In Conversation with Nik

I have been doing these articles for a few months now, and throughout I have learned a great deal about RRR, Sound System Culture, and the community that has so obviously been born out of the company. But it is perhaps in this interview where this has most come to light. As well as being a fellow foodie, Nik also shared his musical experience with me, working his way up at RRR, from flyering to being on the line-ups of some of RRRs biggest events. 

How did you meet Max and Joe?

I was just looking at dates before this call. It was November of 2019, and Max and Joe were putting on an event at Kitchen Street with Gold Dubs. I saw the event advertised and I was planning to go. A few weeks before, Max posted on Smithdown Ticket Exchange asking if anyone wanted to do some flyering and stuff like that for it. I had never been to a RRR event before that but I dropped Max a message and I was like “I’d be keen to get involved with that”. I did some flyering then I turned up to the event and it was just like every RRR event – just really sick – and I chatted to Max a bit then. It was around a similar sort of time that I started picking up DJing myself and not long after that I went to a house party and met Joe there. Somehow he had come across one of my mixes and he critiqued it, pretty harshly to be fair…that’s how I first met him. It was a good time. It was around the end of 2019 and since then, every event that they do, I’ve just got more and more involved with it. With the promo side, eventually, they started booking me to DJ for the events as well.

Oh wow, mad. So, you started flyering and then went into the DJing and promotion?

It’s just developed from not even knowing them at all to being quite heavily involved with it.

Do you help with them bringing in new, young promoters like yourself?

To an extent, yes. Sometimes Max and Joe will ask me who would be good to book, who are my kind of crowd (the uni crowd) into. They both live in Manchester, and they sometimes need to have flyers and things like that delivered to Liverpool, so I help them organise stuff like that. Promoting and sharing, the standard stuff. That’s it really.

So, you’re a student, are you looking to go into the music industry or….

No. I’m in my 4th year now. This always started as a little hobby. When I started promoting for RRR it was more to get free entry to their events and things like that. But then I started DJing and I do get money for it, but with the music industry, it’s always going to be a bit of a hobby and passion for me, instead of a job. Having said that, Max and Joe have been giving me some pointers. Over time, they have been teaching me how to put on my own events, what goes into promoting, etc, because there’s a lot of stuff behind-the-scenes that a regular person might not realise. In 2021, I wanted to dabble in putting on my own events and stuff like that, and Max and Joe were really helpful with that, giving me advice on how to approach venues, booking artists, obviously promoting stuff, and so I put on a few events with an events company called FrontLeft DnB. They’re relatively small with about 200-300 capacity but I really took a lot of the stuff I learned from RRR, not even the stuff they explicitly told me, but the stuff that I’ve just watched them do and that they talk about. Because they are very transparent about how they run RRR, it just makes it so easy to learn from them. So, I put on a few events. I don’t know that I’ll take that further because that was just me learning, but I might try and start something new soon. I haven’t got any plans at the moment.

That’s sick though, such a cool progression.

Yeah, trust. It is cool. You know what, because of that, I feel like it’s a family thing with RRR just because I feel like I have grown so much as a person, and a lot of it is to do with them, like a lot of the help and the input that they have given me. I didn’t expect it to go this far. Definitely not.

It’s so good to see that something like flyering is such a good way to get your foot in the door.

I mean obviously, at the time it’s not about that, but I guess it is just networking!

So, you’ve played some RRR events?

Yes, quite a few now. My first was when lockdown had just started, and they were doing all of the table service events. That is when I first got on and then we did loads and loads of them. I think everyone was a bit sick of it at the end, to be honest, but they were really good events, but everyone just needed a proper rave by the end. We also did Baltic Weekender, I played on one of the days for that. That was a really sick experience. We were playing right before Serum & Inja which was mad because obviously, Serum is Serum, isn’t he? But yes, there have been all sorts.

Have you got a favourite event?

I have a few, to be honest. I don’t think I could just pick one. There was one event we did at meraki. It was sat down. So it’s weird to say that that was one of my best memories but it was a RRR event. It was me, Lewis (Lewp), Luke, and PJ. All 4 of us went back-to-back and it was the first time all of us had ever played together. Like ever. Not even at home or anything like that. The energy was just mad, it was crazy. I feel like all our mates were at the front, nobody was sitting down. I don’t think you could even call it a sit-down event. Everyone was standing on the tables and all-sorts. There are some great videos from it. It was just mad. The energy that everyone brought was just so good.

Who is your biggest inspiration? Were you always interested in DJing, a specific person…?

To be honest, I could never ever pick someone specific. There’s a lot that does influence me, and it changes. My taste is still developing. I only started properly getting into raving and DnB and Jungle in early 2019. So recently, but since then it’s been all that I listen to, all that I do. A lot of the early stuff like the late ’90s, early 2000s is what really influences me. So, like Groove Rider, Goldie, Bryan G, the proper classic legends.

