Hi, I'm Ikävä Pii, a musician, composer, producer, DJ and community organiser. My approach entwines music-making and activism, from the perspective of a queer working-class immigrant from southern Italy. Recently I also started to release music as AGENDA⋮, go listen to my first single Paradigms! I moved to London in 2019 after the community space and club I was co-running in my hometown was forced to close due to a fascist mayor. After a couple of years and a pandemic, I focused my efforts into building the same here.
I now co-run the recording studio at The Bath House, home of my monthly event Niche. I was a co-founder of the SODAA collective (more about this later). I’m also a Netil Radio resident host and DJ. I have performed or curated events at Ormside Projects, Corsica Studios, IKLECTIK, Spanners, Village Underground, Grow Tottenham, The Cause, Avalon Cafe, Electrowerkz, and collaborated with queer clubnights like Riposte and Howl.
Videos from Niche
The recording studio at The Bath House
What’s your favourite club? What does your ideal night out in London look like?
Ormside Projects is my favourite. The most intentional club in London, with the best music for my (weird) taste. Their founder Mike Levitt is doing heroic work to make it happen; and its soundsystem is incredible.
My ideal club, though, is what we were outlining with SODAA, the collective I co-founded in 2022, currently on hiatus. Our goal was to develop a governance model for a community run and operated music venue, a framework that could counteract the lack of space and inequalities in the music scene. This is still incredibly relevant - I hope to pick up again from where we left off one day. So this ideal club would be led by workers, artists and punters, owned by its community, run collectively and transparently on the principles of solidarity economy - same principles applied by Sister Midnight: thanks to their amazing work, ≈800 people own the Brookdale Club in Catford, myself included.
My ideal night, therefore, is one with weird AF live shows and DJs, with a great soundsystem, foggy as hell, discrete lights, a lovely chill area, an ambient room, food, free bananas, some playful interactivity, where everyone gets paid fairly thanks to the community’s regular financial support. This is a real emergency in London, for every year more space is lost to greedy developers, and for-profit-driven clubs will not solve the issue.
Can you reveal your hidden gems in London for enjoying culture or just hanging out?
I have to start with The Bath House - our wonderful, multifaceted community space in Hackney Wick. I’ve been involved for 2 years, I run its newly opened recording studios, and it’s where my experimental music event Niche takes place monthly. Alongside sick music events, it regularly hosts exhibitions and workshops; it has a lovely café, several creative studios, and it’s also home to a lovely Finnish-style sauna - there’s just so much going on. There you can also find a Library of Things, the Self Pleasure Club, a CNC machine workshop, 2 floral shops, a chess club, 4 cats, and much more. I’m there almost every day, either for work or for love.
[La Fomo note: The Bath House is putting on a fundraiser festival with workshops, music, community courses, and wellness sessions for free on the 16 and 17 of November to raise money for a renovation of their heating system that would allow them to heat their entire building through dancing! Find out more here.]
Left image: Giant Steps at The Bath House via their website I Right picture: The Bath House Sauna via their website.
What are your neighbourhood’s go to places?
I just moved out of Hackney Wick; I lived in the warehouses for years - it’s all being knocked down, erased, everyone evicted, it’s so grim. You could usually spot me around Oslo House, at Slice Club, the breweries or the queer nights in The Yard, and of course The Bath House.
I just moved to Dalston, and (like everyone I suppose) I’m in love with the Ridley Road market, Andu Cafe, Dalston Superstore, and the jazz clubs in Gillett Square.
Left image: Dalston Jazz Bar, via their Instagram @dalstonjazzbar I Middle image: Ridley Road Market, via @ridleyroadmarket I Right image: Dalston Superstore, via their website
Which events are on your radar for the coming weeks?
Niche x Zeobat at The Bath House, December 14th - absolutely unmissable. The best London meme page teaming up with the best weird music night, hehe... We already confirmed a couple of stellar guests so you better save the date. I’m also playing a very special night at Venue MOT on January 25th.
Other than that, I’m excited to enter the wormhole my hero and friend Objekt will create by playing all day at Fold on November 23rd, it will be one for the books I’m sure.
What’s the most memorable event you’ve attended in the past few months?
Kali Malone live at St Martin in the Fields. Sensational. Her music is probably the most sacred and touching I have ever heard. It was promoted by Baba Yaga's Hut, one of the best out there.
Clubbing-wise, I’ve not really been flabbergasted by much recently, let’s say. But always excited to go to nights like Accidental Meetings, Goodness, Cabin Fever, Diversion. And I had the best time with Niche when we teamed up with Ribbon Agency and Baroque Sunburst - lovely crews.
I also went to some great festivals this summer, top of the list is the beloved Three Wheel Drive.
What’s your favourite thing about putting on events in London?
The fact that you can promote the weirdest stuff and there will always be a niche for it. This city, despite its harsh realities, is so beautiful and generous for that.
Right Image by Ella Mitchell I Right Image by loud.shutters
Where do you go in London when you need some creative inspiration?
The park. Always. Creative inspiration for me means calmness and a slower pace. So, dogs, ponds, and squirrels. I’m not good at disconnecting, as a self-employed I obviously work a silly amount of hours every day, and I have bad FOMO, so I rarely slow down; Victoria Park or London Fields, especially the spots where there’s little or no signal, are amongst the few places where I really relax.
What’s your relationship with London?
London is home, something I feel lucky to be able to say as an immigrant. Things have been tough of course, especially at the beginning, but I “found my tribe”, thanks to SODAA and its Discord, thanks to some amazing friends I stumbled across early on, those who introduced me to other music nerds, friends made through Feeld, thanks to the queers…
I found community and I think I contributed to building community, and even if the word is abused and coopted, real community is still the difference between living a decent life here and not.
That said, I don’t think London is a city - I feel like my good friends in Lewisham, for example, live in a town nearby mine. Hackney is my city (fun fact it’s approximately the same size as my home city Bari); “London” is a bit of a myth. The fact that Hackney Wick is a tiny village was a major plus for me.
