- In 1967, straight out of the heady reggae and dub filled paradise of Jamaica and into the streets of the West Bronx came a man called Herc. Kool DJ Herc as he became known, quickly gained notoriety for throwing massive block parties and playing his records like no one else in the neighbourhood. Using tracks by James Brown, Sly and the Family Stone etc., Herc Knew that everyone danced the hardest at the percussion break of each song. Herc took the small 'breaks' of each track, and with two copies of the same record kept the break going for up to five minutes. Once he dropped the vocals back in, everyone went nuts. Others, such as Grandmaster Flash, soon picked up on Herc's style of "break-beat" music and hip-hop was born soon after. Nowadays, anyone can see that breakbeat is no longer confined to the suburban underground but is a world wide and nightclub wide phenomenon warranting a party like Fuzzy's "History of Breaks".
Not expecting a history lesson on the ins and outs of this great musical genre but an excellent party, we arrived at Yu nightclub and waited on the pavement. And waited…It seems that Fuzzy certainly own the Sydney breaks scene as it took about 45 minutes, a beer, and a side-serve of whinging between friends before we fought our way through the crowds and into the club.
Presenting a full chronology of breakbeat orientated music in one night is a big call, but using the DJs who have written a good proportion of the breaks history in Sydney was definitely the best way of going about it. Kicking it all off was Nick Toth giving a down home funky lesson in the music that started it all from way back when. Sydney's Don of Funk, Mr Mark Walton, then took over rocking the rather sardine tin like interior of the club like there was no tomorrow (there were HEAPS of party peeps there - the decor wasn't sardine -like). As the night progressed the tracks became more recent with Q45, Johnathan Wall, Ajax, and Kid Kenobi keeping the quality music coming. Past classics and future classics alike were the order of the night and it was near impossible to get a bit of space on the dance floor.
Last Wednesday definitely showed how far the breakbeat sound has come in the last 35 years or so and how so many in the dance music community have embraced it. On that note, the opinion of the masses who didn't quite make it in to the club was that a larger choice of venue could have made a lot more people very happy. I suppose this just reveals the affinity Fuzzy has with the ever-growing Sydney breaks crowd. Well done to those who were involved and I can't wait to see what the future of breaks has in store for us.