{"id":59954,"date":"2021-05-25T17:04:53","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/?p=59954"},"modified":"2021-05-25T17:54:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-25T15:54:44","slug":"interview-with-nick-castle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/interview-with-nick-castle\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Nick Castle"},"content":{"rendered":"
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For obvious reasons, running parties is no mean feat right now. But then\u00a0again, electronic music promoters have always\u00a0fostered a sort of resilience that would impress virtually any other industry. Step forward then Nick Castle, a multifaceted DJ, promoter and more recently, label owner, who\u2019s determined to leave an impressive mark on the UK\u2019s club scene\u00a0courtesy of his Labyrinth brand. Having slowly but surely earned a solid reputation for great shows when the pandemic hit, the team were forced to go to ground over the past twelve-or-so months, but are now firmly back with a bang,\u00a0just as\u00a0upcoming shows with names such as MCDE, Dixon, DJ Koze and more would appear to suggest. We put some questions to Nick recently, as he talked us\u00a0through the new label, its philosophy and his plans for the Labyrinth brand over the coming months…<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n
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With festivals returning this summer we are looking forward to the series of events you\u2019re doing with Labyrinth. What is your vision for each?<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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Our vision for the open air shows at\u00a0Tofte Manor<\/a>\u00a0is for the events to be an encompassing experience, where every touch point of the festival is exciting and meticulously curated.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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For example, there is a labyrinth at the site, that copies the design of the Chartes cathedral in France. A labyrinth is a symmetrical shape that creates a unique energy field and walking a labyrinth, is proven to bring peace and clarity to your mind.\u00a0<\/span>Guests will be allowed to walk the labyrinth on the day of the event, drink the water that runs through it and we\u2019ll ask them to make a small donation that will be invested back into the local community of Sharnbrook.<\/div>\n
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We\u2019re working with a world-famous designer, who will be announced soon to build a custom installation on one of the stages that will be installed at the venue for the whole summer.\u00a0<\/span>We\u2019ve got a woodman to build seating from fallen down oak trees at the venue. The natural beauty of the site is profound and we want to incorporate that into the experience, as much as possible.\u00a0Our d\u00e9cor team will be dressing the site to the theme of \u201clabyrinth\u201d.\u00a0The food, the drink, the sound, the staging, the lighting, the transport, the customer service and more \u2013 every touch point is essential and we want our customers to leave and think \u201cwow \u2013 they really care about the little things\u201d.<\/div>\n
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Our London based\u00a0Labyrinth Sessions series<\/a>\u00a0focuses on the return to nightclubs, intimacy between the artist and audience and artists playing long sets that allow them to showcase the full range of their DJ skills and dig deep into their record collection.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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How did you come across the idea for the different concepts? What inspired you?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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The inspiration for the festival series at Tofte Manor came from our desire to produce shows in unique locations, that offer our audience a truly exciting day out. We\u2019re big believers that we live in an experience economy and our generation of ticket buyers want to attend events, that offer them more than your standard night out. \u00a0<\/span>Tofte Manor will be the first of many more unique locations we\u2019ll use over the years.<\/div>\n
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We also wanted to move away from promoting in London, where it\u2019s a struggle to work with top tier artists due to the insane competition and having to compete with corporate beasts like Broadwick Live, who lock out top talent across their portfolio of festivals and venues.\u00a0<\/span>The Labyrinth Sessions series was inspired by my love for seeing artists play all night long. As a dancer, I always want to be the first in the club to hear what music artists are playing at the start of their set and see how they build an energy on the dancefloor. My friends all tease me for this \u2013 I always go down to events early and then they\u2019ll come and meet me later.<\/div>\n
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My most memorable nights out have been seeing the likes of Dixon, Keinemusik and Trikk play long sets. DJing is an art and it\u2019s impossible for an artist to showcase that artistry through a 1.5 hour headline slot. The series aims to celebrate and showcase this art.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
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I have noticed that you\u2019re using different clubs across London for each event, what made you pick these locations?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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I\u2019m pleased you noticed this. We do want to celebrate and support independent nightclubs in London.\u00a0<\/span>We chose the venues that we think are the best fit for each show and are the right capacity for every event to sell out.<\/div>\n
Our production team will be creating a custom lighting install at each event, to really make each show even more special.<\/div>\n
