If you happened to be walking along Queen St. West last Saturday night, you may have noticed some good-looking girls in black morph suits. What’s going on, and why are these girls completely covered up on a Saturday night? Well, if you’re curious like Alice, you’ll end up in your own kind of Wonderland. In one of the several alleyways along Queen Street is a semi-hidden entrance to Toronto’s underground gem: SILO (“Saving Individuals Like Ourselves”). The underground venue beneath 567 Queen St. W. hosted the ALL BLAK Records official label launch party Saturday night. Beyond the graffiti walls is a side entrance to SILO, which is in the lower levels of Tattoo nightclub. The dark venue with black walls, black floors, and black curtains suits the underground vibe of SILO, and naturally, ALL BLAK.
It’s not your typical ostentatious club with dozens of sweaty “Pauly D’s” trying to get with every girl. It’s a more intimate club that attracts people because of the music, not the sex appeal… but maybe a little of bit of both. SILO feels as if you’re in an enchanted forest with decorative leaves on the ceiling and climbing up the columns. With fresh underground electronic music, SILO alongside ALL BLAK hypes you up and lets the energy flow through you. Plus, they had girls applying temporary tattoos on everyone, and that’s pretty rad. 
So, where did ALL BLAK come from? Paul Quzz is one of the brilliant minds behind the record label and was nice enough to answer a few questions for us;
How did you get involved with this whole thing in the first place? What’s your background with the nightlife and music scene?
“I started when I was a kid, just getting into the whole music side of things. I DJ’d, edited music and whatnot and about 6 years into pursuing music, I quit DJ-ing and started the promoting side of things. It’s just funny how things work. A few years later, I ended up quitting the whole “promoter” thing and got right back into the music. It’s kind of a bittersweet feeling, I found my way back by how I started into the whole scene.”
What’s the label about? What genre of music does it focus on?
“ALL BLAK is a collective of individuals that are all looking for a way to be exposed without having to be someone they’re not. A concept where you are who you are, if you need to do something experimental, something cool, or something different, you’re welcome too. ALL BLAK focuses on underground house music; techno, tech-house, deep house and everything in between.
” What was the reason behind launching the record label? How did this concept of launching a record label all come about?
“I launched it more so because I couldn’t find anyone to sign me as an artist at first. I’ve been making music and playing gigs for some time but was never really given a chance by anyone. And over the years, having started my own promotion and marketing company and doing the DJ-ing on my own, I figured why not follow in my own footsteps and start something fresh of my own?”
Where do you see the record label going? What are your vision, goals, and objectives?
“The objective for the label is to be worldwide. Obviously the type of music we play to caters to a larger European market rather than North America, so our main goal is to eventually be in Europe, if not further like Asia, Australia and whatnot. We’re starting locally as any other label would and are lucky to be in Toronto where we have so many outlets to use, especially with SILO for example, as a new, emerging underground spot. Our goal though is of course, worldwide domination.”
What’s up next for ALL BLAK records event and music-wise that fans would want to know about?
“At midnight tonight (this past Saturday June 1) my first EP comes out, which is also the first release on ALL BLAK. The second EP comes out in 2 weeks, which is by Peter Lavalle. We also have two singles coming out in July with more releases planned all the way to 2015. In terms of events, in two weeks (Friday June 13), we will be doing our second label showcase at the Hashtag Gallery. It’s a little bit smaller, more intimate, and because it’s in an art gallery, we’re putting the focus more towards the music and ALL BLAK as an art form as a whole through an installation based setup. We’ve got a lot of aspects going into it, and will be something special.”
For Paul Quzz, it was more than just a launch party for his record label, not only did he celebrate his first EP, on June 1st, but he also celebrated his birthday! Fortunately, ALL BLAK will have a second showcase on Friday June 13 at Hashtag Gallery for anyone who missed the show at SILO. Follow ALL BLAK across social media (@allblakofficial – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) to get the latest updates, and don’t forget to send your belated birthday wishes to Paul Quzz!
