Ambar is a club synonymous with a great vibe, awesome DJs and banging music. It would be a safe bet to say that when you think of Breakbeat in Perth you think of this iconic club, which celebrates its 9th birthday this month. Ambar has won countless awards and has remained as one of the main players in the Perth clubbing community. How has this club managed to become so successful and remain so? Liz Sheehan caught up with Boomtick head honcho Liam Mazzucchelli to find out.

Liam Mazzucchelli describes himself as a “6 foot 1, blue-eyed, no haired Aries who is very happily married and whose hobbies include; tennis, watching a lot of reality TV shows, sneaker shopping and Sizzler.” Does that sound like the owner of a nightclub let alone a major promotions company? Don’t let this fool you as this man along with his team in Boomtick office comprising of Kasey, Micah, Tim, the talented resident DJs and the hardworking crew at the club headed up by Mal are the ones responsible for keeping Ambar’s heart beating.

So what is in a name? Ambar... does it even have an English meaning? Liam says he made up the word and with a clever reasoning behind it.

“I was once in Melbourne and saw The Amber Lounge (which had an orange ‘concept’) and like the word, and hence came up with Ambar. I just liked the way Ambar sounded and the fact it had no meaning. It was important the name of the club didn’t have any musical connotations or periodic reference.”

For those who weren’t aware, the Home of the Underground was almost not but nearly became a neighbour to Rise until Liam checked out the old Loft nightclub and saw potential for the old run down space. He comments that the idea to start a club was a self-evolved opportunity rather than just an idea.

“I had previously been looking to get involved in a club and had considered the old Krush (now Geisha) and even Fuel (PICA). When the old Loft was for sale, I went down, checked it out and saw a great opportunity to give what was a very tired and rundown old space a makeover. It all made perfect sense.”

Once you’ve purchased a club, how do you pick its “genre”? Liam is an avid fan of Breaks and has DJ’d for years under the name “FMT”. It seems like a natural choice for him to go with a Breakbeat focussed club.

“Ambar was about something new. On a personal level, Breakbeat has always been the kind of music in which I was most involved and passionate about. As a music genre, it had only ever been relegated to back rooms and non-key nights in Perth. People thought I was mad when I made it the primary sound of the club and the key sound of a Saturday night when everyone else was playing house.”

Not only has Ambar won seven PDMA awards for “Best Nightclub” it has also received accolades from international DJs such as Stanton Warriors, Elite Force and Plump DJs. Voting from these guys as well as other DJs helped secure Ambar’s spot as #42 in the 2006 DJMag Top 50 Clubs in the World Poll, making it the highest rating Australian club. When asked if he ever expected his club to win so many awards, Liam remains humble yet credits a group effort overall.

“You don’t go to work every day thinking, ‘Wow, let’s try this so we can win an award’. The fact we have won so many awards is testament to the effort everyone puts in and the loyal support the club has enjoyed. Every award has more than an ounce of humility – you never expect to win awards, so it’s always nice.”

Is there a secret behind Ambar’s success? Liam credits consistency and brilliant DJs.

“It’s consistency, sticking to our music policy and not flip-flopping with whatever may be popular on the music cycle, the sense of community and the fact it’s not in Northbridge. Its location adds to that sense of community. As far as club dynamics go, it’s a basement with a wicked sound system and a roster of brilliant DJs – how can you go wrong?”

As Liam mentioned, one attribute of Ambar that sets it aside from the rest is the location. Set at the outer edges of the city shopping malls means it’s generally quieter area at night. Yet every weekend this club is packed out with dedicated patrons that are there for the music and the Ambar vibe. The new licensing laws that have been implemented in Perth, mainly to reduce the anti-social behaviour in Northbridge, have been hugely controversial amongst patrons and club owners. Liam says that he is already noticing an impact on his club.

“It’s already having an impact, but we’re hoping it’s only a short-term policy. Licensees are constantly faced with license and policy changes. For the most part, we are happy to implement these, however this policy in particular is fundamentally flawed in its blatant disregard for well-behaved patrons (like ours). It fails to address the problem. Here’s hoping common sense will prevail once the trial ends on April 25th.”

Looking back over the life of Ambar, Liam has always remained focussed with his club. So what did he have to say when asked if he has ever thought “this is too hard”?

“Not once. Never. Although there was one time when the building’s septic system backed up and my manager and I were out the back up to our knees in piss and shit - literally! – trying to MacGyver a solution to the problem.”

Whilst Liam is in the mood of reminiscing, the question of the chance to relive one night comes up. Not swayed by the biggest party or the biggest DJ, he still thinks like a perfectionist.

“Wow…there have been too many special nights to pick one in particular but if I could have my opening night over again I’d like to be a little more prepared. Enough time to go home and have a shower before opening the doors would have been ideal!

What’s in store of Ambar for the next nine years? Liam doesn’t plan on changing a thing.

“At the risk of sounding cliché, if it ain’t broke…so more of the same! We’ll continue to develop emerging local DJ talent, and carry on with our successful bookings of international DJs.”

So... if there was ever a Break-A-Holics Anonymous reunion... would Liam dust off his headphones and step into the Ambar booth as FMT once again?

“That’s like asking Seinfeld if he’d do another series!”

Teknoscape would like to wish Ambar a happy 9th birthday and congratulate their team on a job well done!

Ambar celebrates its 9th Birthday on Friday 12th February featuring Splitloop with support from Ambar’s finest - Marty Mcfly & Tee El, Oli & Prizzy, Micah & Blend, Wish & Philly, Ben Mac & Mono Lisa.