NIT is agency that will promote club nights from their home city to other parts of the world. Instead of Outside Your Comfort Zone - Promoters Tips for running parties outside home environment. British club promoters speaking aobut their experiences taking a club night out of their home venue. We spoke with Flux promoters Phil and Johnny about the trials, tribulations and wild experiences encountered when taking the hometown hero out of its hometown.
What's been the most fun party you've done outside of your usual club? Without a doubt our boat party at Dimensions Festival in Croatia this Summer. We were helped by the fact it took place on the first day of the festival, so the energy was high from the start, but none of us were prepared for the complete mayhem that ensued as the afternoon wore on, and I think we were pretty lucky it didn’t sink. It was the standout highlight for us of an amazing festival.
What lessons did you learn early on? We learnt many lessons in our first year throwing parties, but perhaps the most important one was realising that parties are not made by simply putting on quality line-ups. It’s just as important to focus on building an atmosphere and a core crowd, and in many ways focusing on the small details and little tailored features are what crowds really appreciate.
Have there been any examples of when it's been especially hard work to get the party out there? In Leeds, where a large proportion of our target crowd are students, we are inevitably slightly at the mercy of the student loan instalment cycle. At certain times of year, when many of these loans have all but evaporated, in can be hard to get an event out there and get the ball rolling, but we have always tried to respect this and keep our ticket prices as low as is feasible.
Is there a particular DJ or promoter that you'd recommend always having with you? We interviewed Ralph Lawson as part of our ‘DJ Diner’ series a few months ago, and I think we’d be pretty pleased to have his Japanese culinary wizardry at our disposal for our da-to-day lunches in the office, or anywhere else for that matter!
How do you differ your sets when playing outside than in the club? Day time sets are my favourite. It’s a great opportunity to spin more eclectic music, rather than underground and club orientated music and whip out a few classics. Carrie Lucas’s ‘Dance with You’ is somewhat of a Flux anthem now after summer.
Have you ever had experiences where the party may not have gone as well as it could have due to unforeseeable circumstances? We recently had Todd Terje cancel a gig with just 2 days notice due to his wife going into premature labour. However, after a mad scramble speaking to the agents we work with most regularly, we managed to draft in two great replacements and the event was ultimately a resounding success. Just another example of why it’s good to have the agents on your side!
What's been the most outrageous thing you've seen? Without going into excessive detail, a wrong turn on the way to find the toilets in Berghain resulted in us witnessing a lot of skin and leather in various compromising positions that I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to forget!
What are some of the experiences that make it worth it? At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy, looking out at a sea of euphoric faces during a particularly magical moment of a night you put together is about as rewarding as it gets. The fact of the matter is that it’s the DJ that creates those moments, carefully manoeuvring the crowd to a climax, but it’s a great feeling to think we had a small part in bringing all these people together.
And any experiences that don't? Inevitably, and as with any job, from time to time you have to deal with difficult people who are evidently in the industry for the wrong reasons. Although such experiences are pretty frustrating, it’s really par for the course in working life, and those frustrations are completely eclipsed by the rewarding experiences mentioned above.