Home, Sydney — 15 January 2000
- Phat Phil Cooper
- Jan 11
- 6 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
A Birthday Night Inside a Residency Era
On 15 January 2000, I played at Home Nightclub. It fell on my 29th birthday, but it wasn’t a one-off guest slot. At that point I was coming to Australia for four to six weeks at a time, often staying with Mark and Sarah Broadbent, and taking a residency at Home. That longer context matters, because it shaped the nights, the bookings, and the relationships.
The Night (from the flyer)
The line-up on 15 January 2000 was:
Phat Phil Cooper
Jon Carter (as Junior Cartier)
Simon Caldwell
Jules Beaumont
Bill Morley
Maz
Home, Darling Harbour
At the turn of the millennium, Home was one of Australia’s most important clubs. Purpose-built in the late ’90s on the harbour, it was designed specifically for electronic music. Large capacity, multiple rooms, and a sound system that could handle long sets properly. You could take your time in that room -build, hold, and move the floor without forcing it.
At the time, Home wasn’t just a big club, its multi-level design was built around an immersive sound system and AV setup that was a core part of the experience. Contemporary accounts from the early 2000s describe the main dance-floor thumping with a serious, professionally engineered PA that was part of a significant production investment for the venue. Rather than a repurposed bar system, this was a purpose-designed sound environment meant to support long DJ sets and full-capacity crowds with clarity and power.
Promoters: Mark & Sarah Broadbent
Mark and Sarah Broadbent weren’t just promoting individual nights — they were part of a longer shared journey. Our relationship started in the mid-1990s, long before Sydney entered the picture, and grew naturally through records, clubs, and Ibiza seasons. Over time, they went on to become key promoters and bookers at Space Ibiza, and later Pikes Ibiza, helping shape two very different but equally important chapters of the island’s club culture.
In the late ’90s, they were also closely involved with Cream Ibiza, running seasons during 1998 and 1999 in one of the most demanding club environments of the time. That experience mattered. It informed how they approached bookings, how they trusted DJs, and how they understood the flow of a room across a whole season rather than a single night.
So when they relocated to Australia to help establish Home Sydney, they didn’t arrive empty-handed. You could hear that background in the line-ups and feel it in the programming. Residents mattered. Guests fitted the room. Nothing felt random or short-term.
On a personal level, those Sydney trips worked because they were lived properly. I wasn’t flying in and out. I was staying with Mark and Sarah, settling into the city, and becoming part of the weekly rhythm of the club. That way of working has carried through the years. Today, we live around five minutes’ walk from each other in Ibiza, a quiet reminder that what started in the mid-’90s was never just about individual nights, but about long-term relationships built around music, trust, and shared experience.
Darren Hughes and the Home DNA
Behind the scenes, Darren Hughes played a key role in the wider Home story. Darren was one of the founders of Cream, and later became involved in launching the Home concept.
There was also a family connection: Darren was Sarah Broadbent’s brother-in-law. That detail matters, because Home wasn’t a faceless corporate venture back then, it was built by people with shared history, trust, and direct experience of running major clubs.
Family, friendships, and club culture were tightly intertwined, and that showed in how the venue operated.
Living the Residency
Doing weeks at a time changes how you DJ. You stop thinking in terms of single sets and start thinking in terms of flow across nights. You learn when the room opens up, when it needs space, and when you can push it.
That’s what Home allowed. And that’s why 15 January 2000 works as a marker, not because it was unique, but because it sat inside a longer run where I was part of the club’s ongoing identity.
Jon Carter
At the time, Jon Carter was dating Heaven (Claire), who was very much a force of the moment. She was carving out a serious international career and was one of the resident DJs at Ministry of Sound, touring heavily — including Australia around that period.
I already knew Claire through the Global Grooves Birmingham crew — the sister record shop to the one in Chester that I was a partner in at the time. She was also involved in a clothing store connected to Global Grooves, so our paths crossed naturally through records, shops, and scene rather than formal industry routes.
Jon and Heaven were a proper power pairing back then — jokingly referred to as the Posh and Becks of the UK club scene (by me) — but jokes aside, both were genuinely doing big things at that point. Their presence reflected exactly where the culture was heading: DJs crossing over, touring globally, and shaping club identity well beyond a single city or scene.
Having Jon Carter on that night made complete sense. Under his Junior Cartier alias, Jon brought UK underground weight without overplaying it. He even managed to drop Kelly Marie "Feels Like I'm In Love" and make it work, the place went nuts, is it Balearic??? Who knows!!!
Simon Caldwell
Simon Caldwell was already a serious figure in Australian underground music and remains one today. Deep knowledge, broad taste, and later the driving force behind the long-running Mad Racket parties. His presence on the flyer grounds the night locally. This wasn’t imported culture dropped into Sydney — it was integrated with people who were already shaping the scene from the inside.
Jason Bye: The Resident Backbone
Although Jason Bye didn’t play on 15 January, he was central to Home during this period. UK-born and deeply shaped by Ibiza, with residencies at Café Mambo and Amnesia, Jason relocated to Sydney and became a main-room resident at Home from 1999 into the early 2000s.
Residents like Jason set the agenda. They define the room week after week so guest DJs can step in without disrupting the flow. Even when they’re not on a specific flyer, their influence is baked into the club.
Clive Henry — International Guest, Same Circuit
Another important figure from that wider residency period was Clive Henry. Clive wasn’t a Home resident, but he appeared as an international guest during different points of my residency, and we shared bills at the club.
As one half of Peace Division, Clive represented the UK underground at a moment when that sound was travelling globally, an original pioneer of the Tech House sound that had soul and feeling, not the dirge it is today.
In the years that followed, Clive went on to become a resident DJ at Circo Loco at DC10, one of Ibiza’s most enduring underground institutions. That progression — from UK clubs to international rooms like Home, and then into the fabric of Ibiza via Circo Loco — mirrors the wider circuit many of us were moving through at the time.
The Wider Circuit
Home also regularly hosted DJs like Ralph Lawson, reinforcing its connection to the UK and Ibiza underground rather than short-term hype. These weren’t random bookings, they reflected a shared approach to DJing and club culture.
Looking Back from 55
Posting this in January 2026, as I turn 55, isn’t just about nostalgia. It’s about recognising a period where the conditions were right: time, trust, strong promoters, committed residents, and a club that understood what DJs actually need to do their job properly.
The flyer marks one night. The residency tells the real story.
If you were there, you’ll recognise it straight away. If you weren’t, this is what it looked like when club culture was built on relationships, consistency, and letting the music do the work.
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