Ahead of Freq x Gottwood with Shakolin on Friday (17/05/24), we spoke to resident and promoter, Kinso about the party…
Imaginarium: You’ve joined forces with Gottwood for this party, ahead of your appearance there as a stage partner. How did that come about?
Kinso: This actually stemmed from the first party we did at The Imaginarium, last July. We booked our now good friends, Jive Talk, for their Leeds debut and Gottwood were looking after their bookings at the time. The night was a massive success and ended in an impromptu b2b between Jive Talk and Hamish & Toby. I think the guy’s enjoyed themselves that much they told the Gottwood team about us and a couple of months later we got the call up about hosting a stage, which was a massive buzz. The collab party came as a result of that as we wanted to bring a taste of the festival to the city, hopefully we will be seeing a lot of the Leeds crew when we head to Wales.
Imaginarium: Shakolin is a great booking. For those not familiar with his sets, what should they expect?
Kinso: Expect to be taken on a proper journey across a 3 hour set. He’s been a serious digger for over 15 years, with records reaching all corners of underground music. The first time we’d heard of Shakolin was at Houghton last year, he was playing at terminus on the last night and had the whole crowd locked in. He blew us away and from then knew we had to get him to Leeds.
Imaginarium: Tell us about the other DJs you’ve got on the line up…
Kinso: Warming up The Imaginarium will be myself b2b Luke Reynolds, also playing for 3 hours. He came on board with the brand at the start of the year after playing a few of our parties and impressing me every time. He always seems to know exactly what to play & we’ve both been digging for this one for a while, so I can’t wait for that. For the pre-party in Plant & Deck, we have our close friends & the name on the tip of everyones tongues, Wrong’uns. They’re bringing all their residents for the occasion, in the form of Callum Till, B6, Phatt Skank & Mehlor (who we’re bringing along to Gottwood).
Imaginarium: And also about your line up for Gottwood…
Kinso: We have a line up filled with mates for this which makes it even more special. The lineup consists of Leeds locals and Imaginarium regulars, Mehlor & Le Louche, who are undoubtedly some of the best DJs & producers in the city, Just Jam b2b Wodda – these two are on fire at the minute, regularly playing some of the most iconic dance floors in the world so I’m looking forward to seeing them play together for the first time. I’ll also be warming up which is super exciting, we’re taking over the ‘Ricky’s Disco’ stage, which was one of my personal favourites last year. To top it off we have the rest of our residents, Luke Reynolds, This & That and Giorgio taking over the Boxford stage 12-6 on the Friday.
Imaginarium: Why did you choose The Imaginarium as a venue?
Kinso: For me there’s nowhere better, you’re guaranteed a good time in The Imaginarium. The sound is on point and I love the community aspect of it too. Aside from that the team behind it are all really creative and open to ideas, which is great when you want to try something a bit different in the space.
Imaginarium: Any standout gigs so far this year?
Kinso: For me personally I’d say warming up the main room at Mint Warehouse for their festival afterparty was definitely a highlight. I got to play for a while by myself and then went b2b with local legends Annie Errez & Bobby ODonnell, which was a lot of fun. Closing The Goose back in February with Luke was also incredible, we put on our first London party with 2 weeks notice and ended up with an amazing crowd. The sound on there was something else too, it blew me away.
Imaginarium: And any future plans, Gottwood aside, that you’d like to tell us about?
Kinso: We have some exciting plans in the works which I can’t say too much about. But for our next Imaginarium outing, we have another huge collab on 17th August, with a day party beforehand. We also have some off grid / invite only parties in the works for summer so for any new faces, feel free to chat to us on Friday and be a part of the community.
Tickets available from Resident Advisor
Interview: Roya Brehl