to the party. PhatCat was comfortably plassttterrddddd. Go girl!



My good buddy Nemo showed up--footwork is also one of his favourite clubs. He was beat from a previous engagement, but still showed up to dance it up with the peeps. He was frozen solid when he got in and lined up for coat check, so i started warming up his hands...but people started looking at us like we were a couple so we suddenly stopped that and started spitting and scratching ourselves...you know, to set the record straight. *manly cough*

The place filled up really fast. I'd say it was nearly completely packed by midnight...





It was around this time that I actually stopped for a moment to concentrate on the music...because a funny thing had happened... i noticed that I had tuned it out. Hold on here. I had tuned the music out? *blink*!! What's goin' on with that!

Ok dear reader, I'm going to be straight up with you here. You know how much I love footwork, the crew, the sound system, and usually the music... but I had to stop and ask myself 'what is UP with this music?' Ad/d was playing...the best i can describe it is... breaks, meets house, meets minor punk. It was hard, edgy and a little too mega-droppish for my tastes. Higher BPM, lots of scratching on the vinyl using the bassline, the sound sounded....noisy to me. In fact, I really didn't enjoy it at all! I thought maybe I was in a funk, until I started getting comments from all my associates expressing the same thing. We started to think we totally misunderstood the kind of music that was going to be played that night.

That didn't stop the crowd though...the crowd was eating it UP. They were absolutely loving it. I used the opportunity to socialize!

Witchdoctor and Mr. Evny show up, greatly anticipating Switch.



Witchdoctor had sent me several Switch remixes earlier in the week that I had just ate up..we were both highly anticipating Switch....and to be honest, couldn't wait for this opening DJ to get off the decks--he was killing our vibe.

Nocturnal magazine was on site taking some pics for their site, Envy and Doctor gals lined up for a pic (forgive me for forgetting their names!)



HouseGirl showed up, and I asked her if i could get a shot of that uber-hot tatoo she got on the nape of her kneck... looks GREAT all healed up!



Suddenly, I heard a drop in volume, and some clapping.... I looked up, startled...was it time for Switch?



Scotty & Leap were giddy with excitement. Unlike me, Leap had LOVED the hard edgy almost punkish type breaky house that Ad/d had been spinning... btw peeps, if you haven't met this guy Scotty in the club, put it on your to-do list.



We met totally by accident at Cozo, and this guy can HYPE it up. Always positive, always giving the music everything he has, I can't imagine a better party without him. Scotty--thanks for hangin out with us that weekend, dude!

With the new beats in the air, and pounding hard, finally giving me some dance-a-ble beats, I used my special spy cam to look towards the DJ booth to snag an ultra-satalite-esque picture with my sweet camera. Using the wonders of modern day technology, the image displays as if I were mere inches away from Mr. Switch's person.



Btw, chk out dude's dis-embodied toupee, bottom right. heh heh heh.

Switch had hit the decks around 1, so I was anticipating a 4 hour set of sheer MAYHEM. That's right, MAYHEM. Mischief, i said to myself....meet mayhem. Did you notice if you say the word mayhem over and over to yourself 10 times, the word sounds funny and unintelligable by the end?..... ... ok then.

House girl and i started to dance to the beats...lovin' it... pounding bass with the choppy vocals...i was in heaven! What a WELCOME relief after the previous set that assaulted my un-cultured ears.



Many of our crew took over the corner to dance it up



I left the group to fight my way to the front, and the crowd was SLAMMIN'. They love this guy, and he TOTALLY interacts with the crowd.



However, something started happening that really started to affect my mojo with this whole thing. He started slamming breaks into his sets... the bass would be pounding, the crowd LOVING it, then he'd chop it off and do this little mini solo with sound effects, vocals and scattered beats. It was tough to dance to, and departed from the track(s) that I was so eagerly eating up. No problem, I thought to myself, he'll bring it back. And bring it back he did!! Again I started jumping up and down. boom boom boom boom.... CLICK. squirt squirt dooweeee. squirt squirt dooweeee. squirt squirt doweee. Yup, back to that breaks sound effect-ee stuff. In fact, he did this so often, that I couldn't find a groove to keep dancing and slamming to the beats. It chopped it up for me so much, that it actually RUINED the tracks for me. And I mean, people, hear me, I mean, he was dropping tracks like:

sharamjay- want 2 need 2( switch remix)
This is Sick
Bugz in the Attic - Don't Stop the Music (Switch Remix)
Over and Over (solid groove)
etc.
etc.

