Twisted Republic

Situated on Soi 11, a few hundred yards off sexy Sukhumvit Road, not far from Bed Supperclub and Q’Bar. Twisted Republic (TR) stands out because of its originality in both technology and design. There is no way a venue like this could have appropriated its design concept from any other club in the world. But it’s not just technology that makes TR stand apart; this is a club that has been created by people with a long history of, and passion for, dance music. The dance floor is smack in the centre and the club’s altar is the DJ booth designed by Darren Mac.

The venue, created according to specific plans and requirements of the owner/designer, features interactive bar and table tops by Mindstorm Ltd (the new identity of the company formerly trading as Betaminds Ltd). One of their first achievements was Club 24 in London with iWall™’s and iBar™’s that completely transform the space. 24’s iBar™’s are installed as free standing poser tables on the main floor of the venue.

The TR bar is the first iBar™ integrated into the main bar of the venue. The complex integration of bar equipment and iBar™ hardware has enabled TR to have the first permanently integrated bar and, thanks to Mindstorm, TR now also has the longest iBar™ in the world. Together with the amazing interactive tables TR can now claim to be up there amongst the most technologically sophisticated nightclubs in existence.

Sound design and install was by Kenny Jackel of Audio Intelligence (Ai) moving from strength to strength, this is the second Ai install and it has to be heard (and seen) to be believed. When he and his partner Earl Geddes warned us of “snake oil” audio sellers, we couldn’t help but wonder if they might be of the same ilk, but after interrogation of various acoustic aficionados, it seems that these Yankees in Asia are becoming real contenders in the world-wide club audio market. 

According to UK DJ Brandon Block, this is “one of the best sounds he’s heard”. Other internationally renowned DJs such as Slipmatt, Kimball Collins and Derrick May agree that the DJ booth is one of the finest they’ve ever performed in.

Designed by Twisted’s manager / resident DJ Darren Mac says “For me it was always about creating a totally clean sound and perfect working environment for the DJ making him/her as comfortable as possible so they can give their best performance”.

Most of the custom glass artworks throughout TR are by Stephen Gormley, including six 20-foot high square illuminated glass pillars (referred to as glass columns), made out of thick deep carved bent glass panels with bright polished removable three-inch thick solid glass bars.

This is in addition to a custom glass entryway of bent and deep-carved glass, and a unique solid glass Thai spirit house in front of the club. Stephen Gormely also designed the carved TR logo on the broad glass panel in front of the DJ booth, and a large three metre high backlit chipped-glass wall inside the entry.

Gormley is one of the world’s foremost glass designers, just a few of his major international projects include glass water columns in Beijing’s Grand Hyatt lobby, Le Meridien Hotel New Delhi’s main lobby glass feature sculpture and the free standing glass gazebo in the French Casino Deauville.

Additional glass features include a winding glass stepped LED staircase with embedded Twisted Republic logo, designed by the owner. The Neo-Neon LED lighting on the upstairs bar and spiral staircase was also custom designed by the owner and constructed by Pattaya based Head Company Ltd, under the direction of Heinz Kiss.  

The Martin Professional lighting install was undertaken by MAHAJAK, Thailand’s leading pro AV company and features Martin Maniacs and a full colour Laser Image 1000mW diode laser system with Pangolin control card. A broad video screen directly above the DJ booth is visible throughout most of the venue and usually monitors an upper angled view of the DJs themselves, meaning they’re not able to get up to much hanky panky below decks.

Who are these twisted creators? The owner / designer, his partners, the manager / resident DJ and bar-manager with a charming “Sahf Lahndon” accent are all British. How did Darren Mac come up with the name? Not by any chance referring to his host country was he? “Oh no, of course not” said Mac, “For me ‘Twisted’ conjures up everything I really like about dance music, it’s also the name of one of my favourite record labels. ‘Republic’ refers to the extended generation of people who really love and live by dance music.”

What about this nearby competition? Two clubs don’t make a “scene” but now with the addition of TR, there are three international venues all within walking distance. It’s just a 30 second stroll from TR to Bed Supperclub (mondo*dr issue 15/3) and less than two minutes to Q’Bar (mondo*dr issue 13/1). With RCA’s sonic kilometre still catering mainly to Thai teens and twenties. Could Soi 11 be on the verge of becoming the place for the international set looking to get away from the sleazier areas of Bangkok?

Into this mix comes the illustrious entrepreneur Daryl Scott who, far from retreating into oblivion after the short life of Superfly, is about to totally revamp a venue that is smack in between Q’Bar and Bed Supperclub. To be called Diva, this will be an upscale Las Vegas style cabaret with beautiful showgirls and crazy coyote dancers. This will definitely be something different from all the other venues around. Instead of adopting the mud slinging tactics of some US politicians, with cooperation among all four venues, Bangkok’s Sukhumvit, Soi 11 could become one of the most exciting club Meccas in Asia.