Last Saturday I was able to experience my first ever Windy City Soul Club. I planned ahead and got there early enough to forego any sort of line in the god-forsaken cold and planted myself firmly at the bar. I watched quietly as more and more people rolled in beaming from ear to ear. “Haven’t they been outside” I thought to myself, “What the hell’s wrong with these people?” I sat at the bar a while longer before finally venturing out onto the dance floor. Don’t get me wrong, usually I’m first in line to get down, but somehow being at Windy City alone felt like the most depressing situation on the planet. “Why is everyone so happy?” I grumpily wondered until, that is, I finally made it to the dance floor.It was like I stepped through some invisible wall and transcended into a new room just bursting with good vibes. Everyone around me was pulling out all the best moves with no intention of stopping insight. I couldn’t help but start to smile and get down, even if I was alone. “Windy City Soul, where have you been my whole life?” was the new thought racing through my head.Aside from all the joyous dancing and people watching, I had the pleasure of sitting down with the men behind the turntables. You know, the ones beaming down at you as they watch you experience some of their most loved hits for the first time. Read on and discover the birth of Windy City Soul, where to find the best hits (yeah, right), and the most important part of Windy City Soul (*spoiler alert*: it’s all of you).ASHLEIGH DYE: Can you tell me about the first ever Windy City Soul Club?NICK SOULE: We did it at a loft space in Lincoln Park, it wasn’t really supposed to be having shows, but they did it under the table. The first time we ever did it, it was just our buddies – 80 people, something like that. The next time it was 350 people, they had to kick a bunch of people out.AD: What inspired you guys to start Windy City Soul Club? What was, and still is, the goal?NS: We all collected soul records from various points in our lives. We all came out of some sort of mod scene I guess you could say; it just translated into soul 45’s. Then we all met somehow, I met Aret and Ben, who was one of the founders, in Milwaukee for the first time at a mutual friend’s birthday party.ARET SAKALIAN: Ben and I had a DJ duo, and then we formed with the rest of the guys it turned into Windy City…XAVIER VELEZ: We all had our own DJ crews or DJ acts that we did. As you’ll see tonight, we tend to have a revolving door of guests, and it got to the point where we were all hosting each other [in our own DJ nights] and it was like, why don’t we just get together.AD: Where is your favorite place to dig up new records and albums?NS: It’s a secret![laughter]XV: All I can say is the dirtiest and dangerous place you can find.AS: I used to go to the south side every Saturday and look for records.XV: When we mean south side we mean really far south, like almost Indiana. For the most part I would say, collectively, the places where we’ve had the most luck weren’t necessarily record shops. They were mom and pop shops. It’s like finding that perfect shirt at the thrift store.AS: The diamond in the rough!AD: I’m all about thrift hunting, so I can totally relate. What are some of your favorite artists to play, ones that really ignite a response from the crowd?AS. I don’t know, I guess anything that I listen to and excites me, I’m hoping it’ll excite the crowd and the other DJSXV: Most of what we play are, not necessarily one-hit-wonders but would be the ‘indie’ of the sixties, you know before indie became this genre of music and just meant independently released. Local one-hit-wonders.AD: What are your favorite records to listen to when you’re not spinning for hundreds of people?NS: Jazz, or punk rock. Reggae.AS: Yeah reggae, dub, jazz, funky stuff. I like house music even.XP: I’m a huge, huge 70’s & 80’s power pop collector.AD: What’s your best Windy City Soul Club moment to date?NS: New Years Eve, I would say. This past New Years Eve we got to go back to the loft space we started at, and that was pretty fun. But New Years Eve, when it turned from 2011-2012, we were at Logan Square Auditorium, which we are doing again this year, and it was like 1,500 people just having a great time.AS: Biggest crowd we’ve ever had.XV: Let me correct this- I say 1,200!AS: It was like 900.XV: Regardless, it was the most people we’ve ever had come out for just us. We’ve played bigger crowds in Seattle, but it wasn’t just us.AD: What’s your favorite part about doing Windy City Soul Club?NS: Just putting on a record and seeing everyone’s reaction to it, exposing people to music they wouldn’t hear otherwise.XV: Yeah, the crowd is what does it for me. I mean us, Windy City Soul Club, we’re really nothing. Without the crowd, we’re just four guys playing obscure recordsAS: Without the line up people waiting to come in, we’d be playing to an empty roomXV: I’ve said it before but, to me, Windy City Soul Club, it’s not the DJs, it’s the people who come out and make up the crowd. That’s Windy City Soul Club.

Empty Exchange: Windy City Soul Club