Starting a club night

electrogrimey

I've been vaguely thinking of trying something like this, to start a clubnight in town, monthly or weekly or whatever, as I've a few acquaintances who've been very successful.

Has anyone had experience starting a night from scratch? (I know at least you do, Zascar) Basically what I want to know is what's involved? Financially, and. bureaucratically

jimi_t

You're in UCD aren't you? I can think of 4-5 people off the top of my head running some of the bigger student nights in clubs inside there, but most of them seem to be doing the discobar style stuff. I'm reasonably sure that a few of the UCD DJSoc are attached to ALT and the ilk.

electrogrimey

Nope, I'm in Trinity. My whole idea of starting a night is to have if different to all the rest - focusing on good dance music, electro, house, dubstep, techno, not and indie/electro mish-mash, where how you look is more important than the music.

I'd also want it to be with completely different people than the small scene who run all the indie/electro student nights, getting guest DJs from smaller groups like the ColourTV lads, and giving a free warm-up slot to a new DJ every week, to try and find new talent.

g5fd6ow0hseima

electrogrimey wrote: »

C.U.N.T in Crawdaddy on a Tuesday

I thought wax was bad in its heyday about a year or so ago but jesus christ, this takes the piss - full of absolute hipster tossers... :rolleyes:

electrogrimey

Jacqueline Red Flowerbed wrote: »

I thought wax was bad in its heyday about a year or so ago but jesus christ, this takes the piss - full of absolute hipster tossers... :rolleyes:

Oh I know, I'm aiming at the exact opposite of this, I just used it as an example of how successful you can be in setting up a night.

Placebo

**** will die soon, just like WAR though? its just a fad.
Plus i think the runner is from NCAD, so most of them heads go

electrogrimey

Placebo wrote: »

**** will die soon, just like WAR though? its just a fad.
Plus i think the runner is from NCAD, so most of them heads go

Yeah he is, but that's besides the point.

g5fd6ow0hseima

electrogrimey wrote: »

Yeah he is, but that's besides the point.

Sure, advertise the night as an indie / electro night, then just play some unmercifull techno / dnb / dubstep the whole night.... I could imagine the faces on the little ****....

jimi_t

electrogrimey wrote: »

...I just used it as an example of how successful you can be in setting up a night.

That plays **** music and has student promoters behind it. There's a plethora of them in Dublin, and the biggest axiom is that of location. Just look up and down harcourt street of a night - once you have it established that people go there then even people like me, who vow never to set foot in the likes of coppers, end up there at friends bdays and the like because it was their choice of venue.

Clubs, even the ones that host 'proper' music, are just there to sell drink. They might as well be off-licences. That's how the system works. People drink more when they are listening to complete crap. You hear 'Come on Eileen' or 'Summer of 69' in a club and what do you do? Leave the dancefloor and horse a double JD into you if you've any sense.

The kids like the electro and, of the amount of women who can tolerate electronic music AT ALL, the vast majority of them will only listen to electro and 'chart-house'. Believe me, its broken my heart. If you don't get women into your club, then you're finished before you begin - therein lies a major problem getting any sort of 'alt' night off the ground.

(And that kids is why Kennedy's/Twisted Pepper/Pod/Tripod are never simultaneously full whereas the Palace/Coppers/D2/Citibar/Dicey's have queues outside them like the foodlines in the ex-Soviet Bloc countries.)

God I hate this country

electrogrimey

I'd be happy to have a relatively small night, with a dedicated following. Shouldn't be beyond the realms of impossibilty, just trying to find out what's involved.

g5fd6ow0hseima

jimi_t wrote: »

That plays **** music and has student promoters behind it. There's a plethora of them in Dublin, and the biggest axiom is that of location. Just look up and down harcourt street of a night - once you have it established that people go there then even people like me, who vow never to set foot in the likes of coppers, end up there at friends bdays and the like because it was their choice of venue.

Clubs, even the ones that host 'proper' music, are just there to sell drink. They might as well be off-licences. That's how the system works. People drink more when they are listening to complete crap. You hear 'Come on Eileen' or 'Summer of 69' in a club and what do you do? Leave the dancefloor and horse a double JD into you if you've any sense.

