On coming to university, most students become absorbed into the world of music and clubbing. However, this normally just means going to the clubs and enjoying the work of the DJs behind the decks. This was not the case for DJ Dan, the creator of the UK’s biggest indie night.
The former Politics and Sociology student launched club night Propaganda in his second year at The Cooler on Park Street. “It started off with friends helping me out, mates on the door, flatmates flyering for the night; the photographer that we used was the photographer for Epigram at the time!”
Ever since then, Propaganda has grown immensely with weekly nights running in seven cities all over the country including Bristol, Birmingham, Reading, Manchester and London. As well as being the country’s biggest indie night, Propaganda and Ramshackle both attract huge names such as Lily Allen, Zane Lowe, the Kaiser Chiefs and Vampire Weekend meaning that the nights often sell out. Propaganda and Ramshackle provide the alternative night with the feeling that “anyone can come, anyone can enjoy themselves. The music that we play is pretty across the board so everyone will recognise most of the stuff. Sometimes I wonder whether to call it ‘indie’ as the label can sometimes scare people off.”
However, Dan didn’t have any real intention of getting involved with DJing before coming to university: “I had some experience as I was in a band before uni and did a bit of management for that. That didn’t work out though and when I came to uni I hadn’t thought about running club nights. But in Freshers’ Week in my first year, there was a guy flyering for DJs. I had always been into music so I joined up and learned all the basics in my first year.”
Propaganda became an instant success with those trying to get in to The Cooler Propaganda nights after 10.30pm having difficulty. The night quickly grew moving to Level and then Panache, before settling on its new home at Syndicate on Wednesday nights. At the same time DJ Dan was also involved with BirminghamBristol branch which he then took over. based Ramshackle, acting as the representative for the
When asked about why he started to do the nights he said: “there were no real alternative nights in Bristol at that time. Most of the stuff was cheese music with the Wedge dominating most of the clubs. I never saw it as a business, it was more about doing something a bit different and filling a gap. I guess I just fell into it.”
This year has been one of huge growth, with new nights being opened in Reading, Sheffield and Hertfordshire as well as becoming official club partners with the O2 academies over the country. It has also been a great year for DJ Dan personally as he toured with Oasis, DJing at all their aftershow parties. “It started a few years ago when I did a one off set for them, but then they asked me to do more and more. It was a great experience. I had been a fan of theirs since I was 15 so to be touring with them was fantastic. Playing somewhere like Wembley Stadium is just unbelievable.”
It is doubtless that Propaganda and Ramshackle are both hugely popular nights on the Bristol clubbing scene: “we try to make the nights different to the more traditional version of an indie night. Instead we are looking to provide that more expensive clubbing experience without the sticky floors, bad lighting and shit sound systems. We’re trying to provide value for money.” Since the club night opened the price has not been put up and even for the nights where big names are DJing the price remains the same. “I see it as a reward to the people who frequently go to our nights that they can still go and see the bigger names at the same price.”
There is no doubt that DJ Dan got the new year off to a flying start with circus themes parties going on all over the country with acrobats, firebreathers and performers helping New Year’s Eve go with a bang. But, what does DJ Dan hope to achieve in the new year? “Hopefully we are going to expand a bit more in the coming year. We are always being offered new places to bring the night into – a lot of places want to run nights like ours but aren’t quite sure how to do it.”
There is little doubt that what DJ Dan has achieved in the space of just seven years is incredible. I, for one, look forward to seeing what more he can do in the coming years.
Jenny Flack
11/01/2010
