Optimo (Espacio) on 26 years together: 'We have this DIY spirit'

Now, 26 years on, JD Twitch and JG Wilkes (Keith McIvor and Jonnie Wilkes), show no signs of having lost even a scintilla of their anything-goes mentality or the “unique disregard for musical genres” that has helped propel them into nightclub booths and onto festival stages the world over.

The secret to the duo’s success? Partly, they say, it’s down to “a lot of luck” and giving each other the space they need – something that is exemplified by the fact that they choose not to sit next to each other on the 180-plus flights they take each year to DJ at venues across the globe.

“I don’t know,” McIvor ponders, “I guess, giving someone a bit of space. We each kind of know our strengths and weaknesses so we can go off and focus on things and we don’t have to go, ‘What do you think about this or this?’”

Part of the secret, he adds, is down to luck as well as respect for each other. 

“We’ve had a few fall-outs but they’ve been pretty minor,” he says, “and they’ve never been more than something that the next day we’ve worked it out.”

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Wilkes adds: “We’ve never had an assistant, we’ve never had a manager. We have an agent who does our bookings and travel itineraries and stuff like that.”

It’s also a question of taste, he adds: “Our ideas are kind of moving in tandem together. We know what we like. And sometimes, to have someone else kind of interpret that and then deliver it – it sometimes doesn’t sit right. We’ve kept it in-house maybe for that reason. 

“We just have this sort of DIY spirit, ‘Let’s see how we can do this ourselves’, and it could actually work out more fun and more interesting because it’s not being diluted in any way.”

Curiously, as McIvor points out, Optimo (Espacio) are just one of a number of DJ duos that can be found plying their trade in basement club booths in Scotland’s biggest city. 

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He says: “It’s also an interesting peculiarity to Glasgow. DJ duos aren’t that common generally but in Glasgow you have Harri & Dominic, Stuart and Orde [Slam], you have us, Becky Marshall and Sofay and a few others. It’s a weirdly Glasgow-centric thing.

“I notice that Stuart and Orde have been together even longer than us. Maybe they hate each other? I don’t know! We both do things on our own, we both go off and have our own projects. Sometimes we do gigs on our own.”

“I think any artist needs that,” adds Wilkes. “That within the whole thing there’s other things you can explore by yourself.” 

“It makes me really respect how bands operate,” laughs McIvor. “Two people is complicated enough never mind five or six or whatever! Obviously so many bands split up or hate each other.” 

Optimo (Espacio) have been going strong for 26 years

Behind an unassuming pawn shop sign in Glasgow’s North Street in the intimate and stylish surroundings of The Berkeley Suite, Optimo (Espacio) have held down a bi-monthly residency since 2021, which started just over a decade after their legendary weekly parties at the Sub Club drew to a close at the height of their popularity.

With both DJs living a short walk away from the venue, the residency –which Keith says “happened organically” – has allowed them to reconnect with Glasgow and focus on the idea of “localism”, something which has appealed to them since they started together back in 1997.

McIvor says: “It’s been amazing. Incredible. I mean I’m an eternal pessimist...but every month it’s just been great. I think it was during the second one we did, that this guy comes up to me and says, ‘It’s my 18th birthday and I just want to say I’m so happy to be here, I couldn’t think or anywhere I’d rather be’, and about an hour later this guy comes up to me and says, ‘I just want to tell you it’s my 70th birthday’. 

“70 is quite extreme,” he laughs. “Obviously it’s geared towards younger folk but it’s a very wide age group and a very diverse crowd.

“I think in the last couple of years The Berkeley Suite has really gone up a notch. People have really grown to like the space and feel comfortable there. It attracts a certain crowd. You just know there’s not going to be any bad vibes or any trouble. People can look out for each other.”

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Wilkes adds: “It was the notion of us coming back into what is the heart of our community and trying to consolidate something that we can grow together over a period of time. 

“That was the thinking behind it –‘Let’s do something based in Glasgow again’. 

“In our neighbourhood,” McIvor interjects.

“And that’s important, to have a close relationship even with the space you are playing in. We are now beginning to know how the sound behaves in the room and how the room feels. And getting to know the room like that is really important,” Wilkes adds.

The Herald’s chat with Optimo (Espacio) comes ahead of the annual jamboree that is the Melting Pot and Heverlee Spring Weekender, which takes place on Glasgow’s south side next weekend. It will see the duo hosting a full-day party on the Sunday with DJs and artists from home and abroad including Pleasure Pool, Charlotte Adigéry & Bolis Pupul, James Holden, Sofay and David Barbarossa.

Optimo (Espacio) hope the party will mirror the success of last year’s inaugural event, which – coming off the back of the pandemic – felt like “a gathering of the tribes” as some 2,000 people descended on Queen’s Park Recreation Ground.

The first Optimo (Espacio) club night at Sub Club

McIvor says: “Last year was very, very special because I think for a lot of people it was maybe the first time they had been out post-pandemic. And then we had really bad weather, which would seem unfortunate but actually somehow enhanced it. So the party kicked off a lot earlier than we expected because everyone was just in the tent.

“It’s really nice to do something in a park, in Glasgow, in an area where a lot of the people we know now live.”

Wilkes adds: “In Scotland especially it’s very difficult to do an outdoor event. You could lose the shirt off your back trying to do outdoor parties because the weather is so unpredictable. But we keep trying because it is a different experience to being in an indoor, dark space with unnatural light.

“There’s something great about gathering in the fresh air and hearing music that way. And we’ve found a way to do it at Queen’s Park. We’ve got a great site. Production is right up there. And it’s just a great day out.”

And it seems that the anarchic, DIY spirit that Optimo (Espacio) has embodied for more than 25 years now has been matched toe-to-toe by a similar spirit and enthusiasm in Glasgow that, like them, shows no signs of waning.

McIvor says: “It’s never died. I’ve lived here for 35 years and there’s never been any kind of big troughs. It maybe kind of has points where there’s maybe more exciting stuff. 

“In Edinburgh where I grew up, it felt like you would have these huge periods where nothing was really going on and then something big happened. 

“Glasgow has always had it going on. I think currently it’s in a peak just now.”

Melting Pot x Heverlee Springtime Weekender returns on May 6 & 7 to Glasgow’s Queen’s Park Recreation Ground, with Optimo: Presents on May 7. Last remaining tix are available here