Interviews
Guilty Heaven, dance floor temptations and Fierce Angel @ The Island, Saturday April 12th
By Mostwantedkat
Mar 18, 2008 - 1:27:10 PM

You might associate Margate with windy weather, dodgy B&Bs and little old ladies in macs and plastic raincaps sitting on the promenade pecking at 99s. But house music? To be fair, not so much. Well you’re in for a bit of a surprise party people because over the last two years something’s been going on down on the south-east coast and it’s beginning to spread out to the rest of clubland.

Guilty Heaven is the brand behind the rise of house music in Margate, building up a fanatically loyal following of passionate clubbers and dedicated resident DJs. Saturday April 12^th sees them travel to London to take over the back room at The Island for the huge Fierce Angel party. Promising a blend of filthy, sexy and banging house music they’re on a mission to blow the capital’s scene away and if reactions to their previous parties are true, then they’re more than fully on course.

We caught up with Mark Websper and Mandy Kobylanski, the duo behind Guilty Heaven, to find out a bit more about them and their seaside party…

What’s Guilty Heaven all about?

Basically… it’s about the music and the people, whether it’s to one person or thousands, no matter how many people we play for, we pride ourselves on leaving clubbers not wanting it all to end and looking forward to the next one.   Bringing into play our ear and love for a truly great night! Guilty Heaven is about the love of house.

Where did the name Guilty Heaven come from?

The name Guilty Heaven was born in Ibiza, it was actually meant for another DJ that was considering rebranding. He had asked us to come up with a new name and art work, something different and sexy.   We had spent a month working with him on the art work with a few names thrown around but not getting the right sound of it. We went out to Ibiza in June 2006 to do some promo photographs for HowCleanIsYourHouse as well as an interview with Judge Jules and pictures for Judgment Sunday.

Sitting in front of Savannah’s sorting out the following day’s interview the name came out of the air. We wrote it down with the list of other ones we needed to check when we got back to the UK. To be fair, it was a development on the unceremonious side but it was the last name written down on the list and we felt it had hit the nail on the head so to speak.

While we were away Matt had decided to keep his own pseudonym – Matt Logic. And has happily played for Guilty Heaven in the past and we look forward to welcoming him back in the future.

How did it start up?

We (Mark Websper & Mandy Kobylanski) are photographers by trade with a very big love of all things house.   We take pictures for clubs/parties/DJ’s for promotional material websites etc as well as the usual photography in our studio in Margate.  

A bit tongue in cheek but doing the photographs put us in some of the best parties around doing what we both love, meeting loads of new people and making a living out of it!

Returning back to Margate, with a real lack of venues playing house music in the area and a wealth of DJ talent we used talk about the ‘what if’s’.

After we returned from Ibiza with the name GH tucked in our pocket, HowCleanIsYourHouse had been offered to play a set at Pacha with LoveTec & MyFairytail on the Friday, and a local venue, Sugar Lounge, were putting on Miss MoneyPennys on the Sunday. We were asked to help promote both. We decided we couldn’t let the name Guilty Heaven go to waste so that was GH’s first promo outing - The Guilty Heaven Long Weekend.

It gave us such a buzz to see it all come together that we decided to give it a proper go. We used Sugar Lounge as our base to showcase the local talent and bring bigger names to the area. Having Judge Jules on our bill just two months into our short life helped put us on the map here in the south.   We approached Smartie Partie for our first set at Turnmills and we definitely have to send a big thanks out to them for helping us get our foot into the doors of the London clubs.

Basically we fell into promoting but now we are here it’s a lot of hard work, loads of stress and some incredibly amazing nights but we plan to stick around!

The rest as they say is History

You say that your sound is defined by your residents. Can you give us a quick run through each of them and what makes them so special?

Guilty Heaven has two main residents who you’ll find at all of our gigs

Ian Garner : Fantastically loyal to GH and the first to join us as a resident. Likes his remixes of old tracks, normally plumps for the B side of his vinyl as it is normally a bit grimier and less mainstream than the A side. A real party animal who lives life to excess.

Frenchie : The man who truly loves those phat bass lines. He can sniff out the dirtiest, most rocking tracks you can imagine and with so many years in the profession he has much respect. He played the circuits with Pete Tong in the early days and if he’d decided to go full time, who knows where he would be now!

Both of them truly enjoy being behind the decks where ever we play. We would say they are just as passionate about Guilty Heaven as we are!

We are also extremely lucky to have the support of a wide range of DJ’s:

DJ Ferdinand : Fantastically talented, a long time serving Dutch DJ who loves his Techno. Widely respected in the industry by the likes of Eddie Fowlkes and K Alexi, one of his biggest assets is his ability to be diverse.

Kev Harris and Mark Dickson of HD Promotions: Both these lads have been playing the clubs in the south east for quite sometime. They know what makes a great night from a DJ and a promoter’s point of view, which is always a good thing. Both DJ’s play the mainstream and commercial but live the dark and dirty ;-)

Rob Hatton : Generally an all round nice guy with a real talent who has not had the pleasure of playing in our neck of the woods… yet! He has played internationally and in some of London’s main clubs. Watch this fella because he could well go a long way.

