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A collective of like-minded musicians, DJs, record label people and artists who get together once in a while to throw aside the constraints of London’s increasingly suppressed clubscene by throwing shambolic, impromptu, hot, sweaty parties on the sly. Taking inspiration from the homo-erotic Olympic wrestling format favoured by Eastern Europeans and frat boys, they pitch musical styles head-to-head in one long sweaty grapple for supremacy. Wrestlers include XL A&R Alexander Waldron aka Half Nelson / Full Nelson, music manager Dom Bastyra aka The Great Mentsh, long time South London vinyl troubler Raf Rundell aka Raf Daddy, cartoon illustrator Lorenzo Fruzza, revered producer Joe Goddard aka Joe Hot Chip, legendary radio DJ and A&R man Ross Allen and fashion label owner cum Portobello Market vinyl pimp Jeremy Dade aka The Boston Crab. Yes it’s a strange mix, but then London’s a strange place sometimes. In the past 3 years Greco-Roman has evolved from its initial musical experiment in a North London warehouse into a record label, DJ outfit, fledgling fashion range and traveling party:

Greco-Roman Records draw on the sharp and wide-ranging music policy of their parties by releasing records from a number of the nascent artists that have played them – a cult electro banger from David E Sugar, a sugary disco pop song from Grovesnor, a Kuduro ghetto record from Buraka Som Sistema, bouncey festival house from Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and an assortment of rather agreeable rave noises from Drums of Death whose album they release this year. Last year saw the release of Joe Goddard’s critically acclaimed Ode to London clubland: Harvest Festival.

Greco-Roman Soundsystem rotate their DJs and live artists in improvised back-to-back sets, drawing widely on the myriad sounds that have made electronic music great in the last 20 years – a boink from Wookie, a stab from Outlander, a handclap from Arthur Russell, a drop from DJ Zinc, a glitch from Four Tet, the stuttered funk of fidgiteer Jesse Rose or the forward-thinking growl of Skream… all with a handful of surprise guests and airhorns thrown in for good measure. Summer 2010 sees the fearless Soundsystem wrestle Glastonbury, Secret Garden Party, Standon Calling, V, T In The Park, Green Man, Calvi On The Rocks, Electric Picnic and Bestival.

Greco-Roman Parties are ramshackle, speakeasy affairs in random venues in random cities, advertised solely by SMS and myspace in order to keep undesirables – namely non-discerning clubbers and the police – at bay. The littlest hobo of the international clubbing circuit, over the last three years they have lured cult names to bizarre venues around the globe: a boat in Berlin, a backyard swimming pool in Texas, a mill in Manchester, a cinema in Berlin, a church in Brighton, a Spanish restaurant in Sydney, the 8.36 train from Victoria, a taxidermist’s bar in New York, a couple of festival tents and numerous sticky studios, railway arches and warehouses in London. Once or twice they have even ventured inside a conventional nightclub.

… so let’s wrestle!

http://www.myspace.com/grecoromanmusic