Howells at Aria - Montreal

[Guest]

When Danny took the decks at Aria, the anticipation built by Luc Raymond was massive. As far as I know, it was Howells' first visit to Montreal, and even though the club wasn't jam-packed, there was a good turnout.

His mixing, programming, and ability to read the crowd was spot-on. He brought us to so many crazy builds that had every hand in the club in the air, and everyone screaming their lungs out.

Danny got into such a deep groove, like we were all trapped in paralysis of the mind, and perpetual motion of the body. He slammed us with every genre so gracefully, I didn't even know what hit me - Breaks, techno, trance, house, progressive - it was all there.

I was in wicked company, which always brings a great night up to classic level. Che closed his eyes and prayed for the 4.5 hour drive to Montreal that we didn't hit every hickmobile doing 100km/hr in *my* fast lane. You're a top dude Smackers!!

Met up with Huggs, his girl Melanie and my girl Monika, and the night began. After some warmup action at Jai Bar, where Matt Coleridge, Kim and their Ottawa friend Bill came by, we took our crew on down to Aria.

Monika and I stuck it out till 11am, going hard from beginning to end.

And the rest of the little details made for one of the best nights of 2001.

~Josh

 

[Che]

Thanks again for the lift Josh. It was great partying with you. Mad Props to Huggs and Mel. Class partiers and gracious hosts.

This night was definetly better than Toronto. Aria is such a wicked club with a killer sound system and a crazy lighting system that makes such a big difference.

I'll wait to elaborate on this night when I finish my complete 3 day marathon-of-howells when I write it up. Complete with pics.

 

[unklespins]

This night was absolutely fucking amazing. It was my first time to Aria and definately not my last...the sound and lights were amazing...I usually don't care so much about the bonus of lighting and sound but they totally added to the night.
The crowd was incredibly fun, much better than the crowds in T.o lately...we left when the music stopped at 11:20, and the dancefloor was still full, with ppl still going off. Unfortunately we missed the true last record when they threw on another while we were getting our coats.
To those who went, was the lineup L.Raymond, Debo, Howells? or Raymod, Howells, Debo? We had no idea, I thought Howells had played first...
Whoever played second tore the place apart, and I guess it must have been Danny Howells. I've heard La la land a million times now but it sounded amazing there, and when the break hit and the lights blew up for it...by far the highlight of my life.

All in all, an incredible night...fuck I love partying in Montreal...

 

[Che]

Yup, the lineup was
1. Luc Raymond
2. Danny "King of the bassline" Howells
3. John Debo (who happens to be a really nice guy and great DJ)

 

[unklespins]

Then D.Howells is my new hero...fuck he was sick...i've heard of him before but I thought he was strictly progressive...
John Debo was great too though, definately kept me going until the end...

 

[Gizmo]

I heard from friends that Debo's set was the set of the night. Can anyone confirm this?

 

[Che]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Gizmo:
I heard from friends that Debo's set was the set of the night. Can anyone confirm this? </font>

Confirmation: Negative

Don't get me wrong, Debo played a wicked set and he's the nicest guy. I had a brief chat with him. Maybe I'm biased but Howells stole the show for me.

 

[coleridge]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Gizmo:
I heard from friends that Debo's set was the set of the night. Can anyone confirm this? </font>

Hehehe. .... I think your friends are a little biased.

I can't comment on Debo, I didn't stay to hear him ... too tired and had to drive back to Ottawa.

Howells owned that club. Amazing set. Amazing crowd.

 

[Guest]

What's this I'm sitting on? Oh, its your original message:

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Gizmo:
I heard from friends that Debo's set was the set of the night. Can anyone confirm this? </font>

Right. Nope; Debo didn't come close to Howells' intensity, but he did play a solid set. I noticed right away when he came on, just by the sudden flatness of the music that Howells couldn't be on the decks anymore. But JB built it up nicely and had some solid tracks. Considering I kept dancing after all the partying I'd been through in the last couple days says a lot.

~Josh

 

[huggs946]

This was defenitely one of the most interesting nights out that I had in a while. I was still a bit tired from Hawtin @ Sona the previous night when we(Mel, Caleb 'upstate', Randy 'the sounduy from Twilo', Liam 'from the Bronx', Jim 'from NY', JF, Steve 'che' Mack, Josh, and Monica) ventured out to Aria @ 2AM. The crowd consisted of the usual 'characters' that you see everytime you go out. Luc Raymond was spinning some pretty aggressive tech house to start the night off. Was a bit too much for me @ first so I sat for the first hour or so. Once DH hit the decks, he had to tone things down for the first hour or so. I have to say that I've never seen a more agressive sounding prog DJ in my life. DH is an extremely intimidating master of his craft that has a ferocious intensity for what he does and loves best...putting on a show for all in attendance. He played a mix of prog/classic old school prog tracks, tech house, and some pretty whacked out breaks. Into his set I recognized some 'very' familliar faces hanging with DH in the booth(Randy, Jim & Caleb...good job guys ). He seemed to be in with whoever was doing the lights cause everything was sooooo perfect/in synch. Aria may not be a well known venue as of yet, but if they keep booking DJ's in DH's caliber....watch out! Didn't catch much of John Debo's set because I had guests to think about but from what I heard, he was spot on. Next time!

ps. The after party that we were supposed to go to didn't really turn out as far as I know.

Was nice meeting up with:
Caleb, Randy, Jim, Liam, Josh, Monica, JC Mtl, Marie-Eve, Stevemack, Matt Colleridge, Ali Ajami(thanks for the appreciative hug), Wagha/Waldo, Genie, Danny Howells(couldn't understand a word each other said), and John Debo(his 'club warrior' comment floored me).