New Gig - Friday nights, Smugglers, Ship Street, Brighton

Playing Thursday - Sunday in Brighton. Few different flavours as each gig has it's own character.

Thursday nights are usually fairly laid back with a few customers and a through flow of students drinking and chatting in the bars I play so it gives me the chance to try out new stuff and play bits I wouldn't risk elsewhere. I normally play Easy Bar on Cranborne Street with one of my DJ friends joining me for the session, however I'm at another bar with a decent sound system this week, Smugglers on Ship street. It has had a bit of a tough time due to the fact it is mainly known as sports bar with a chavvy clientele at the weekends.

This isn't entirely untrue but they have recently employed our services as DJ's and we are now enjoying residencies there, Fridays are the night with the most scope. Pablo Contraband, Tim Rivers (The Acid House, Warm Sounds) and Jeff Daniels (Dedicated player) are on rotation, playing the best in bar grooves, soul, funk, disco and house. The place is not very busy at present so we've been given a blank canvas to play with on Fridays. I'm all for branding it as ours and getting the most out of the superb soundsystem (best bar rig I've played on in town) and attracting some friends and heads in.

Bar prices are reasonable and the big screen sports are switched off before we drop a beat. Be a nice one to turn around.

Saturdays there are a different animal with a more commercial vibe, it does get busy and the punters want to party, not a bad thing but musically predictable and mainstream so not one for the music lover. Always lots of women so it is a good place to head if you are on the pull.



On Sunday I'm playing at one of our secret parties, its a daytime affair starting at 3pm and running til 11.30pm (it is a school night ) - the rooftop do's we threw over the summer were so so good, everyone was feeling it and we had a brilliant crowd of lovely people. This promises to be as good. Here's a sneak peek odf the kind of tracks I'm leaning toward for this party. If you fancy it you will need to email guest list requests to : contrabanddjs@gmail.com - we'll send venue details out on Saturday afternoon.

Pabloween Mix by Pablo Contraband on Mixcloud