Orgasmik

featuring Zelon, Propechy, and DJ’s Mike E and X Press.

Club Impact, Cocoa, FL • September 26, 1998

Richard T. Thurston

I hadn’t been to Impact since its re-opening earlier in the year.

Both rooms featured resident DJs Chris Scott and Ear Can D. While Scott has only recently garnered the attention of many young club kids, Ear Can D has been at it for some time. It seems that both have become a welcomed addition to Impact’s limited scope of artists. Impact is an extremely genre specific venue that rarely books talent other than hard and funky breaks. If that’s your preference and you are of the youthful mindset then, this will be your weekend home away from home.

Of the live acts recently booked at Impact, Zelon and Prophecy come as a welcomed change of format. Both live PA’s suffered a bit from “technical difficulties.” Ryan, Zelon’s mastermind and composer, claimed that his equipment had been unplugged without his knowledge, resulting in his having to reload his data into his only keyboard while he was performing. “I knew what had happened when I saw the lights on my keyboard flashing.” Tactics such as this have become commonplace, especially in the DJ vs. live act end of the business. It’s unfortunate that no one is immune to flare of an unhealthy ego.

The nightmare of such a daunting task troubled him but he persevered and drew a positive response from the crowd especially when he played the “Back To School Mix” of his breakaway track “Runaway Love.” Vocalist Sam entwined her lyrics around the stirring melody line of their latest song, “Revolution.” Again, clubbers seemed interested enough to crowd the stage and offer their the appreciation of the band’s efforts, as it was painfully obvious to everyone that there was some trouble afoot.

Up next, O Town’s hardest working live house and breaks act, Prophecy, fared better, if only due to preparation and troubleshooting Their set luckily avoided the sequence of errors that Zelon were exposed to. Unfortunately, their live sound also suffered, even though they went through precautions of a full and thorough sound check before the club opened its doors. With the precaution of a stage manager and engineer close by, Prophecy should have sounded great, but that is something that the club’s production crew should take responsibility for, and not the artists.

With the most encouraging response yet, Mauricio Arroyave claimed that “it was one of the best crowds that we’ve had to date.” Upon leaving the stage, he also said, “this total G-kid,” replete with lowrider pants and wifebeater athletic T-shirt, approached him and said “`Man, that was beautiful. Not only was that phat, but that was beautiful.’ With a response like that I knew that we had performed well.”

Please don’t misconstrue my message. There were some moments when the vibe of the crowd urged the performers to ignore the obstacles seemingly eliminating the dilution of their efforts. The pyrotechnics during Zelon’s set startled if not amazed the crowd as that building had never been exposed to such a stage show. The evening was a further illustration that progressive house and trance have been and will continue to inspire and entice club kids and the old school alike. If it can be said that “variety is the spice of life,” therefore it should be regarded as a viable means of diversifying an atmosphere that normally wouldn’t attract such a well informed crowd.

Proof positive is that I myself am a total househead, and rarely venture to a club that neglects to cater to particular segments. Furthermore, both of these artists will be appearing at Sanctuary, so check it out if you want to hear them in a more abstract environment. Props go out to Randy for taking a gamble on the house sound. Now, let’s see you moving forward and up to the next level of entertainment. Go get ‘em, brother. Thanks also to Drew for caring enough to accommodate the enormous Feutre Haus the guest list, peace out. ◼