Clubbing in Dubai is all about VIP tables, bottle service with sparklers, and a lineup of supercars parked out entrance. Worldwide DJs normally headline the highest golf equipment on weekends, whereas weekday crowds—particularly desis—flock to Bollywood nights.
In the course of this, the collective Stick No Payments are envisioning a shift in music curation within the metropolis (and likewise the world), particularly when it comes to how South Asian music is represented. “We try to carry again the dance flooring tradition in Dubai,” Kerala-origin Jeftin James, aka DJ Jeff, says over a Zoom name.
A seasoned a part of the clubbing scene in Dubai for about 15 years, DJ Jeff received uninterested in the Bollywood nights. “I really like Bollywood, however when it comes to being a inventive and an artist, it doesn’t allow you to be as inventive as you’ll be able to. [Bollywood events] are pushed by golf equipment and promoters,” he says. The youthful modern of DJ Jeff was Gaurav Thakur aka GT.
Jeff remembers how GT “tried to do a number of Bollywood nights” a number of years in the past and he was continuously requested to alter up his set simply because a bottle was ordered. Jeff says of GT, “All this actually, actually annoyed him. He truly type of did keep sturdy and he type of mentioned no a few occasions. He’s, like, ‘Guys, you booked me to do my job. I’m simply going to do it.’” GT was compelled to get off the DJ decks a few occasions in such conditions, which is when he deserted Desi nights altogether and picked up turntablism and have become a scratch DJ.
Because the plans for Stick No Payments started taking form round 2023, Jeff remembers a “tremendous emotional name” with GT to carry him on board. He says, “I bear in mind getting within the automobile and giving him a name and telling him that, ‘Bro, I feel, I feel it’s time for us to do one thing that town has to witness. And I wouldn’t have anybody else on board besides you. It’s okay so that you can say no, I’ll determine one thing out. However , if you wish to leap on board, it might be our pleasure. He received tremendous emotional as nicely, and so did I, and he’s like, ‘Even for those who had been to do a typical Bollywood night time, I’m with you on this. Let’s click on and do it.’”
The collective is accomplished by Aaron Ferns, who’s extra of a behind-the-scenes a part of Stick No Payments, together with “cash man” Vinay Premachandran and Filipino MC Boss J Beats. Their debut present passed off at a restaurant in Dubai on Jeff’s thirty seventh birthday, which meant folks had been sure to show up. They anticipated 200 folks at most, however Jeff remembers they’d “near 500 to 600 those who night time.” The DJ says, “We stored an invite-only occasion the place it was accessible provided that you had been let into our Instagram web page, which was personal. Provided that you had entry to our web page did you get to know the place the occasion is going on.”
Ferns provides that from then on, Stick No Payments knew they had been on to one thing. “That is simply the hole out there that we had been lucky sufficient to come upon on the proper time,” he says. Even with Jeff’s confidence that the neighborhood would come out to help him—very similar to GT readily becoming a member of the collective—it was a danger nonetheless.
Convincing the golf equipment that this wasn’t only a otherwise packaged Bollywood or Desi night time was one notion they needed to overcome, plus ensuring they received a weekend slot as a substitute of the standard weekday. They received turned down a few occasions. Ferns remembers, “The thought course of that we had left with was that we needed to change the narrative from ‘We’re not South Asian night time, we’re night time that occurs to be South Asian.’ That was tremendous very important for us.”
They weren’t concentrating on superclubs and the like (“That’s by no means been the plan,” Jeff says), however they did discover a keen host within the 25hours Resort in Dubai. Since then, they’ve gone on to carry out at festivals like Sole DXB and Wi-fi Pageant Center East. Jeff says, “Our plan has at all times been to verify it doesn’t matter what room we get, we attempt to make folks really feel and perceive what we’re making an attempt to do.”
That entails diving into every part from hip-hop to R&B to amapiano and UK grind, and naturally loads of desi music, starting from nostalgic Bollywood to Lifafa and Karan Aujla. When it comes to curation, Stick No Payments have regarded past South Asian music as nicely, bringing in South African-origin collective Home of Yanos, Nigerian DJs and Sri Lankan DJ Shef Codes as nicely. The primary 12 months of Stick No Payments was extra domestically centered, and 12 months two introduced in Indian DJs to Dubai as a part of the collective’s occasion sequence, together with Lush Lata, OG Shez and The Spindoctor aka Sanjay Meriya.
It’s one factor to play South Asian and globally impressed sounds as third tradition children, however Stick No Payments’ India debut at BUDX NBA House in Mumbai final month signaled that they had been about to play desi music again to first tradition audiences. The hour-long set was successful and, understandably, a really emotional journey for Stick No Payments. Jeff and GT knew Mumbai was large on hip-hop (as was the occasion), in order that they swerved from their “typical stuff” however nonetheless took inspiration from every part they’ve performed at earlier Stick No Payments units. “It did have a variety of samples and edits by a few of our favourite DJs, a few of them by GT and me as nicely, however it has samples of what impressed us and what led us to create this complete collective,” he says.
Ferns says after the set, they might see “everybody’s eyes gentle up and perceive the gravity of what we’re able to.” Jeff insisted that the entire crew come collectively, together with photograph and video, virtually like a sports activities group that traveled, stayed, ate and prepped collectively. He provides, “We had been all very overwhelmed on the finish of the present. Again within the inexperienced room, we spent 10 minutes simply to look into everybody’s eyes, everybody simply being pleased with the opposite individual, and to simply notice what we’ve achieved.”
The DJ says he’d been ready 17 years to play music for the “proper folks, for the proper occasion in the proper nation.” He provides, “We’ve at all times needed our first worldwide gig to be within the motherland.” There have been (and are) provides to come back to the U.S., the U.Okay. and Australia, however India was first precedence.
Stick No Payments discover themselves a part of the rising South Asian motion proper now, with Indo Warehouse within the U.S., Dialled In and Daytimers within the U.Okay. and extra. “All of them come from backgrounds the place they belong in locations the place the sounds belong,” Jeff says, declaring how U.Okay. underground evokes the likes of Dialled In. Stick No Payments aren’t a genre-specific collective, nevertheless. Ferns says, “Simply listening to GT and Jeff produce music and begin from scratch, it doesn’t make sense to see somebody not resonate with that. The feelings, the influence… it’s sturdy.” Jeff provides, “Hopefully we get to take this across the globe sometime.”