I mean, these aren't nipple-earbud teasers, these are slammin tracks that made my summer bbqs love-able. So why...for the love of house lovers, did he break them up so harshly into serious cliff-edge drops with breaky/punk scratchy stuff?

Have you seen back to the future? You know when there's the dance at the last 'act' and Marty has to play in the band... and the song is killing, the crowd is dancing, loving it, and then he goes into this INSANE guitar solo...at the end of it, everyone is just standing there, looking at him. "Not ready for that yet, huh? ... Don't worry...your kids will love it." So that's how i felt--like the crowd that didn't get it. Maybe my kids will love it.



After dancing, stopping, dancing, stopping, i decided to chk my watch...



1:45...1:45... that means....





Leap was LOVIN' the beats. I was hyped for her, because she had such a crappy weekend up to that point... so this was some true soul-lovin' for her that was well deserved...



Aside, real time update (tm):
hahah, scotty just msn'd me saying 'go review writer go!' you rock man. *mixez another rye and pepsi*

Special thanks to Stephan for letting me get behind the decks to snap some pix... what an honor!



Besma is up front showing her love for the tunes... but what is with the guy getting ready for an arm-snooze in the middle? Doesn't he remember the rules for being up front?? You can't do that!! I don't care how enamoured or bored you are, if you're up front, you gotta MOVE brudda!

One cool thing was the extreme use of laptops (scotty pointing to me from the background!)



One uncool thing was that every time they unplugged and plugged in the usb cable (to an ext hd maybe?) the music would SKIP!! This happened several times throughout the set. Not sure what the technical issue was there, but it was a little distracting.

Another uncool thing (for me) was the DJs smoking openly in a no-smoking club... the only reason why i bring this up is that i'm pretty freakin' sensitive to smoke (asthmatic). Also, doing it openly without at least, hiding it a little, you know, out of respect...come on, lol. I always appreciate the lack of smoke in Ontario clubs, because it means I can club without the worry of collapsing in a wussy-state of non-breathing, so i take note of such things. Does anyone else care? (i think i need a hug).

All the while, the crowd was LOVING it. The energy in the room was unmistakable. I thought it awesome that even though the music wasn't my thing, people were eating it alive and I was having a great time inspite of myself!



People were up on the chairs, dancing (i love it when the gals do that, the room feels like the very walls have energy!)



All too soon, for most, switch's set came to an end. I checked my watch. He had been on for two hours... wow... only a two hour set? I was a little shocked. Given the hype, the upped cover, the rather poorish (for my undeveloped tastes) opening set, i was surprised he was to only spin for 2 hours. However, dear reader, my curse was actually a blessing in disguise, because for the last two hours of the club's hours, my world was ROCKED by Joel, one of the owners of footwork, who had come to the decks himself to rock it. He took it back home to the house beats I love so much, and rescued me from the audio harasment I felt I had been subjected to. Finally, some beats to pound to. I couldn't hide the happiness...



(umm...whats in the hand of the guy behind me?)

I danced my socks off for Joel's set, and Footwork's new sound system thundered the beats deep to my soul, providing sweet house nourishment for me.

the crew stopped dancing for a moment to provide this group shot with Joel on the decks behind...but you can't really see him (i didn't nab a direct shot, dognabbit!)



We finished up dancing, and no sooner had we started than the music cut to the final track of the night... "Every night is Saturday night, but I can't wait...for Sunday morning!" And sunday morning had come!

After such a night of highs and lows with the music, the gang concluded that hitting the zone might be a definite possibilty...

In conclusion...i'd have to rate the following factors...

Music: started at 1/2... hopped up to 5/10 for switch himself... and 8/10 for Joel.
Vibe: 10/10. The place was ramped, totally. Great crowd, and they loved everything the DJs threw at them. I put this at a 10/10 even though it was ram-jammed, and super-hot. I think the capacity was handled well.
Venue: 7/10 - fantastic new sound system...except for that one malfunctioning speaker in the rear, which I'm sure they've already addressed
lighting: 8/10 - for such a small place, the lighting is sic!

Have to say, even though I didn't like most of the music due to the elements I have tried to describe to you, I had a fantastic time. Good talks with Mr. Envy and other house/trance addicts.

Special thanks to those random people talking to me about these reviews... i really appreciate all your constructive feedback. No, i don't get paid to do this, lol. This is just for fun. I'll do it while it's fun.

Next up: Entrena! At the zone, Feb 18th. See you all there!