Having a Ball of a Time

One of the DJs hasn’t shown up 'cause she spent the entire day getting pissed in the park, and some guy’s just been arrested on the dancefloor: one year ago Ballers Social Club celebrated their opening night at The Ivy in true style with the sort of riotous overindulgence one could expect of the early rave generation.

Joe Kalamo, one of the duo responsible for the party reminisces: “The first night was wild. A real get dumb affair. In Glasgow it’s always wet so the majority of people just get hedonistic in clubs.”

Taking hip-hop as its basis, Ballers Social Club has evolved to suit the promoters’ diverse musical leanings. “Rustie and I used to talk about new crunk, hyphy and more commercial rap / production all the time,” explains Joe. “I just started a club night which represented that kind of music. The guests and music policy always reference it in some way but we generally play the best shit in any genre. We wanted a club that also represented the music we make.”

The night has attracted a number of high-profile guests from across the Atlantic, such as Montreal crunkfuckers Mofomatronix, Detroit fat cat Phat Kat, and “prime of the pancake stack” Andrew Meza, but the club’s success rests equally on the local talent introduced every month and the strong list of residents. “It’s important that we support like-minded artists and have fun while doing this. Glasgow has a lot of talent and I think a lot of people are now catching on to how much talent there is here. You can see the best music week in, week out in Glasgow and that influences people. The residents are all good friends of mine and we all take part in the shaping of LuckyMe [the club's affiliate record label]. All the residents have roots in Scotland and the majority are from Glasgow or Edinburgh. I try and support their talent via the night. Every resident deserves a place in Glasgow's ever growing club scene.”

LuckyMe are a regular and integral part of Ballers Social Club, a shared ideology bringing the two together. Label director Dom Sum explains, “When we started in 2002 I guess our schtik was, and still is, the naive confidence to stand up and say that all this varied shit we make, and all this varied shit we like, is good enough to put out to the world. The LuckyMe sound then grew naturally. Some people see us as some sort of progression for hip-hop that they have been waiting for. That is very cool but really we are just doing what is natural to us, which is find a middle way between all the shit we love, and we just keep listening to new music.”

The club's upcoming first birthday celebration sees top notch talent from the LuckyMe stable in the form of Hudson Mohawke and The Blessings (Dom’s collaboration with labelmate FineArt), coming together once again with Andrew Meza - his last session with the club in November left the crowd braying for more. Heading the bill from Brooklyn via Detroit are soulsters Platinum Pied Pipers (PPP). Having shared stages with Roy Ayers, Brazilian Girls and Mark Ronson amongst many others, they're now going to thrill the crowd at Glasgow School of Art with their outstanding live show.

Never ones to get stuck in the present however, the club are already looking forward to next year's line-ups. "2009 is the year that my girlfriend convinces me to put on more dubstep," says Joe. "GZA, DJ Skurge, Fulgeance, Darkstar, Glitch Mob, Onra, Pursuit Grooves and more will appear before the end of the year. We're also going to try to bring Chris Brown alongside Panda Bear.” Also watch out for upcoming releases on LuckyMe from Nadsroic, an exquisite rapper cum singer produced by Hudson Mohawke, and The Blessings. The ball is just getting rolling.