Road Trip Tales: When Cosmic Tiger hit The Back Room, Bali

We recap on a memorable night in the tropics

Spreading love through music was always the primary objective of Cosmic Tiger. Though running for less than a year, it became clear that a chord had been struck with the esoteric underground way beyond our Southeast Asian base, and taking the Tiger on tour seemed like a logical step to help spread the word, to exchange, and to connect with the global community. It was decided that we'd start relatively locally, and much fun was had at our first port of call, Potato Head Singapore.

The next and most recent stop took us to the idyllic surroundings of Bali – our very favourite place on this earth right now, endowed as it is with the combination of dazzling nature, a cutting edge art scene, and warm and welcoming population. The Back Room at Mason was the host, and representing Cosmic Tiger on the turntables was Rocco Universal, alongside Bali resident and all-round cool dude, Adrian Giordano.

Words by Rocco Universal, photography by Ben Jasinski.

On the day of the event, the air was humid and the skies were thick with black clouds, a storm was in the making. In the evening time, I set off on my little moped en-route to the venue, I'd never been before so was relying on Google maps to guide me there. As if to add a little adversity to the mix, the app directed me the wrong way down a one-way, and very narrow causeway — which also happened to be gridlocked with traffic.

It was at precisely this point that the promised rain-storm exploded into action. I wasn't really dressed for inclement weather, and within minutes I was soaked to the bone. With no choice but to sit it out – by this point I was blocked in from both sides – I decided to make peace with the added moisture, and eventually, the log jam diminished, and I made my way safely to the venue.

Resembling some sort of semi-aquatic mammal, I arrived at Mason – the beautiful restaurant to which The Back Room is attached – and was warmly greeted by my wingman for the night, Adrian Giordano. We embraced and sat down to chew the fat. We talked about music studio workflow, yoga, the healing power of the ocean, the duality of existence and many other hot topics. Finally, we got around to ordering food, and shortly afterwards I was again close to drowning. This time, though, it was in a feast of exquisite cuisine.

Adrian had opted for a vegan selection, but the carnivore that I am, I ordered an unbelievable lamb shoulder, potato puree, and broccoli salad. Now, I don't know how you make a broccoli salad taste so good, but it was really exceptional. The whole meal was literally amazing. In general, wherever I eat, I'm left thinking that my meal doesn't quite match up to my Calabrese-rooted family classics, but on this occasion, I am happy to concede defeat. Well played Mason, incredible eating.

Despite the rain, the restaurant was packed and lively. When the time came, we made our way through to the Back Room, set up the recording device, and started to jam. The venue has a hidden, speak-easy ambience, high ceilings, leather seating, and a pool table which eventually made way to for a dance floor. To begin with, the room was sparsely populated, so I said to Adrian something along the lines of “oh well, I guess we can just have fun playing tunes to each other”. He replied, “no man, in an hour or two, this place is gonna be packed”. He wasn't lying.

By around 11pm it was standing room only. We started off playing some cosmic and Balearic favourites, but steadily moved through the gears – along the way gliding through Italo and Afro disco, Detroit techno, classic New York House, freaky acid, and a bunch of other fantastic sounds. The floor was packed, and here and there the enthusiastic dancers would approach to thank us for the music. The atmosphere was electric, and only by two in the morning did the crowd start to thin out – by which point we started to indulge ourselves by selecting our deepest and most tripped-out tracks. Sadly, and perhaps poetically, this part of the recording was lost, so those particular vibrations disappeared into the ether forever.

The last tune of the night was Primal Scream's 'Come Together', in humble honour of the late, great Andrew Weatherall who had produced the track. It felt like a fitting end to a really wonderful extended evening of exchange and positive union. Just after 3am we got on our mopeds and drove home through the thick haze of the humid night air, stopping off briefly to decompress and debrief.

Full marks to the team behind Mason and The Back Room. We absolutely loved it, and we will certainly be back. You can find out more about The Back Room at Mason right here.