Escaping a Burning Club
A true story from the road
When you’re on tour, you learn to adapt to different situations. You have to be attuned to local cultural norms, staying organized under the most chaotic possible circumstances while also being quick on your feet if there’s a mishap with your travel, lodging or equipment. I’ve been trained to expect the unexpected and to never let myself get too stressed out about a plan changing. But what happened last Saturday was beyond the pale.
Following our sold out show at Vancouver’s Vogue Theatre, Joe Goddard from Hot Chip and I had planned to throw an afterparty at Fortune Sound Club. I was very excited for this, as it would be the perfect release valve for our group after a busy first stretch of the tour that involved an ungodly amount of travel and five shows in six days. We would rock out to some fun tracks and then I would go directly to the airport for a 6 AM flight back to Hamilton.
With my DJ Josephine having just headed to the airport to catch a redeye flight back to Toronto so she could play Electric Island the next day, I got to Fortune before Joe, carrying two crates of merch, my backpack and a suitcase up the stairs past the snaking line to get in with the help of my longtime friends Jen and Jon (both of them are referenced on Afterparty Babies).
We dropped the gear into an office and then I got behind the decks, where my pal Niña Mendoza had been warming up the crowd. It felt really comfortable inside the club. The ravers who were already there seemed very friendly and ready to dance. After a particularly muggy day, the air conditioning was pumping. This floor of the venue felt like an incredibly relaxing place to be.
I played a few African disco tracks and could feel myself easing into a groove. Since I needed to stay up all night, I cracked a Red Bull. I’d just dropped my fourth song of the night, which was suitably warming up the swaying crowd:
Suddenly, a security guard was briskly marching towards the DJ booth. He screamed something I couldn’t make out over the din of the music. I turned down the booth monitor.
“What did you say?”
“There’s been a fire! We have to evacuate the building!”
I turned off the music, removed my USB and then headed out of the building among the throngs of folks. There were countless people now on the sidewalk, spilling out onto the narrow street.
At this point, I didn’t know whether it was a false alarm or not. I didn’t see any smoke billowing out of the venue. Tenants from a neighbouring apartment building were also on the sidewalk, including an elderly couple in their pyjamas who were cradling a fluffy white dog.
The general mood of the crowd was confusion tinged with impatience. I got in contact with the Hot Chip crew, advising them on whether or not they should pull up. Firefighters rushed through the crowd and went upstairs to assess the situation. I took a sip from my lukewarm can of Red Bull as I contemplated the possibility of my laptop, equipment, passport and belongings all going up in smoke. Niña produced a bag of beef jerky that she had just snagged from her nearby apartment and we got our snack on.
After some time passed, we were informed that the club would be re-opening but our floor was too smoky and we wouldn’t be able to continue. We grabbed all my stuff, went to Hot Chip’s tour bus and then I took a cab to the airport. I was sent this footage of the fire the next day, narrated by an extremely Canadian-sounding guy:
Damn. Apparently, alley fires are a thing in Vancouver. Thankfully, no one was hurt and the venue remained intact. So for anyone who went and was wondering why the party didn’t happen, that’s why. Onto the next one…
I’m DJing at Système tonight in Montréal but let’s please stick to just heating up the dancefloor this time:
You can get tickets for the rest of the Hot Chip tour here:
05/29/23 - Toronto, ON - History
05/30/23 - Montreal, QC - Corona Theatre - low tickets
06/01/23 - Washington D.C. - 9:30 Club - sold out
06/02/23 - Washington D.C. - The Atlantis
06/03/23 - Queens, NY - Knockdown Center
You can find me updating my playlists or hanging on Twitter and Instagram. You can listen to my music on Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp and you can get Cadence Weapon merchandise here. Pick up your copy of Bedroom Rapper here and please rate it on Goodreads.
DJ gigs gone wrong is a great nonfiction sub genre. I have more than a few in my pocket.
Yeah, when the sun starts to come out, things get really...energetic in the neighborhood. Last summer I watched a guy set some brush on fire, then try to stamp it out only to have to run as it quickly got out of his control, and I waited on the fire truck. Have already had two alley fires behind the building where I work since early May. Alley fires...definitely a thing here.