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All line-ups are equally different and exciting, is there a particular reason why you have chosen these artists for your line-up?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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Because I respect them all and love their work. There are so many artists on our 2021 series that inspire me and it\u2019s a truly a dream come true to be working with them all.\u00a0<\/span>The\u00a0DJ Koze & Co show<\/a>\u00a0on August 7th<\/sup>\u00a0at Tofte Manor is one that I\u2019m particularly proud of curating. We wanted one of our open air shows to feature a mix of live and DJ sets and you would not normally see the likes of Jos\u00e9 Gonz\u00e1lez and Elder Island, playing live sets alongside the likes of DJ Koze, MCDE and Sedef Adasi.<\/div>\n
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The idea to invite Jos\u00e9 came from his collaboration with DJ Koze through \u201cMusic on My Teeth\u201d on Koze\u2019s Knock Knock album in 2018 and to have an artist involved whose music is as timeless and influential as Jos\u00e9\u2019s on one of our events, is really exciting.\u00a0<\/span>The day is programmed so that the music will progressively reach a higher BPM throughout the day and will finish with 2 hours of MCDE \/ Danilo Plessow before DJ Koze closes the show. That final four hours of house and disco and everything in between will be pretty special.<\/div>\n
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I understand you\u2019re starting a new label. Can you tell us more about that? What kind of sounds are you going for? What is most representative\u00a0for your label and why?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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The story<\/a>\u00a0behind the label is a wonderful one. Pional played a track at our Running Back showcase in 2019 that was a gem, I asked him for the ID and it was a rework of Aphex Twin \u2013 Rhubard with a sample from Bicep \u2013 Glue that a young French producer called\u00a0C\u00e9dric\u00a0Sheva had made.<\/span><\/div>\n
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I hit up\u00a0C\u00e9dric\u00a0to see if I could get the track and he sent it to me. I then played it at Motion, where I was opening before\u00a0\u00c2me\u00a0and the track got an amazing reaction. I got back in touch with\u00a0C\u00e9dric\u00a0to see what other music he had and it turned out he was sitting on a lot of wicked unreleased magic.\u00a0<\/span>I just thought that music this good deserves to be released and launched the label to be a conduit between this music and the world around us.<\/div>\n
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I never intended to start a label and it happened by chance by being curious and lucky enough to come across a lot of amazing unreleased music.\u00a0<\/span>The label is multi-genre. We\u2019re not aiming to be a deep house label or a techno label and really want to support music from all spectrums of electronic music.\u00a0This year we have releases coming out that touch on span classic house, melodic house, techno, breakbeat and dubstep.We have a very simple music policy: to release music that makes us feel.\u00a0Our first release is out on vinyl and digital on Friday 28th<\/sup>\u00a0May.\u00a0LAB001 C\u00e9dric Sheva: Tour d’V\u00e9lo EP.<\/a><\/div>\n
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This will be followed by an Alex Medina release in July and a remix cameo from Biesmans in August.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
With the festival world opening back up, do you have other plans for the foreseeable future with Labyrinth?<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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To continue to create experiences that last a lifetime and grow our festival shows at Tofte Manor, with the roster of artists that we love working with.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Is there anything you would like to say to artists that are maybe seeking a bit of inspiration in these crazy times?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
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\n<\/span><\/div>\n
Continue to believe and never give up. The past year has been horrid for any performing artist and they must not forget that their work brings benefits to the world, that a financial value cannot be attributed to. Imagine lockdowns without music to listen to? That would have been hellish.\u00a0<\/span>And there is hope. With the vaccine roll out, the world is carefully and slowly opening up and a brighter future for us all is on the horizon. I hear the summer of love is coming\u2026<\/div>\n
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Lastly, is there anything else you feel like you would like to share with us today?\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
I wish you could all see the smile that comes to face when I think of us all dancing together this summer. It\u2019s going to be magical.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
Labyrinth\u2019s debut release is out on vinyl and digital on Friday 28<\/span>th<\/sup>\u00a0May. Listen\/buy the release\u00a0here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n
Dixon b2b \u00c2me + more play Tofte Manor on 10th July.\u00a0DJ Koze, Jos\u00e9 Gonz\u00e1lez + more play Tofte Manor for Labyrinth on 7th August. For\u00a0further information\/tickets on both events (as well as on Labyrinth\u2019s\u00a0upcoming club shows), check<\/i><\/b>\u00a0https:\/\/www.labyrinthevents.com\/<\/i><\/a>\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For obvious reasons, running parties is no mean feat right now. But then\u00a0again, electronic music promoters have always\u00a0fostered a sort of resilience that would impress virtually any other industry. Step forward then Nick Castle, a multifaceted DJ, promoter and more recently, label owner, who\u2019s determined to leave an impressive mark on the UK\u2019s club scene\u00a0courtesy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70,"featured_media":59955,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"audio","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3971],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-audio","has-post-thumbnail","category-interviews-london","post_format-post-format-audio"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/70"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59954"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59954\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59962,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59954\/revisions\/59962"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}