Bringing house music back to Ottawa (Brohug event review - Halloween Au Palais)

By Dominic Wren

Recently, Dubstep has been dominating the Ottawa/Gatineau with an overwhelming majority of ravers here preferring that genre. Although these hardstep/hardtrap shows can can be one of the most entertaining, sometimes a bit of diversity can bring a fresh look to the EDM scene. This past weekend was filled with EDM events across the region but one that stood out on the Friday was Halloween au Palais, organized by Les Fondateurs, at the convention center in Gatineau which brought house artists Hook n Sling and Brohug.

The Swedish band of brothers took to the stage Friday night after an empowering set from L.A based Hook n Sling. At the start of their set, the crowd seemed somewhat into it. Looking for some headbanging madness, it wasn’t the right place for it but Brohug quickly noticed this so they switched by mixing in Lil Pump hit single “Boss.” The crowd suddenly started to liven up and the massive room got hotter and hotter by the minute. From there they smartly transitioned between basshouse (sticking to their house roots) and hip-hop. Even though the event was 95% sold out, the venue felt intimate as there was a connection between the DJs and the audience. The DJ trio released a track recently with world famous Tchami “My Place” featuring Reece that had got quite a bit of attention at its release. To my surprise, believing the track wouldn’t be that popular in this region, the crowd seemed to know every lyric to the song. It was pretty amazing to see.

After the show, I managed to ask a couple of questions to the three sweaty DJs. I first asked what brought the three guys together where they responded casually by saying the two of them were brothers and the 3rd was a friend of theirs so stuck together and have now become one of the biggest names in House music. They have recently launched their first record label “Brohouse.” They mentioned the goal for this label is to promote up and coming artists that have good music and raw talent. What should the EDM community expect next from these guys? Well they have SO MUCH fresh music coming out in the next coupe of months and a lot of touring around the world so they might be in a city near you!