The kids like the electro and, of the amount of women who can tolerate electronic music AT ALL, the vast majority of them will only listen to electro and 'chart-house'. Believe me, its broken my heart. If you don't get women into your club, then you're finished before you begin - therein lies a major problem getting any sort of 'alt' night off the ground.

(And that kids is why Kennedy's/Twisted Pepper/Pod/Tripod are never simultaneously full whereas the Palace/Coppers/D2/Citibar/Dicey's have queues outside them like the foodlines in the ex-Soviet Bloc countries.)

God I hate this country

Well thats the problem with places that play electronic music, its always been a mostly male clientel where ever the place is, be it Ireland, the UK or Germany. All the big techno clubs in Berlin are gay, if not officially gay.

I dont want to get into a rant about how women only listen to Florence & The Machine and maybe an electro mix or two but at the same time, the reality is that the music we listen to, its men's music. Depressing, but if I seen a girl at an Autechre / Aphex Twin / Carl Craig gig who wasnt there with her boyfriend etc... id be baffled,

So yeah, I often pondered about what it would be like to run a night in town during the week.... sadly though, the music I like would attract at best a small crowd. If electroindie nights can attract a few hundred people, I doubt a night of dubstep, IDM and techno would attract even 100 at best.... So I just gave up, stopped going out. I much prefer listening to music at home, going to the odd gig, and planning a trip to the mainland in the summer.

**** Dublin, we're too small and the people are too narrow minded, favouring a never ending loop in their socialising.... coppers, flannerys, coppers, mcgowans, maybe tripod, coppers...... bla...!

'More of the same please'

MikeHoncho

The problem is that most promoters in Dublin don't know what the **** they are doing. Their is an attitude of build it and they will come. I have seen this from friends of mine who have tried their hand at it. Anyone who I see properly "promoting" their nights ie marketing the ****ing thing properly usually does alright. Its got **** all to do with Dublin being full of idiots and what music girls like. If you are willing to put the time and the resources into it then I say go for it but if all you are going to do is send out a few invites on facebook then don't bother.

g5fd6ow0hseima

MikeHoncho wrote: »

The problem is that most promoters in Dublin don't know what the **** they are doing. Their is an attitude of build it and they will come. I have seen this from friends of mine who have tried their hand at it. Anyone who I see properly "promoting" their nights ie marketing the ****ing thing properly usually does alright. Its got **** all to do with Dublin being full of idiots and what music girls like. If you are willing to put the time and the resources into it then I say go for it but if all you are going to do is send out a few invites on facebook then don't bother.

If thats the case, then why are decent nights in Dublin so few and far between?
Surely you can lend us a little of your expertise on the matter.
Id like to hear what you've to say

Jev/N

Jesus lads, I don't like to backseat mod but take it to another thread, completely off topic

R.Shackleford

The advice i would give is if your gona start a techno, grimy kind of night youve got to stick your guns and keep playing it so word of mouth will spread that your playing that kind of stuff. and not change the music to get extra heads in. if you get a night going yout first event will be packed because your family friends etc will all be there to support you, its the 3rd, 4th night that are gona test you.
I was at Mr.jones in the twisted pepper there just after christmas, full of "try hard" tossers all dressed up like extras from a smiths video!!!i dont want to rant here but people who take the lenses out of 3D glasses and wear them as a fashion item should be shot! anywho....are "chemistry" still doing a nite in wax? if not that could be a good venue, great sound system and easy enough to fill.

g5fd6ow0hseima

R.Shackleford wrote: »

anywho....are "chemistry" still doing a nite in wax? if not that could be a good venue, great sound system and easy enough to fill.

I think they're gone since last year. There's a crowd called Noize knocking around Wax or ALT these days which assumed the mantle... in other words, all the little peaches geldofs and morrisseys have re-located there. I think its a thursday night.
Crawdaddy is still on wednesdays which may pull a few techno heads but I doubt it.

