{"id":6602,"date":"2014-12-04T18:12:43","date_gmt":"2014-12-04T17:12:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deephouselondon.com\/?p=6602"},"modified":"2015-05-14T15:11:04","modified_gmt":"2015-05-14T13:11:04","slug":"promoter-interview-dolan-bergin-hydra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.deephouseamsterdam.com\/london\/promoter-interview-dolan-bergin-hydra\/","title":{"rendered":"Promoter Interview: Dolan Bergin (The Hydra)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Over the last few years The Hydra has come forth as one of London’s premier electronic music events. Running throughout the autumn\/winter season, it has a stellar reputation due the discerning curation of its line-ups, presenting label showcases with many of the industry’s most influential outlets including Ostgut Ton, R&S, Houndstooth, Ninja Tune, Leisure System and many many more. The team behind it have a wealth of experience in both bookings and organising events, with Ajay Jayaram formerly employed by The End and Dolan Bergin the brains behind the highly-regarded Electric Minds events. With their third season in full swing, at their now permanent base in Wapping, we caught up with Dolan to get the lowdown on the event and his experiences as a top level promoter… <\/strong><\/p>\n

So, to start with, how did you get into DJing and music?<\/strong>
\nI grew up in a town called Worthing, right next to a club called Sterns, which is where Carl Cox and everyone had residencies. I went to school just round the corner from there, so I think your future\u2019s mapped out when you go to something like that so early. After university I found myself working for a record label on royalties and licensing, which bored me to tears to be honest, but I was putting on parties on the side and it evolved from there. When you look back, it seems like it happened overnight but of course it didn\u2019t\u2026 I was living in a warehouse in Dalston about 10 years ago and doing parties for fun \u2013 suddenly you\u2019re not living in a warehouse anymore and you start searching out spaces, it all happened from there.<\/p>\n

\"DolanAjay\"<\/a>At what point did the party thing became less of a hobby and more a vocation?<\/strong>
\nWhen I first started doing label parties \u2013 I was doing Electric Minds loft parties in a space in Shoreditch and then I started doing stuff with Ostgut Ton. I was working with Ali from Warm, we did Ostgut, Lovebox and started looking at Innervisions as well. Once you start populating your diary with brands like that you find yourself working on it full-time. Until someone labelled what I do as a \u2018promoter\u2019 I never really saw it like that but I guess I am! It\u2019s a bit of a dirty word. You find yourself organising events for people and, before you know it, it\u2019s your job.<\/p>\n

How did you make connections with the bigger labels?<\/strong>
\nA lot of it came from Ostgut Ton. I booked Marcel Dettmann a long time ago, I was quite familiar with what they were doing and because they were such a reputable label, plus people said we did a really good job with it, you set a benchmark and other people became interested in what we were doing. You have a portfolio to show to approach over labels\u2026 also, when I met Ajay, we had a big collection of our contacts, which we pooled together and it made sense to reach out and speak to other labels.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a small business that word gets around quickly when you have a good reputation, too.<\/strong>
\nYeah. And I don\u2019t think there were a lot of label parties going on a few years ago. There weren\u2019t many people offering to do that in London, so maybe we found a little gap.<\/p>\n

I guess that was what laid the foundation for what became The Hydra then?<\/strong>
\nYeah, Ajay had left Cable and we were looking to fill the diary for the year and it ended up making sense to do a series. We thought it would make an impact as no one else was doing it in London. We managed to get that off the ground, under some difficult circumstances and, even though it nearly kills you doing it, by the time you\u2019re finished, you\u2019re like, \u2018Let\u2019s do it again\u2019! It\u2019s a double-edged sword; fun times but draining in other ways.<\/p>\n

\"Hydra1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And that was spread out across different venues wasn\u2019t it? Which I guess made it even more difficult.<\/strong>
\nWhen I was doing Electric Minds, the majority of the events were at a studio in Shoreditch. I\u2019ve always managed to find a space and bring a bit of consistency to it, and we found a space in Hackney Downs Studios, which is where we did the party for Ostgut Ton and Substance \u2013 which was fantastic. Off the back of that we put the deposit down for 15 dates at that venue. But they rented out the studio to another promoter and they just f***ed it basically; police were called and there went our venue. We suddenly had to find a venue for 15 events, which was pretty stressful \u2013 dealing with shady characters and handing over bundles of money to people you don\u2019t even know. Literally insane.<\/p>\n

