Paul Havard and SunDub
Paul Havard and SunDub
If the weather is good enough on Saturdays Paul DJs in the front beer garden at the Bondi Diggers and Golf Club. A passionate music man, he built a wooden sound system for this purpose. More of that below (it’s really interesting).
We went up a few weeks ago to see for ourselves and we can highly recommend the experience. Great music with the splendid view as backdrop. It’s a pretty spectacular community outing. We’ll let Paul tell you more.
“I met my Australian wife Natasha in Sydney while backpacking here in 1990. We lived in London for a few years before moving to Bondi in 1996 via Jamaica where we got married. After a few years we were fortunate enough to be able to buy a semi in North Bondi where we raised our family of three, making the most of the opportunities afforded by the beach and harbour side location and the local institutions such as Bondi United and the North Bondi SLSC.
Sound System Culture originated in the 1950s in Jamaica where the originators built big wooden speaker boxes which stack on top of each other, to play imported vinyl records at community dances, often setting up on a street corner in the village or township. This evolved over the years as the local ska, reggae and dancehall music grew in popularity with the deep base enabled by the big speakers allowing audiences to both hear and feel the music. Many Jamaicans moved to the UK in the post war years and built their own Sound Systems to play the music from their homeland, putting on dub, reggae and dancehall parties as well as the famous Notting Hill Carnival to celebrate their culture. It was while living in London in the 90's that I experienced Sound System for the first time and came up with a vision that one day I would build my own.
Fast forward to the 2020s and Sound System Culture has become a global phenomenon. As Covid set in, I found myself with enough time on my hands to finally get started. It took 18 months of research and practicing my woodworking skills before finalising a design, and then another year to build the Bondi Community Sound System. It is a 3 way system consisting of 2 x 15" Subs, 2 x 12" kick speakers for the mid frequencies and 2 x restored Klipsch PA speakers for the mid and high frequencies. It is driven by 6 amplifiers totalling 12,000 watts which makes it fairly powerful. (Ed: This is why we thought we should let Paul tell us about it!). That said, in comparison to most Sound Systems, this would be classed as a mini system. It's plenty big enough for Bondi though, and it sounds great.
I now have the privilege of setting up in the beer garden at the Bondi Diggers on a Saturday afternoon a couple of times a month as SunDub. It's a magical spot with a great view of the beach and the sunsets over the city can be amazing. It's also in my view, the last grassroots club/bar left in Bondi with a real locals feel. I play a wide range of music but you will always get a bit of reggae, soul and house, and there will be bass. My overall objective is to create a chilled but uplifting and positive vibe. (Ed: That he does).
The reason I have called it the Bondi Community Sound System is because I want it to be available for locals to experience and enjoy. I am keen to build the community and provide the opportunity for others to get involved and play on the system. You don't have to be able to DJ, just have a taste in music that suits the sunny afternoon session vibe, I can help with the basics to get you going. If you're interested, please reach out.
The system is available to rent, with or without a DJ, but there is no charge if it's a charity or community fund raising event.”
The weather is looking pretty fine this coming Saturday so go up and see for yourselves. It’s a lovely community thing to do. And he takes requests.
