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Three friends
collaborate on Las Vegas’ ambitious new free-standing
dance club.
By Kerri Mason
It
was bound to happen at some point. How long could three good
friends on a similar path – each making their own impact
on the nightclub industry; each wielding unique, hot gear; each
picking up high-brow clients countrywide – go without
working together?
The
project that finally brought Dan Agne (Sound Investment), Steve
Lieberman (SJ Lighting), and Alejandro Gonzalez (Kryogenifex)
together is Ice, Las Vegas’ newest free-standing (read:
not in a casino-hotel) nightclub, owned and conceived by Agne’s
longtime friend Ed Williams. The partnership makes sense not
only because of the personal relationships involved –
each man is emerging as a new leader in his respective field
too. Agne is gaining recognition amongst high-profile DJs and
clubbers alike with stand-up-and-listen installs like Maze in
Miami and Cielo in New York, and recently picked up another
hotly contested account, NY’s Spirit. Lieberman’s
so busy with new installs (Nocturnal in Miami), and one-offs
(Paul Oakenfold at the Hollywood Bowl) that he barely has time
for an interview. And Gonzalez’s brainchild Kryogenifex
won Best Effects Product at the 2003 Club World Awards, and
has quickly become a standard component of truly fabulous nightclubs.
Ultra Sonic
Ice is big on prefixes – it’s a “meta_club,”
consisting of “microenvironments” – but its
goal is simple: To give Las Vegas a club that’s as fabulous
and well-appointed as the others, but decidedly more music-centered.
Williams
knew he wanted the best sound and lighting he could buy, but
gave Agne carte blanche when it came to details. “Eddie
and I have a very straightforward friendship,” says Agne.
“He just said, ‘Danny, you take care of it.’”
Agne used the opportunity to bring on Lieberman for lights and
Gonzalez for effects, and together with video specialist Vello
Virhaus, interior designer Thomas Shoner, and architectural
firm Jones-Greenwald Las Vegas, Ice was born.
To
make it suitable for the discerning music lover, Agne spec-ed
his favorite sound system – Funktion-One speakers powered
by MC2 amps and processed by XTA’s “magic box.”
Lieberman crafted an elaborate trussing system and Coemar light
rig around his favorite console, MA Lighting’s GrandMA.
And to give the club its namesake, Miami’s Gonzalez customized
Las Vegas’ only Kryogenifex liquid nitrogen system.
Ice’s
30’x30’ main floor features a four-point Dance Stack
Ultra speaker system (the “Ultra” is for its newly
enhanced bottom end), with MC2 amplification on the mids and
highs, and Crest on the low end. Agne says that the power and
clarity of the Stacks match the room’s intended use (hardcore
dancing), while their aesthetics complement its design: “The
speakers look bigger than life; like a very extraterrestrial
thing just landed,” he says. “They bring that big
room into a more scaled size.” And Agne loves his customized
XTA DP226 controllers, which he used in each room of the club:
“They give sound a very human quality; approachable, sonically
transparent, and fluid. They’re precision tools.”
Weak Ceiling, Heavy Truss
Lieberman’s
install wasn’t so straightforward – he had to deal
with a ceiling “that could barely hold up the ceiling.”
Hanging anything was out, so Lieberman instead built an indoor
ground support system usually used in production environments
(like an outdoor concert), consisting of a truss rig that climbs
up on chain motors. Basically “a roof over the dancefloor,”
there are four posts spaced across 50’ x 40’, with
a height of 30 feet. A 20-foot circle with eight five-foot horizontal
legs (four going out; four going in) sits in the middle of the
rig. Everything is powder-coated black, except for that middle
circle (in it’s natural aluminum). “If you were
to stand it up straight, it kind of looks like a bloodshot eye,”
enthuses Lieberman. “It’s really slick.”
 In
addition to a standard dancefloor system featuring Coemar fixtures
(“super, super bright, and fast”), Martin Atomic
strobes, and a selection of conventional lighting, Lieberman
also supplied Ice with a full-scale architectural package. Uplit
LED bottle displays, gel-ed pars and ellipsoidals to break up
the darkness and highlight scenic elements, changeable gobos
for marketing opportunities, and cove lighting (“not as
disgusting as rope light”) treat the club’s every
corner to create a unified, sleek experience for the patron.
All
three men report that their first “orchestrated”
partnership was overwhelmingly positive, and something of relief
from the norm. “It was awesome,” says Lieberman.
“We’re all such friends – those guys are my
family. Especially in this business, we come across a lot of
slime, and to have people you can trust is a blessing.”
Colors, Fabrics, DJs
But
forget the gear, what about the club itself?
“Ice is a metamorphosis; it’s all about change,”
says owner Williams, a businessman with a history in video games
and travel administration. “It has the capabilities from
the exterior and interior to change.” From the Panaflex
sign on the exterior of the building that changes every month,
to the fabric on the furniture that can be switched in a day,
to the series of separate “theme” rooms that offer
different nocturnal pleasures, Williams has surely created a
chameleon of a club. He’s also incorporated different
elements of his favorite clubbing ports of call – the
“small” and “quaint” feel of New York
clubs; the “warmth” and good service of his former
stomping ground, Chicago; the “flamboyance” and
“bright colors” of Miami – into Ice’s
MO.
The
Lounge is a visitor’s first stop (playing what Williams
calls “urban soul”), which empties onto the main
dance area (with its cushioned Brazilian walnut floor) and the
central bar. Then there’s the Fur Room, a vision in shocking
pink latex and yes, fur. Here patrons are treated to “S&M”
iconography and mirror-polished panels, plus a full view of
the main floor. A suite of cloistered VIP rooms, some with “smart
card”-only access, completes the upscale picture.
Williams
isn’t too concerned with booking big name DJs, or competing
in the Vegas market simply by doing what everyone else does.
“I love Paul Oakenfold; he’s the best. But he’s
in Vegas all the time,” he says. Williams is more interested
in jocks with more underground cred, like Doc Martin and house
godfather Frankie Knuckles (both infrequent Sin City visitors).
“Anyone can book big names, but I want big names that
are legends,” he says. One look and listen at Ice and
they just might come calling.
Ice
200 East Harmon Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada,
www.icelasvegas.com |
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