Award-winning music spectacular History of House grooves into Fringe World for WA premiere
History of House, a collaboration between ARIA-nominated DJ Groove Terminator and three-time Grammy®-winners Soweto Gospel Choir, makes its WA premiere at Fringe Word this summer, hitting The Rechabite from Friday, January 19 until Sunday, January 28—with tickets on sale now. Take the world’s greatest gospel choir who have performed live with stars including Aretha Franklin, Bono, and Queen add in some funky 70s disco, sprinkle in some 80s pop and then strap in to be schooled in house music, from the mid 80s, through the 90s, to the end of the millennium. BRAYDEN EDWARDS dove into the history of house music with DJ Groove Terminator to find out more.
It’s great to have History of House at Fringe World this summer! Where have you taken this show, or should I say, where has this show taken you, since you last came to Perth?
History of House has done Adelaide Fringe a couple of times, in 2020 and 2023. This year in Adelaide, our run is for four weeks in a 1500-capacity venue there. This show has taken us to the Darwin and Brisbane Festivals, the Forum and Brunswick Ballroom in Melbourne, and HOTA on the Gold Coast. We also did a 3,000-person show, Night at the Barracks in Manly, which was amazing as I lived in Sydney for a long time; it was like a family reunion. There are some more tours coming, with announcements soon.
What kinds of songs make up the set list? And has this changed since you first began performing it?
Our remix of Good Life, of course! We’ve recorded a version with the choir, Good Life (Impilo Emnande), and it’s out now. The set goes right back to the 70s and 80s and really gives some context. We drop a lot of amazing house music weapons, though, so bring your dancing shoes. It’s got tunes like Ride on Time, Show Me Love, Blue Monday, You Got the Love, and Everybody’s Free. We change up the music, but always with the same ideas on how it should be programmed.
In this show, you team up with three-time Grammy-winners, the Soweto Gospel Choir. It seems like an unlikely collaboration. How did it come about?
I did a show in Adelaide Fringe several years ago with a local gospel choir. The next year, Soweto Gospel Choir were also coming to Gluttony, the Adelaide Fringe hub where I performed, and Gluttony suggested we get together to try out a collab. It didn’t just work—it really popped. So History of House was born in 2020 and won Best Music Show overall at the festival that year. It’s really turned out even better than we could have hoped.
Apart from the fun, the audience should learn a thing or two at this show too! What was something interesting or unexpected you learned when diving into the history of house music?
I don’t know about learned; I’ve been around house music since the 80s! It was more what I was reminded of. The influence of Nile Rodgers is everywhere. You hear it in the 90s and 2000s; it’s everywhere.
And do you have any personal favourite tracks? Or favourite eras or scenes that they came from?
Relight My Fire, and You Got the Love. My favourite era is the 80s and 90s.
What’s next for the rest of 2024 and beyond? Any more exciting tours or performances to look forward to?
We are performing on the Grammys Global Spin, an online world music component of the Grammys. Our new single, Everybody’s Free, is coming out on Friday, March 8. And we are signed to Black Coffee’s label for Africa. Plus, there’s more I can’t talk about!