If you know acid house, you know GioGoi. As Co-Founder Christopher Donnelly puts it, ”I guess it started on the dance floor really, back in the day 1988, when we was down treading boards at the hacienda and different places.
Once the acid house did broke, that was our passion and we started promoting and putting a couple of, you know, illegal acid house parties on.” Anthony Donnelly, the other co-founder, says “that was where we started out, our background, was doing parties, so it was kinda born out of doing promotions [for the] label.”
The iconic clothing brand was cut short though after an argument over copyright issues with Georgio Armani over the use of the “Gio” in their branding. The Donnellys dropped the brand and ceased production, but in 2005 the label was revived after new financial brokers were keen to inject new live into the company. Since then, there has been no word of complaint from Giorgio Armani, and Gio Goi has gone from strength to strength, with support from the likes of Pete Doherty, Amy Winehouse, Deadmau5, Liam Gallagher and Plan B. Perhaps it’s the labels ability to span styles and give such wide appeal that has contributed to it’s success, with the label proving equally popular among the indie band scene as the dance music scene.
“Gio Goi…it’s not just a clothing brand, it’s a lifestyle. its basically all about, as we say, you get rock n roll bands – we’re a rock n roll brand. there isnt any big strategy for what we do, everything is organic, it’s gotta be natural, otherwise it doesn’t really mean anything,” Christopher makes clear the intentions of the brand, with Anthony adding ”We’re not like other brands, [who] we consider [are] trying to replicate us, we’re doing it honestly”
In the last decade, Ministry of Sound has gone from an iconic clubbing venue to the biggest independent record label in the world. This transition to what can only, fairly, be described as absolute world dominance, has been aided by acquisitions such as Hed Kandi, sub-labels such as Data and partnerships with other labels including Ultra Records and EMI. The club now approaches its 20th year of operation and despite the recent threat of a housing development, Ministry can certainly expect a bright future.
It’s been three years since the eponymous Brothers left us hanging after the release of their widely tipped, warmly received ‘We Are The Night’. Now they’re back with this little number, an eclectic mix of samples and static that they’ve decided to christen ‘Further’.