[Saints News] Has the Nightclub Bubble Burst?

[borhoi]

 

Has the Nightclub Bubble Burst?

 

By Haley Niamh Connor

 

 

   I'm making a departure from the normal 'Hales Tales' formula today and putting out an opinion piece. I want to start this off by saying that the opinions, thoughts, and conclusions drawn here are, just like with my reviews, my own. LS is a city full of many different people with many different opinions. In this piece, I'm only trying to point out and shine a light on a common sentiment I've seen and heard expressed over the past few months.

 

   It was a few weeks ago when I decided to write this piece. At the time the main question I wanted to explore was, ‘Is LS’s Nightclub Scene Over-Saturated?’ At that time, I think it was. A totally non-scientific straw poll I threw up on FaceBrowser confirmed the sentiment, at least in a ‘canary-in-the-coal-mine’ sense. Eighty percent of the fifty-five respondents agreed that the market was over-saturated. It was the comment section however that opened my eyes to what I now think has LS fatigued with the nightclub scene – lack of innovation.

   A few comments for example:

• - “You have 90% of clubs offering the same shit.”
• - “Need unique clubs, not just someplace with it in the slogan.”
• - “I’d rather see better nightclubs with competent DJs that know what they’re playing. No one’s pleasing the crowd no more. No one’s getting pumped up on the dancefloor. It’s a God-damned shame.”

 

   As these comments rolled in along with DMs expressing the same sentiment, I began to think about my own experience with LS’s nightlife scene. I couldn’t help but agree. I’d been conflicted internally about calling a market ‘oversaturated’ because I truly think competition is the driving force behind quality. However, I think that in LS’s nightclub industry, at least in the recent past, competition did not seem to be driving much at all.

 

   I decided to reach out to some industry insiders I knew. A club owner, and a ’DJ'. I wanted to know how those who work this industry night in, and night out felt about the state of it.

 

   I sat down with Lance Jackson, owner of the Dungeon Crawler, while I was Sakana Sushi for my most recent review the other night. I asked if he’d be willing to talk about the state of the industry and he agreed. He said a lot, and I won’t include every part here, but it was all on-point with this sentiment of ‘samey-ness’ that myself and others in LS perceive. Jackson’s club is unique. Probably the most unique club in LS with its interior, marketing, and quality. I haven’t reviewed the place for Hales Tales yet, but I’ve visited and I’ve had nothing but positive experiences there.

 

Wide shot of the Dungeon Crawler's interior.

   The first question I asked Lance was simple. What does he think sets the Dungeon Crawler apart from LS’s run-of-the-mill clubs? His response was just as simple, “Work, work, then more work.” He went on to elaborate, “You look at other clubs, they’re motivated by money, if they don’t make much money they’re done. For sale.”

 

   I went on to ask him if he considers what he does a full-time job. This sounds like a silly question, and in my honest opinion, it is a silly question. The logistics of running a nightclub are tremendous in scale and I only know this myself from having worked as an employee in a variety of clubs, never as an owner. He replied immediately, “That’s all I do. Nothing else.” I asked if that dedication to his product is what keeps the Dungeon Crawler ahead of the curve as far as quality goes. He agreed it is. He noted that the Dungeon Crawler’s been around for over a year and it’s had its ups and downs but, “Instead of selling the place for a quick buck, I continued to work.”

   I brought up Fusion. Fusion’s another club that’s unique in its own right. Its interior certainly sets it apart and just the other night they hosted a nineties theme night that, judging by what I’ve seen on FaceBrowser, was well enjoyed. Lance said of Fusion, “They changed owners and had their bad days but kept going.” I ended things by asking him if he’d say to others wanting to get into the industry that they should do so because they want to run a club, not just use it as a cash-cow. He agreed and noted that the owner of a club should act as its owner. “What I’m saying is if you want to run a good club, do it yourself. Don’t hide behind people who get all the shit if it goes bad.”

 

Fusion's Dance Floor

 

   The last part resonated with me as far as this subject goes. Hands-off owners. Just today, the owner of Velvet put it on the market. This is quite soon after he’d acquired it from its previous owner. The common thread between both regimes is that managers were appointed to run the club, and from what I’ve heard the owners were hands-off for the most part. I think it’s difficult to create and achieve a consistent vision for any business if the person who owns it isn’t actively playing a role in dictating that vision. Managers are not a bad thing in and of themselves, but it’s important that an owner either fully empowers their manager to run all aspects of the venue, or that the owner takes an active hand in doing so themselves. Without either? You get a bland, ‘samey’ experience. Throw a DJ in the booth, or even just put some tunes on autoplay. Put a bartender behind the bar, doesn’t really matter who, just a warm body. In LS, sadly, this can prove successful. In my experience, people will flock to wherever is open at any given time. Once they’ve entered, the club has made their money off of that customer. Their experience doesn’t matter. Even if that crowd of customers doesn’t return? You’ll get more the next time you open. So on and so forth until the club gets a bad rep and you put it on the market.

