How Bang Bang Is Refining San Diego's House Music Scene and Culinary Palate

I’m not a morning individual. In reality, my soul thrives at midnight confines of the after-hours warehouse events, the place I can get misplaced within the music till the brilliant purple hues of twilight sign for me to lastly get some relaxation.

So when it was proposed to me that I attend a much-lauded Sunrise Session (the place the social gathering begins at six within the morning), I used to be fast to respectfully decline. However, after bearing witness to the profitable occasions of the prior night, I made positive to set my alarm and return to Bang Bang.

Coffee in hand, I walked the streets of San Diego’s famed Gaslamp Quarter, the place the thumping bass of the early morning social gathering echoed into the nearly-empty avenues. Every so usually, sharp-eared Sunday brunch-goers would whisper amongst themselves and ask, “Is that a dayclub?”

It was greater than only a dayclub. This offshoot occasion catered to any and all who have been able to kickstart their morning (or to some, proceed the social gathering from the night time earlier than) by having fun with eclectic home music in America’s Finest City.

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Although the Sunrise Session soirees do not occur usually, they’re one of many driving forces behind the profitable resurgence of Bang Bang.

The downtown hotspot initially opened in 2013 beneath a joint partnership by Mauricio Couturier and Johnny Shockey of FNGRS CRSSD. After a affluent seven-year stint, the venue shuttered its doorways through the world pandemic.

As COVID-19 restrictions started to ease, the Asian fusion restaurant and membership was resurrected, this time beneath new possession. At the helm of this revival was its new proprietor, Floridian home music connoisseur Islam Ahmed.

“I took Bang Bang over during COVID,” Ahmed tells EDM.com. “We opened in April 2021 and we were following all of the ordinances. We made sure to test everyone and kept the club at 50% capacity, with masks and six-foot distances.”

Luckily for Ahmed, pandemic-era restrictions would ease, giving Bang Bang the chance to flourish in a metropolis that is turn into a refuge for techno and home music fans. Aided by festivals like CRSSD, this tech home renaissance has allowed Ahmed to convey his Floridian know-how to the west coast.

“I started off in Orlando going to festivals and I knew I wanted to work in music,” Ahmed says of his early years in Florida. “I joined Alliance Nightlife by helping them with driving and logistics. Eventually, we booked AC Slater and worked on his tour, which made me really love that sound.”

Ahmed’s recognition as a nightlife knowledgeable grew after cross-promoting home music acts artists Ardalan and Justin Martin throughout Miami and Orlando. As the Central Florida market grew into its personal, Ahmed was forward of the sport, specializing in advancing home and techno within the space.

“We had Will Clarke and Walker & Royce in 100-capacity rooms in 2016-17, back at the time when no one was booking stuff in Orlando,” recollects Ahmed. “I just focused on doing house and techno and if I was going to lose money then so be it. But I knew for a fact that if I did this continuously, I was going to be successful.”

And profitable he was. Ahmed would finally turn into the proprietor of Pyramid Events and handle the enduring Green Velvet, amongst others. After years of refining his nightlife experience, Ahmed has taken the whole lot he is realized and utilized it to the West Coast with a lot prosperity.

For the uninitiated, Bang Bang is a hybrid of kinds: half restaurant, half nightclub and half early-morning rave spot.

The inconspicuous Market Street facade results in a tile-clad staircase paying homage to an underground practice station. Once on the second ground, a small-electronic signal outlines the venue’s upcoming performances.

Depending on the time of day, you can be handled to both a extremely embellished, Asian-inspired restaurant or a state-of-the-art nightclub the place a large disco ball hovers. Whichever one you attend, Bang Bang will depart you wanting extra.

Speaking concerning the two experiences, Ahmed describes his restaurant providing first, saying, the eating expertise “includes a wide range of sushi, Asian-fusion hot kitchen foods, sake, Japanese whiskeys and desserts.”

However, nearly as good because the delicacies is (I extremely advocate the Bang Bang Roll and Yellowtail Nigiri), for me, the place Bang Bang shines is on the dance ground, beneath the big disco ball.

Surrounded by Japanese Cherry Blossoms and portraits of artists like Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Michael Jackson in samurai apparel, the slender room envelops you in its immersive setting. And with a capability of simply 400 company, Bang Bang gives audiences the flexibility to expertise top-tier acts in a personal area.

“Being downtown, there are bigger clubs in the area, so we’re unique to the size of the room and the sound that we book,” provides Ahmed. “…We give a more intimate feel of a house party and more of a club culture.”

That intimate ambiance, paired with Ahmed’s educated ear for home music tastemakers, is what has set aside Bang Bang from different main venues and promoters within the San Diego metro space.

In 2022 alone, Bang Bang welcomed Black V Neck, Jody Wisternoff, Gene Farris, Lee Reynolds, Sage Armstrong, Pleasurekraft, Oliver Smith, Torrent Foot, Yousef, Secondcity, Lubelski, Mary Droppinz, Lucati, Avision, Dennis Ferrer and Franky Rizardo, amongst many others.

“It’s really special for us to showcase who these guys are and the talent that they bring,” says Ahmed. “We can’t just focus on the rotating talent that we have in the country. We have to take a look at what’s going on in Europe and South America.”

Ahmed makes it a degree to teach his viewers on the big range of DJs he books, a few of whom hardly ever play within the U.S. Prior to every efficiency, he shares movies and playlists on social media to enlighten listeners on who the artists are and what they sound like.

As for these far-flung artists who usually are not established in America, Ahmed makes it a degree to get them to San Diego and present them a superb time.

“They do like the experience that we bring to the table. They come and they feel the energy here and want to come back to play in San Diego,” Ahmed explains. “It’s the experience, the vibe, the energy. I think it’s unmatched when it comes to anywhere else in this city.”

And talking of unmatched experiences, keep in mind that 6am social gathering I attended? Ahmed hopes to proceed pushing these crack-of-dawn affairs, citing Miami and Europe as inspiration.

“I’m trying to build a new culture around daytime events,” he asserts. “You know how in Space Miami, their headliner goes on at 5am? Why can’t our headliner go at 8am and we party until 2pm?”

So far, Ahmed’s experiments have confirmed to be rewarding, with manufacturing on stated occasions happening surrounding high-traffic weekends. Major holidays, three-day weekends, and days surrounding festivals or particular occasions are all of significance for these Sunrise Sessions.

“We hosted a Sunrise Session on New Year’s Day and we had two rooms activated for eight hours straight,” Ahmed exclaims. “It worked as a great pre-gaming spot before people attended Proper NYE or other events in town.”

Ahmed’s fruitful ventures in San Diego have nudged the east coast maven to additional his reaches within the southwest. When requested about the way forward for Bang Bang, he was very enthused to share his growth plans.

“We are opening up a second location later this year in Tempe, Arizona,” reveals Ahmed, who famous the underserved residents journey usually to California for home and techno occasions. “A big out-of-town clientele for us is from Phoenix and were pretty well known to that community.”

According to Ahmed, the Arizona locale will act as a testing web site for deeper, underground acts. Ahmed hopes to proceed the ethos he has developed at his San Diego location into the burgeoning Phoenix metro space.

“I want to make a change in the market,” states Ahmed. “This is a culture-sexy event for music enthusiasts that want to come and have a good dance. I’m very adamant about keeping good club culture. I’m very passionate about it.”