Wednesdays would be the best night in my opinion...

jimi_t

Jacqueline Red Flowerbed wrote: »

So yeah, I often pondered about what it would be like to run a night in town during the week.... sadly though, the music I like would attract at best a small crowd. If electroindie nights can attract a few hundred people, I doubt a night of dubstep, IDM and techno would attract even 100 at best....

+1

The other HUGE problem is, even in that small small community of people who DO like the music, the majority of them aren't students. In three years of clubbing I'm still usually the youngest person at the gig/club (going on 22 in a couple months). 70%+ of people out during the week are students. Even the well established midweek clubnights that offer what the OP is on about generally can't even fill the place to half capacity.

I'd be happy to have a relatively small night, with a dedicated following. Shouldn't be beyond the realms of impossibilty, just trying to find out what's involved.

Not trying to put you down at all mate, I've thought about it myself and done a bit of research and came out very depressed. If I can do anything at all to help you realise this I genuinely will, and if it ever gets off the ground I'd love to DJ a few nights - I'm just trying to be realistic. This business ain't cuddly.

MikeHoncho

Jacqueline Red Flowerbed wrote: »

If thats the case, then why are decent nights in Dublin so few and far between?
Surely you can lend us a little of your expertise on the matter.
Id like to hear what you've to say

They are few and far between because promoting a successful night is a difficult and time consuming affair. Its something I would never do because I dont think I could put into it what would be needed to make a success of it. You need to give people a reason to get off their arses and support you and I find that not many promoters are able to do that. There have been a few nights through the years that have done it right but not many.

electrogrimey

MikeHoncho wrote: »

They are few and far between because promoting a successful night is a difficult and time consuming affair. Its something I would never do because I dont think I could put into it what would be needed to make a success of it. You need to give people a reason to get off their arses and support you and I find that not many promoters are able to do that. There have been a few nights through the years that have done it right but not many.

This is what I want to find out about, what do you have to put in? How does renting the venue work? You just find somewhere that's free some night every week/month, and then pay a couple hundred per night or something, which you get back off door sales? And then have to promote the fuck out of it to fill the place?

jimi_t

electrogrimey wrote: »

This is what I want to find out about, what do you have to put in? How does renting the venue work? You just find somewhere that's free some night every week/month, and then pay a couple hundred per night or something, which you get back off door sales? And then have to promote the fuck out of it to fill the place?

Well you get in touch with the person in charge of bookings for the venue in choice, once you've established what night of the week you're looking at and have a basic plan drawn up. You mentioned crawdaddy so you'd be getting in contact with either

Crawdaddy - Dave Parle.
E: dave@pod.ie
Ph: 087 966 5575

or

Tripod - Declan Forde.
E: declan@pod.ie
Ph: 01 662 4304

and seeing what they're willing to do. You shouldn't be paying money up front for 'renting' the place per se, more getting a percentage of the door once it hits a certain number in the club.

electrogrimey

Ah I'm nowhere near the ringing anyone stage, this is only an idea like. I just wanted to know what was involved to see if it's actually possible. Is much of a financial commitment needed, or can you more or less rely on the door sales to start you off? - Obviously if you're confident you will fill the place.

jonny68

weekly club nights in this current climate are a big no go, have a montly event and see it how it goes,be varied with the genres music and don't stuck with the same style.

xcvc

Jacqueline Red Flowerbed wrote: »

Well thats the problem with places that play electronic music, its always been a mostly male clientel where ever the place is, be it Ireland, the UK or Germany. All the big techno clubs in Berlin are gay, if not officially gay.

I dont want to get into a rant about how women only listen to Florence & The Machine and maybe an electro mix or two but at the same time, the reality is that the music we listen to, its men's music. Depressing, but if I seen a girl at an Autechre / Aphex Twin / Carl Craig gig who wasnt there with her boyfriend etc... id be baffled,

So yeah, I often pondered about what it would be like to run a night in town during the week.... sadly though, the music I like would attract at best a small crowd. If electroindie nights can attract a few hundred people, I doubt a night of dubstep, IDM and techno would attract even 100 at best.... So I just gave up, stopped going out. I much prefer listening to music at home, going to the odd gig, and planning a trip to the mainland in the summer.

