 
After arriving in Sydney over eight years ago, Paul Strange has helped mould the Sydney clubbing scene to what it is today. Having previously worked for 5 years in the worlds clubbing Mecca Ibiza, with some of the biggest clubs, Paul had a keen interest in house music and a vast knowledge of what clubbers want. This combined with his talent of ‘getting it right’ resulted in many well established and respected parties over the next few years. With a CV reading like the who’s who of dance music, Paul quickly made his name as a highly respected promoter and a top player in the fickle Sydney market.
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Paul’s first venture in Sydney started with four one-off parties at Gas nightclub, each attracting 800 people. His ability to create an unforgettable party atmosphere did not go unnoticed and he was asked to promote the new weekly Friday night house party ‘MADE2MEASURE’ with resident DJ’s ALEX TAYLOR, JULES BEAUMONT and IAN SPICER. While at Gas Paul was asked to take part in the reality TV show ‘AUSTRALIA UNCOVERED’ which was aired on British TV and on Australia’s Arena channel. The show followed Paul in the lead up to New Year’s Eve in which Paul had JOHN DIGWEED ( then No.1 DJ in the world) and Jason Bye (space ibiza) playing at Gas. The night was a massive success filling the club to its capacity 1200 crowd.
After a successful year with Made2Measure, putting on international acts such as SANDY RIVERA (Kings of Tomorrow), E-SMOOTH, JOEY NEGRO, LAYO & BUSHWACKA, JEREMY HEALY and IAN POOLEY amongst others, as well as giving the now highly successful Sydney dance act SNEAKY SOUND SYSTEM their first proper Sydney club gig showing his keen eye for spotting talent, Paul was approached by the world renowned Home night club. |
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From here the concept of Together@home was created over 4 rooms. The pumping energy of big room house downstairs was perfectly complemented by the sexy, deep house sound of the Terrace. Paul’s precise programming alongside high profiled DJ’s, JASON BYE, ALEX TAYLOR, GOODWILL, JOHN DEVECCHIS and ILLYA ensured ‘Together@home\' ran successfully for 3 years attracting around 2000 stylish, fun loving people every week and featuring the biggest names in dance music, ROGER SANCHEZ, DJ SNEAK, STEVE LAWLER, MIGUEL MIGS, JAY-J, ARMAND VAN HELDEN, SMOKIN JO, WHO DA FUNK, DARREN EMERSON, TIM DELUXE, STACEY PULLEN, LOTTIE, PETE TONG and ADAM FREELAND. With the profile of ‘Together@home’ rising in the world of dance many dance music labels such as HED KANDI, UNDERWATER, MINISTRY OF SOUND and SUBLIMINAL lined up to have parties at Home. As well as giving big Australian acts such as POTBELLEEZ, GRANT SMILLIE (TV Rock), HUSKY & YOGI (Random Soul) debuting home nightclub gigs
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But just as all good things come to an end Paul felt his time at Home was up and went on to join fellow Scotsman and good friend Scott Robertson as promotions manager for the highly successful KINK nights, with full houses every Saturday night and international guests such as DAVID DURIEZ, SARAH MAIN, CARL KENNEDY, SPENCER PARKER, and The BODYROCKERS.
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The name Paul Strange was by now one of the most talked about in the Sydney dance industry. It wasn’t long before Paul was approached by Merivale mogul Justin Hemmes to become the promoter for the award winning Tank nightclub. With its sophisticated, sexy interior and underground atmosphere it was clear to all that Paul was the only candidate suitable for running all nights at the club. Tank was voted in the top ten clubs in the world and with Paul’s experience Sydney clubbing was about to be taken to newer heights. And such was proven when Paul introduced the worlds biggest house label, DEFECTED IN THE HOUSE a weekly Friday night residency bringing further international recognition to the venue. Residents ALAN THOMPSON, GRAHAM CORDERY, and JOHNNY GLEESON were joined by weekly international guests, BOB SINCLAR, DJ GREGORY, SIMON DUNMORE (head of Defected), BRIAN TAPPERT, JOHN JULIUS KNIGHT, JAY J, MIGUEL MIGS, HARDSOUL, COPYRIGHT, SANDY RIVERA, DJ SPEN, and SOUL CENTRAL. After his performance at Tank, BOB SINCLAR was quoted in UK dance bible M8 as naming Tank ”his favourite club in the world”!
As if not content in having one dynamic club night on the Friday, Paul came up with the concept of ThinkTank for the Saturday which proved its success with 1000+ through the door each week and once again saw international dance labels such as AZULI & RENAISSANCE and more international DJ’s gracing the dance floors of Sydney. M8 magazine featured a 4 page spread on Paul and Tank yet again increasing the international profile of both. ALEX TAYLOR and JOHN DEVECCHIS shared the decks with the likes of STEVE LAWLER, SATOSHI TOMMIE, SMOKIN JO, ANGELS OF LOVE, STEVIE SOLE MIDDLETON, DAVE PICCIONI, KNEE DEEP, and THE ELECTRIC PRESS. |
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From here Paul went on to join the PLAYGROUND MUSIC GROUP to run the club side of the business which looks after the promotions and programming of the newly renovated THE CROSS. With a smaller 550 capacity, Paul created a more intimate clubbing experience and in the time he was there he had the pleasure of putting on CRAZY PENIS, CHUCK LOVE, MATT CASELI (Pacha), SOUL CENTRAL, HIPP-E, THE ELECTRIC PRESS, AUDIOWHORES, BRYAN JONES, OLIVER DESMOT, STEVIE SOLE MIDDLETON, OLIVER LANG, TAYO as well as the legendary DJ LAURENT GARNIER.
