NOVA claims victory in soft porn publicity war

Ahead of their hotly anticipated opening night of the term and amidst the background noise of a chilled house vinyl spinning away on the vintage decks, Charlie Gardiner-Hill talks to NOVA co-founder Yousef Al-Qatami about soft porn marketing, the philanthropy of opening up ‘edgy’ to all and the secret to breaking the familiar curse of failure suffered by other Durham ‘alternative’ music nights.

Alright. Ready to go.

Alright.

A bit of background to start then?

Ok. Do you mind the music, I can turn it off if you like?

No, that’s fine. So, could you tell us how the idea for NOVA was born?

Well, last year I was spending a lot of time in Newcastle for that [house] music scene which I was really interested in and I didn’t really find much of a music scene in Durham. It’s not that people aren’t interested, there are a lot of people who are interested in their house in Durham but no-one was doing anything about it.

And then you how did you put it together?

I felt it would have been difficult to do it as a fresher but after the summer I decided to do something myself. I didn’t want to do it alone because I wanted a nice sort of family vibe, so I approached two of my good friends, Ollie Scott and Omar Ismail and said that I wanted to do something, with them, and we got on it. I took control of the business side and Olly took control of the music and technical side of it. I approached Fabio’s and some people at Fishtank and managed to get Joonipah down, which was a big moment for us.

Since that idea came together, what’s happened on the road from there to now?

Basically, it’s grown really quickly, surprisingly quickly. The first night we had no idea how many people we were going to get. We chose to do free nights because, it wasn’t about the money, it was about the people. But we were so shocked that first night with Joonipah, we got about 250 people! Straight away we had people coming up to us saying ‘thank you so much for starting this, it’s so good to have more music in Durham’. From there we just kept doing what we were doing and it’s gone from strength to strength. I think though, best of all, that core family vibe has really grown and a lot of people have got involved from Ed Little on the creative side, a lot of people on photography and bigging us up. That’s what we wanted, this sort of organic growth, getting as many people as possible involved.

Last term a sort of soft porn publicity war seemed to develop between you and Itchy Feet, with the mysterious NOVA girl, how did that come about?

That was actually Ed Little’s idea and it was really a reaction to the Itchy Feet concept because our second night clashed with one of their nights. It started out as this idea for a bit of fun but we asked around and a couple of girls were happy to do it and it really went from there, no names of course!

Of course. Who d’you think came out on top?

We did.

Any last words for Itchy Feet?

(Laugh and a shake of the head) Itchy Feet is actually one of my favourite nights because it’s trying to bring a different type of music to the scene as well.

So modest. You’re now really the leading alternative night in Durham. But many, many alternative nights in Durham have come and gone, tried and failed but you seem to be the exception to the rule, what’s the secret been so far?

Yeah. Yeah. I think it’s just got to be about the people. You’ve got to push it in a direction that’s attractive to everyone because in a sense I think the house music subculture can be quite intimidating and I think people can be scared by the notion of a ‘house’ night. So it’s been about making people accept it and the concept of the free night was to make it clear that house is open to everyone, to just come and see if they like it or not.

On that. You’ve abandoned your free party promise which was a pretty central tenet for you last term. Is that NOVA becoming commercial?

Absolutely not. We’re renting a soundsystem from Newcastle which is costing us about £150 so it’s to cover that cost and fliers. I’m being 100% honest when I say we’re doing it for the people, I’ve not seen a single pound out of NOVA.

A philanthropic venture.

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly.

So…

(interrupts) Ye I haven’t made a pound from this and we’ve kept it a free night as long as we could but financially we can’t anymore. But we can justify it, we’ve got the sound system and plans for some big bookings, names that people will know – we’re not stopping here.

Ok. Last term NOVA built a lot of momentum, how are you going to carry that momentum forward?

Well, early on at Fabio’s I think it was more about just music whereas now we’re moving towards a full club night where it’s going to be more professional.

Do you think it’ll lose some of its charm?

I don’t think so. I think it’s just going to get bigger and better to be honest. Not commercially, but musically. I’m not going to talk names but we’ve been talking to artists and in the next couple of weeks we’ll be announcing some big headlining acts.

Talking of headline acts – there have been murmurings of collaboration with one of the bigger mainstream nights. Any comment on that?

I’ve heard that as well. But no-one working on those nights has approached me and if I’m being honest I don’t think that’s likely to happen. Nice to hear they want to work with us though, (laughs) it’s a compliment.

So, in a year’s time?

It’s about the people. It’ll go wherever they want it to go. Obviously I have certain thoughts but it’s become a personal thing and I want to do something similar after so I’m taking in the experience.

So you can’t see NOVA becoming a hallmark for house music in other universities, as a brand? No chance of NOVA t-shirts, NOVA condoms and the like?

(laughs) That’s a big question. One for the future I think. But obviously if people want NOVA condoms for NOVA love then we’ll make that happen.

Is it true that NOVA night sex is better than the standard?

(laughs again) I have no idea. But what I can say is that there is a whole lot of love at NOVA. NOVA nights have a happy ending for a lot of people as it is, without branded condoms!

Any fashion tips for budding ‘edgy’ NOVA-goers?

Got to have a flat-cap! (girlish squeal of laughter)

That’s an essential then?

(Laughs, a little less girlishly) No not at all. No-one cares. Just don’t try too hard. I’ve always disliked places that turn people away because of their clothes. Come dressed in anything or nothing. We’ll never turn you away.

You don’t have to be edgy to go to NOVA then?

No! Not at all. That’s not what we want. One thing that NOVA has stood out for is that it has the best vibe in Durham. We’ve had no fights, everyone’s there for the music and to have a good time, that’s what it’s all about. The vibes make the night.

Back onto NOVA girl. Fancy telling us who she is?

No.

Any clues?

Ummm. No.

Does she have pink hair?

(pause) No. But we’ve had more than one and they’re all at NOVA every time. So, just come and look for her tonight (laughs)