Seasoned party-starters Joe Smart and Jordan Eggar sat down with us to talk all things Gold Teeth in advance of their upcoming 10th anniversary party at Shoreditch’s The Book Club, gifting us with a UK-focused mix packed full of “blighty-born-bangers”.
First off, tell us a little about the mini-mix you’ve recorded for us – is this a taste of a typical Gold Teeth set or have you taken a different angle?
J – It’s a mix dripping in UK, over the last few years we’ve been playing so much homegrown stuff, we thought we’d pay homage to some of the blighty-born-bangers that we’ve rinsed over the last few years. It’s really nice not to have to rely on our mates across the pond for the party tunes as much these days.
Can you tell us about how Gold Teeth started– when did you guys first link up and what brought you together?
JE – It started fairly organically which was nice. [Fellow founders] Marcus and Will threw a house party in September 2009, had bands in the living room and I think someone crowdsurfed. I’m pretty sure it was just an excuse to give their band their first (and last) gig, but somehow after the hangovers, we’d been asked to do a night at a local pub, Trof Fallowfield.
This birthed Gin & Sonic (Gold Teeth’s older sister), which was meant to play everything from Gin & Juice to Sonic Youth. It mostly ended up with us playing punk rock or Motown while sitting down with the DJ decks on one of the pub tables, but people seemed to enjoy it. It cost a quid to get in and everyone got a free cig on entry …it was a different time!
“It cost a quid to get in and everyone got a free cig on entry …it was a different time!”
This slightly bizarre concept led us to the giddy heights of taking home up to about £150 in pounds coins each Friday for about 3 months (and that’s after Robbo the bouncer had taken his fast-fingered tax). Following that a night named Missionary left The Deaf Institute (also owned by Trof) and asked us to come in for a meeting.
No one’s entirely sure what happened in that meeting, but we came out with a name and a weekly night for a 650 person club across three floors. In February 2010, Gold Teeth was born. Big shout out to our good friend Stephen who put together the artwork that really pulled the concept together.
“No one’s entirely sure what happened in that meeting, but we came out with a name and a weekly night for a 650 person club across three floors. In February 2010, Gold Teeth was born.”
Originally, it was hip-hop on the top floor, “guitar”/ bizarre music Patty wanted to clang together on the middle floor (thank God for Manchester legend Jonny Walsh rescuing this) and us trying to be techno DJs when we were bored on the bottom floor. We had a six-week stretch of being about half full, then something happened and suddenly we sold out of tickets one week, and didn’t really stop for the next five years.
Suffice to say we were pretty unprepared. Watching Jordan and Will slowly learn to mix in front of 600 people each week was quite amusing at times, especially as they insisted on playing the headline slot each week (and killing it I might add) much to the irritation of the snooty, well-practiced vinyl DJs we occasionally brought in.
Any other highlights from the early years?
Both Marcus and James getting kicked out of their own night on a pretty much weekly basis. Several gin & tonics getting fed to the CDJ 1000s to the extent that we were forced to DJ on a single deck for one hour. Patty once playing a YouTube rip which had a radio DJ speaking over it. We definitely ejected the CD which was playing more times than I care to count. Jordan and Will let the crowds chant of “one more tune” get to their head and pushed the finish time so far over that the bouncer Rick said: “turn it off now or I’ll turn it off with your head” (He was a stable man, I think he kept an axe in his car).
After a few years in Manchester we extended to Leeds, Nottingham, Sheffield, York, Newcastle, London, Bristol, Liverpool, Southampton and many more (with varying degrees of success). Special mention to Brixton Jamm, Bodega in Nottingham, and the Night Kitchen/ Hopeworks in Sheffield, where we actually booked some real acts who weren’t ourselves!
We’ve never taken ourselves too seriously and we just like treating our parties the same way. Come if you like, if you don’t – we don’t mind.
What do you think makes Gold Teeth stand outfrom the other party brands/collectives out there? What makes you guysdifferent?
J – I think it’s fair to say that we don’t really label ourselves as ‘promoters’ – we never have. We throw parties for people who barely go outside. We’re all socially awkward introverts who hate going out. Not your usual promoter. We’ve never taken ourselves too seriously and we just like treating our parties the same way. Come if you like, if you don’t – we don’t mind.
JE – I think we always toed the line between commercial and “cool”. At the time there was either very trashy fancy dress crappy student nights with £1 shots (okay, we may have had £1 shots too…) or super stuck-up-their-own-arse future garage nights with a load of bedroom DJs taking themselves way too seriously. We tried to bridge the gap, and I like to think people with many different music tastes came and enjoyed themselves.