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2007 seen Paul taking the next step in his career setting up his own music/events/promotion company self-titled “Paul Strange Presents” In the short time of starting it Paul promoted 2 of Sydney biggest house parties that year at the stunning, stylish & new venue situated in the Rocks “THE ARGYLE” which had just opened and both of these event’s attracted 3000 ppl respectively and raised both Paul Strange Presents company and the Argyle profiles. It was a great start for the company and there was plenty more great things to follow
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Paul was itching to get back to promoting weekly events. The opportunity came to take over Saturday nights at another of Sydney biggest and best club venues THE ARTHOUSE. Paul jumped at the chance and over 07/08/09 brought in the worlds biggest house music labels such as HED KANDI, DEFECTED IN THE HOUSE, HOUSEXY, SALTED, MN2S, OM RECORDS & SOUL HEAVEN as well as doing a succession of massive sold out parties with MINISTRY OF SOUND with SESSIONS, ANNUAL and MINISTRY HOUSE CLASSICS plus the pleasure of hosting the OFFICIAL 2009 FUTURE MUSIC FESTIVAL AFTERPARTY. Not only that but also during the time at the Arthouse Paul had the following high profile international DJs play that included CARL COX, FEDDE LE GRAND, SANDER KLIENENBERG, MIGUEL MIGS, STONEBRIDGE, DERRICK CARTER, OLIVER HUNTEMANN, ASHLEY BEEDLE, DIRTY VEGAS, TOM MIDDLETON & STEPHAN BODZIN as well as High profiled Australia acts & DJs such as THE POTBELLEEZ, DIRTY LAUNDRY, HOOK N SLING, AJAX, GOODWILL, JOHN COURSE & BASS KLEPH plus many more
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Whilst still during his time at The Arthouse Paul looked at expanding his business and took up the offer to run Friday nights at a fresh new venue situated right bang in the middle of Sydney popular clubbing destination KINGS CROSS. The venue was Trademark, voted ‘Best new nightclub of 2008”. As the company grew so did the requests from other venues including the uber cool Favela, with it’s sleek interior, superior Funktion One sound system and unique lighting. Paul took full reigns of all nights at Favela giving it a clear direction and maximizing its potential featuring a host of International talent like DJ GREGORY, STACEY PULLEN, EWAN PEARSON, JUSTIN MARTIN, CHUCK LOVE, SILICONE SOUL, DJ COLLETTE and even venturing into Drum & Bass nights with LONDON ELEKTRICITY, DJ FRESH, SIGMA & MISTIBISHI....The opportunity to take on Sunday night at Sydney best small venue LadyLux in which Paul’s night Little Miss Sunday featured a suprise appearance from none other than DJ SNEAK. This meant that the Paul Strange Presents team were on fire running 4 of the best venues at the one time - Arthouse, Favela, Trademark & LadyLux at that time (3 of which were situated in Kings Cross)
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During this time apart from working in clubs Paul has also worked on bigger events such as New Years Eve parties MOBILE HOME ’02 & ’03 which attracted an 8000 capacity crowd and featured BASEMENT JAXX, TIESTO, DJ SNEAK and DJ DAN. Paul continues to do special events at The impressive ARGYLE which over that last few years has had events that have featured the likes of RON CARROLL, MIGUEL MIGS, BODYROX, MARSHALL JEFFERSON, JULIE McKNIGHT, TIMMY VEGAS, JAY-J, & DJ SPEN as well as branded parties with Ministry Of Sound, Housexy, SHE & Hed Kandi nights. Other special events include Good Times at Loft/Bungalow8 with a certain SIR NORMAN JAY and New Years eve party back at Tank for NYE 08/09 with disco singing sensation Barbara Tucker. Paul thrives on these special events in which he has also ventured overseas.
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In July 2008 Paul was asked by good friend Thomas Heyne, owner of ‘Paradise Club’ in Mykonos to host a special event there. This was very exciting as it was Paul first big party out with Australia and featured a DJ that Paul wanted to work with for many years….Paul Strange Presents ERICK MORILLO at Paradise Club in Mykonos
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Paul is now synonymous with the dance music scene not just in Sydney but worldwide, his heart truly lies in putting on big parties that will long remain in everyone’s minds. He is the only promoter in Sydney to have promoted each of Sydney largest club venues, home, Tank & Arthouse. He is a passionate person who lives and breathes music and parties. There are not many promoters in the world let alone Sydney that have such an impressive history. Paul plans to expand the business into doing many more, larger scale parties and also special events overseas so watch this space. Humble in his party planning Paul looks forward to many more big parties ahead.
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