Bradley Zero

Headlining the launch event is London DJ Bradley Zero – a former Boiler Room host, and founder of South London party night Rhythm Section and its corresponding record label, Rhythm Section International. Established in late 2011, Rhythm Section’s bimonthly club night at Canavan’s Peckham Pool Club has taken on cult status, while the label has built renown as a haven for interesting dance music.

Since the outset, Zero has looked to cultivate a genuine feeling of community among partygoers, and endeavours to reflect this with the artists on the label. However, as Rhythm Section gains more popularity in London and around the globe, he’s faced with the question of how to keep it truly centred on community.

“Community was always at the core of the Rhythm Section dance, and from the outside it would be fair to assume that this ethos could be a victim of its own success,” Zero says. “But I think this is only true when we define community in a very narrow sense. Yes, we began as a very geographically local and tight-knit bunch of people, and yes, this has extended across cities, countries and continents. But does this take away from the community, or add to it? I think the latter, and I would hope the visiting artists and dancers feel part of our community too.”

Since day one, the Rhythm Section parties have been a relatively basic operation. Each lineup features Zero and one or two guest DJs, and the set-up consists of two decks, a rotary mixer, a few crates of vinyl and a red neon light. There’s something amusingly quaint about these specifications, but such limitations also mean there’s little space for trickery.

“[It was] totally circumstantial to begin with, but I quickly learnt that this very basic set-up allows for the most expression and also forces the most consideration and effort out of the DJ,” Zero says. “Take away the trickery and convenience and you’re left with the music; no smoke and mirrors. I find all these things are compensating for something – filling an empty dancefloor with smoke, lasers to emphasise a drop, and loops and playlists in place of really knowing the music. When you strip it down to its bare components, you’re left with the music, the energy and the people, and that’s what counts to me.”

In the midst of running London’s most popular new dance party, Zero has managed to visit Australia a handful of times since 2013. Along the way, he’s added a number of Aussie acts to the Rhythm Section roster, including Prequel, Retiree, and most recently, Melbourne’s Silentjay and Jace XL, whose Sacrifice EP came out in mid-April. And that’s by no means the extent of Zero’s involvement with the Australian dance underground.

“One day when I was working at Boiler Room we got a call from a guy named Tig Huggins, who, on top of being the councillor for Fitzroy and director of Two Bright Lakes, also ran a festival called Sugar Mountain. He invited us to come visit the country and we worked together to showcase a wealth of incredible local talent in Perth, Sydney and Melbourne.

“By the time we had another opportunity to visit in 2014, I had a list of artists as long as my arm and I made it my duty to go meet all of them. With the help of Bad Ezzy from FBi and Tay from Pilerats in Perth, we set out to document what was going on in Australia from our perspectives as musical curators. We met everyone, from DJs, radio hosts, record labels, producers, artists, musicians, club owners, promoters and councillors. We were in the studio while Hiatus Kaiyote were recording the Choose Your Weapon album, we discussed Sydney nightlife with NLV [Nina Las Vegas] and Jimmy Sing before Casino Mike stuck his oar in, we went deep into Australiana with Andras Fox, we talked community and local issues with the man, Simon Caldwell, and this was just the tip of the iceberg.”

While Zero’s planned documentary still hasn’t seen the light of day, the experience of its creation left him with several unbreakable links to the Australian music community. “I made some great friends and got straight to the juice, no small talk. By this time I was attached to the country, its spirit and so many of the people within it. I’d also discovered a whole new world of music coming from what I believe is one of the strongest, vibrant and most interconnected scenes in the world. By this time it wasn’t about becoming a part of it. I was a part of it, and it is a part of my story.”

The aforementioned Sing is one of the brains behind the Goodgod enterprise, which explains Zero’s willingness to come down and kick off the Super Club series.

“That very first trip to Australia took in a most important stop at Goodgod,” he says. “It was clear Sydney had a real good thing going when I first visited, and it’s been really troubling to see so many institutions suffer from these unjust and completely corrupt licensing laws. As my last two trips to Sydney have proved, the fire won’t be put out, but we have to come together to keep it burning as brightly as possible.”