Mr Biff : Our ever faithful Percussionist. Mr Biff (Simon Wallis), has played at nigh on all of our gigs and is very much in demand by other promotions, and so he should be. You can get some pretty ‘interesting’ players on the circuit and when you land one that is good that lives on your doorstep, make sure you keep them. They always add another dimension to your promotion.

And although they won’t be playing on the night a special mention to Robbie Styles – Audio Boutique, Phil Good & Matt Fontaine – FMG, Dom Yong – Stimulation,   Scott Tunes & Dan-ce DJ, Jeff Barker – FLH, Dave Doughty & Tom Keys – HCIYH and Matt Logic, all with their own unique style and their much appreciated loyalty and support to GH.

You’ve only been throwing parties for two years – why do you think you’ve had such quick success establishing yourself with more major players in the industry?

Why are we successful in what we do? Because we are unpretentious, friendly, honest and are truly ‘what you see is what you get’. Mandy’s Canadian/welsh accent helps a lot as well.

We both are passionate about photography and music and the two aspects work in harmony.

To be honest we have been very lucky to be in the right place at the right time. The industry as a whole we have felt has been very welcoming. We are willing and eager to put the work in to make the night successful.   Guilty Heaven has become a very deep rooted passion for the both of us and we think this shines through.

Out of everyone you’ve worked with, who have you had the most fun with (and don’t feel any pressure to say Fierce Angel >;D)?

Ouch we would like to say everyone. It’s always fun when GH is involved :-D

Ok we have to name someone and we’d say it was a very even split with Mark Doyle & Andy Galea. Every time we have worked with both DJ’s it’s been a real giggle because both guys have a fantastic sense of humour and very much enjoy being behind the decks. It’s not ‘just another gig’.

What made you decide to get involved in promoting, a notoriously unstable profession?

As we said it was a lack of house music down in sunny old Margate as most promoters will tell you it can be a lot of hard work, but if you are in this game for the night it’s always worth it. Now we are here we want to be in it for the long haul, evolving to what the clubbers want and what we love!

What’s your formula to a rocking party? How do you approach promoting?

Mandy: Fantastic music, amazing DJ’s and clubbers that are there for the music. First and foremost LOVE what you are doing. You create an atmosphere that people find contagious. We live by the motto you’ll never know till you ask, that’s always a good starting point

Mark: Promotion of a night is hugely difficult. Of course we do the usual stuff like flyers, posters etc but with local authorities getting tough with fly posting and putting flyers on cars it is becoming increasingly non profitable.

But it is always important to ensure that you try and get a database going and thus keep you crowd informed. We use DSI, as all good promotions do. We have found of late that Facebook has proven to be one of our biggest tools for advertising our nights to introduce new clubbers to the scene.

We are not afraid to try something different, we try very hard not to be run of the mill.

What would be your advice to anyone else trying to set up a fledgling night in today’s industry?

Mandy: If you want to jump on board because you want to make a quick buck this is NOT the place for you. Nor if you think one big party makes you a super star. If you are in it for fame and fortune you would have more chance of applying for Blue Peter and working your way through the TV Ranks. Too many times have we heard people saying promoters have an easy life?? Firstly in our eyes it’s a love of the music you are promoting… spreading the house word so to speak. It’s about giving the clubbers a night to remember. Be prepared to work hard, there is a lot of behind the scenes leg work, research the areas you would like to put your brand, talking to venues, other promoters,   flyers, tickets, pulling it all together on the night. Knowing your audience... Have we got a few more hours to go into it?

Believe in what you are doing but always be willing to take advice from others even if you have to save it for a latter day.

Mark - Watch your back. Clubland is a fantastic place to be, but you will come across at some point promotions and club owners that want to shaft you at every opportunity. We were given this bit of advice early on and it helped us to be a bit more aware. You have to have your wits about you all the time. As a promoter you need to understand the relationship between your promotion and the club owner and/or any co-promotions. You may put on a night that is well attended, your DJ's played like true pro's, the crowd were dancing and enjoying the night and you see it as a success, however if your crowd didn't drink very much the club owner will see it as a flop. Be aware to target you audience properly. A night in a small club with 150 good spenders enjoying the night will do you better than trying to attract 300 that sip one drink all night.

Just because you had a packed room doesn't mean the club will ask you back.  Make sure you are aware of what the club expects from you before your party.

Always ensure that your DJ’s can read a crowd. Make sure that if your crowd isn’t moving then do something about it.

Consistency is the other key, make sure you are seen regularly, this doesn’t necessarily mean play every venue unless they are suitable to your night. Make sure your logo is memorable… It's all about getting your brand recognized.

What’s the best party you’ve ever thrown and why was it so special?

