CJ Bolland @ Rise

Friday 9th March 2001

Dr Bill, Simon Barwood, Puff, CJ Bolland, Charlie Ash

The importation of a DJ is a situation of spending lots of money to hopefully make

more money. There are two factors that set the price of a DJ - hype and credibility.
The former comes from current trends and marketing, the latter from years of
displayed talent.

Giving hype the consideration it deserves, as far as credibility goes few DJs are of a
similar calibre to CJ Bolland. Whether as creator, producer or performer, CJ has a
history that spans the finest hours of the dance scene.

In short, CJ Bolland is not one of the current idols of the shirtless sunglasses and
whistle brigade and that is because he is someone who achieved their status through
long term dedication to his art. This raises two questions – why was he playing at a
commercial dance club rather than an underground event, and why were the tickets
$5?

Altruism. The pure act of giving selflessly. This can be the only explanation for
Friday night. On no occasion within recent memory has such a good event been had
for so little entry fee. Given the astronomical prices of many contemporary dance
parties, it is a sobering experience to see punters pay one twentieth the cash for equal
enjoyment. Five dollars is indeed easier to justify than one hundred for lots of people,
music and flashing lights.

The evening opened with Dr Bill playing a set that travelled the scale from uplifting
classy trance to commercial favourites, a formula successful enough to have a packed
dancefloor well before he handed the decks over at eleven.

Simon Barwood took the podium to confront a mass of frenzied punters and whipped
them into a frenzy with a selection even more upbeat than his usual high energy tunes.
Rarely has this venue been filled to such a peak of excitement, but the patrons
remained remarkably pleasant and well behaved.

DJ Puff brought his rugged sensibility to the turntables next, ripping the atmosphere
with a well hard selection of classy techno. Given that both men and women in the
crowd seemed enthralled with his set, it was apparent that in this situation it was
purely the presentation of his fresh tunes that had folks hurling their underwear at the
DJ console. His selection was indeed inspired, as the main act of the evening took the
current definition of hard tunes and cranked it through the roof.

Banging is the only word to describe both CJ’s set and the response of the crowd.
There was no let up whatsoever, the punters so adrenalised that by 4.30am only the
hardest tunes within the record box of Charlie Ash could satisfy their desire. A venue
full of punters walked away having had the time of their lives for less than the price of
a drink. Let us hope this is not a regular occurrence, or the economic face of Perth’s
dance scene may change forever.