In the face of the ephemeral, listless and fad-driven nature of Australian nightlife, tonight marks the return of something truly special. Sydney’s celebrated Bang Gang DJ collective will reunite at Club 77 in Sydney tonight to celebrate the life and times of their late friend and mentor, Adrian Thomas aka Ajax. We recently caught up with OG Bang Gang member Dan Single to discuss how the tribute night concept was formed, what to expect in Sydney and how he proposed to his fiance Bambi Northwood-Blyth.
So Bang Gang are reuniting on Friday night? So excited. So excited. I was in LA this week for a bunch of meetings I couldn’t get out of but I wish I had came back sooner so I could get excited on home ground. But we’ve been sending emails back and forth and booked flights and accommodation for our Melbourne show so now it’s just a battle of tunes, delving back into some old favourites and sharing a few beers between us.
You were obviously all good mates with Adrian. Who put forward the idea of doing a reunion night? We talked about it almost immediately. After Adrian’s funeral everyone was together and it was just a natural thing that came up. It was almost like everybody said it the same time. We looked into each others’ eyes and knew that we had to do something together to celebrate his life. It took no convincing from anyone.
The other big thing in your life is you’re getting married. How’s that going? I’ve found the perfect girl for me. We’re very suited to each, we love each other, we’ve had a great life together, we’ve been talking about it for a while and I thought ‘why not?’. Couldn’t imagine doing it with someone else and it’s just great to celebrate us being in love and spending the rest of our lives together.
How did you propose? Well, long story (laughs). On a beach in Thailand, the spot where we swam when we were first together years ago. We had a romance in Thailand. And we met this kid on the beach who was running things, being our little drinks boy on the beach. And he had written in our travel journal all these cute little love notes about being married and things. You know, it was just cute and funny back in the day. It was awesome. We talk about that kid all the time. Anyway, I tracked this kid down. It took me the last half of the year but I found him, and he helped me out with the secret and asking her on the beach.
Look out for a full interview with Dan where he discusses the launch of his new solo menswear line DAAN.
Here’s to hoping we hear this tonight.
Photo by Luis Ascui for Getty Images
