MOTIVE at Egg London 8th September 2017
On the 8th September we visited Egg LDN for Kent's up and coming brand MOTIVE as they took over the infamous Basement. The brand has continued to grow since its conception just a short time ago and followed suit to our early predictions. We told you from the very start that the MOTIVE boys would be the ones to watch and we're very pleased to see them proving us right. After seeing recent sets from Walkin'Talkz, Max Gilman & Hesmer at RMRS we were confident that the brand had all the attributes to deliver on the monster sound system held in the Egg LDN Basement. Having a big local following from the very start has been a significant piece of the puzzle towards success for MOTIVE, with that crowd continuing to grow as they begin to increase their footprint on the area.
Venue
The jewel of North London, Egg. Attracting some of the finest names in House and Techno with events spanning many different sub genres, curated by brands both large and small. With over 14 years in the game the venue consists of multiple rooms across 2 floors, each offering something slightly different in terms of size, setting and lighting. There's even an in-club cafe serving bacon rolls, kebabs and pizza, I mean wow! One minute you can be two stepping the next you're chowing down on a large double pepperoni. The room we will be focusing on is the Basement.A small-medium area with a good sized floor space in the centre of the room as well as a raised portion towards the back of the room with one bar. Commonly known for its emphatic sound system and dark, intimate setting, this room has seen many brands grace the decks over the years.
Drink Prices
Prices for drinks were slightly higher than similar clubs with mixers costing between £6-7. Beers around £5 and bottled water at £3. There was however ready made glasses of water available to be taken for free at most bars saving you queuing which was a nice touch.
Venue Staff
Very efficient throughout the club with entry taking no longer than 5-10 minutes even at prime time, staff at all service areas including ticket area and also bars were friendly, chatty and quick on their feet to keep queues down to a few minutes. Floor staff were also very present in all areas, equipped with torches to ensure glasses and bottles were swept from the floor. Crunching your feet on bottles and plastic glasses is never fun so well done here Egg.
Crowd
As already touched on earlier, MOTIVE came with their loyal following consisting mainly of younger, enthusiastic faces who are loving seeing their friends and local DJs on a big stage, delivering some of their favourite music. Some Egg regulars were also present bringing a mix to the room in terms of age and background, keeping a healthy contrast in the setting.
Heat
Being a small-medium sized space in the Basement area which is enclosed centrally within the venue it can be easy for this room to become overheated. Thankfully there are multiple large electric fans situated in the corners of the room to keep the area at a fairly comfortable temperature.
Production/Sound
ProductionA grand job has been done in the production department for this room. With the Basement not being the main used room for the venue it would've been easy for the lighting here to be fairly minimal and to let the music do the talking. Not the approach taken by Egg as they've indulged ravers with some real big production features. A large centred visual backdrop behind the decks with various animated effects, large rotating spotlights on either side of the space and a multi-coloured laser machine keep you immersed in the proceedings. Strong strobe lights are also a regular feature with the intelligent lighting being controlled by a lighting technician. Our one comment would be that the strobe lighting can be a tad overbearing at times and may need the balance between these and the other lights looking at.
Sound
An iconic feature of the Basement is it's sound quality developed by the innovative designers; Flipside. To give you an idea, we could hear it thumping and rumbling through the walls as you walk into the venue, like literally, it was shaking an air vent outside. With all that power can mean that the bass dominates the sound however it was very well balanced. Being a fairly small space the sound waves reverberate off the close walls, perfect for those big bassy tracks.
DJ Sets
EUAN EUAN
Responsibility was handed to Euan Euan for the opening set and he certainly showed no signs of nerves, blasting filthy Tech House beats out of those thumping speakers from the get go. Euan grew in confidence with every drop receiving a massive reception from the crowd, his audience were engrossed in his set from start to finish, with not a body in the room stood still. It was a perfect way to open the Basement and his track selection drew in an early crowd making it the room of choice for the opening hours. One track that stood out for us was "MDMA" by Paul Woolford, the track drives through you almost giving you goosebumps on the drop. A solid opening set.
