MEDUZA and James Hype Discourage "Excessive Filming" at Upcoming Our House Shows

MEDUZA and James Hype’s collaborative Our House project is taking a hardline stance against mobile devices at their shows.

Nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a dancefloor without a phone anywhere in sight. MEDUZA and James Hype hope to change that — at their shows, at least. Headline events for their collaborative Our House project will discourage use of mobile devices, taking aim at excessive filming in particular.

“In recent years, the prevalence of smartphones has drastically altered the way we experience live
music and club culture,” reads a press release. “While technology has undoubtedly brought convenience and connectivity to our lives, it has also introduced new challenges that threaten the unique atmosphere of these events.”

Among these, they argue, are threats to partygoers’ privacy, disruptions to the artists, and a “lost connection with the present moment.” Our House asserts that reducing the presence of phones “fosters an environment where people value the quality of their experiences over accumulating digital content.”

They hope to accomplish this in a number of ways. Firstly, they will launch awareness campaigns to inform their fans about the repercussions of excessive filming. They will also suggest no-phone policies at their events, and try to foster a culture of self-policing by enlisting certain fans to communicate these values to fellow partygoers.

Our House is by no means the first outfit to take a firm stance against phones. Underground destinations like Berghain in Berlin and the now-defunct Output in New York City have famously taken it a step further by putting stickers over entrants’ cameras. More recently, Lane 8‘s entire This Never Happened event brand was based on a phoneless premise.

MEDUZA is an Italian trio consisting of Mattia Vitale, Luca De Gregorio, and Simone Giani. Their breakthrough single was 2019’s “Piece of Your Heart,” and they also achieved significant commercial success with “Paradise” in 2020. James Hype, meanwhile, rose to fame for his 2017 track “More Than Friends.” Last year, his single “Ferrari” hit #1 in Belgium, Italy, and the Netherlands.

As Our House, MEDUZA and James Hype will kick off their no-phones initiative at Our House ADE in Amsterdam on October 20. After that, they will bring it to their New Years shows at Radius Chicago on December 30 and Echostage in Washington, D.C. on December 31.