   I also spoke with DJ I$AIAH (who will be simply referred to as Isaiah henceforth) about the industry and its current state. Isaiah is a close friend of mine, and I’ve been present at many events that he’s DJ’d. One thing stands out when he’s in the booth to me – people are on the floor dancing. At a lot of clubs, you’ll see people treating the venue like a bar or lounge. Standing by the bar and idly chatting or lounging on the couches. If this is the vibe a business is going for, that’s grand. But nightclubs aren’t meant to have that vibe and I haven’t seen one market themselves as such.

 

   I asked Isaiah about club patrons. What kind of music they seem to enjoy. I asked because the number one complaint I hear about music in LS’s clubs is, once again, that it’s ‘samey’. He said, “Well, the manager of The Dungeon Crawler and me have spoken about different themed nights, we even had a summer ‘riddimz’ theme at one point and that was the first and last time we have played something else than EDM. As soon as people entered and they heard it wasn’t their trusty EDM they started to bash the music immediately, forcing us to go back to the said music genre.” He went on, “In short, no. I don’t find mixing it up to be successful because most people want to hear the same EDM stuff every night. Although there are people making a difference by playing different styles of EDM. In general, I think the people of LS should be more open to new types of music as they might come to enjoy it.”

 

   I found this baffling. I hear people complain all the time that they wish they could hear different styles of music in clubs. I’ve heard people say they want to hear more hip-hop, be it modern or classic. I’ve heard people say they want to hear more R&B. The list goes on. But even though I was confounded, I understood it. I’ve seen it myself. Something different hits the speakers and a section of the patrons enjoys it while the others don’t. EDM is what one expects to hear when they’re at a dance club. So, it’s easiest to just appeal to the lowest common denominator and play it safe by giving people what they expect instead of trying new ideas.

   Among friends and colleagues, I’ve expressed for a long time that the LS nightclub industry has seemed to be a ‘bubble’. The market began its boom a few months ago but now seems to be shrinking. If previous owners are taking losses on selling off their old clubs, or new owners are failing to generate enough revenue to justify having purchased a club themselves, I think it’s safe to say that this bubble has burst. The market is adjusting, and the over-saturation seems to be dying down. Just a couple of months ago we had Dungeon Crawler, Fusion, HEAT, Little Kabukicho, Galaxy, Bahama Mamas, Velvet, Pitchers (pre-renovation into a bar), Singletons, and Out of Towners all operating regularly or semi-regularly. And these are just the clubs I can think of off the top of my head. Out of those, only four are still active with Velvet having gone to market today. 

 

   Time will tell if this shrinking of the industry will continue and the scene will become truly competitive, willing to explore new ideas. The advent of restaurants, pubs, and bars around the city has certainly and palpably affected the once unchallenged nightclub industry in LS. In summation, I don’t think the people of LS care how many nightclubs the city features. I think most would even go so far as to say the more the merrier - but only if these clubs offer experiences that are unique from one another. The clubs dominating the scene like the Dungeon Crawler and Fusion do seem to be headed in that direction of differentiation. I think that’s good for the industry and LS’s nightlife scene as a whole.

 

 

The content of this piece does not reflect the opinions of Saints News as a whole, but those of its author Haley Niamh Connor.

 

 

Saints News

 

 

 

Edited July 31, 2019 by borhoi

[Lance]

User: Lance 

Comment: My pleasure to give an interview, great article as well! 

[HaveADream]

User: Kjamil

Comment: Great article from a great journalist, I think the market is really beginning to change in favour of other venues.

[borhoi]

User:HalesTales

Comment: RE: Lance

 

It was great to sit down and chat with you finally! Look forward to getting a proper review in for the Dungeon Crawler!

[borhoi]

User: HalesTales
Comment: Re: Kjamil

Agreed. I think that if anything is in a 'bubble' now it'd be the bar and restaurant market, but circumstances are different. I'm seeing a lot more creativity off-the-bat with this boom in bars and restaurants, and most seem to be identifying a niche and sticking to that. Very exciting to watch!

[rams]

user: mccarthy94

comment: that DJ Isiah geezer is the only guy that seems to get the nightclub gaff right, all the other joints are pure shit.

[ShangTakashi]

User: fkboi101

Comment: Good read, keep it up.

Edited August 3, 2019 by SHANG.

[Guest]

Username: WMBWL

Comment: Didn't find any e-mail or a number in your website. Looking to get contact with the Saints News? 

Edited August 2, 2019 by Guest

[HaveADream]

48 minutes ago, Tr1bal said:

Username: WMBWL

Comment: Didn't find any e-mail or a number in your website. Looking to get contact with the Saints News? 

Username: Saints News

Comment: We can be reached at our public number at 7687. Thank you.

[HappyToker]

Username: G. Castiglione
Comment: Huh, funny to see my comment featured in there. Oh if I only knew I'd wind up a club manager, heheh