For his thesis, UvA lecturer Sydney Schelvis visits as many clubs as possible during ADE
UvA lecturer Sydney Schelvis is writing a PhD thesis on club culture and electronic music. With ADE, he is therefore taking notes in as many clubs as possible. “On the frayed edges of the city, the club experience is very different from the centrally located clubs.”
“I don’t often have the chance to go to 11 clubs in one day,” laughs Sydney Schelvis (29). The Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), from 16 to 20 October, is definitely not a time for the UvA musicology lecturer to take it easy. From early morning until deep into the night - for five days - he is busy with what he calls his “Elfstedentocht langs clubs”. As assistant programmer at the Melkweg, Schelvis has free access to all ADE events.
So Schelvis doesn’t have much space built in for sleeping this week, but, surprisingly enough, he does for his dissertation at the UvA. Here’s the thing. By going around clubs, he finds out how busy other clubs are during ADE, what is played and what kind of people come. He takes this knowledge with him to his workplace, the Milky Way, but also uses it for his PhD research. “My dissertation is close to my work at the Milky Way,” Schelvis explains. So during this edition of ADE, will you see someone in the corner of the club with notepad and pen taking notes? “Then that’s me, haha.”
Research into electronic dance music and club culture has been a neglected child in academia for years, Schelvis argues. It is the reason why he, together with student researcher Alina Tomescu and lecturer in cultural musicology Oliver Seibt at the UvA, coordinates a research group, in which students and researchers come together to test their findings on the subject with each other. The Amsterdam Electronic Dance Music Research Group (Amsterdance) is called the project.
The frayed edges of the city
His own PhD research also comes up there, which is about how club music triggers social differences in the city. Large, centrally located clubs in Amsterdam, such as the Melkweg (situated near Leidseplein), play “pretty soft music, like liquid drum ’n bass, according to him. “The speed of the average track is relatively low. It’s pretty poppie, actually it’s just pop songs with a breakbeat underneath.” In practice, this often attracts young people, Schelvis observes, “the experience is different, so are the drugs”.
On the frayed edges of the city (both culturally and geographically), the music is actually much harder, he continues, “grimmer”, with more tempo changes and different layers of music on top of each other. He mentions clubs like Lofi (Westelijk Havengebied) and Garage Noord (Amsterdam North). “There, on the periphery of the city, are the music nerds who really seek depth in this music,” according to Schelvis. “You won't come across popular sing-along songs there easily.”
ADE is a business card
During ADE, this distinction remains largely intact, Schelvis argues. Precisely because so many people come to ADE, clubs from the periphery can play their usual music, he explains. “Your tent will fill up anyway, you don't need to go popular. The big event locations on the other hand, such as Ziggo Dome and AFAS Life, have to fill up their venues to recoup their production costs. So they bet on popular electronic music”.
But no matter how big or well-known the club is: ADE is always a nice calling card for them, says Schelvis right in front of the main entrance of the Melkweg. Behind him, final preparations are being made on Wednesday afternoon. “This plateau on the water, which we are now standing on, we recently placed to create a kind of Eftelingrij,” Schelvis says proudly. In this way, the large flow of visitors, also expected at the Melkweg during ADE, can be managed.
The weekends before ADE are actually relatively quiet, Schelvis observes. “Some clubs are closed, others have been pretty empty the past two weekends. You notice that many visitors are saving up their money and energy so that they are completely ready to go wild with ADE.”
Taking enough rest
Schelvis is an expert by experience, having been going to ADE for 11 years. That started with buying a ticket for one party - “when I still had a student budget” - but in the following years quickly became going to several parties, spread over the week. Later, I also started working during ADE, behind the bar in the Melkweg. The people behind the bar are really the unsung heroes who make ADE possible”.
Taking enough rest in advance is then essential, Schelvis knows. “Being constantly exposed to loud music does more to you than you think. So not wearing earplugs is really stupid, they should be compulsory.” His event tips for this ADE? “Oeh, there’s a lot, but I’d say tuba player Theon Cross, Thursday night at the Bimhuis. I’m very curious: I don’t think it will be a rave, but I’m surprised every year what they present at the Bimhuis during ADE.’ And finally, “a cigar from my own box,” laughs Schelvis. “ADE Lab, Saturday night in the Melkweg.”
