Throwing curveballs: SHINDIG has cracked the code of unique clubbing experiences

So how does that how the thought process behind a line-up?

ELLADHC: So basically, we do word genres. I’d say in 2023, we just really wanted to book DJs that we liked and then from that, we’d kind of figure out what we wanted them to play. So we’ll give them words like, ‘nostalgic’ and ‘chaos’. I basically say to them: “This is your word genre you don’t need to stick to it, but I want you to think of any song that makes you think of this word and play with it”. But it’s quite free and they’ve all matched it very well.

AyChibs: Also 90% of the DJs we’ve booked at least one of us has seen them live, so that helps know what they bring to the table. So when we do get them the word genre it suits them and it helps us programme as well.

ELLADHC: There are some DJs we haven’t seen live but everyone gets along with the word genre. I think it’s a nice thing we’ve done.

How did the word genre of ‘chaos’ go down?

ELLADHC: It was chaos!

AyChibs: Yeah that’s the best way to describe our Leo energy haha. But from that first time we went back-to-back it was challenging, but it was lit. We didn’t know what we’d play next and it was just really chaotic. Now we’ve reined it in and it’s more controlled chaos.

ELLADHC: Yeah I kinda miss that.

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What are some stand-out moments from SHINDIG?

Taja: I think one of my favourite things is when people come up to you — especially when you do production stuff, people usually think you’re kind of associated but don’t know — and so sometimes people will come up to me and be like: “Have you heard of this party SHINDIG?” And I’m like: “Yeah, it’s our party. You should come.” That’s so cute, I like that.

ELLADHC: It’s always been filled by the public. We have friends there, but a lot of people I’ve never seen before too. I think that’s because we can really appeal to people that we wouldn’t see on an everyday basis.

AyChibs: I agree, like the first one we did I was surprised by the people I didn’t know who were there.

ELLADHC: Like 80% of the people I didn’t know. Which was good, though. But yeah, it’s always been like that.

Scully: My favourite one was the first one by the way. I had a friend who I hadn’t seen in like 10 years. He lives in Detroit and he happened to be in the country. He came after DJing for Slum Village. And he was like: “This party is so good, I love it dude.” And I was like: “It’s the first one haha!” But it’s just always good. Like we have a lot of familiar faces. There’s like 20-30 people that come to every SHINDIG. It’s nice almost familiarising yourself with them. But also in the different places the party is in, there are always people that will turn up and end up loving it. That’s always so much fun.

AyChibs: I think sometimes there are just moments where I’m blown away by a DJ. The WAAW twins were literally wow. Even though I’d seen them before, I was like wow they are so good. It was so sick to bring them into our space and see them do their thing. But also going back-to-back with Ella on a consistent basis is challenging, but it’s really fun. I think that’s one of the main things for me.

ELLADHC: I have two favourite moments. One was the first SHINDIG. I was coming from a previous booking so when I arrived the room was full. And there was one point when I was playing ‘All of the Lights’ and everyone had their flashlights on it was just so cool. But my main favourite one was our August SHINDIG. We were a bit more worried about this one because of sales and it was carnival weekend so it wasn’t as popular as the rest of them have been. But when we got there, I realised it’s not really about the numbers. It’s about how much fun people have because everyone’s still come up with the same vibe. People were dancing like no one was there. Wven though you could see it was more gappy in comparison to other parties, everyone still had as much fun.

How do you feel after a night?

AyChibs: We started doing the [photo] dumps actually the day after, so that’s always funny. We’ll throw in a bunch of random pictures and videos from the night, or like memes that kind of describe the night. That’s a nice little ritual.