Many of us in the dance music community have a love hate relationship with the clubs where we see our favorite artists perform. On the one end they provide the awesome venues, sound, and take the financial risk of booking artists for us. On the other end, bottle service culture has taken over many clubs and is the antithesis of everything dance music stands for. In the past, we’ve heard artists like deadmau5 decry the entitled nature of club VIPs, and now those VIPs have taken down trance legends Aly & Fila.
As DJ Fadi of the trance duo performed at Zouk Nightclub in Singapore as they have done countless times before, club management told them to play B2B with a club VIP who happened to be the Malaysian Prime Minister’s son. When they refused this request, club management told them to end their set so that Norasham Najib could take over the decks completely. Video from the incident spread quickly and forced statements from Zouk as well as Aly & Fila themselves. Zouk chalked it up to a misunderstanding, which did little to quell concerns levied their way. It seems Aly & Fila will not be returning to Zouk anytime soon. Do you think VIPs feel too entitled in our scene?
Official statement from Aly & Fila:
The start of a great night that didn’t end so well:
First of all Zouk Singapore has been one of my favorite clubs in the world, so sad that my last time playing there ended this way. Before you go through my statement plz remember that I can’t blame Zouk in general as there are a lot of great people working there from audio engineer to VJs etc….
I will make it really easy and clear with a list of facts:
1-my contracted set time was 1:30 – 3:30
2-Zouk’s new owner was hosting a “VIP” guest (the Malaysian PM son)
3-I arrived at Zouk at 1:00 am and had a quick interview.
4-Byden who works for Zouk and who takes care of the artists and the night in general told me I can play until the end. I can finish 4:15 and then play an extra 15 minutes more.
5-I went to the DJ booth they introduced me to the the “VIP Guest” and the new owner of Zouk.
6-started my set at 1:40
7-at 3:30 Byden came to me and asked me if I m willing to play back 2 back with that “VIP” guest and my answer was simple:”no way”
8-I continued playing then 15 mins after Byden came to me and he told me that I will have to stop as the new owner wants the “VIP guest” to play.
There was no misunderstanding!!! And instead of apologizing, Zouk keeps posting those lame statements and articles trying to get away with it.
My advice to Zouk:
1-never disrespect artists who helped you build your brand. I m not saying I built their brand, just talking in general. They need to respect their residents and local talents and their international guests.
2-try to fire your new owner smile emoticon
3-fire the PR team
4-admitting your mistake is Brave, but you aren’t.
I did what I did to defend my right as a human being not as a famous DJ or whatever. I was insulted and I reacted. I didn’t expect that it would go viral like that, but this is what I call Karma. I just wanted to let our fans who payed money to see me know the reason why I stopped my set and I didn’t play the 3 hours like every time I have been there.
That’s it!
Fadi Wassef aka Fila from Aly & Fila