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KeToLoCo & BackToBasics in London! Sat 29th November

The KeToLoCo Story

Words: Ben Gomori [DataTransmission]

“On occasions we used to get a knock at the house door on a Thursday or Friday night...and there'd be a group of students there asking "are you open tonight?" That used to have us in stitches!” Such stories are now commonplace for Chris Halliday and his KetoLoco colleagues. Theirs is one of the most unique, impressive and organic ascents to fame that any party in the UK has experienced in recent years. A cult promotion which started off with the most humble intentions, and has grown to become a nationwide – and indeed international – phenomenon, KetoLoco is not your usual kettle of…ket.

Chris, Danny Raper, Marcus Sumpner, Hedley Gisbourne, Eddy Osborne,Tom Fisha,Sean Cookson, George Abbott and a character known only as Chief met each other while at Leeds University bonding over a love of minimal techno and club-related debauchery. The group went to Ibiza in 2006 for the length of the summer, falling in love with the island and its unbeatable clubs – with the infamous Circo Loco daytime parties at DC10 particularly capturing their imagination. “The original idea arose when me, Chris and all our mates were sat outside Kanya” Chris hazily recalls. “The conversation went something along the lines of: "Wouldn’t it be amazing if you had a DC10 in Leeds? We'll fookin’ make one at our house - terrace and everything! What shall we call it? Errr well what’s the number of the house? 15? That's it sorted then..... we'll call it DC15!"

Once back in Leeds in September, they decided to pay tribute to the glorious Ibizan wronghole by throwing their very own afterparties in their student digs in Headingley (an area massively dominated by students – and their houseparties). Leeds offered nothing in the way of a crack-on of the sorts they were after, and fed up of having to go home at 6AM like normal people and in their own words “wait until the crumble pie was served”, there was only one option. They transformed the basement of their 6-room house into a mini-club – painting the walls red in homage to DC10 and renaming the venue DC15 as planned, and installing a pumping soundsystem for their hand-picked team of techno and electro DJ friends and associates to get busy on.

The timing was ripe as the student droves had just returned to the city, and the party was touted as an unofficial carry-on for Dave Beer’s long-running Back2Basics that was being held in the city the night before – kicking off at 7AM on Sunday morning. The basement was soon packed-out, with a raucous crowd stunned at what they’d been let in on. Basics resident Ralph Lawson swung by to play a special surprise set, effectively giving the club’s seal of approval and helping their launch party to go down in Leeds’ clubbing annuals. The debauchery carried on into the afternoon as the 150-strong hardcore spilled out into the garden (or the “terrace” as they affectionately termed it) From the first party, it was clear that something a little bit out of the ordinary had been created. And low and behold, they called it KetoLoco.

Ralph Lawson @ KeToLoCo

The 7AM starting time has allowed the KetoLoco crew to craftily circumvent the Environmental Health legislation about excessive noise levels between certain hours – and as their parties take place in a student-dominated area where you can find numerous house parties taking place every Friday and Saturday, there’s little concern from the neighbours. “There's plenty of house parties alright, but I think the reason we stood out is the particular attention to detail right across the board” reckons Chris. “With the painted red walls we were referencing one of the world's most famous clubs that everybody could relate to. We always have 2 specially fitted Mackie Active soundsystems for every event we put on, together with lights, a bar, different rooms and top quality line-ups! It makes it all worthwhile when you hear people muttering stuff like "do people actually live here?" and "this club is awesome!"

MIXMAG Top 3 After-Parties !!

The Leeds Guide - Afterhours Article

The club moved to new premises in October 2007 – DC16 as it’s now called – but the wrong factor hasn’t changed one bit. The myriad of tales that have emerged from the club deserves its own book, with highlights including Dave Beer and Paul Woolford getting more than stuck in, a worse-for-wear Kate Lawler struggling to deal with gravity on a 2nd floor hallway, Audiojack refusing to leave the house and playing a 4-hour set to over 300 gored-up clubbers at their KetoWeen event, and the show going on despite the basement flooding with 2 inches of water.

AUDIOJACK play KeToLoCo @ DC:15

Danny recalls: “A couple of us me included, armed ourselves with mops and buckets and went about our business...it took about 45 minutes to finally clear the cellar of water that day, but every time another bucket filled and was dumped outside there was a massive cheer! Great memories. The drug raid was hilarious too.... the police battered down the door even though we were already stood there! I think it just added to the occasion! People were laughing and jumping about everywhere, some were being interviewed by Radio Leeds, obviously feeding them complete bullsh*t. And most were just have having good banter with the 30 or so police folk that turned up that morning. Seeing 2 queues, each 100 strong, of men and women waiting to be searched was truly a sight to behold that morning!”

MIXMAG article on Leeds Raids

Soon after their first party, Dave Beer invited them to host the second room at BackToBasics on a monthly basis, launching KetoLoco into the “proper” clubbing world. Sole Ketoloco parties at My House (Basics’s home) also followed, which saw the trusted Ketoloco residents billing themselves on the same line-ups as the likes of Shonky and Leftroom talent Inexc.

DJMAG - 1st Birthday Review

Then after 12 months of full-on Leeds parties including their 1st Birthday Party at BackToBasics, a hook-up with outdoor venue The Zoo Project in Ibiza came into play – with KetoLoco running weekly parties there throughout the summer of 2007 aswell as putting on secret location and villa parties.

Mixmag June (news from the white isle)

Looking Back: Ibiza 2007 - KeToLoCo host The Zoo Project and The KeToLoCo Sunset Boat Parties

Guest slots and joint parties at some of London’s best venues followed throughout the winter, and now the next chapter of their history approaches in the form of their first major, solo London show at Scala.

KeToLoCo London Launch @ SCALA, King's Cross - Saturday March 1st 2008

London Metro

“The opportunity is definitely there.... we've got a loyal fanbase nationwide now due to the success of our weekly parties at The Zoo Project in Ibiza. The music is always top notch, the atmosphere is fantastic, and all our resident DJs are brilliant - each of them offering some different across the techno spectrum. We've played numerous wicked London parties since our return from the White Isle - particular highlights were hosting an arch at the last ever Saturday night at The Cross, and playing at the last ever event at The Key on New Year’s Day… both were amazing nights!”

More London and Ibiza parties are promised later this year – and if they can achieve half the success in the capital that they’ve achieved up North, who knows where their mashed-up whims could end up leading them. “Funnily enough it was only 5 minutes since I got a text from a random asking when the next house party's being held at DC16 is!”

KeToLoCo London @ Scala

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Donnacha Costello KeToLoCo London Scala Kings X 01/03/08