The tuxedo-heavy PR campaign for the duo's first mix compilation

Sunday, October 5th, 2008. The fears of Giles Smith and James Priestley are realized. The duo behind London's Secretsundaze party are set to close their summer run, and it's raining. It's yet another hiccup for the party, which had to be moved to the Courtyard at Ministry of Sound after their original venue canceled on them. Anything outdoors, however, won't do in this weather. So in true English fashion, they make the best of it and rally the troops to take over Ministry proper.

Luckily, the punters don't seem to mind either way. They're eager to celebrate one final time before Smith and Priestley presumably retire the Sundaze name until next May. And they're hardly disappointed, as the duo warm up and cool down the crowd in between deep headlining sets from Innervisions boss Dixon and Oslo's Vera. If the weather kept people away, it was hard to tell: Ministry's Box was packed, and the party raged on until 2 AM when the crew finally decided that summer was officially over.

The wild scene at Ministry in October is a far cry from Secretsundaze's humble beginnings. The Sunday party began in 2001 through a series of happy accidents. "James may disagree with me about this, but I don't think we ever intended for it to be a Sunday party," Giles Smith told me late last week via phone from London. "We had certainly talked about it, but when we looked at 93ft East we were hoping to do something on Friday or Saturday because that room had such an incredible spirit." To secure the venue on a prime weekend night, however, the owners told the duo that they'd have to book the entire venue. All three rooms.

After a lengthy search across the city for a suitable venue, Smith, Priestley and business partner and promoter Kristophe Hofford kept coming back to 93ft East. "So we thought, 'OK...what about Sunday then?'"

Considering Secretsundaze was a party set up specifically so that Smith and Priestley could play records for their friends, the timing wasn't much of an issue. Friday might have been ideal, but Sunday was fine as well. The duo's sound, however, which is centered on a deep house and techno core is a perfect fit for daytime and afterhours clubbing.

Despite Smith's initial disinterest in throwing a Sunday party, he had plenty of experience with the nascent Sunday clubbing scene. "I ended up working the door at Lazy Dog for a while actually," he says referring to Ben Watt and Jay Hannan's seminal daytime party. "I would drive down from Leeds just to go there with Kristophe." So as the west London shindig started to become as well known for its legendary queue as the music inside, Smith, Priestley and Hofford busied themselves getting Sundaze off the ground in Shoreditch.

Four Secretsundazes to remember
Giles Smith and James Priestley

Village Underground; London
Our opening party in 2006 was at what is now known as the Village Underground in Shoreditch. We were fortunate enough to be the first people to do a party there. It's a magnificent room with original features, exposed brickwork and skylights which let natural daylight flood the room. We created a tropical / urban oasis with Kristophe spending a fortune on some amazing huge palm trees! We seem to remember lending the owner money to lay real flooring in as well. Despite selling out that day, we made a loss as we had spent so much on production but it was worth it—just to see people's faces as they walked in. We are made up, as after some problems we are finally able to return there this forthcoming season in 2009.

2005 Shoreditch Carnival; London
We did this two years in a row and were distraught when we found out the event wouldn't happen due to a lack of funding. It was initially in aid of "National Pro Cycling Campaign." All the roads around Shoreditch were closed off and there were three or four soundsystems with us being the only dedicated house / techno area. Ashley Beedle from X-Press 2 was our guest. (The soundsystem was either side of a huge old fashioned "Green Goddess" a US Military truck on which we placed the decks.) The location was a very long road which ran for 300 to 400 metres parallel with a disused railway viaduct. It was just one of those special days in which we remember policeman dancing, an old queen on roller blades with a kid on his shoulders, rudeboys and all the usual suspects in absolute harmony.

The Blue Marlin; Ibiza
We hosted parties on the Island at Cala Jondal beach for the first time in 2005. On the second date we were honored to have Ricardo Villalobos as our guest. We went through the daytime with it initially building slowly and gradually. But as it happens when Ricardo hits any party, it was eventually mayhem! The road leading to the location was jammed with cars. As it got dark, the beach was awash with people spreading out down to the sea. Giles played the last set and someone from the venue pulled the plug at midnight. He had one more track lined up—"Marionette" by Mathew Johnson—and was desperate to play it. With 1500 people waiting, he ran to inside to find the owner in the kitchen. He had to literally get on his hands and knees to beg for one more and the owner eventually gave us the nod. It was such a moment when he ran back three minutes later with everyone still there waiting and eventually played it!

