As an avid electronic music fan and someone who's been involved in nightlife culture for some 15 years now, I was definitely looking forward to my move to New York City this past summer. I mean, this is supposed to be one of the biggest stages in the world for it right? In my 5 short months I've been here, I've figured out that's easily the truth. Even with all my years of experience and propensity to be a hater of most everything, I was immediately drawn to Webster Hall when I moved to town and the lineups they were bringing every single week. Quick research told me that Girls & Boys has been a massively trusted event brand there at Webster for six years now every Friday and after digging deeper...it looks like there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon.
I got a chance recently to talk with the whole crew behind these efforts and their whole "shoot for the stars" mentality is definitely a very real thing. Their first event partnership in the room was the 10-year anniversary of GBH in May of 2008 that featured the jaw dropping lineup of MSTRKRFT, James Murphy, Grandmaster Flash and more. Fast forward a few months and after throwing another successful event together, their constant round table discussions and sharing of ideas birthed Girls & Boys as a weekly event at Webster and the party was official in December of 2008 with Alan Braxe and Lifelike on the debut bill. Since that winter night in '08, Girls & Boys has hosted a ridiculous list of names and first time plays that just a portion of the it will make most any dance music fan instantly drool. Skrillex, Justice, Madeon, Knife Party, Kygo, Moby, Disclosure, Skream's U.S. debut playing house, Hudson Mohawke, Gesaffelstein, Zedd, and so many more have graced the main ballroom stage at one point or another.
The current lineup of the team is Kenny Schachter, Co-President of Webster Hall, Thomas Dunkley of NYC promoting juggernaut GBH, resident DJ and talent buyer Alex English, Executive Assistant & Artist Relations Laura Bo Sherman and Maxx LG on operations and logistics along with fellow additional resident DJs Dali and Hiyawatha. And the motto now is formally Girls & Boys 2.0. With this revamp—which includes a massive overhaul to the club's soundsystem—English calls this "a new entity, a new beginning" for this inclusive, friendly community passionately committed to pushing forward all that's exciting in top shelf electronic music as it's main foundation. Dunkley still can't believe it's all real. "It's such an amazing feeling and sense of accomplishment" he said when asked to reflect on their time at Webster Hall. Sherman was the last of the key members to come into the fold but permeates the passion just as genuinely as anyone. Summed up with authority, she says "this party is why I'm in this industry."
As they strive to be "the forefront of new" (as Schachter states), there's a legit intense focus to be the first with breaking new acts and sounds. "I'm the DJ, so I feel I'm always getting to new music first" English says. That's typically the case in a lot of these types of stories, but this one feels like they are always pushing each other to bring something to the table. "There are so many styles now with more stuff that I like in other genres I didn't always follow" Dunkley adds. "Future Bass and Tropical House are my new favorites right now." These new sounds will also be heard through the massive upgrade in the house soundsystem. Now housing the L-Acoustics Kara Soundsystem, every corner of the main ballroom has been tuned to perfection with amazing range and coverage. Also the transfer from live music to dance music is now seamless and will allow more time for more early events to run longer, adding more value to those early show experiences. The new system is also seeing increased interest from DJs wanting to play the room. With this versatile new setup, expect some curveballs with the clubbing experience as DJs will be moved around and not always placed front and center on the main stage. Reveals on this are promised soon.
Things of note for 2015 are already well underway as the crew is set on making this more of a traveling event experience. They've officially landed a stage to curate for this upcoming edition of Mysteryland in May along with Webster Hall and Brite Nites. Early show announcements at Webster have been stellar too with Starslinger and the U.S. debut of Robin Schulz. Shortlist of acts that they have on their wishlist for future events are pretty stunning as well. Diplo, Erol Alkan, Laurent Garnier, Maceo Plex/Maetrik, Chris Lorenzo, and Klangkarussell were just a few names that were fired at me in a fury when I posed the question.
"All these people have played here first and it's so mind-blowing that we've had the opportunity to do this with them" says English in a way that directly speaks for the whole crew. I came to this city to get motivated by nightlife culture and it certainly hasn't taken long to snag some inspiration. Girls & Boys just continues to show one of the biggest markets in the world how to repeatedly kill it on a weekly basis. It's pretty hard not to be motivated by that kind of longevity and consistency.
The crew is also debuting a Girls & Boys SoundCloud account very soon that will feature rotating monthly mixes from the three resident DJs along with guest sets from upcoming Girls & Boys acts sprinkled in for some good measure. Kicking off the series is a fresh new mix from resident Alex English that we're hosting here first, only on DAD.
Tracklist:
Sexual Healing (Kygo Remix) - Marvin Gaye
Waterfalls (Bixel Boys Remix) - TLC
Little Talks (Thomas Jack Remix) - Of Monsters and Men
Dive In - iLL BLU
Say You Love Me (Gorgon City Remix) - Jessie Ware
Extraordinary (Martin Ikin Remix) - Clean Bandit
Street Walker (Reset Safari Remix) - Duke Dumont
Turn Down the Lights - Alan Fitzpatrick
VCO - Kove
To Dust - My Digital Enemy
Move That Dope (4B Bootleg) - Future ft. Pharrell, Pusha-T, Casino
Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger (Dillon Francis Remix) - Daft Punk
Scylla - RL Grime
Chimes - Hudsom Mohawke
Boss Mode - Knife Party
Stoner (Flosstradamus Remix) - Young Thug
Jaguar - What So Not
Trippy’s Theme - Trippy Turtle
Latch (Joel Fletcher Remix) - Disclosure
Work (Meaux Green Remix) - ASAP Ferg
Never Died (Wiwek Remix) - Yellow Claw
Fast Forward - Oliver
