Kerry Wallace

Sydney is pumping on a Sunday, and it’s all thanks to the S.A.S.H crew over at the Abercrombie hotel. If house is your flavour and you would rather ‘rave than behave’ in your Sunday best; head to S.A.S.H for a session of pure underground house. With International names being pulled in weekly from across the UK and Europe, the Abercrombie is the perfect venue with an open-air terrace set for sunshine and progressive beats to make you tingle. BBM’s Frankie Salt catches up with one of the creators; Kerry Wallace to find out how the day party was born and spiraled into Sydney’s top Sunday spot for a session where work on a Monday is yesterday’s news.

Good evening Kerry, how’s it going?
Yeah, I’m alright thanks Frankie, you well?

Yeah I’m sweet! What you up to this evening then? You up to much?
Just typical Tuesday shit to be honest, emails etc etc, you know the drill ha-ha.

Ha-ha, twisted Tuesdays after the mad weekend? How was S.A.S.H on Sunday?
Yeah it was wicked man! Was bangin’! It was absolutely packed too, which is always a good thing.

Is it busy week-to-week then Kerry? I’ve heard such good things about S.A.S.H on the Sydney grapevine…
Yeah it’s been going for ten months now, the promo is big at the moment and the RA banners etc.

That’s grand mate. So how was S.A.S.H actually born then Kerry?
I used to do S.A.S.H in London about four years ago. It used to be a Sunday party back then too from midday till midnight. It ran for a couple of years in London and then I left for Ibiza before coming out here where I decided to give it a rebirth and now here we are!

Yeah, Sydney has a great music scene and everyone obviously loves a Sunday sesh and an excuse to end the weekend with a bang, which is proven with S.A.S.H’s popularity. Do you have a favourite S.A.S.H moment?
Well they have all been quite different to be honest. Kollektiv Turmstrasse was unreal, the live set was incredible. This is a tough one. The Simon Baker party has always been one that I will never forget. We did a long weekend party too, which was in October and is still talked about. We had a bus, which took everyone to the afterparty, which was packed until 5am so that was class and everyone talks about it to this day!

Sounds amazing Kerry. So when did you first become influenced for both the music which you are passionate to play. Was there another night, which influenced you?
Well, I’ve always played house music, throughout London and Ibiza, which are both huge for their underground house. Matt has always been a resident DJ for Spice and their music policy is the same as ours.

When you go to parties in London, Ibiza, any of Europe, do you think you can compare those parties to those over here in Sydney and all over Australia?
I think Sydney scene has come a long way in recent years with loads of international guests visiting our shores now regularly, the actual parties & the vibe which goes on within them however I think are not far off. The vibe, the artists, the music; the crowd and the DJs know their shit. Like the other week we had MANIK play and people came because they love him. Not just because it was ‘the thing’ to do for the scene and all that. When we had Simon Baker play too- the crowd loved it. Besides Spice and us I can’t really tell you any other parties here in Sydney that have the same music policy & a strong following of people that actually care about the music. Obviously in Melbourne they have some great parties but here it is something we do pride ourselves on, as there isn’t a huge underground scene.

Yeah, the festivals and the nights here do seem to run a different policy to the parties back home which interests me as Australia seems quite similar to Europe in a lot of respects.
Well the majority of people in Europe are massively into their music. They call it ‘underground’ but it has such a huge following. That’s why it’s great to have S.A.S.H. over here, as the house scene is not followed as broadly so it is so appreciated by the smaller masses. Funky house seems to be the flavour in Sydney.

Totally agree Kerry, so how do you keep on top of the upcoming music and artists? How do you keep your knowledge booming with the ‘who’s who’ smashing the dance floor? And then bring this over to Sydney?
I guess I’ve got a million Facebook friends so I’m constantly watching what’s going on in London and Europe. It’s all about communicating with the World and talking about music. Like MANIK, he’s only been around for a short while but he’s a great new artist to have play. If you’re passionate enough about something it’s easy to keep in the loop.

Thank God for the Internet is all I can say since I’ve been away travelling Kerry! So how are you settling into your new home then at the Abercrombie?
It’s perfect! The reason for the move was that the Abercrombie has a huge, amazing open-air terrace and no direct neighbours. Which is sweet for a Funktion1 sound system and the party/smoking area is just one big spot. At the White Horse it was quite segregated with separate rooms for the other system. Now it’s all combined into one and everything is fairly together with 200+ people every weekend.

So how come you guys wanted to make it a weekly affair?
Well basically we initially decided to go to the Abercrombie and make it monthly. With it being summer, there’s so much to do like the festivals and the beach on a Sunday. But with the first party, it was apparent that we had found a really fuckin’ top venue and it went off. There were so many of our mates saying how good it was, along with ____ creator of Spice saying that you guys need to grab hold of this venue and make it our own, before every other event did once they heard about it on the party vine. Then we started pulling in the big guests like Curly and Baker and shit loads more programmed every week. It’s great to be pulling in European artists and the crowds to match.

Well if you’re going to do it Kerry, you may as well do it properly, and you guys have definitely done that mate. So, if you could have anyone down on the decks at S.A.S.H, who would it be?
MANIK was one of them as me and Matt both love his music, we play his tunes quite a lot ourselves. This is a tough one actually. Ricardo Villalobos would be a winner.

That would be a night to remember! You guys are smashing it Kerry, I love the fact that you have given Sydney that Sunday side to it.
Well the crowds are there, the support network in Sydney is great and we love what we do which is the main thing. Thanks so much man, come party with us before you hit the UK and Ibiza!

S.A.S.H will be celebrating their first birthday party so make sure you don’t miss out on all the fun. The dress code is “Shit fancy dress” so get your thinking caps on!

Check out this months Dance Music Podcast to hear Kerry Wallace and the tune that’s been killing S.A.S.H. this summer