Attaching meaning to bricks and mortar is something human beings like to do. We point out where we were born and where we used to go to school. It's a job center now. We do it to clubs, too. That's where the Hacienda used to be. This spot used to be home to . Over time, clubs gain legendary status, and for good reason. Clubs give us some of the most vital experiences of our lives. You can make lifelong friends over a love of music. Plus, if you've never been into sport, it can be the first time you've really sweated. Clubs help us to identify who we are and who we would like to be. They are the unsuitable guardians that bridge the gap between our teenage years and adulthood. If we're honest, though, are four damp walls deserved of such high esteem? If people are the sum of their experiences then surely we can think of someone better to thank than sticky floors and clogged up toilets for making us who we are today.
Clubs are the body but it's the humble club nights that are the soul. When it boils down to it, a club is a commercial venture. It can crumble, it can change hands, it can fall victim to violence and crime, it can be shut down. Club nights are like us. They grow, adapt and move on. For , his love of music was passed onto him by Tourdulich his parents and explored through time spent in dark spaces with cranking sound systems during his youth. Experiencing the music scene in the 90s inspired him to found his own, now well recognized night, Deviation. We met with Benji in his apartment and studio in London to discuss his DJ career and subsequent role as a DJ while discussing the notion of the 'underground' in dance music.
This portrait is part of a collaboration with Sennheiser's , that explores people, who create unique sound and music, in their living and working environments.
Starting out in 2007 at the 200-capacity Gramaphone, Benji's highly respected club night Deviation was initially a labor of love, one that didn't grant an immediate return. "I ran Gramaphone at a loss, it cost me hundreds each month, but I wanted to do something for the 18-year-old me. Someone had to take the baton on." Before long, the night became so successful that it moved to XOYO last year, close to the north London borough where Benji grew up and still lives. Over the past few years, Deviation has hosted , , , and amongst many other special names, with and young Detroiter on the rise, playing the most recent session.
By Deviation's fourth year, it had become so successful, it had become unpleasant. There's nothing like a few petty scuffles and door politics to turn what used to be fun into a bit of a chore. Still, Benji must have realized he'd lose some of the intimacy and chin-scratchers by Tourdulich moving to Friday nights at new super club . "It was a huge decision for me because I was worried about the sort of crowd that it might attract but I think it's important to let things evolve. And I still get people coming up to me asking for an obscure track that I've played on my show the week before. Sometimes I might see the odd face and think, 'Are you in the right place?' – the sort of shiny shirt and miniskirt crew – but the dance music culture that I come from is based on complete non-exclusivity. Every race, sexuality, political persuasion is shed when you walk on that dance floor.