How did you end up connecting with Studio Spaces and cementing that relationship?<\/strong>
\nStudio Spaces own the loft I used to use for Electric Minds, I also lived with one of the partners, Yuval, several years ago. Outside of their existing photographic business they gave me free reign to produce my Electric Minds parties there on a monthly basis around four years. Yuval and Ellis found the space in Wapping, it was an old nightclub \u2013 I went to look at it with them when it was derelict and collectively decided to give it a go with the events, this was just around the time that Ajay and I met. It\u2019s been a two-year process of licensing it, soundproofing and setting it all up \u2013 we\u2019ve made some mistakes along the way and there was a point when the licensing authorities were being really tough on things, but it\u2019s been worth it now we\u2019ve got it up and running.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s funny actually, I used to work at The Sun and their offices were right next to the Wapping space. I worked nights too, so I would have loved to have been able to go for \u2018lunch\u2019 and pop my head in to one of your parties! They\u2019re redeveloping that whole piece of land aren\u2019t they?<\/strong>
\nThe main problem with that place when we started was, the closest residents are 150 metres away\u2026 the old club was called Mango\u2019s and I think they had a lot of trouble there and it was shut down. The residents got used to that street being quiet and we had to convince them over a long period of time \u2013 there\u2019s really nothing else round there but, as you say, the whole block is being redeveloped. The warehouse is staying as a listed building, but high-rise flats and a hotel are being built so we want to see it out as it\u2019s exciting what\u2019s happening round there. You\u2019ve got the London Warehouse Events guys doing stuff at Tobacco Dock, so it\u2019s becoming an acceptable place to do events.<\/p>\n

Have you had many mishaps along the way?<\/strong>
\nYeah, too many to mention really! The first night we did an Ostgut Ton party, the place had an ancient air-conditioning system in there with a whole room with a motor in it… It broke down 20 minutes before doors opened and it was so hot in there. We\u2019d painted the studio floor, as it\u2019s a photography studio during the week, and all the paint was coming up, there was water running down the walls \u2013 we had so many complaints. It\u2019s cool because, even though we’ve had complaints, people could see we were making an effort to read everything and make improvements. I feel like we\u2019ve got to a turning point where people are really getting behind it.<\/p>\n

\"Hydra2\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Yeah I was talking to Ajay when I was down at your Houndstooth\/Leisure System event and he was talking about growing a community around the event.<\/strong>
\nDefinitely yeah. I think, with the music we\u2019re dealing with and the labels, it tends to attract a nicer crowd; people come to hear the music and they\u2019re interested in what goes on behind the scenes. If it\u2019s a nice experience they appreciate it, because there aren\u2019t a lot of nice experiences when you go out now really are there? Obviously when you go to places like fabric and Plastic People, they\u2019re catered for things like that, but elsewhere it can be a gamble sometimes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what leads people to latch on to the good things, reliability and consistency helps a lot.<\/strong>
\nYeah definitely. When you were asking that question earlier, I used to go to raves called World Dance. I saw a video of that recently and thought we haven\u2019t really progressed in 20 years because those events were amazing; huge sound, amazing lights \u2013 they really went to town on it and I thought it would be nice to make sure everything was on that tip. Unless you\u2019re going to fabric, production isn\u2019t up to those standards, not on that scale.<\/p>\n

How much influence has going to Sterns and those kind of places had on what you\u2019re doing now?<\/strong>
\nA big influence, they\u2019re the most exciting times of your life \u2013 when you\u2019re young and the music is so fresh. I was always mesmerised by the little things you\u2019d find at the clubs back then so I think there\u2019s part of that experience that feeds into what I\u2019m doing now. Sound is the most important thing, you don\u2019t get a good sound system at many places in London now, which is crazy.<\/p>\n

So I presume you have a team of sound engineers to work on that for you?<\/strong>
\nYeah, we don\u2019t have a permanent system, though we\u2019re looking to sort something out for next year that we can keep in storage. I use a company called Sound Services and I\u2019ve only ever worked with them for the last six years, maybe more. They work directly with Funktion-One and so they get all the prototypes, and they\u2019re the preferred suppliers. They\u2019re all experienced engineers, one of the guys, Rich, comes from a drum n\u2019 bass background, they\u2019re so good at what they do. I\u2019ve DJ\u2019d in a lot of places and, if you\u2019re playing records, you almost give up a lot of the time, unless it’s Panorama Bar or something. These guys are like ninjas with it, I\u2019m biased but I think the sound is always at a really really good level.<\/p>\n

[youtube id=”jizhA8gjdk0″ width=”620″ height=”360″]<\/p>\n

How about security?<\/strong>
\nThat\u2019s been a learning curve too. We work with Sabre, who supply fabric and LWE. They were a bit strict when we first started, but they\u2019ve listened to our feedback and we\u2019ve found some middle ground \u2013 with the police and the authorities of course we have to have certain standards. Some people find it intimidating but it\u2019s necessary. When I was going to those old raves you\u2019d get a hand down your pants as soon as you went in, it\u2019s just part and parcel of going out.<\/p>\n