Poet; London
This was one of the early venues we used, a small nondescript pub near Liverpool Street station. It had a magical beer garden at the back with wooden decking and high brick walls which cocooned the crowd, making the whole experience very intense. It was pretty much illegal, as they had no license for outside. We used it for one-and-a-half seasons but after getting his collar felt by the authorities in 2004 the owner had to put a stop to it. In a moment of madness and some "insider" help, we broke into the garden and did a party with Luciano guesting. Someone grassed us up and as the party was coming to its natural end and people were leaving, the police stormed in. The three of us happened to be on an adjoining rooftop to watch the party conclude and we hid up there for 30 minutes until the police left. Phew!

The rise was swift. After a first season that started—as predicted—with the boys playing basically to 30 or 40 of their closest friends, the final parties of that summer saw hundreds make their way to 93ft East. And, by the start of the second session, there were thousands—a curious surge for a party that never seemed to take itself very seriously in those early days.

The trio rarely spent much on promotion for good reason, though: They rarely knew who might be playing any given Sunday. Instead of flyers promoting gigs, there would be text messages at the last minute...once a DJ had finally been confirmed. It's testament to Smith and Priestley's impeccable musical taste and powers of persuasion that ravers would trust the duo. But they've been amply awarded through the years with sets from names like Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, Âme, Carl Craig and Steve Bug.

The roster of special guests is stunning, but Secretsundaze is a rarity these days: A party far better known via its residents. Smith and Priestley met at Cambridge, initially sharing a love of indie music like The Stone Roses and My Bloody Valentine until dance music came along in the early '90s. "We were listening to house, jungle, techno, hardcore, whatever at the big raves we went to," says Priestley. And over the years, the duo honed individual sounds that seem to only intersect at the word "deep." You need only one listen to the duo's recent double CD mix to know that Smith books the house acts, and Priestley chats up the Bill Brewsters and Maurice Fultons of the world.

Those distinct sounds have won them renown in an age when fewer and fewer DJs get booked without a raft of productions to their name. Disco Bloodbath, Horse Meat Disco and Secretsundaze are among the last of a dying breed: DJs that prove themselves via the records they spin, instead of the records they make.

That hasn't stopped both Smith and Priestley from making some forays into the production world—albeit with some talented help. Smith records under the name Two Armadillos with Martin Dawson, AKA King Roc, and is also currently in the studio with Glimpse, while Priestley has forged a working relationship with jazz keyboardist Dan Berkson that has yielded a few singles for Simple.

The move to the world of physical releases hasn't stopped there: The duo inaugurated their own record label in 2007 to put out DJ mixes and limited 12-inches showcasing tracks taken from those mixes. Late last year, the label put out two 12-inches making both Ron Trent & Chez Damier's "Morning Factory" and Holy Ghost Inc.'s "Walk On Air" easily available on vinyl for fans that never got a chance to grab them originally. Don't hold your breath for a third volume of Smith and Priestley's Secretsundaze mix series in 2009, however. Despite critical acclaim from nearly all quarters, the second volume sold far less than the initial bow, due to the increasingly soft market for officially released mix compilations.

What stands out on each compilation—aside from the music—is the wickedly funny artwork. Smith and Priestley dressed up in tuxedo's for the first photo shoot, and then donned cricket gear for the second. Which has led to a bit of confusion: "We did get a few people on message boards saying, 'Hey! These guys aren't good looking like Luciano or Loco Dice. What are they doing putting themselves on the front cover of their mix?'" Smith tells me, laughing at the memory.

But as more and more people come to hear about the party, there's bound to be misunderstandings. When I ask him about what kind of crowd comes to a Sunday event in London, Smith tellingly starts his answer with the admission that "now that Sunday clubbing has gotten so much bigger" his answer is "less true" but that they originally would get "non-conformist, alternative lifestyle kids, and people that work in bars and can't go out on a Saturday night."

You can't control the crowds that you get, however, and Smith and Priestley have never compromised their vision to appease them. When I ask him about possible fears that might come with the success of the party as it continues to grow, Priestley reminds me that "there's no reason to worry as long as we're still doing things for the right reasons and sticking to our core values and beliefs." And as the party has gone on the road to Ibiza, Berlin and WMC, it's clear that those core beliefs might be coming to a city near you very soon. Secretsundaze is not just a London party. It's a party. Period.

And with an upcoming show once again showcasing Dixon—this time in concert with his fellow Innervisions' label mates Henrik Schwarz and Âme, and Horse Meat Disco and Daniele Baldelli—and the promise of even more overseas evangelization at this year's Garden Festival in Croatia, it's certain that Smith and Priestley don't need to change for anyone. They're doing just fine.