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TASTY VINYL: Grant Smithies prepares for Soul Kitchen "strictly serving Soul Food" at the Phat Club on November 28.

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Nelson DJ Grant Smithies takes his popular dance parties out of the sitting room and into the kitchen. Alice Cowdrey reports.

It's dark and loud, and 500 Nelsonians have left their inhibitions at the door.

People are dancing on a raised stage in front of a flickering slide show, a guy in a blue singlet is working himself into a frenzy, and four middle-aged women are dancing around a pile of handbags. In the corner stands Nelson DJ Grant Smithies, bobbing his head while flicking through an assortment of vinyl.

It's this random flavour Smithies loves about his annual Nelson Arts Festival gig, The Sitting Room, which is so popular that it sells out every year. It's a big night out, born out of the massive stack of vinyl Smithies has collected over the past 20 years.

Each year, he gets great joy in unveiling a rare concoction of music to the public, and says that although it may sound a little cheesy, the night is akin to community-building.

"People have a really good time. Some people haven't danced since that party last year or since they were 20, or went to a wedding."

Smithies says that after this year's Sitting Room, he was being hounded on the streets for more of the same, so he decided to put everyone out of their misery by offering a second party, dubbed Soul Kitchen. The gig, which was held for the first time in June, will happen again at the Phat Club on Saturday, November 28. Things will start early at 8.30pm and run until midnight – sure to appeal to those who don't want to be out till all hours.

From his home, which has walls lined with records, Smithies says the first Sitting Room was held in a marquee on the grass area outside the Nelson Courthouse, and for some reason there was sand spread over the floor.

Initially, the aim was to play unusual music to people who would sit around under old-fashioned lampshades with a drink in hand. The first one was "hilarious" because people were expecting some sort of music lecture, and pulled their seats up to the front of the venue in a line, ready to listen.

"I started to play laid-back songs to sit around and listen to, but people were itching to dance. The name became entirely ironic because people started dancing from the first tune."

Second time around, the venue had a wooden floor, and during the past two years, the event has been held in the spacious, yet quirky, Granary at Founders Heritage Park.

Growing up in Wanganui, Smithies was fascinated by music. When he was eight or 10, he worked a paper round to earn money to spend on cassettes. He had a kitset radio bolted to the headboard of his bed, and "crap" car speakers.

"I would listen to music endlessly. Music to me is like a shortcut to your emotion, whether you are listening to it or dancing to it."

Writing about his passion became his thing, and led to work with Radio New Zealand and various publications, including Real Groove magazine (which he still writes for occasionally), The New Zealand Herald, The Dominion Post and Pulp magazine.

Now he's fulltime with the Sunday Star-Times, working from home to fill the entertainment pages with yarns documenting interviews with mainly international musicians.

He's looking forward to Soul Kitchen, which will be a smaller gig than The Sitting Room, with enough room on the dancefloor for about 240 people.

He will serve up, among other genres, funk, disco, Jamaican dancehall, Brazilian salsa, African music, and rare soul and reggae 45s.

"It's a similar but more intimate party, but with the same idea musically – to play soulful music from different areas from all over the world.

"There's everything from a record made in Nigeria in 1975 to something made in New York last week."

• Tickets for Soul Kitchen can be purchased at Everyman for $20, but it's first in, first served. The night kicks off at the Phat Club on November 28 at 8.30pm. After Smithies finishes at midnight, DJ Little Jah of Nelson band Wicked Draw will take over.

- © Fairfax NZ News