In terms of my music taste, that all really influences me. In terms of my DJing though, I like to look a lot towards some of the newer DJs. The Born On Road crew, technically speaking with a lot of what they do with the decks is just unreal. I’ve watched millions of their sets back and forth. Kings of the Rollers as well. I try to bring the newer style of DJing where it’s a lot faster, a lot more big switches, big drops, but with older tunes from the early 2000s. That’s really how I try to approach my sets.

Your music, if you’re just walking to uni or whatever, do you listen to DnB then as well?

Yes, so my playlists have recently been getting into the early Jungle stuff. 95/96 kind of stuff. But any kind of DnB to be honest. Any sub-genres. It all really appeals to me. It just depends on my mood.

And what you play also depends on the crowd?

The crowd plays a huge part. The RRR crowd is my favourite to play to because I feel like they’re just appreciative of good music. RRR isn’t just a DNB/Jungle gig. They do the Reggae, Bashment, Garage, all sorts. I feel like when people come to an event they don’t have a specific sound in mind that they want to hear, which as a DJ, is a good thing because it means you are a bit more open to what you can play. I really do like that, because you might go to some other events where it is purely DnB and certain people on the line-up, and you might think, “oh I’ve got to play a bit more of a well-known kind of set, I can’t delve into something a bit older or something a bit less known”.

When you are watching/listening to a set, what is your favourite thing that happens?

For me, there are probably two things. The main thing is that I want to see some technical skills from the DJ, it doesn’t have to be anything crazy, but I like it when they build to a big double drop or something like that, rather than just playing tune after tune. Something just to make it interesting. And then there’s selection as well. Not always picking songs that everyone knows just because you know that you will get a reaction, but I feel that a DJ set should be educational as well as fun. I want to go and listen to a set and wonder what that tune is… I need to find out what that tune is, or like, I’ve never heard that artist before. I need to go and check some more of their tunes out. Otherwise, it just gets a bit boring or repetitive.

When you started flyering, were you with other people that you ended up playing DJ sets with down the line?

Not the flyering specifically, because you tend to do that by yourself, but they have the RRR promo group chat. People talk in that, and then when you go to an event you will see them in person and recognise them. It’s just an easy way to start a conversation with people because I know them from the group chat. There are a lot of people that I have made really good friends with from doing that. When you go to RRR events, I am always expecting to see certain people there because they always are! Of course, you get a lot of new people coming, new uni students, but there’s always that same group of people that I am guaranteed to see. which is why I say to everyone that I would happily go to a RRR event by myself because I know that once I get there, I will see about 20/30 people that are familiar faces, that I am more than happy to chill with. They’ve done well to build a community out of RRR, for sure.

You’ve worked across the board now. Putting on your own event, DJing, flyering, etc. What is something interesting in events, that you didn’t expect?

As you said, I have done a bit of everything. I’ve thrown myself fully into the culture and tried to be involved with everything. I think it’s like we were talking about. It’s mainly the community that I never knew was like that until I started. And once you’re a part of it, you want to be involved in it more. It draws you in. I think the community of DJs that I have got to know. It’s crazy to see how supportive everyone is. You might think, oh everyone is competing. There is only a limited number of sets and events and so everyone might be competing against each other. But it is really the exact opposite. Everyone pushes each other to do better, and I feel like there aren’t a lot of jobs or things like that where everyone is so supportive. I wasn’t expecting that, but I am glad that it is that way. The music scene is definitely different in Liverpool. Especially in the Jungle/DnB space, although it is growing rapidly in the last 6/7 months. It is still quite small. But I think because of that, everyone is supportive. It sounds so cheesy, but everyone just loves the music and is doing it for the music and not for anything else. That is the only reason that people do it.

Seeing as it’s early in the year, what are you hoping to get out of music for 2022? What are you most looking forward to?

The main thing is my DJing. I really want to concentrate on that. I still find DJing the thing that I want to pursue more so than anything else. The goal for this year is to get more bookings outside of Liverpool. Expand my reach, my social presence. This interview will come out after I am playing with Hybrid Mind at Invisible Wind which is a huge milestone for me. Playing at such a large venue, with such a huge name. But then there are loads more. We got a gig on the 4th of march where I am playing with Napes and Toby Ross on the line-up, which is quite cool because they are some sick up-and-comers. But I am just trying to get as many sets in as I can. Try and get my name out there. That’s the plan.

Do you have one track that never gets old?

There are so many… it’s so hard to choose. I’ll get back to you on that one.

Is there anything outside of music in Liverpool that you want to shout about?

I am a huge foodie. So just the amount of food places in Liverpool that I just love. When I first came to Liverpool, I set myself the goal of trying to eat at every restaurant in Liverpool, and then I quickly realised that would be impossible. I’ve given up on that now. My favourite ever restaurant want Nolita Cantina on Bold Street, but sadly it closed over Covid. There is a cool spot… Night Crawler Pizza in the Merchant. The pizza is so good and it’s a nice place to chill. And the music is good.