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THE VINYL WORD

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Another new bar? Suspend the eye roll and pause for thought, as this members-only joint is being opened tomorrow by one of Taipei’s longest-serving and most successful foreign DJs, Saucey.

Called Pause, “because life is too hectic,” as Saucey puts it, this is a new pet project for bringing music to its lovers. “[The bar] is a nice small space to work with where we could do some live acts, as well as continue the trend of some different-sounding DJ nights to include alternative genres like deep house, trip hop and drum ’n’ bass.”

Rewind a dozen years and Saucey was starting his promotion group ESPDJs with humble basement origins on Elm Street, in Vancouver, where “we used to put mattresses on the windows, disco balls on the ceiling and throw two-room parties into late Sunday afternoon,” he recalls.

From there Saucey opened up an illegal after-hours club in the basement of a friend’s video shop that, although successful, came to the attention of local law-enforcement authorities. Sick of the difficulties of organizing legal late-night parties, Saucey left Canada, ending up in Taiwan.

“I arrived in 2001 and the music scene was happening, but it wasn’t really my style,” Saucey says.

Luckily house came in 2004, “and it came huge … I would play funky house to a completely packed room on Wednesday nights at Catwalk.”

Around the same time Saucey started the well-received deep house nights at Eden with SL. After much success at Eden, Saucey was picked up by Luxy and has remained at the top of the DJ tree ever since.

With Pause, Saucey’s goal is to create a relaxed and homely environment. “This venue will hopefully be an extension of my living room. We have comfy sofas, two outdoor patios, a video screening area, a mahjong table, a dart board and low lights.”

As far as the clientele goes “this bar will act as a stepping stone to other activities. We are not a 12am-to-7am dance-your-ass-off club,” he says, “but a place [where] you can come early, meet up with your friends and either go home early or bounce somewhere else.”

The initial membership has begun with invitations sent out on Facebook to a lucky few who can then bring a couple of friends to the night to be signed up, thereby creating an intimate family tree of partygoers, which is a modern take on ESPDJs word-of-mouth advertising approach.

With a 100-person or so capacity, “the venue is too small to hold a large crowd so the special events, international DJs and live shows will be members-only,” Saucey says. “There is no point in cramming 200 people into a small venue and have everyone upset about having to line up or not having a seat.”

Tomorrow night sees Doi Moi, aka Toby Garrod from 9pm to 10:30pm, Mark Thorne on trip-hop from 10:30pm to midnight and Saucey playing out. This will be Garrod’s second set after playing his first last Friday at Copa with his own style of psycho pop, “catchy, edgy, well-produced rock ’n’ pop,” says the new DJ in town, who started mixing vinyl in his dad’s nightclub at the mature age of 8.

There will be an open bar between 9pm until 11pm and, “we will be signing members up with our new biometric fingerprint scanner which opens the door,” Saucey says.

The Vinyl Word took a sneak preview on Wednesday evening and can report that Pause is sumptuous. There’s warm lighting and picture frames containing candles as you walk in, which bathe the space in a welcoming glow. The bar is roomy yet with plenty of separate areas for groups to break off and mingle.

Outside at the back is a long viewing area with a huge projector screen. The drinks are reasonably priced with beers at NT$150, high balls for NT$180 and well-made cocktails just NT$200. Perhaps most importantly, the sound system is, as you would expect from Saucey, aurally delicious.

Pause opens tomorrow. 9pm until late. 1F, 5, Alley 4, Ln 345, Renai Rd Sec 4, Taipei City (台北市仁愛路4段345巷4弄5號1樓).

Invite only with new membership being rolled out in the near future. Watch this space for details.

On the Net: check out Saucey’s latest mix at www.espdjs.com.

— TOM LEEMING

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