**** Dublin, we're too small and the people are too narrow minded, favouring a never ending loop in their socialising.... coppers, flannerys, coppers, mcgowans, maybe tripod, coppers...... bla...!

'More of the same please'

i agree with the whole 'big clubs are usually gay' thing.. however, i think you spoke too soon re; girls going to electro/techno things. myself (i'm a girl) and my friends (mostly girls) love this music and have actually gone to carl craig. and not because our boyfriends were there. the dublin clubbing scene is very frustrating. it has possibilities. there's definitely an opening for a proper techno/electro night and i think people really underestimate people in dublin sometimes.

yeah, that indie/electro/hipster scene is VERY annoying and seems to control half of dublin but if anyone's thinking of starting a club night in dublin the hipster scene are probably going to be needed (annoying, yeah, but necessary) to get it going and keep it popular. that's just the way it works. in saying that though, there are a lot of non-scene people that would just enjoy a night like this to go to.

there are enough people out there, they just need to be convinced to put their faith back in dublin clubbing again. the scensters have warded a lot of people off, but get them back, and you have a good club night, with a different feel and attitude. i would actually LOVE a new night like this and i do a bit (very beginner-ish) of djing and that 'warm up slot looking for new people' sounds like a good idea. i know quite a few people with great tastes in music that would love to give it a go.

jimi_t

xcvc wrote: »

myself (i'm a girl) and my friends (mostly girls) love this music and have actually gone to carl craig.

Any chance because it was the bodytonic birthday night in Twisted Pepper? :P

yeah, that indie/electro/hipster scene is VERY annoying and seems to control half of dublin but if anyone's thinking of starting a club night in dublin the hipster scene are probably going to be needed (annoying, yeah, but necessary) to get it going and keep it popular.

Problem is the hipster crowd just don't like the Techno. Take that C.U.N.T night in Crawdaddy; its tagline is 'if you wanna dance, get into the Cradaddy room where you can rattle your ass along to the upbeat electro/pop/indie/blah/blah - no heavy dance tho - we promise.'
http://www.pod.ie/index.php?s=2

If you try to cater for them by playing that muck so as to bulk up your crowd, then you're dissuading the genuine people you want to attract from coming - you might as well just be running another identikit electro night. It's a Catch 22.

I do like the Warm-up DJ slot idea though - you're guaranteeing more people in early to your club and also guaranteeing 10 more heads in the door as mates of the guy DJ'ing.

Gian-Pa

i'm a college student and dj
i've been talking to many promoters in past 6 months to get my dj society or just my self to play at venues, usually wed or thurds
i think is alrite to ask for a fiver if the club/venues is always crowded and there's a good buz about it, but i think is difficult at the beginning and immediately ask for an entrance

many promoters are also getting students as reps to get more peeps in clubs.

i come from Genoa, Italy and we had a club where all my friends where talking about it. And was a college night.
In italy clubs are very different because you have to dress appropriately (shirt and stuff) but i remember queueing for hours just to get in because the place was packed
i don't know if the bouncers where just letting enter few people at a time just show that the place it's full and there is a queue outside.
anyhow, they where basically saying free before 11 and queues were starting like 30 mins before that already.
the music was like house/dance/chart but i guess it was ok.
another thing i think it's nice is that some nights have like a "season" and they come back the year after and have a "long time goals", instead of "let's do few nights, make few bucks and if goes well good, if not **** it"

Plumpynutt

jimi_t wrote: »

That plays **** music and has student promoters behind it. There's a plethora of them in Dublin, and the biggest axiom is that of location. Just look up and down harcourt street of a night - once you have it established that people go there then even people like me, who vow never to set foot in the likes of coppers, end up there at friends bdays and the like because it was their choice of venue.

Clubs, even the ones that host 'proper' music, are just there to sell drink. They might as well be off-licences. That's how the system works. People drink more when they are listening to complete crap. You hear 'Come on Eileen' or 'Summer of 69' in a club and what do you do? Leave the dancefloor and horse a double JD into you if you've any sense.