Mark - On a small scale I have to say when we promoted Jules at our night at Sugar Lounge Margate. This was the first time we booked Jules. We befriended him in Ibiza during the summer of 2006 and have stayed in contact with him ever since. We had only 17 days from the time his management said we could have him to the night itself. Stress like you wouldn't believe. All was pretty mediocre until 3 days before and then all hell broke loose. On the night the venue was rammed solid with best part of 600 and Jules was on top form. Being below ground and low ceilings it was like an oven in there and sweat was dripping from the walls but bloody hell it was cool.

Mandy : That’s a really tough one.   For the enjoyment factor they are all special in their own right, each night bringing it’s uniqueness to the myriad of memories that are making up the colourful Guilty Heaven past. I agree with Mark though, October 7^th 2006 Guilty Heaven features Judge Jules. It was completely nerve wracking partly for the fact that we were worried that Thanet was not ready for this kind of event yet. It was a truly amazing night at the Sugar Complex, it was a sell out and the walls were alive that night, the atmosphere was electric and it put us in good stead for all of our future parties. The night was the best work out my arms had ever received – the fan had gone walk abouts so I had used a clipboard to keep the DJ box circulating with a fraction of air!

What’s the best party you’ve ever been to and why?

Mandy: All GH parties… do I need to say more lol

Mark: I have to say that I ALWAYS enjoy Fiesta Del Agua at Es Paradis. I've done all the other super clubs but I always get drawn back to this one. 5am in a packed EsPara, boiling to death and then the water comes on. Good music and manic… I just love it. Good memories and fucking good fun (oops can I say that lol)  ;-)

Mandy: Lol I forgot about that, that was one of my first experiences of Ibiza, roll on this summer I can’t wait :-p

What party would you absolutely kill to go to?

Kill? Mandy has a problem when there are pigeons in the road and Mark is most definitely too nice to think about maiming (well most of the time :-)

Mark - Roger Sanchez playing the North Pole during the winter midnight sun lol ;-), oh and of course with GH setting the stage… How cool would that be ;)

Mandy – lol can we do it a second time under the Northern lights? How cool, a natural laser show!!

If money was no object, what kind of party would you throw, where would it be and who would you have on the line-up?

Mark: We would love to have Es Paradis for one night, that’s all, no need to be a regular thing although that would be nice. I think we would probably ask Mark Doyle to play with us and probably Danny Rampling and Roger Sanchez, then showcase our own talented DJ's… could you imagine the atmosphere. It's all about being proud about your brand, not about making piles of cash.

Mandy: I completely agree, but for me the ultimate club to play at would be The Guvernment in Toronto, Canada. To have Guilty Heaven play in my old back yard would be bliss… watch this space people :-)

If you could have a dinner party with five famous people, alive or dead, who would you invite?

Mark: OK I'm getting rather repetitive here but No 1 on the guest list would have to be Roger "The God" Sanchez, I would even polish his shoes on the way in, I might even polish the loo before he sat down. lol

No2: I would resurrect JFK just so I could find out who shot the bugger.

No3: JRR Tolkien because he can tell a story better than I can.

No4: Gonna cheat here, Groove Armada. I know it's 2 ( Andy Cato and Tom Findlay) but they make great music and I would get them to DJ a Late Night Tales set when everyone was ready to chill at the end of the night.

No5: Ayrton Senna. Without a doubt THE greatest F1 driver from an era when F1 was death defying and exciting. I saw him at Monza the season before he died. I think I went in to mourning for a month after his death, tragic loss to the sport.

Mandy: does this mean we get 10 people to diner? Will have to think about getting a bigger table!

Ok my first invite would go to Mark Oliver, a British born DJ but shakes the music world of Canada. He helped revolutionized the party scene over there.

No 2: Kaskade because I love all of his music.

No 3: Vivian Westwood, I’ve been known to wear some unusual outfits to our parties ;)

No 4: Frankie Knuckles, that would be a constant brain picking session.

No 5: Boy George. He is so incredibly grounded. I’m always interested in other people’s views and thoughts that make you think about your own ideals, sometimes for a change or just to strengthen your own

I’m going to have one extra woman’s prerogative lol, No 6: My Grandmother. OK she wasn’t quite famous, she passed away in ’97 but the woman was always dancing, she loved all music. I remember playing NWA, she was in her late 80’s at the time but she was unfazed and still had a bop around with me – I owe a lot of my drive to her.

Wow can you imagine the after dinner party if we could get them on the decks I’m sure JFK would show some hidden talents :-p

Finally, what can we expect from you at the Fierce Angel party on Saturday April 12^th at Heaven?

A damn good fun night. The thing is the crowd we have really do know how to have a good time. You always know our crowd whether there are 30 or 300 of them. All involved will give 100%, they all work well together and are truly passionate about what they do. There is never a gig that passes where we don’t manage to impress. Expect the back room to be dirty, undeniably sexy and truly banging. The Island will be THE place to be on that night so we urge everyone to get their tickets now!!!