Get Sordid

Sorted! celebrates 10 years of British re-invasion.

by A.D. Amorosi

Dance/rock/pop

Christopher Gabello (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

When Sorted! DJs Dave Pak and Mike Z observe their first decade with a party subtitled "Celebrating 10 Years in Front of the Big Speakers," what comes to mind is that these motherfuckers won't be able to hear my questions.

But the dudes who made Philly safe for Blur, Klaxons and all brands of Brit pop, shoegaze and indie dance have always had good ears. They pretty much gave Philly's Pre-21st-century hipster a place to go, a dance to prance and something to do with their white belts before White Ts & White Belts.

Born into the druggy éclat that was Spiritualized's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space-era, it's surprising that Sorted! conjures such good memories, let alone any memories.

"Spiritualized was a great band, but unfortunately some took their message a little too literally and lots of good people started taking lots of bad drugs," says Mike Z.

Yet for all the friends Z claims he lost in that haze, Spiritualized opened the door for other orchestral trance-rockers to pour through. That band and like-minded Brit-rockers who followed in their spaced-out wake is what made pals of Z and Pak. "We met at one of DJ Steve Singer's parties, then got together over mutual friends and our mutual love of Primal Scream, Stone Roses, Verve, etc." says Pak.

With the bloom off the rose of hip-hop and neo soul in 1998, Pak, Z and one of those mutual friends, Jeff Crowther, started Sorted! "We did it because we didn't have anywhere to hear what we were into — U.K. indie, the Brit stuff," remembers Pak. "Outsiders slagged us for sure, but we had a gang mentality about the whole thing, especially Jeff."

Mike Z continues Pak's thought. "I loved Jeff for that. He'd dish it right back. We just wanted to party and hear tunes. If you didn't want that, then you could fuck off."

So Sorted! started at Helena's in its first year ("Our set-up was ridiculous — five CD changers, lots of alcohol," says Pak), moved to the Troc with a Stone Roses commencement jam ("Until Jeff smashed some equipment and we parted ways," says Pak), then spent five years at Silk City until it closed.

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

"We never went back to Silk after it reopened in 2007 because it didn't feel the same," notes Z, who, right after starting Sorted! in 1998, became part of Gregg Foreman's "Uptight" '60s, mod soul and funk night. Two years after that, Z and Pak's Sorted! became part of Dave Pianka's Caucasian-dance mini-mall, Making Time.

"Pianka made Sorted! Turnaround, and Rock-n-Roll Overdose into one big party," says Z. No matter where Making Time goes, there'll always be a room or a floor devoted strictly to Sorted!

Both DJs note that Sorted! godfathered not only Making Time but the Frankenstein that is Philly's PBR-and-bangs hipster scene that followed. Pak no longer resides in Philly, but gets what's going on amongst the glitterati from living in Brooklyn. "Born to throb," says Pak.

As for Z, he sees Philly's nightlife scene as very healthy — maybe too healthy. "There're too many choices and it can get a little out of hand. But I'm super stoked about the Barbary [Sorted!'s current home], the re-emergence of the Turnaround vs. Immediate and new parties like Snacks. Frankly I'm touched that we've been able to keep sorted going for 10 years. We have Philadelphia to thank for that."

(a_amorosi@citypaper.net)

Sorted!'s 10th anniversary, Sat., May 3, 7 p.m.-2 a.m., Barbary, 951 Frankford Ave., myspace.com/sortedparty.