Experience a phone-free dancefloor right here in Nottingham
Blue Soup is introducing a 'no phones on the dancefloor' policy for its next event...
Blue Soup is back for its first event of 2025! What makes this night stand out from previous editions?
It’s a new venue. We loved last year’s events at The Carousel but it’s exciting to be taking it into a darker, louder room for a proper late night party. We’re certainly more confident in our identity, we’ve started to get some regulars attending, so we’re building up a proper community. Having taken a few months’ break since our last event in September, it’s great to be back in the swing again.
You’ve brought together Steffi Bricks, Lwanga, and Jemusii for this lineup. What drew you to these particular DJs, and what will they bring to the night?
Steffi and I have worked together a lot now and she’s fabulous. She’s completely mastered broken beat, which isn’t the easiest genre for DJs. She makes it look effortless but actually she’s doing something very few DJs can pull off.
Lwanga caught my eye through his Swing Dash radio shows, where he was mixing broken beat and soulful house. He’s got the most phenomenal energy and love for the music.
Jemusii is a Blue Soup regular and has supported the events from day one, so it’s great to see him move from the dancefloor to the DJ booth. He’s master of the slow burner, the perfect DJ to ease you into a night of hard partying!
The four of you first connected during a Swing Dash radio show. What was it about that experience that made you decide to do a live event together?
It was such a good vibe in the studio that night, so we just wanted more opportunities to hang out, hear each other’s tunes and have fun! We each have our own style but there’s something that connects all the music we play – it’s soulful, rhythmically adventurous, with a strong sense of groove.
This is the first time Blue Soup is introducing a ‘no phones on the dancefloor’ policy. What inspired this decision, and why do you think it’s important?
It wasn’t a decision I took lightly because I’m instinctively not a fan of having loads of rules! But sometimes you need a guardrail to curate a particular kind of experience. And everyone I tested the idea with responded positively and could immediately see the benefits.
I think raves should be a bit counter cultural and I worry that, in an area of brand partnerships and influencers, we’re losing that. One of the most counter cultural things you can do today is to digitally disconnect. I’m just excited to see what happens to a space if everyone there agrees to do that. I think it will make us feel more connected to the people in the room, more connected to the music and freer to express ourselves without feeling self-conscious.
You mentioned that phones and cameras take something away from dance music. Have you personally seen or felt a shift in club culture because of them?
Yes – absolutely, and I think promoters have to take the biggest responsibility here. For me, the tipping point came when I went back to a club in London I’ve been going to for nearly 15 years. My entire musical education took place in this club. But this time, the promoter had hired a videographer to roam the dancefloor shining a spotlight in people’s faces and filming them. For me, this is the death of club culture. It ruined my night.
The more we view dance music through the lens of social media, a medium incredibly ill-suited to capturing what makes dance music special, the more we are in danger of forgetting what makes dance music special. Time to take a stand!
The venue—Lord Roberts’ basement—is known for its intimate and dark setting. What makes it the perfect home for Blue Soup?
My hero, Kode9, the DJ and producer who runs Hyperdub records, once said he likes watching people move their bodies in alien ways, as they work out how to dance to unfamiliar rhythms in the music he plays. I love that description of club culture and I think it works best in a dark room, late at night, where people don’t feel self-conscious and can lose themselves in those alien grooves. I hope we can build towards a point in the night where the DJs can be really adventurous and the Lord Roberts basement can become full of alien groovers!
Your mixes and radio shows have been gaining attention from broken beat producers worldwide. How has that influenced the way you approach a night like this?
Well firstly, I’m just touched that DJs and producers whose music I love have been so supportive of Blue Soup, listening to the radio shows and sending me messages to support the events. It’s given me confidence and made me a better DJ, not least because I’ve been sent all sorts of edits, bootlegs and unreleased music that other DJs don’t have in their collection.
I guess I feel a responsibility to represent their sound well, to play sets that include some older broken beat tracks as a nod to the elders, plus some newer stuff to show people that it’s still vital now.
For someone who’s never been to Blue Soup before, what kind of atmosphere can they expect, and what would you say to encourage them to come?
Every single person who’s ever come to our events has been super respectful, there for music and bringing the good vibes. So I can say with confidence, a very friendly and inclusive crowd.
Musically, we’ll be taking you on a journey, starting with some sounds you might be familiar with, like hip-hop and house, then into some deeper, stranger grooves to make you shock out… or bruk out, as the original broken beat heads would have said!
We’re building a dancefloor community with Blue Soup and we’d love you to join us!
Buy a ticket for Blue Soup’s next event here.