Max Gilman b2b Vincent Mackay
Up next was the duo of Max Gilman & Vincent Mackay, two DJs growing in prowess, with this becoming increasingly evident in their sets. Armed with energy and charisma there's never a dull moment in their sets and its clearly visible from their passion for the scene and belief in every track they select. The boys really spanned across the house genre, it's for this reason that their sets stay alive and grab hold of their crowd throughout. They like to mix it up and keep you on your toes; a good attribute to have, opening their sets to all kinds of house ravers. Riva Starr's track "Another Dimension" demonstrating their heavy side, this track is so well accustomed to the Basement's sound system with the bass heavy drop pumping it's way through the walls. All the way over to the other spectrum of the genre saw a more mellow side to their set with DJ SKT's take on "Wamdue Project - King Of My Castle" called "Must Be The Reason" bringing a steady bassline with it. We can't wait to see these boys play again.
Simon Boles b2b Antony Dyer
Now for a guest set from Simon Boles & Antony Dyer. Having not seen the two before we were interested to see what type of style they would bring to the decks. There's nothing better than a DJ who knows how to get the crowd energised and grooving. Well that's exactly what these they did, Playing a very high tempo set, full of blistering pace and heavy drops. Detlef's recent track "Jaydee" was a perfect example of that with a set of looping vocals leading up to a popping drop. Flooding excitement into the crowd and fuelling momentum into any set. We also love to see DJs showing confidence in their own produced tracks and giving them a shot in the limelight. Antony dropped his very own "Makes My Body Go", a monster of a track, producing some serious damage to the sound system and retrieving a seal of approval from the crowd.
Walkin'Talkz
Motive head honcho's Matt Shipley & Frank Dempsey were up next under their recently formed alias, Walkin'Talkz. After being impressed with their recent performance at RMRS we were eager to see how they dealt with the Egg LDN Basement. From the outset they really gave the monster sound system a run for its money. As we said earlier we love when DJs have confidence in their own production to get a crowd moving and that's exactly what was delivered here. With several of their own tracks featuring back to back and what a stage to play them on. Their track "Baby Momma" is one in particular, with the vocal sample from "Outcast - Ms. Jackson" leading up to a thumping drop, you just can't dislike it. Again taking vocal samples from another classic song "Aaliyah - Try Again" for their track "Try Again", the track featuring a high tempo with the vocals again leading into another big drop and rounding off another top draw performance.
Harrison Edwards b2b Tom Laidlaw
Next up we're the guests from Essex, Harrison & Tom. The two currently hold a residency with the very popular brand Klik also situated in Essex and recently venturing to the famous white isle; Ibiza. Klik have have featured some huge guests over the past couple of years including PAWSA, Huxley, Alan Fitzpatrick and members of FUSE. Supporting huge industry names has made Harrison & Tom well versed in delivering on the big stages and more than ready to bring a performance to MOTIVE's busy night in The Basement. They came prepared with a diverse range of tracks to unleash at the North London venue. A certain classic of the house genre pricked up our ears as soon as we heard it, The classic Jamie Jones remix of "Cajmere - Percolator". A truly unique track that takes to any crowd and made serious waves in their set. Solid track selection combined with some fine trickery on the decks in time to the beat was very well received.
Hesmer b2b Troy
The final set we witnessed on the night and with these two being on top form in previous sets for MOTIVE, we were excited to see what was in store for their installment at Egg. A previous Hesmer performance at The Source Bar main room proved he could step it up a notch when it came to a big occasion but the Egg LDN Basement would be a whole new level. We saw Troy deliver the goods in the Courtyard of The Source for MOTIVE, again stepping up to the mark and delivering a set that invigorated the crowd. MOTIVE has proved to be very developmental for the two with both DJs building strength and confidence into their sets. Going b2b was sure to bring a fitting addition to the night and keep the crowd locked into the Basement. A hard hitting set was the weapon of choice starting with straight up rollers early on and picking up where Harrison & Tom left off. Prok & Fitch's track "Nodding Dog" got the crowd raring and ready for the next hour. Another big track came from Eli Brown who has been a firm figure for production in the industry so it was no surprise to hear his absolute monster remix of "Fisher - Ya Kiddin". Just when you thought that track couldn't get any better, Eli delivers the goods again and worked perfectly in a great set from Hesmer & Troy.
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