Last weekend I had the great pleasure of visiting Classic as Fvck, a techno-oriented event being hosted in Paris once a month. I sat down and had a chat with one of its founders — Seb — and got to learn more about the history, the guys behind the concept, and their plans for the future. After the talk, I threw away my notebook, put on my dancing shoes, and danced the night away.
The event is hosted at Batofar, a boat that served as a light vessel for the Commissioners of Irish Lights in 1955. Many years later, it was docked on the Seine, one of the most important commercial waterways within Paris. There, it was set to be “Le Batofar“, a nightclub on a boat in Paris and the venue for Classic As Fvck.
The chat
How long have you been doing the event? How has it been going?
We have been running the Classic As Fvck event for almost five years, and it has been going really well even though the Parisian scene has changed so rapidly within the past years with a new generation of promoters emerging; finding unique places like warehouses, popping in and out of the scene, and proposing really interesting things. So there is a lot more competition than when we started back in 2012 but if you look at the bigger picture, it’s a great thing for Paris and the Techno scene.
And how have you evolved?
Electronic music has been present in our life since we were really young, then we traveled and lived in different places around the world, witnessing the evolution of the genre. I also used to organize electronic events in Australia and after moving to Berlin in 2010, we properly dived into the scene and got really inspired — and when we got the opportunity (to organise events) from a friend here in Paris we just said … YES!
So we invited some DJs, created the name, did a quick logo and … Voila! Classic As Fuck was born.
And what about the vision?
We didn’t really have a vision before — we were into the NOW. Being influenced by Berlin, our main goal was to to create a new atmosphere and energy and mainly invite artists we really love. We didn’t expect to go that far. Now, we have been doing that for some years, invited all the artists that we love and shared our passion with a lot of people … This is truly way beyond our expectations.
Now the vision is to do events outside the clubs and in other cities. We already have some events confirmed in Prague, Bordeaux, Nancy and more coming up in other cities. We are currently creating a booking agency … As for the rest, let’s see what destiny has for us …
And your focus is techno?
Yes. We do love a lot of other styles of music, but for the parties, techno is deep inside our hearts. The people, the artists, the energy … it becomes a kind of a religion. We share the same thoughts about the world, society, life… Everyone connects — the artists, the people, and the hosts. There is no difference and no duality, we understand each other. Just like when Monument meets Classic as Fvck.
While we see clubs are being shut down in many places in Europe, how is it going here in Paris? Do you think the government is moving in the right direction?
Unfortunately not … So many events and festival have been cancelled lately and it gets harder to make outdoor events with the actual restrictions in France. You really need a lot of paperwork, authorizations and strong nerves to make it happen. For the clubs it’s different since they have licences etc. But it seems like the governments in many countries are just waiting for an excuse to close down the clubs, like drugs … Techno still has a bad rap for most of the people … I like Amsterdam and the Netherlands in general which is a good example of a place that understands that the war on drugs isn’t the answer. Instead, they have a lot of prevention for it and try to find good solutions; they try to understand without hypocrisy and it works for them.
For us though, it has never been a big problem since we are mainly hosting it in clubs. This give us the opportunity to grow and evolve.
The night;
Dancing in a boat is truly something special. You can feel the waves hitting the boat, and the boat swaying from side to side. When people were dancing hard, everything was moving. The sound was good, and the lighting was just what you need when you go to a techno party. The crowd was great, and I could feel that they knew what they were going to. Classic As Fvck has certainly created something special in Paris, and everyone was dancing from the moment it began. To be honest, the boat had two floors, but I didn’t go up all night. I stayed where the techno was: closing my eyes, hugging some new friends, and enjoying some proper music in Paris.
This is a place worth visiting and a party not worth missing!
