Adelaide events company sidebyside is introducing itself to the city this month, with a day party featuring local and international disco, house and techno acts.
Sidebyside to debut in Adelaide with a dance music day party at Tampawardli Ellis Park
Newly founded Adelaide events company, sidebyside, will debut with a boutique disco, house and techno day party hosted at Tampawardli Ellis Park from 1pm on Saturday, 19 January, featuring artists pulled from the UK and across the country.
sidebyside
1pm-11pm Saturday, 19 January
Tampawardli Ellis Park
Local acts Fishermen’s Friend and Wallace & Malone will be joined by Dr Packer (Per), POOLCLVB (Syd), Linda Marigliano (Syd), and UK imports Doorly and Bontan for a carefully curated event “that is essentially a progression of sounds, from disco in the afternoon towards house & techno in the evening,” sidebyside co-founder, Elliott Jamie says.
“We’d like sidebyside to be something that provides an environment for positive and respectful expression, an inclusive environment for all people, but also an accessible one. We’d like for someone who maybe doesn’t know so much about dance music or hasn’t been to an event of this style before to feel that this is something that they’re comfortable buying a ticket to.”
The day party strikes at an opportune time, long enough after the Christmas and New Year period to justify needing a day of musical escapism, and a few precious weeks before arts calendar chaos descends upon the city for Fringe season.
Coopers Brewery will provide alcoholic accompaniments, with food from mobile vendors Flat Iron Toastie Truck and CARŌclub. Final release tickets are available for $54 from Eventbrite.
The festival is the first of many events set to come from the MYTH Studios-affiliated sidebyside crew, made up of Elliott, promoter Oscar Harding, artist liaison Locky Kahl, and designer Henry Noel. Their combined experience reaches deep into Adelaide’s nightclub and event production scene, including stints at Fat Controller, Sugar, Royal Croquet Club, and on Five Four events OH YES and the most recent edition of Spin Off Festival.
“We’ve been thinking about doing this sort of thing for a while,” Elliott says. “And also been quite cautious not to rush things and bide our time before we felt confident enough in our abilities, the abilities of the people around us, and also the Adelaide market, to put on something that we thought would be a really valuable addition to what’s already happening in Adelaide.”
“Dance music used to be offside, out of the main scope for people. What we’ve really seen in the last year or two is this niche, left-field group is starting to really track more towards the centre,” Locky says.
“It’s about doing something that gives a pure experience, but is also great for people that want to have their first introduction as well.”
The festival will be sidebyside’s initial introduction to the Adelaide music festival market, but future events will likely see the company present solo shows and smaller one-off events throughout the year, with larger festival concepts held only when artists, venues and other extraneous factors align.
“We’ve definitely got aspirations to associate with other people in Adelaide who are trying to achieve similar things to what we are, and also develop interstate relations,” Elliott says.
Sidebyside’s launch comes just under a year since MYTH Studios, which was co-founded by Elliott and Henry, introduced itself to Adelaide’s arts scene. The creative industry-focussed co-working space has since become a hub to producers and creatives.
The prominence the music studio component of the venue would play in the site’s business model was not something Elliott foresaw, but they’ve responded by adapting the space to suit the needs of new users.
“It’s been a big learning year, and it’s been really positive for us, a really encouraging experience,” Elliott says.
“Basically the studio is occupied by independent producers who all work out of the same space, [and] the back room, which is where we were initially doing the yoga… we’ve got a couple of friends… and [they’ve built] a bit of a different studio in there that’s more mixing, mastering and effects orientated.
“Our goal this year is to try and establish as many permanent residents in the space as possible, so hopefully these external events that we’re doing go well, and when that is the case, the office here at MYTH will become the base for sidebyside.
For more information on sidebyside’s day party, see the event page.