- Fri, 2004-05-14 10:11
We Love Promoter Darren Hughes (previous co-founder of both Cream & Home club nights) took time out of his busy schedule to chat to I Like Music.
''I like music because... it's great!'' Darren Hughes
ILM: We Love seems to be about things that are great, such as people going to Ibiza for Sundays as Space… can you give me three reasons why you love Homelands and you love Sundays at Space?
Darren: It pre-dates everything I’ve done between 1992-2001 which is when I left Home, having left Cream in 1998. And it was more to do with what happened with home, that I decided to become a master of my own destiny and start to do things I wanted to do for myself, rather than working with groups of people and not necessarily enjoying it.
The history with Space goes back to 1999. We already did parties in Space before Home opened in London, so the relationship with them is pretty strong. And the We Love tag (I don’t want to call it a brand because I don’t want it to be seen as a brand) and I just wanted to endorse what Space was.
What I didn’t want to do was to make just another name or brand. So in 2001 until this summer, the 4th summer we’ve done it under the We Love name.
In all truth, sure we’ve had a part to play in developing Space since 1999, but really Space was already an amazing club with an amazing crowd, and we’ve helped them nurture that and extend it to a 22-hour party. So, on one hand I can acknowledge what we’ve brought to the table, but at the same time it was already fantastic. So we work well. And I think that relationship between myself, my team and the club was there and I didn’t want to overshadow. I thought it was time, when I left Home, to come up with a name that endorsed a club and is a celebration of what, say, Space is, without competing as another brand.
And that’s how we continue to market it. That philosophy is what we continue to do, and did last year with Homelands and made some significant changes to the event, to use the We Love tag, but again have it in the background rather than the foreground really.
We’re not interested in tossing out a club tour with banners, we just want to set up a few residencies in different towns across the world where we can accept that something already is good and endorse it, rather than trying to become it.
ILM: As a promoter and club night founder I’m sure you don’t have a typical day, but can you describe a day in the life of Darren Hughes?
Darren: It changes throughout the season really. Anything in between February and the end of May is our busiest time of year, because we’re well in truly into Homelands, but we’re also preparing for the launch at Space on June 20th, so a typical day right now would involve promoting and marketing Homelands, booking the DJs and helping book the live side, although Mean Fiddler have a part to play in that too. There’s a whole load of responsibilities which need keeping an eye on. We’re also looking towards planning for the season in Ibiza.
Once Homelands closes on the Sunday morning, a week later we’re out in Ibiza with just over two weeks before we launch at Space. It’s a quick succession of massive celebration on May 29th, downing tools for Homelands and gearing up very quickly again for Space.
On one hand, the idea and reality of working in Ibiza are fantastic, but it’s not the case all of the time – working in a holiday environment, it’s not easy. You’ve got to work when most people are playing. The end of September through until mid October when we wrap up, that’s the more relaxing time I guess, at the end of the season.
End of October until Christmas when we’re back in the UK is a time for us to take stock and start putting plans in place for the following Homelands, but that’s when we take time out and relax, see our families and have some quality time.
ILM: As someone who’s known primarily for dance and techno club nights, how do you feel about replacing the techno tent with a hip hop tent this year? Will you miss the likes of Richie Hawtin and Sven?
Darren: It’s a bit tough. I’ve got Jeff Mills playing for me three times in Ibiza, Richie’s confirming and Laurent Garnier and I’ve developed good relationships over the years with the techno artists and the techno arena disappearing needs to be looked at under a microscope to understand why we did it. Last year we changed a lot of the overall structure of the event, and that was done for lots of different reasons, but ultimately to make it as wicked as it could be for everybody. And the techno arena over the last two years has been the weakest out of all the arenas, and I hadn’t noticed that until last year, when everything else was firing on all cylinders, but the techno arena was good but not brilliant. So there wasn’t any room going forward to have an arena that wasn’t brilliant. Alas, techno in the UK was strong in the early 1990s, but it’s quite difficult to mobilize the techno crowd into an environment that they’re not really interested in.
To all intents and purposes it’s a niche market and it became difficult to make it brilliant and that’s what we want it to be. I’ve had a lot of conversations with DJs who’ve played at the event over the last few years, and it became more difficult each year to get people like Laurent, Richie or Lee to do it. We’re recognizing that that arena’s not been slammin’ it all the time, the DJs are telling me that the events in Europe that the play in, the techno events a lot better experience for them. So alas, we decided that we needed to have an arena in there that was slammin, and hip hop got the vote.
I’m disappointed, because I tried to have a strong techno DJ on the main stage, but I couldn’t. So the line-up is completely devoid of any techno artists, which is a shame.
Next year I’m hoping I can have two key headline techno artists on the main DJ stage, which would go some way to appealing to some techno fans.
ILM: We love Homelands too, it’s on our doorstep (nice one for that) and it always has quality music and good organisation. What do you think are the secrets of Homelands success?
Darren: When it is and where it is. The end of May is a good time and the bowl in Winchester, it’s an hour from London, easy to get to, good parking and what makes where it is work.
We got away with it when it rained, but it was disappointing. It wasn’t just bad weather and didn’t stop until 3am. Over the years from 1998 and it’s the seventh year and we’ve only had one really bad weather year, and fingers crossed we’ll have good weather this year.
ILM: Is there anyone on your wish list that you didn’t get?
Darren: The live field is becoming more and more important. Last year and this year we’ve been chasing Missy Elliot, but couldn’t get her on board. We were hoping for The Beastie Boys, but that fell apart at the end. I just think that as the event moves forward and grows organically, we hope that the event can appeal to as broader market as we can really. So rather than being seen as a hardcore dance festival, it’s seen as a festival.
That’s not me saying I want it to become a commercial festival, we just want to develop the credibility of the event so we are appealing to the International live acts that straddle the commercial/crossover acts that people want to see. If those kinds of people play at the event it acts as a kind of beacon and that would help it to continue and build and grow.
There’s two types of music, good music and bad music, and we just want to provide good music, and is some of that music is very popular – so what? We’ve all got a wide selection of CDs, whether you’re into Mr Scruff or Missy Elliot, a lot of people will have both CDs.
ILM: At what time of the night do you become a punter?
Darren: I try very often to try to become a punter a lot earlier than most people would like, but it’s hard to keep your feet on the ground. Last year the event was firing very quickly and the weather’s been good so that’s helped. I’m on call until about 10pm, but then I’ll drop my walkie talkie and disappear off into the night until 6am, so it’s fun too. It’s what I do. I’m a business man but I’m also a promoter and a punter.
