Get To Know Your Dance Floor: Bodywork

Bodywork

Bristol party crew Bodywork step up to the plate for our very first in the Get To Know series where we find out the skinny on the city’s nightlife from the people who make it actually happen.

Running now for just over two years, Bodywork has made a sweaty splash on the scene with some appropriately gym work-out themed parties. They return from their Summer sabbatical to take over The Crofters Rights on the first Saturday of the month with carefully curated line-ups of special guests and local heroes…

Your Autumnal series is at The Crofters Rights… why did you choose this venue?

Matt: The Crofters Rights have been good to us over the years. It was our first home and first venue for our monthly residency. Plus the manager there – Will – has a fantastic beard and looks great on a bicycle.

What are the challenges to throwing parties in Bristol?

Nick: We are quite settled with which venues we like to use, so that takes away a big headache. There are a lot of similar crews to us in Bristol that are booking the same kind of DJs, so there is inevitable competition for bookings. It’s a healthy thing to have and it just goes to show how strong the scene is in Bristol. 

A lot of people struggle to remember which one is Nick and Nicko in Bodywork which is undoubtedly the biggest problem we face.

Tell us about the inception of Bodywork…

Nick: We’ve all been mates for years, but when Nicko and I started buying similar vinyl we began talking about starting a night. Matt got involved from an event production point of view and from then the core team was formed. Once Nicko thought of the name, a (gym) theme was born and from that the artwork, decor, language and visuals fell into place.

Matt: It’s been very much like three men and a baby ever since but with more laughs and many, many more tears.

Can you talk us through your bookings for this year? Some people might not be aware of Aroop Roy, or will have heard Miles Simpson’s night Thunder but perhaps not him…

Nicko: We wanted to put on three nights covering a few different styles that we enjoy listening to, dancing to and playing in our own sets. I think it’s also nice to book people who aren’t necessarily known for simply putting out a big tune, but instead they’ve carved out a reputation as being good and knowledgeable DJs. And another thing we’ve always been important to us is to give the support slot to Bristol acts.

Nick: Balance is key to this series. Aroop has put out some great tropical releases and he really mixes it up musically in his DJ sets – super important for our bookings. Miles is highly regarded in the UK dance scene and his Thunder parties are legendary. Can’t wait to meet him and hear a bone crunching house set. And then the Queen & Disco guys… They put on really similar disco parties to us in Derry and now with a couple of vinyl releases under their belt it feels like a good time to bring them over.

You list your band interests as “glitter and sweat”. How compatible are these on the Bodywork dance floor? 

Nick: Very compatible on the dance floor… in the DJ booth, not so much. Nicko gets quite sweaty when we DJ so it’s not particularly nice sharing the headphones with him plus glitter and vinyl don’t work well together. I still have glitter covered all over the records I played at our launch party two and a half years ago. 

What do you ~like~ about being a promoter here in Bristol and do you think you could transplant Bodywork’s success to other cities?

Nick: The best bit of the whole experience is meeting a whole load of like-minded people and making new friends. Getting invited to play a whole load of great events around the city and beyond is also magical.

Our nights would translate really well as a themed festival stage, so that is the next step for us. 

You’ve had big guests like Bill Brewster and Psychemagik and smaller guests like Soulworks and Banoffee Pies… who has been your most memorable guest?

Matt: We can’t remember all of them to be honest; it’s all a blur and has been for a while now. Seriously, some of the best weekends we’ve had have involved getting someone to Bristol from out of the UK and showing them our great city and having a blast all weekend. 

Bringing Waxist over to play at the Love Inn and then on in Bath was so much fun. Waving him off at 5AM on Sunday morning – completely used up – we all felt like it was time well spent. 

Nicko: They’ve all been quality, Bill Brewster had the Crofters rocking for our 1st birthday and Eddie C, Al Kent and Ruf Dug have treated us to superb sets. But for me, Glowing Palms will always be particularly memorable, not only for his set (which was extremely good) but also because someone drove into us and wrote off my van while I was driving him to the venue! So we shared a bit of a moment there for sure. And a bit of whiplash.

https://soundcloud.com/bodyworkbristol/bill-brewster-warm-up

What are your personal Bristol nightlife picks?

Nicko: Hot Buttered Soul + Soulworks at The Plough is always a killer night and had the pleasure of playing at that one, so much fun. And sweaty: a towel is a must! And of course Dirtytalk nights are the benchmark here in Bristol. Wish I had time to get to more nights.

Describe Bodywork for the uninitiated…

Nicko: A lung-busting disco workout session before peeling off the jock-straps and heading to Slix.

Nick: I’m really only in it for the end of night Slix. We normally book a table on Turbo Island each weekend and eat it there – we really enjoy the ambience.

And finally, what are you fave tracks to end the night on?

Matt: My usual request for Radiohead’s “Treefingers” always gets ignored so I leave it to Hank and The Prince…

Nicko: A recent new fave for me has been The System – Almost Grown, reissued by Music From Memory. Have definitely finished with The Joubert Singers – Stand On The Word plenty of times in the past (who hasn’t?) and another big favourite is Alides Hidding – Hollywood Seven, but the time’s gotta be right! There’s always a few in the bag that can finish the night, just depends what’s happened before.

Nick: I once played War of the Worlds at the end of one set but it didn’t have the desired effect…

Join Bodywork for the first of their Autumn series on Saturday 1^st October at The Crofters Rights https://www.facebook.com/events/116689888785478/

Rachael Williams

Professional party girl Rachael Williams wears many different nightlife hats. Door girl, DJ, promoter, music journalist, propper-up-of-bars and fountain of DJ knowledge and gossip. She’s written for Resident Advisor, Ibiza Voice, Pulse Radio and ran legendary London gay bar Dalston Superstore’s online magazine for over three years.