FIXED Share a 10-Year Anniversary Mix—and Their Craziest Nightlife Stories

JDH and Dave P have been throwing their FIXED parties in New York City for ten years—a feat of endurance in a city that prides itself on novelty. Their party's name comes from the idea of "fixing the system," giving the rag-tag indie-dance scene where they first got their start a sense of organized cohesion. "There wasn't a place to experience this music that we were interested in, so we were creating that environment for people," they tell us. "We were heavily influenced by Trash party in London, Optimo and Bugged Out. They would have an amazing band play next to a DJ—so we thought, let's try to do that here." A decade later, FIXED is still killing it. Their 10-year anniversary party at Output this Friday features "everyone we like working with"—John Hopkins doing a live set, Joakim, Marcus Worgull, Alex from Tokyo, and Paul Raffaele.

We talked to the duo about their beginnings throwing raucous parties in the basement of the Tribeca Grand, the glory days at now-defunct club Studio B, and what they love about New York's after-hours scene.

A House Party in a Million-Dollar Hotel 

We'd been doing parties in the Tribeca Grand hotel for a few years. One day, we decided to organize it better and make it into a real party series—better sound system, better setup, DJs we liked from Europe. FIXED was always free, but back then it was still hard to get people out to see someone like Ewan Pearson. But when we had The Rapture play our one-year anniversary, the line went for three blocks.

We had to rig up the entire basement with a full PA. The DJ booth was on a folding table on a makeshift stage. Production is so elevated now, but back then we had to build everything. Tribeca Grand is like, a multi-billion dollar hotel, but it felt like we were throwing a house party. One time M.A.N.D.Y played and the fire alarm went off. The automatic doors closed so there was no way to get in or out. For The XX's first show in America, I had to bring them through the hotel kitchen and into the freight elevator to get them on stage. Another time, Optimo was going off in the middle of a set, someone tripped, and the power shut off.

One of the ways we compensated DJs was by giving them a free room at the hotel. That's how the hotel afterparties started—we would just end up having everyone come up to our room. I probably met everyone I know in a hotel room in Tribeca Grand. During one CMJ, I had 60 people in one hotel room. It got shut down for three days because the room was completely destroyed. The party ended because the person next door called security and got us kicked out. That person was Alexis from Hot Chip. He didn't know it was us—his bandmates were in that room.

We Wish We Could Bring Back Studio B

Studio B was the first club that appealed to people who weren't just club music people. It was a place where you could see a band in the same night. Now, that's rare. We did FIXED all the time there. It was the first place we felt like we had a true home, the first big chance we had to get a lot of people out to listen to the music we liked.

The Klaxons, Simian Mobile Disco, Erol Alkan, Ellen Allien, Cut Copy, Hot Chip, and Soulwax Nite Versions were doing their first shows. Justice DJed there. It felt like a movement was happening. People were excited about dance music, and there wasn't as much of a separation between the live bands and DJs. Sadly, Studio B was too ahead of its time. People thought it was too far away, even though it was just in Greenpoint. It couldn't get the support it needed, and it failed. If it were open now, it would be very successful.

The After-Hours Scene is Popping Off Like Never Before

Years ago when we started FIXED, there weren't that many afterhour parties to go to after we stopped playing. Sometimes Wolf + Lamb would go late, but it wasn't a regular thing. Now, the energy doesn't just end at 2AM. There's constantly something going on—if a party doesn't go till 6AM, people are disappointed. This is happening because more people are interested in dance music. In the 10 years that FIXED has been around, there's more parties going on than ever. After our last party, I went to a 300-person warehouse space where Amir Alexander was playing all vinyl. When I left at 7:30AM, people were still going on. Another time, I ended up at a house party in Bushwick going from 1:30PM to 6PM the next day. It's incredible.

FIXED 10-Year Anniversary Mix Tracklist

1. Jens-Uwe Beyer -Wahn (Throne of Blood)
2. Clark - Winter Lin (Warp Records)
3. Brynjolfur - Time (Hafendisko)
4. New Jackson - Player Piano (Permanent Vacation)
5. Desert Sound Colony - The Way I Began (Scissor and Thread)
6. BOOZOO BAJOU - Sae (Red Axes remix) (Apollo Records)
7. Interpol - My Desire (Beyond the Wizaards Sleeve remix) (Matador)
8. Beau Wanzer - Slow Down Sir (L.I.E.S)
9. Fairmount - Grizzly (Beachcoma Recordings)
10. Walls - unreleased track
11. Principles of Geometry - Connie (Tigersushi Records)
12. Ghost Culture - Answer (Phantasy Sound)
13. Barnt - Chappell (Hinge Finge)
14. Ten Walls - Chains and Shackles (self released)
15. Bicep & Hammer - untitled (This is Music)
16. Cosmo Vitelli - Irritable (Throne of Blood)

Get tickets to FIXED's 10th Anniversary party this Friday at Output here