Now a very well established part of clubland, this year see’s Kinky Malinki turn 10 years old and to celebrate this they are hosting one of their most eagerly awaited parties to date at WMC2008 so I took the opportunity to ask the fella’s behind Kinki Malinki a few questions about their success…

How did the mighty Kinki Malinki empire begin?
As many parties begin, the meeting of minds, many moons ago, when at someone else's party and thinking "You know what, we should give this promoting lark a try".
 
When was your first party?
Was nearly ten years ago this year and it took place at a venue called Imperial Gardens - we drove past there the other day and it's a derelict mess now. We didn't leave it like that -  honestly! We had a really strong line up for that inaugural party that included Joey Negro who we got for a few beers and a packet of peanuts as payment (disclaimer: that's not entirely true, just in case!!!) and ten years later he is commanding considerably more and is on top of his game.
 
So what was the first clubbing experience for you guys?
You will speak to most promoters and they will attempt to try and tell you something cool, but whilst they are waxing lyrical about going to MOS in the good old days they were also attending their local Ritzy type club drinking Archers and Lemonade. Well that's us too!!
 
What’s your personal all-time favourite club track & is there a ‘stand-out’ Kinki Malinki anthem!?
Raze "Break For Love" is my personal stone cold classic. I'm hoping someone doesn't do an electro take on it, although now I've said that someone probably will. I even dropped this at a very small gathering last year and a quite chilled party full of 30 something's all of a sudden when up several notches. A stand out KM anthem would possibly be Harrison Crump's "Stomp Your Feet". So many plays from so many KM jocks over the years and I whipped that bad boy out for one of the last songs played at our final gig at Turnmills recently too.
 
Has there been any country where you have taken your parties to for the first time that have pleasantly surprised you in the way the night went down?
I think it's safe to say Dubai was probably the most surprising, there have been many countries we've visited and been really pleased by the outcome but I think Dubai edges it. This is mostly due to the fact that we just didn't know what to expect ourselves and neither did the punters really. We were one of the first brands over there doing our thing and we're still doing the business there now so we must've done something right eh?
 
What is the main musical style of KM?
We like to call it Kinky, Uplifting, House Music, it's ambiguous on purpose. Bottom line is it's good quality house music to make you dance your socks (and stilly's) off and can be from quite deep house through to dirty electro and most stuff in-between.
 
Other than yourselves, which other promoters would you say put on a world class party?
Obviously most of the Ibiza cats, you simply have to put that little bit extra in over there, whether it be in line ups or production. There has also been quite a bit of love at KM HQ for what Kiss Da Funk have got up to.
 
Are you closely involved with the art direction of the brand or do you leave it to an agency to do and to proof to you?
We do so much in house, I think it's often thought we have a team of underpaid monkeys helping us out but it's a small dedicated team that does everything and that includes the art direction and being on set for the last KM shoot was a fun day at the office.
 
How is the label going?
We are fast approaching our fifth release and I think we will need to get a few more releases under our belt before we are truly known as a label as well as a clubbing brand. With each release we pick up momentum and I know that we have some strong tracks waiting in the wings and we are getting some nice remixes done for us too. Most people would say that we are crazy trying to continue with a fledgling label whilst so many labels fold but the world will always need music and we hope that a certain percentage will need Kinky Malinki's music.
 
Are you a vinyl only label or are you also embracing downloads?
You can't be a label and NOT embrace downloads these days, it's quicker, easier and cheaper to work that way, yes there is less money out the other end and there is the whole piracy issue but the way music is consumed has evolved. We've also scrapped doing vinyl releases as there just wasn't the really the demand really and it was also taking ages getting the pressings done and throwing out our release schedule so it's all about the download for us now.

Are you promoting any forthcoming material from the label at WMC08?
We are indeed. Virtually every label has something to tout at the WMC and we are no different, our latest single is Double Track featuring Jamie Lee Wilson "I Just Wanna Dance", in it's original guise it's a real slice of vocal house niceness and across the remixes we have something to cater for most palettes from a hands in the air, big piano mix to a twisted electro number. This release will be due out in May hot on the heels of our current release which is This Is Rhythm's self titled track that comes with a Timmy Vegas Mix amongst others.
 
This year is a obviously a big one in your calendar. How are this years Ibiza plans coming on?
Ibiza has genuinely caused a few grey hairs for us as it seems that for another year it will allude us but that is partly due to us sticking to our guns and wanting the right venue on the right night and not just taken anything that is thrown our way. We could've done that easily but we want to make sure that everything is right for the brand and - more importantly - the clubbers that would come to our events as there is no way we would want to sell them short. Good things come to those who wait is all we can say really.
 
This a big party for you at WMC08, when did you first hold a party over there?
It's our third year in a row doing an event at Blue and everything works perfect for us there. The team are great and every year we have a one in one out situation and always have a cracking line up so it's understandable why people want to come and stick their nose in for a bit of party action, oops sorry networking!!
 
Describe KM in three words..?
Premier. House. Clubbing.
 
Who is the most famous personality you have entertained at a KM party?
Well it's a pretty good one actually, at one of our previous Miami events we had none other than P.Diddy in attendance. Maybe not such a strange thing with the fact that he loves his house music, although he wasn't trying to score some tic tacs (they were tic tacs right?) at our party like when he was youtubed last year at Space. Very well behaved and a watch the size of a plate.
 
What is the style, fashion and passion about KM?
That's quite an interesting question actually as we've always seen ourselves as sitting the right side of cool without being elitist and always wanting our events to be accessible. We are not about having a party of 100 in a sweaty space with a load of people scratching their chins in delight at the wonderment of the next track the DJ plays. We are all about you the clubber taking pride when they leave their house and upon entering our house we make sure we keep them entertained with a party that is thrown from the heart.
 
So you guys have obviously enjoyed organising parties for the last ten years, what’s been a noticeable highlight so far?
Two really spring to mind and they have been more recent. One of them was hosting a KM party at Pacha, Sharm el Sheikh last year, a couple of thousand clubbers who in all honesty didn't have much of a clue about us and were possibly expecting the girls on our artwork to turn up, but I did instead and had the party rocking till the wee hours and thankfully managed to get the clubbers around to the Kinky Way of Life. The other was the first and last parties at Turnmills (I know that cheating a little but work with me here). The first party was our 8th Birthday which went so well and people enjoyed themselves so much (including the guest DJ's) that the night ended with a totally impromptu back 2 back 2 back mix session where CJ Mackintosh and Grant Nelson gatecrashed resident Jeremy B's set and a lot of us left at 7.30am and Grant Nelson was still soldiering on, fuelled purely by Jack Daniels and fags. Then there was our recent final farewell which was our busiest party to date with 1700 filling most of the rooms, cracks and crevices that make up that wonderful club. But it wasn't just the fact that it was a rocking party but a piece of clubbing history as we were holding our last event before it closed for good.
 
And in another ten years…!?
In a perfect world we'll be employing all them monkeys to do all the hard work for us and we'll be enjoying life a little more. In reality we will still be throwing the best parties possible and wondering whether the Just For Men covers the grey hair subtly?