Fridae

Grant Heinrich who started his first professional gig was at Heaven, one of the most prestigious clubs in London and the longest-running gay club in the world, will be in Singapore playing to a gay and lesbian house.

The Australian-born DJ played at Heaven for more than a year as part of "There," the clubs flagship eclectic night - covering soulful and hard house and Heinrich's room, "urban beats," described as "like a party in a lounge room - some dance, some R&B, big beat and UK garage".

Heinrich, who will play a 3-hour set this Saturday (Feb 2) at dbl 0 recalls, "It's almost impossible to get a slot at Heaven� But a DJ walked out the morning he was due to play. The promoter called me as a last resort - I'd only ever played in my bedroom at the time."

His next break was a DJing competition run by Mixmag, the UK's biggest-selling dance magazine. DJs were invited to submit a demo to be judged by 2001's biggest tribal DJ, Tom Stephan, to win a support gig for his next tour. Heinrich's entry was selected from a field of more than 1000.

And at the gig, Stephan liked Heinrich's music enough to put the junior DJ in touch with Crash, the club that had made Stephan's reputation. Now three years old, Crash is London's equivalent of Danny Tenaglia's Club Vinyl - dark, tribal, with a crowd of muscle queens and club kids.

Even the very straight TimeOut UK recommends the club, nominating "being twatted at 3AM in the chillout room at Crash" as one of "10 essential experiences a person must have to call themselves a Londoner".

"Crash is THE club I wanted to play for," Heinrich says. "The crowd is really serious about its music and they encourage the DJs to take risks. There's not another gay club in London with that gives its DJs as much support."

Hierich who played at several exclusive gigs in Melbourne last weekend including the prestigious Red Raw party, a key event of the gay and lesbian Midsumma Festival, will return to London via Hong Kong and KL after his gig in Singapore to start a residency at Crash on Feb 16.

Listen to Grant Heinrich online.