Tim Erickson
From left: Wyatt Agard, Tim Thompson and Jesse Saunders, who is credited as the originator of house music.
For the last 19 months, House of Love has brought some of house and techno music’s biggest names to Madison. Packing hundreds of people into small rooms with some of the best DJs in the world, House of Love has served as an intimate stop on artists’ touring schedules and given the area’s house-heads the opportunity to dance right up next to electronic music’s most innovative acts.
But with attendance decreasing in recent months, House of Love is being discontinued; it will hold its final residency date at the Cardinal Bar on Friday, Oct. 23. The last show will feature Milwaukee’s Lance Matthew and a special all-vinyl set from Mazi Namvar, a prolific Chicago-based DJ/producer.
Isthmus spoke to founder Tim Thompson (aka DJ Lovecraft) about House of Love’s legendary DJs and the future of house music in Madison.
Bring the world’s premier DJs to Madison
First at the now-closed Jolly Bob’s, briefly at the Bayou (aka Voodoo) and for all of 2015 at the Cardinal, Thompson and Wyatt Agard hosted weekly parties DJed by luminaries including Derrick Carter, DJ Heather, Jesse Saunders, Gene Farris and Paul Johnson. Saunders is credited with releasing the first house record, 1984’s “On and On.”
“We were able to attract very big names for a lot less money than they were getting in other markets,” says Thompson. “Partially because it’s a smaller market, but [also] because we got a reputation for putting together a party that DJs really wanted to play.”
“The crowd was great, the vibe was great,” he adds. “Jolly Bob’s was very small, but the sound was excellent, and people just came and danced. I can’t tell you how important the crowd has been and those core people who would come week after week to just dance and give it their all. That’s what led to us being able to bring in big DJs.”
But Thompson says that House of Love may have gotten “too big, too quick” and lacked promotional focus. He and Agard marketed parties only a week in advance and chose to not promote one party “on top” of another.
In hindsight, Thompson says, the pair could have been more judicious in their booking.
“We were spending all of the money we could possibly bring in, so there was no profit. Our whole idea was to bring in the biggest talent we could.”
Attracting new fans to house music
“House music has been part of this community longer than almost any place in the country,” says Thompson, who loves Madison’s small-room parties. “There’s something very special about the intimacy about being among your closest friends and your community and you’re on the floor with the DJ.”
Yet, with the majority of house’s big names coming from the 1990s, Thompson sees engaging Madison’s EDM-interested young people as key to preserving the genre in town.
“There’s a big pool of 18- to 22-year-old kids who are coming into their own, and I’d like them to have the experience of these DJs who were so seminal in my appreciation of dance music,” says Thompson. “It’s about educating people on another level, an additional depth to a style of music they already like.”
Support from local clubs
“I have deep, deep respect for the Cardinal and what Ricardo has done,” says Thompson, noting that Cardinal owner Ricardo Gonzalez has shown dedication to dance music in Madison for the last 40 years. Similarly, he says Tim Erickson, former Jolly Bob’s owner, showed “incredible support.”
“To have club owners that have been as hands-off creatively and are trusting of the experience that we brought in was really pretty remarkable,” Thompson says.
