DJ Mag

Greco-Roman

Spandex men

Five rounds with Greco-Roman's new box set

A bearded Mathew Herbert falling asleep on the door with the cash box open, David E Sugar playing acid house off two Nintendo Gameboys, and a masked Joe and Alexis from Hot Chip DJing as Booji Boy High; all just typical events in the world of Greco-Roman.

Born from a series of legendary nomadic globe-trotting parties put on by Joe Hot Chip, Dom 'The Great Mentsh', Jez 'The Boston Crab' and Alex 'Half Nelson', February sees the release of boxed set 'Greco-Roman From the Seat of Mount Olympus', a collection of the first five singles from their eponymously-named label.

Featuring David E Sugar, Grovesnor, Buraka Som Sistema, Drums of Death and Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, it enlists the likes of Skream, Jesse Rose, Hot Chip, Drop the Lime and even old school ravemeisters 2 Bad Mice for remix duties, giving some idea of the London/Berlin-based collective's pull.

"It's a distillation of our parties," says Alex, "which are a big musical experiment with lots of DJs, all coming from different angles and styles, going back-to-back, then also a live act. The main thing we do is put out music with really good live shows, so we can then tour them with the Greco-Roman soundsystem."

Founded to release David E Sugar's 'Oi New York, This is London', a soundclash track originally written for a party in the US, the label has already released Joe Goddard's debut solo album, with Drums of Death's due for April, and a second box set, 'Return to Olympus' pencilled for next year, while the parties continue to attract last-minute big name guests. But why the obsession with spandex clad crotch grabbing?

"It's slightly homoerotic, very sweaty and drawn out - just like our DJing," explains Alex. "We dress up like idiots because everything else is serious. We don't play novelty records, we don't have any lights or visuals, and we don't do podcasts or allow photographers in. We release colourful music because we dance in the dark. I think that sums up what we do quite neatly!"

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