Carnage is coming to Birmingham soon. But what does this mean? And why is *now* the right time for a new hard house/hard dance night? We turned to Craig N, organiser and resident DJ of the new night. Craig, over to you...
Hi Craig, good to talk to you. It’s all about Carnage Birmingham, and we wanted to get inside the event a little. So, how did the night come about? What was the initial thought process?
The whole Carnage idea came about after looking at the current Hard House circuit UK wide. It seemed there was a hole that needed filling as nights did not differ from one another. By this I mean there are so many events doing the same thing, which was an endless list of DJ's, we felt this angle focused on quantity not quality. If you take a look at the Carnage line up we have a short list of top quality DJ's throughout. People want value for money nowadays and it's no different when you’re looking for entertainment. All the names lined up for the 17th Nov 2012 are recognisable to anyone involved in Hard House.
Secondly, Team Carnage have promoted in the past and felt the Midland area was idea for this type of night, in particular Digbeth in Birmingham. All of these aspects have been driven by a passion Team Carnage have for this music and club scene. We all remember the days of going out and having your favourite DJ banging quality tunes, well this is our ethos, and the line up speaks for itself.
Who are the team behind it?
The team is myself Craig Novakovic, Pete Evans and Pete Cole. We have all done very different events in the past so we felt all of those experiences could come together and create something special out of Carnage!!
What have you had to do to get the event off the ground?
The first thing we had to do was a lot of searching, that's soul searching as well as searching for the right venue. However, when we agreed on what we wanted to achieve and how we were going to go about it, the reality then became very focused and real. We're simply doing what every person does to achieve a goal and that is to work hard and in this instance, that means working smart and hard on promoting the night. There's the usual case of building not just the hype of the night via social media and press release, but getting all the individuals involved to play their bit in making the night a success. This not only included finding the correct DJ's but letting them believe this could be something special for them to.
Team Carnage believes all successful teams have a role to play, not just promoters but the venue and Entertainers themselves. In saying this we had some ups and downs on the way with venue changes, DJ cancellations conflicting dates with other promotions which lead to all sorts of complications and frustrations. In a nut shell we had to overcome a lot of battles to stage the event and gather what we think is the best Hard House line up anywhere.
Carnage has been described as a ‘new era of hard house/dance’ – how is it, and why do you think this is necessary?
We believe this for a few reasons, firstly we can go back to the reasons I mentioned earlier and that is we have focused on quality when it comes to the DJ line up. That is not to say other Hard House nights have not done that as they have. However, such is the nature of Hard House, i.e. being a very niche genre, having smaller line up of the very best makes this night a very compelling proposition for Hard House lovers. The crowd gets more of who they like for longer opposed to 30 minute slot from a 20 DJ line up.
Hard Music is not played openly up and down the country in most clubs so having a night that gets the very best in the business in one venue is one hell of an attractive offer. Secondly holding the night in a venue such as Lab 11 can only make for an immense atmosphere. The venue is set underneath a railway arch and inside is wall to wall brick.
It's clean, edgy and hard. It also brings Hard House back to its spiritual home in Digbeth, a no nonsense area of the city that is synonymous with banging music venues. It reminds me of the days when i used to go to Tin Tins in Birmingham, that was my earliest memories of clubbing, going to a place that didn't need any fancy props, Lab 11 has all these attributes. It's raw, hard and lets the crowd do the talking.
Give us a sneak peak into the debut event – how is it going to shape up?
Wish I had a crystal ball, with every event no matter what the event is you never can tell how the night will pan out. What we can say is that we are expecting a crowd that will do the night proud, people who appreciate the music and the essence of what Hard House is all about. We have had some very positive feedback from all quarters of the UK praising the bold fresh move to carry Hard House to a new level, as well as retaining the things that have made Hard House special down the years. I guess it's all about, 'watch this space'
Can you give us any hints about the shows upcoming in 2013? Who is going to be playing?
Carnage has a UK exclusive early 2013, this is a first ever and both us and the DJ’s involved are really excited. There are few other surprises up our sleeves as we push the boundaries more and more!
Other DJ’s lined up for Carnage 2013 are Andy Whitby, Technikal, Cally Gage, Rob Tissera, Klubfiller, Energy Syndicate, Amber D, Lucy Fur, Helen G, Andy Farley, and Anne Savage
Finally, how can people find out more about Carnage?
We have been fully endorsed by Facebook, Twitter and probably every other dance web site and publication you can come across.
For more, contact us at:
07759620856
Facebook: Carnagebirmingham
Twitter @Carnage_nights
To mark this massive occasion, we have a pair of tickets to give away to the inaugural Carnage event in Birmingham in November! Please leave a comment below, and we will pick a winner who will grab a pair of tickets! Good luck!
