Jamie S23 speaks to Mat about his role in bringing a multitude of events to the fens, his do’s and don’ts when promoting raves and some untold stories from the past. Fancy being a promoter? Here are some ideal pointers if hard work, tough decisions and late nights are for you.
Color is a well established night in the Norwich scene, how did this night originate and what was the reason behind starting to promote events?
Well, the venue wanted a fresh look on bass events so we decided to cover as much as we could over a 5 hour night. Garage, dubstep, drum & bass and jungle were all mashed together for the first event in October 2011. This was the Speaker Box Tour featuring MistaJam, Bailey and TC which didn’t go according to plan and only pulled around 400 people through the door, resulting in a financial loss. The tables turned however when the following month’s flyer came out featuring Hype,Scoundrel & 16bit – people then took notice and we were close to a sell out. The success of this event then led to over 3 years at the Waterfront.
The Waterfront was a popular venue used by Color for a considerable amount of time, what prompted the move to Wonderland?
In just a few words, it wasn’t our choice. The police threatened the venue’s licence if they didn’t stop bass heavy events as they assumed it attracted a drug culture. This was odd because when moving it to Wonderland the police had no problems, so we think it was a personal attack on the Waterfront. That all said and done, we are now allowed back to the Waterfront so we will do a true Color reunion back in its rightful home later in the Autumn.
Rumble is another brand you promote under, is this purely aimed at upfront drum & bass or will you be featuring artists from the golden era in the future? Will Juiceman be making a return?
Rumble is all about raw upfront drum & bass dj’s and mc’s where Color events tend to favour host mc’s with a strong emphasis on letting the beats breathe. I’m sure we will get Juiceman back on the stage at some point in the future.
How did the link up with Pete Edwards’ Warning happen and what’s next for you both?
Randomly, Pete had an event booked at Arena in Great Yarmouth on the same date we planned to do a Rumble at Wonderland so we discussed it and came up with a versus idea which worked perfectly as the Cambridge heads love the Norwich venue.
At the peak of Facebook’s popularity, many promoters were relying on this social platform to promote their events. Do you think that many ignored the tried and tested old fashioned methods causing empty dances all over the place?
We still hand out 8,000 flyers and put up over 300 posters per event, as well as using social media activity so all our bases are covered. I can’t rely on the internet alone especially as Facebook has changed the way people see event pages so all angles must be covered.
What are your 3 golden rules when promoting an event?
Pay artists ahead of their performance, commit to the event once confirmed, regardless of numbers through the door on the night or pre sales on tickets and just be nice to everyone when flyering regardless of how cheeky some of the patrons are that you hand flyers to!
Are there any crazy methods of promoting you would like to try if money was no object?
Yeah, if there council weren’t so anal about advertising, I would have my Dad out in his 2 seater plane flying 100 foot banners over the surrounding areas or a 70ft banner draped over the side of the riverside complex.
How do you select your line ups for big drum & bass events? Do you sit down at the start of the year with a wish list or is it simply a case of ‘what’s hot right now’?
The team all have favourites so we make an a and b list then see who’s available on the date we need them for, obviously nothing ever goes to plan straight away.
In the 90’s, Warning used stage props such as a military jeep and a boxing ring at their Cambridge events. Do you have anything like this planned for the future? Mampi Swift in a sumo suit perhaps?
My partner in Rumble owns Ideal Events which looks after stage setups so we do more stage & lighting effects than actual stage sets. Again everything has to be signed off by risk assessments now so we stick to simple effective methods.
After all these years promoting events you must have come across some major frustrations, what’s your top 3 most irritating moments?
Certain artists after going to print have demanded their names be changed on the billing order, artist’s agents not updating their tech riders in some cases where they’ve turned up and moaned at me for the wrong mixer etc. Having to pay some ‘no names mentioned’ artists that require a huge fee who then want their fuel covered as well as the payment to perform and to add to that the ever increasing pay rises certain acts give themselves once they had one chart release is beyond me.
What would make a promoters life easier? (apart from supplying taser guns to stage security to knock off wannabe mc’s)
Advertising space is made available by the council so we don’t have to use road signs anymore, free advertising on social media where everybody can see the event. Failing that a better price structure for the paid ads on Facebook although a taser would be amazing!
Shout to Jacob,Scotty & Bunny (Color)