How can music played in London have them grooving in Peru? asks Cayte Williams logs on to Gaia Live, the cyber-club that has opened a dancefloor on the Internet
You’d think only the worst techno-geek would turn their back on a heaving dancefloor to tap into a computer, but now the most hardened clubber is succumbing to technology at Gaia Live, a club-meets-computer night broadcast live on the Internet.
Gaia Live is the brainchild of Mr C of The Shamen, owner of London club The End, and DJ Redz of the Homegrown crew. Once a month, London’s Cyberia Cafe is transformed into a dancefloor with wall-to-wall computers. Clubbers can log on and talk to people on a global scale who have logged on to Gaia Live.
Music-lovers from Peru to Philadelphia can access the Gaia website, download the music and visuals and talk to their new-found London chums as easily as if they were queueing at the bar. They can even put in requests to the world-class DJs, who will include such luminaries as Evil Eddie Richards, Kenny C and Doc Scott, as well as Mr C and Redz. “The aim is to promote underground electronic dance music on a worldwide level. There are many cities, let alone remote towns and villages, that don’t have access to really good cutting-edge dance music,” says Mr C.
“People can book a computer for half an hour at a time,” says cafe manager Will Baker, “and we have Cyberhosts – a hybrid of waiter and Internet technician – who make sure people find their way around.”
But once a month isn’t enough for the enterprising Mr C. “We’d like to broadcast every day,” he says. “What we’ve got in London is the finest catchment of underground music in the world – and we’re taking it to the planet.”
Gaia Live is at Cyberia Cafe, 39 Whitfield Street, London W1, on the first Saturday of every month, 6pm-midnight, pounds 5, pounds 3 concessions.
Author: Cayte Williams
Sunday, 30 March 1997