The kids like the electro and, of the amount of women who can tolerate electronic music AT ALL, the vast majority of them will only listen to electro and 'chart-house'. Believe me, its broken my heart. If you don't get women into your club, then you're finished before you begin - therein lies a major problem getting any sort of 'alt' night off the ground.

(And that kids is why Kennedy's/Twisted Pepper/Pod/Tripod are never simultaneously full whereas the Palace/Coppers/D2/Citibar/Dicey's have queues outside them like the foodlines in the ex-Soviet Bloc countries.)

God I hate this country

QFT.

RockRory

electrogrimey wrote: »

I've been vaguely thinking of trying something like this, to start a clubnight in town, monthly or weekly or whatever, as I've a few acquaintances who've been very successful.

Has anyone had experience starting a night from scratch? (I know at least you do, Zascar) Basically what I want to know is what's involved? Financially, and. bureaucratically

Pm sent

richierichballs

I wouldnt advise setting up a clubnight in these economic times,
Unless you have alot of money behind you that you may be prepared to lose......
I ran my own nights for a few years though, If you want advice PM me,
Best of luck

wixfjord

jimi_t wrote: »

That plays **** music and has student promoters behind it. There's a plethora of them in Dublin, and the biggest axiom is that of location. Just look up and down harcourt street of a night - once you have it established that people go there then even people like me, who vow never to set foot in the likes of coppers, end up there at friends bdays and the like because it was their choice of venue.

Clubs, even the ones that host 'proper' music, are just there to sell drink. They might as well be off-licences. That's how the system works. People drink more when they are listening to complete crap. You hear 'Come on Eileen' or 'Summer of 69' in a club and what do you do? Leave the dancefloor and horse a double JD into you if you've any sense.

The kids like the electro and, of the amount of women who can tolerate electronic music AT ALL, the vast majority of them will only listen to electro and 'chart-house'. Believe me, its broken my heart. If you don't get women into your club, then you're finished before you begin - therein lies a major problem getting any sort of 'alt' night off the ground.

(And that kids is why Kennedy's/Twisted Pepper/Pod/Tripod are never simultaneously full whereas the Palace/Coppers/D2/Citibar/Dicey's have queues outside them like the foodlines in the ex-Soviet Bloc countries.)

God I hate this country

Great post this sums the nightclub scene in Dublin up and is the reason why later opening hours wouldnt work, imagine the scene after Coppers at half 5? :eek:

jimi_t

wixfjord wrote: »

Great post this sums the nightclub scene in Dublin up and is the reason why later opening hours wouldnt work, imagine the scene after Coppers at half 5? :eek:

Coppers is an anomaly, even for harcourt street. Run by ex-cops and full of present day ones, it has been openly flaunting the closing hours legislation since it came in. It is by far the latest serving bar/nightclub in the city and I've heard of no other premises that has gotten away with what it has (or will).

If the extended opening hours thing came in, it would level the playing field significantly. The only edge coppers ever had was the extended opening - it has an awful dancefloor and layout, crap soundsystem, terrible music and NO drinks promotions while still having the audacity to charge a tenner in. Someone said to me recently that per sq/ft its the most profitable club in Europe (reference?).

Bring in the extended opening hours and we're back to status quo, the crowd will slowly filter away from it to its neighbouring venues and will relegate it back to the novelty it once was for Dubliner's - a southside Quinns and a home away from home for the GAA seasonals. If anything, its one of the greatest arguments for bringing in the late opening hours.

Jev/N

wixfjord wrote: »

Great post this sums the nightclub scene in Dublin up and is the reason why later opening hours wouldnt work, imagine the scene after Coppers at half 5? :eek:

It seems like you don't understand the Give Us The Night Campaign at all?

The idea was to have a tiered system where differently licensed clubs would open at different times and close at different times - not that every single bar and club would open til 6 in the morning.

Also, the whole argument was aimed at being about the music and not drinking so there was a proposal to stop serving an hour or more before the latest closing time