15 DJs tell us their favourite Fabric moment

Since it first opened its doors in October 1999, London club fabric has invited over 4000 acts to play at more than 2600 events – resulting in over 21,600 hours of total sonic immersion enjoyed by over 5.43 million satisfied music lovers. A lot can happen in 17 years.

It’s a long time for any business to survive. But in clubland, it’s almost matchless… especially with a music policy and aesthetic as resolutely underground, forward-thinking and uncompromising as fabric’s. From dubstep to techno, grime to house and beyond, the club, its legendary soundsystem and passionate crowd have welcomed, nurtured and celebrated the most exciting shades and styles of electronic music we’ve experienced in the last one and a half decades. Anyone who’s been lucky enough to attend the Clerkenwell institution will have their own favourite fabric story. We called up 15 of fabric’s regular DJs to hear theirs…

“Fabric was the first proper club I ever went to. I think I’d been to the Velvet Rooms before – where FWD>> first started – but fabric was my first proper super-club experience. I turned up all smart: trousers, shoes and a jumper! The main thing, though, was that it was FWD>> in Room 3, three of my records were played and they all got reloads. Hatcha was DJing, Juiceman was on the mic. I remember it like was yesterday. It was epic.”

“One of my best moments was back in 2008 when I first dropped DJ Hazard’s now-classic ‘Machete’ at one of the many amazing Playaz nights we’ve hosted. It was my last track and the crowd went nuts! As I rewound it, I can just remember Gareth from Pendulum standing behind me saying, ‘What the fuck is this track? And how am I going to follow on from this?!’ I’ve had many amazing moments at fabric, but that really stands out as a special memory.”

“The first time we played fabric was for Rinse’s 16th birthday. Room 1; we did the opening set. I remember thinking ‘Wouldn’t it be sick to have our own night here?’ Back then it was wishful thinking. But things developed and fabric gave us an amazing opportunity to do big shows that show the instrumental side of grime and feature people like Wiley, Skepta, Kano and JME. There’s nowhere else in the country we can do this. We’re all from London, and fabric lets us party in our own postcode.”

“I remember warming up years ago in Room 1 on the same bill as Richie Hawtin and Magda. I finished playing and let loose on the dancefloor. Then, towards the end of the night, I was tapped on the shoulder… I was opening Room 3 for the afterparty! Before I knew it, a coffee appeared, I was on the decks and within an hour I was playing back-to-back with Magda at a packed, legendary afterhours! These are the kind of things that happen at fabric, especially when you least expect them...”

“My most memorable moment was my first four-deck set in Room 1. It’s such a pleasure to play on that system. The place was electric, it was a real milestone. Another unforgettable memory was a closed-door, private session where fabric invited a group of us dubsteppers to test our tunes on the system and have a few beers. We lined up some beer bottles in a circle. When the bass dropped they started dancing on the spot. It was knocking them down faster than we were!”

“One of my favourite moments was the 10th anniversary with Daniel Bell. We were at least 12 hours deep into the celebrations at that point but the party was still going strong. Dan’s classic track ‘Baby Judy’ started and all the artists in the room shifted their gaze to Judy Griffith [fabric’s Saturday night booker]. Seeing Daniel sing the song to her was touching. He snapped us out of our club debauchery and reminded us what techno is all about: dancing with the people you love."

“The past years of playing at fabric have provided many amazing memories, but I think my Fabriclive CD launch in Room 1 in 2011 will stay with me the longest. I was really happy with the line-up and it was packed all night. Midland warmed up, a young Julio Bashmore played before me, followed by Pangaea, Ben UFO b2b with Joy Orbison and Mala b2b with Pinch. It was overwhelming. To have so many of my friends there, and my musical peers, made it a very special night.”

“My fabric debut was the first time I had flown overseas for a gig. I was in awe; the soundsystems made me feel like a pro, even though I had a cheap laptop and rotten $100 soundcard! I was nailing it. I was immersed. Then my soundcard blew. I felt sheer terror. I thought that I had blown my big chance! I was mistaken; Judy was lovely and sympathetic and wouldn’t let me apologise at all. I was blown away by the fabric family. Since then it’s become a wonderful, long-standing relationship.”

“My Divided Love launch night felt like a culmination of everything fabric and I have done together. Since making my Fabriclive mix in 2012 we’d been throwing around the idea of a night involving acts with whom I felt an affinity. With Factory Floor, Dopplereffekt, Helena Hauff and Volte-Face, we pulled together my ideal line-up. Fabric has supported underground music on a large scale for 15 years without compromising. They take chances and, in today’s climate, nothing is more impressive.”

“My favourite fabric moment has to be NYE 2013/14 and getting to play the midnight set in Room 1. For me that’s as good as it gets: you’re looking out from the world’s best DJ booth, watching those lasers do the countdown and you drop the track that you’ve thought so much about, and the crowd of fabric faithfuls are going nuts… it’s a hell of feeling! I say it every time I go there: fabric is the benchmark of how a club should be run. The team, the system, the space… it’s the full package!”

“I’m an old raver and my first favourite DJ was Sasha back at Shelley’s in Stoke around ’89–’90. He was one of the first DJs to program his sets with direction as well as crafting new songs and melodies from two records you knew really well. That might not sound cutting-edge now, but at the time no-one was doing that sort of thing. I fell out of love with Sasha for a while, but when he played Room 1 on Fabric’s fourth birthday he destroyed the place. To this day I haven’t seen Room 1 go off like that.”

“Halloween 2009: me and Robert Hood in Room 2. Everyone had gone to town with the fancy dress – fake blood and gore everywhere! It was the first time I got to watch Hood in action up close. He was on fire! Usually if I see a hero doing his thing up close it spoils the magic. This did the opposite; it made me more of a fan! I couldn’t work out how he was gelling all the elements together. That night remains one of my favourite fabric nights, as both a DJ and a punter.”

“It was the launch of my fabric CD and we’d put together a killer line up. Emperor was making his Critical debut. He was playing 10–12pm so I explained that Room 2 always takes a while to fill up. I get there around 10.30 and it’s packed! Once he’d finished he turned and said, “For a first gig that was amazing.” I had no idea! That’s the beauty of fabric, and its crowd: they give a new-comer as much kudos as those who head the bill. There aren’t many institutions left worth shouting about. Fabric is one.”

“Even though fabric is one of the world’s largest clubs, they’re always open to ideas. For instance, back in 2006 there was a Greek cafe at the end of my road run by a lovely elderly guy, Manolis. Dan Stacey and I would sit there every day hatching plans. But the business was failing, so we asked fabric to throw a benefit party. Justice, Pedro Winter, Paul Epworth, Mehdi and Feadz had all eaten there and got on board; Time Out covered it and business picked up for Manolis. Fabric was instrumental in that.”

“Playing at fabric for 15 years is an honour. To pick one moment from that is incredibly difficult, but our favourite memory has to be Ian Brown. Not just for his performance, but for his pure ‘down-to-earthness’, his Room 2 d’n’b skank (surrounded by security, trying desperately hard to keep fans’ hands off him mid-dance) and, when discussing his fee, saying “All I want, if you’ve got a pie, is a piece of that pie”. You can’t put a price on that.”