We also never took ourselves seriously, we just enjoyed it. If you ever read any of our Facebook event descriptions, we took quite a few shots at other nights, student life and generally wrote a lot of satirical nonsense which definitely set us apart (shouts to Marcus for this, even if it did land us in vendettas with pretty much every other night, student societies and the general public…)
“We’re not fussy – we want everyone dancing.”
What can audiences expect from a Gold Teethshow? Describe your approach to a DJ set for us…
J – Our job is to make people dance. We never stack our parties with expensive “grey goose on the rider” DJ’s – our selectors are audience-orientated and always have been. We play music we think the people standing the other side of booth to us will shake a leg to. That might mean a headsy set full of niche 90s hip-hop or it might mean playing Ariana Grande B2B Rihanna for a few hours. We’re not fussy – we want everyone dancing.
I know as DJs that you don’t tend to stick to one genre and often draw from a lot of different styles in your sets – does that reflect your musical tastes?
J – It very much depends on the party, but I think our residents have their own styles and strengths. Our longest-serving resident DJ Baeb likes to drop a lot of UK Garage, our newer residents Sophie Simone and DJ Sky may as well have a PhD in US trap/rap and I join the dots, playing everything in between. I think we listen to a lot of different styles and that really comes through at GT parties. Our founder and occasional spinner (these days) DJ Beggar loves disco – I could go on…
JE – When we started we played lots of ’90s hip-hop, RnB and bits of reggae which definitely reflected our tastes at the time. That then developed, adding in garage, house, bass, UK funky, DnB as our tastes changed. We always had a special place in our heart for a big of silliness: the “finisher” where all bets were off was a good example of this. It could have been anything from “I Try” by Macy Gray’ to “Lovefool” by the Cardigans to “Dilemma” by Nelly, or something by Blink 182. It became a bit of a competition to see what we could get away with.
With that in mind, what do you listen to themost when you’re not playing out?
J – I am a complete sucker for moody, bedroom R&B – Bryson Tiller, Summer Walker, early Drake cuts, House of Balloons-era Weeknd. After-party music really (ironic for someone who throws parties before the after-parties)
Where have you been playing over the last year, and what was your favourite show?
J – We’ve been stretching ourselves between East London and South London. NYE at Brixton Jamm was one of our busiest shows ever, plus New Year’s dos are always a pain to organise, so it’s hugely satisfying when they eventually come together and your dancefloor is full of happy people hugging each other when the countdown hits zero.
We heard that the Gold Teeth 10th anniversary coming up, are you planning anything special to celebrate?
J – We were never sure whether to celebrate our 10th birthday – there’s always a nagging doubt in the back of your mind that only yourself and maybe like two or three other people will care (including our mums). BUT… it’s not every year your little student event turns ten years old. So we decided in the end to throw a party at The Book Club in East London, and that is coming up this Saturday 25th January. We’d love to see some faces that danced with us back in Manchester and across the country over the last 10 years, and we’re keeping tickets at 2010 prices – £5!
JE – I wanted to DJ on CDs, only promote it with flyers, have paper tickets and a handwritten, hundred name £3 cheaplist in no discernible order, for the authentic 2010 experience… but perhaps that ship has sailed.
“We’d love to see some faces that danced with us back in Manchester and across the country over the last 10 years, and we’re keeping tickets at 2010 prices – £5!”
As DJs that have been playing together for 10 years now, do you feel like you’ve developed a kind of musical understanding and connection that can only come from playing B2B so many times?
J – 100% – DJ’s are easy to find but DJs who understand their audience and are technically excellent are rare, so when I find one I always book them again and again. Our current crop is the strongest we’ve ever had in terms of musical tastes and DJ skills. Myself and Will (DJ Baeb) have played together maybe 100 times – telepathic understanding!
“Myself and Will (DJ Baeb) have played together maybe 100 times – telepathic understanding!”
JE – Absolutely. When we were doing Deaf Institute every week for 5 years, we knew the crowd inside out. It’s kinda weird how you know intuitively which songs will work each week, or if you need a song everyone knows, or perhaps they have the patience for something new.
One last thing… what are your tunes of 2019? Give me a few special selections that stood out for you guys last year.
J – ‘Come Thru’ – Summer Walker’s collab with Usher for the remix of his stone-cold classic ‘You Make Me Wanna’ seems fitting as it’s bringing either end of the decade together for a massive smash hit. It’s a perfect tune. I also have rinsed ‘Both’ by Headie One in nearly every set I’ve played in the last 12 months.
“Gold Teeth is 10! Join residents old and new at The Book Club for a night of nothing but BAIT BANGERS. Tickets a fiver, just as they were in 2010… see you on the floor!”