Ahead of the first intercontinental Decennium session in Sydney this Friday we decided to do a write-up about the history of our collaborators, DUNJ. Known for their epic warehouse parties and holding it down since the early 2010’s, DUNJ is one of the forefront crews making shit happen across the ditch. We spoke to them about what makes their scene special, the differences in the doof scene in Aus, and what they’re most looking forward to about their stage takeover at Twisted’s 10th anniversary…

DUNJ (originally Dungeon Events) was started by three friends as a pop-up party in war bunker locations around Sydney harbor, strictly on Tuesday nights. At the time we were club rats and promoters at Sydney clubs, Chinese Laundry and The Wall, who were looking to run our own gigs. At the time a DIY event seemed like the best option. After a few years of bunker parties we put on our first club and warehouse events just before Sydney’s lockout laws of 2014 were introduced. 

Due to the lockouts, which led to the closure of 176+ entertainment venues across the city, we shifted our focus almost exclusively to warehouse parties with the occasional mid-week bunker parties for international guests. Over the years our crew grew with the addition of some close friends and music enthusiasts who were all brought on board after helping set-up and pack-down events. DUNJ has since evolved into a crew of 9 that runs regular events in a variety of spaces around Sydney and is heavily involved in the NSW doof scene. 

The main type of events we run in Sydney are in warehouses, because they provide us with a blank canvas to build and create unique experiences for every event. We host a fairly wide variety of artists and music so it's great to be able to adapt a space to suit the vibe of the night, the artists that are playing and the style of the music. There’s always a focus on quality sound and production, whether through a unique custom sound system, a hefty lighting rig and expert operator or an amazing concept for stage design. We put a lot of love and care into our events, and with the help of friendships and collaborations with some amazing locals in the scene we’ve hosted some incredible shows. 

The scene that DUNJ is a part of is unique because of the relative freedom that warehouse spaces provide to curate unique experiences, especially regarding production. It's easy for club nights at the same place to blend into one and specific performances to not feel special when your memory is storing it alongside countless others. With warehouses there is always an element of surprise and anticipation for the punters because, even though we all use the same spaces, the production, layout, stage build and decoration will be different every time. This warehouse centered outlook of the scene was motivated by the lockout laws, but times are changing and Sydney is having a revival at the moment, with 4+ clubs and multiple small bars and venues opening up in the last few years. 

We will always look back fondly on the lockout era in Sydney’s creative spaces. There was a feeling of civil defiance in what we were doing, not that we were doing anything wrong but it was clear that the government at the time had it out for dance music, events and disco balls for some reason. There was a beautiful culture around these spaces; promoters worked together and shared advice, experiences and leads on spaces and equipment. There was a very healthy and constructive level of competition and one up-manship where promoters would see what others were doing and think about how they could take the space or the event to the next level. This of course ebbed and flowed, and there were periods of max freedom, expression and creativity, and moments where the police would step in to settle everything down. 

One of the major differences between doofs/festivals in NSW and NZ is to do with policing. We live in a police state in NSW where police will extort festival operators with a "user pays" policing policy, where organisers will have to pay in excess of $100,000 for police to attend their event. Most festivals will have a very heavy police search at the front gate, with sniffer dogs going through cars and the festival grounds during the event. The police in NSW are in such heavy attendance under the guise of safety so it's always reassuring to see festivals in NZ with a much less extreme police presence go off without a hitch while still operating safely and working with local emergency services in a way that doesn't impact the viability or the beautiful friendly environment outdoor events can offer.

Other than that, doofing has a beautiful ability to stay relatively consistent country to country and we couldn't help but feel how similar our first experience at Twisted last year was from our favourite regular NSW doofs. Our doof scene definitely has more of a psy focus with bass music taking the back seat - we love to get amongst both but it was great to see bass music doing lots of the driving at Twisted. It’s also awesome to be part of a festival where the music goes 24/7, a lot of the larger-scale doofs in Aus will stop the music at night which can be good for rest, but it’s fun to see a party that lets adults make their own decisions about bedtime. 

This year we're all counting down the minutes and seconds until Twisted! We're in close comms with the crew and we're helping bring some acts over to NZ - after attending the festival last year there were two acts in particular that we reached out to immediately after getting home to get them locked in for this year's edition. We're definitely keen to swap out the esky for a chilly bin and go chase some of those pointy ducks on the festival site as well. And the river is definitely the best doof site river we’ve experienced too, so we’re all super keen to jump back in there!

These legends are co-hosting one of the first Decennium sessions - launch parties for the tenth anniversary of Twisted - in Eora/Sydney this Friday. If you’re in the area, be sure to get down and catch NZ bass heavyweights Ebb, Headland and Akcept share the stage with breakbeat assassin Jungist and the DUNJ crew themselves. And if you’re not, don’t worry, DUNJ are scheduled for stage takeovers at the Chillery AND the Beat Bach this year. Come get amongst it!