For sure. One thing people always talk about when they\u2019re enthusing about Berlin is the permissive environment most clubs promote \u2013 it\u2019s not entirely possible in London of course, but how far do you try to go down that road when briefing security?<\/strong>
\nIn our view, people have come for a night out so we want to make that as relaxed as possible but there are certain things we have to do for our licence and one of those things is to have signs up displaying our drug policy. Personally I don\u2019t like to see stuff like that all over the place because it\u2019s like \u2018rules everywhere\u2019. As long as people are willing to have a search on the door and they\u2019re not aggressive inside, then we don\u2019t want to intimidate them. But there are certain requirements we have to have in place, and most of that is for people\u2019s safety.<\/p>\n

How do you feel it\u2019s gone so far this season?<\/strong>
\nYeah it\u2019s good. All the nights have been busy, it\u2019s been positive \u2013 we\u2019ve done some fantastic parties, the Innervisions one, Dusky as well. People have reacted to them really well\u2026 it\u2019s cost an absolute fortune to sort that studio, so it\u2019s been tough on that side of things. As always, people always think you\u2019re making millions from these events, but it\u2019s really not like that. That\u2019s the only frustration; people complaining about the price of drinks or whatever, but it\u2019s not like popping down the local shop and buying a beer for 99p, there\u2019s a lot more behind it than that. Overall though, it\u2019s been very positive. I\u2019m looking forward to signing off with the New Year\u2019s Eve parties though.<\/p>\n

\"StudioSpaces\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Do you have to deal with inter-club politics or booking battles with other promoters?<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s funny, you\u2019re the only person who\u2019s ever asked about it but yeah it does go on. There are people you work with over the years, especially labels, that you\u2019ve been first to connect with in London and another venue will come in with a better offer and off they go. Behind the scenes that really drives me mad. There are other venues that perhaps haven\u2019t worked with the artists you support, then they become a bit more \u2018cool\u2019 or commercially viable and in come the big offers\u2026 it\u2019s really competitive. Out of all of them, we have a good relationship with fabric, we\u2019re very open with them about our bookings and honour our exclusivity agreements. That\u2019s worked well, but we don\u2019t get that with anyone else really\u2026 apart from London Warehouse Events actually, we work with them as well. You naturally align yourself with people who are like-minded, whereas others you can see are just out for the money.<\/p>\n

How about working with Ajay, as I know sometimes there can be difficulties in working with a partner?<\/strong>
\nYeah we\u2019ve had our ups and downs, it\u2019s a difficult thing to go through together especially as the first two years were so tough. Financially, it\u2019s a real strain to even make ends meet sometimes. When things are going super well, you\u2019re on cloud nine but when things get tough you maybe battle against each other. In terms of ideas it\u2019s really good to have someone like Ajay, he has a really broad knowledge of music, more than most people I work with. Also, he\u2019s been working in London for years so he\u2019s nurtured a lot of strong relationships with artists and labels.<\/p>\n

Now you\u2019re in your third year, what have you got up your sleeve next?<\/strong>
\nNext year will be the fourth year and we\u2019re looking to develop the studio in Wapping. We\u2019ll be based there from 2015, we don\u2019t want to do parties every Friday and Saturday we just want to continue evolving the studio and improving it. It\u2019s crazy to think, but we are actually already making plans for the year all the way up until New Year\u2019s Eve 2015, so there is a plan \u2013 we\u2019ll take a break after this NYE and do a couple of parties here and there in the coming months.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve spoken a couple of times in the past about how the London scene isn\u2019t as good as it could be. What are you views on how it is now and who\u2019s caught your attention, club\/party-wise?<\/strong>
\nIn London, anything you want you can find it. There\u2019s a lot on offer every weekend. There are a couple of people out there doing interesting things, it\u2019s fantastic that Bloc. have got their festival back up and running. I know the festival isn’t London-based but they\u2019ve done a really good thing with their venue at Autumn Street as well. London Warehouse Events have done a fantastic job at Tobacco Docks on such a huge scale and Bugged Out are still going strong after 20 years. The guys from Make Me started doing parties in the loft after we stopped doing Electric Minds \u2013 they\u2019ve had some really good bookings. I can\u2019t think of anyone else really, I\u2019ve been so busy with my own parties that I haven\u2019t been out to another nightclub. It\u2019s hard to do that when you have so much on, I\u2019d rather go home and do the gardening than go to another event!<\/p>\n

More Info<\/a><\/span>Facebook<\/a><\/span>Twitter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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