Formed in Leeds, emotive house duo Death on the Balcony are now split between their place of origin and London. The best of both worlds, some might say. Their studio space remains in the Northern city, where they finesse works-in-progress on a monthly basis – ensuring their sound is still highly influenced by their Yorkshire surroundings.
With recent releases on D-Edge, SUOL and their own Vice&Virtue and upcoming ones on the likes of All Day I Dream, they are on some run of form. We asked them to take a few minutes out of their busy schedule to guide us around Leeds’ finest haunts.
Favourite bar?
The Libertine / Bird&Beats / Outlaws Yacht Club / Distrikt / 212 / Belgrave Music Hall… had many a good night in Opporto, Mook, Sandinista back in the day too! The list could go on & on!..
Favourite cafe?
Riveresque – look no further for your fry up needs.
Favourite restaurant?
Little Tokyo. Great atmosphere and the food is great too. We are both big fans of Asian food so it’s a perfect place to go, not to mention it’s a stones throw away from our studio! Also if you are lucky you will be in there on someones birthday and if they find out one of the staff dresses up as Elvis and comes over and does a dance for you.
Favourite club?
Wire / Canal Mills / Mint Club / Warehouse / The Garage (R.I.P) – sorry couldn’t choose one over the other, but you won’t go far wrong at any of these places!
Favourite area?
Slap bang in the centre where all the action is!
Favourite local (person)?
The guy who sits on the bench outside Mark’s flat and blasts out annoying chart music on his phone. Not really ha… you see some real characters on that bench! Seriously though? There are a lot of good eggs in Leeds – not in a hurry to name names, they know who they are!
Favourite tourist attraction?
Back To Basics! It’s the longest running club night, older than some of the people that frequent it! Still pushing the very best in underground house music. We’ve seen some great DJs there over the years and met some true friends through it too. Always worth dipping your head in there for some inspiration – but don’t forget to go home!
Favourite place to chill?
Studio and vinyl archive with tea and biscuits.
Favourite clothes shops?
Blue Rinse for the classic vintage stuff is probably the one for us. It’s the original vintage shop in Leeds and no doubt the best.
Favourite other shops?
Take your pick. The city centre is essentially one huge shopping arcade now after the new Trinity shopping arcade was put in. You literally have everything in there from the high street. Head to Production Room for your synths and studio kit needs.
Favourite record shop?
Waxwerks is now sadly no more. Jumbo is still flying the flag though for the vinyl enthusiast! It would be nice to see a new shop catering more for the house/techno realms considering there has been a huge increase in sales of vinyl recently. Perhaps only a matter of time.
Favourite hotel?
Never actually stayed in one! Malmaison is supposedly the one.
Your best night out in the city / most memorable story?
There have been many. An illegal rave in a disused gas factory, boat parties in winter when it was about five degrees (and summer too of course!) Dirty Disco in general was usual chaos. The first ever Get Physical party was a belter when they were on their way up! Every Back to Basics we have ever partied and played at. We organised Soul Clap’s first ever trip to the UK. They played in Leeds for 200 people and by chance Mark’s 30th. The party went on for another 24 hours after that at least!
Also running our party Throwback and bringing people like Morgan Geist from Metro Area, Tim Sweeney, Jacques Renault and son on was great. Technique and Asylum, some great Mint Club nights out at roadblocks for Ricardo Villalobos. Also well worth a mention was when Depeche Mode played Leeds Arena. They are big influences on us both so was nice to tick that one off the list there! We could go on… have we got all night!?
Hidden gems / lesser-known tips?
The Reliance, The Aldelphi, Friends of Ham, Mark’s apartment and our studio space…