Yacht Club DJs

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu; no matter how you say it, parting is such sweet sorrow. So when we heard that Guy and Gaz were putting Yacht Club DJs to bed to go their separate ways, we wanted to say au revoir, wish them well, and reminisce about the good times.
I caught up with Gaz on a Friday afternoon and as always he started our chat with a cracker of an icebreaker. “Sorry if I’m a bit grumbly. We had a big night in Sydney on Wednesday and yesterday was one of the worst travelling days I’ve ever had!” he said dramatically. “I had to sleep in a luggage compartment of the train and I woke up with a fat Canadian bloke sitting on me.” He begins to chuckle at the memory: “So I was just really, really concentrating on not throwing up for most of the train ride home, and I’m still not totally with it today – and I’ve only had ten minutes to make my cat chase a stick around.”
Yes, he certainly has a knack for putting people at ease. “It’s a bit draining, the old Yacht Club. From the outside it may not look like it, but it’s really a massive amount of work. I’m pretty excited about not doing it anymore to be honest,” Gaz said frankly. “But I don’t mean I’m just going to sit on the couch and do nothing. I wanna travel, make my way in the world and see what happens. It’s the first time since I left high school that I haven’t had a plan, and to me that’s very appealing.”
Eight years after Guy and Gaz jumped ship from their day jobs to form the Yacht Club DJs Gaz was nostalgic about their wild ride that took him and his buddy around the world and back again. One story that sprang immediately to mind was the time he was left stranded in Ohio after partying all night with Mumford & Sons and The Vaccines. “I just remember my heart sinking, sitting in the middle of a footy field at 10 o’clock in the morning thinking, ‘what have I done!?’ I was in the middle of the countryside in America and I couldn’t get home!” he cried.
“Obviously I got out of it somehow but it’s misadventures like that that I’ll miss the most about being in Yacht Club. I’ve amassed an arsenal of those kinds of stories like you wouldn’t believe. Like the weekend I was deputised in Guthrie, Oklahoma … let’s just say I had a pretty big night. And if you’ve ever been to America you’ll know that Australians drink way more than Americans. They think we’re nuts and that we’re all giving ourselves brain damage, and they’re probably right…
“Or have I told you about the last tour we brought to Geelong… I got banned from the Bended for smashing a plate of sandwiches after walking out the front singing, ‘I’m the Geelong sandwich man!’”
On that note we got to chatting about the after-party planned for their last show at the sold-out Karova Lounge gig – and Ballarat-bred Gaz insinuates it’s going to be a blinder! “There’s literally a 99.9 per cent chance it’ll be at my house and I’m terrified. I’m thinking about moving all of my furniture out of the house,” he said jokingly … but I sense he may not be.
“When the Karova turned 10, because we’re quite good friends with everyone there, the recovery session the next day turned into another massive party and everyone ended up back at mine. It was one of the most horrific after-party clean-ups I’ve ever had to do. My house is probably going to burn down this time!” You bring the matches.
When&Where: The Barwon Club, Geelong – November 21 & The Karova, Ballarat – December 19 & 20
By Natalie Rogers