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Sick Vibez - a new house brand takes over London Reported by Agnes Klos / Submitted 06-12-10 20:59 Every year new clubbing brands appear and disappear on London circuit. Some of them stay for longer, some don’t. Sick Vibez is one of those brands that it is simply hard to ignore. Even though is very new on the market, it has already pushed the boundaries of what a brand can achieve in a short period of time if true passion and love follow it. Introduced by a genuine enthusiast Shane Cooke, Sick Vibez is a clubbing night which promotes house music. Within less than a year of its existence, Sick Vibez has already invited some of the biggest names on the scene such as Matt Darey, Timo Garcia, Jnr J, K-Klass, Kim Fai and Marc Storie to headline their events. Agnes Klos met up with Shane for a coffee and chat to find out all the insights and juicy details about this new exciting project called Sick Vibez which is bound to be pretty huge in the future. Hi Shane, thank you for taking some time out to answer questions for HarderFaster readers. First of all, could you please introduce yourself and tell us how you got to the place you are at the moment? Hi Agnes! I'm Shane Cooke - the founder, co owner and brand manager of up and coming house music night Sick Vibez. Sick Vibez position in the London club scene right now is due to serious hard work, networking, researching and I feel a lot of luck. I have been fortunate to meet some amazing industry and none industry people very early in the Sick Vibez journey who have shown massive support and believed in everything I stood for and wanted to achieve within the London club scene. First of all, my business partner Jason Bands who has believed in and trusted every judgment and decision I have made and has basically let me run wild with my ideas. He is a great guy and a brilliant business partner. Lizzie Curious who has been with us from day one. Lizzie helped me set up Sick Vibez and was the first person I met in the industry. She introduced me to south city workers parties and all the right people and without her it would have never taken of like it did. I feel like I have had the biggest head start ever. Hilton Caswell who again has supported Sick Vibez from the start. Hilton let me put on my first club night at the legendry Inigo club in Clapham. We tore the roof off with local hero Jnr J headlining. I and Hilton now put on Sick Vibez Sunday sessions at Gigalum Clapham south. David Minns who has gave me priceless amounts of industry knowledge. I met Dave properly after my launch party and since then he has guided me throughout. My second event was with Dave's brand 'Read the crowd'. He set up the rave in two days, start to finish. It was a twenty-year celebration of the massive global number one hit ANTHEM by N-JOI with them headlining, dance vetran brand Raindance and legend Chad Jackson. I don’t think many brands can say there second event had such a line-up and I could never thank Dave enough for giving an unknown promoter (me) who he had just met such an opportunity. Doing this as my second gig really gave me the knowledge to manage and promote the brand properly! He then put Sick Vibez in one of the top south London nightclubs The Whitehouse. Since then Dave has played for me three times with his partner James Edwards under there name So Called Scumbags. Last but not least all our friends and followers and the Sick Vibez team who help and support the brand non-stop! How did you come up with the whole idea of the party called Sick Vibez? Can you take us to the very beginning and describe how, when and who started the whole concept of Sick Vibez? I came up with the whole idea and concept for Sick Vibez. The brand planning started october last year and we launched on april 1st this year so we are only eight months old. I wanted to create my dream night, a night of pure electricity from start to finish, a night that had a mixed crowd, different styles and fashions that would all come together for the love of a great brand and amazing music with an atmosphere of unity where nobody would even think of sitting down for too long. I wanted each event to be different so there was something new every time. Each event has a different style of house music, which attracts different crowds. It means that with time it would all then come together to form my dream crowd of mixed people. Décor was a must-have, it makes such a difference when you walk in a club and see how much effort has gone in. It makes people think "these guys are a serious brand". I wanted my logos to be everywhere so that Sick Vibez would be drilled into clubbers' mind. Therefore, the logo had to be eye catching and also it had to mean something. The dream is to be, at some point, somewhere up there at the top with the best. So the whole concept behind the logo was to say we will get there. It explains why we put the crown in the logo - we want to tell the world: We will be house music royalty! Why have you decided to have your own event? Is there a gap on London scene that Sick Vibez parties aim to fill in? I started my own event when I was 18 years old in my home town of Stockton-on-Tees, North East England. It was called 'Soul Soothers' which I started with a life-long friend and dj Jon Bishop. We had the same concept as Sick Vibez, unfortunately 'Soul Soothers' only lasted about six events. We didn’t have the knowledge or the contacts or the funds to take it further so had to stop! I always wanted to do events again so eight years after the first attempt I tried again. In my wildest dreams I didn’t even think that it could have taken off in such an amazing way! I believe there is always a gap in the scene for new events, only if they can offer something different and special. It is exactly what we are doing at the moment: offering a mixture of different venues, house music, djs and concepts. I feel like we have proven that Sick Vibez exists to fill a gap in the market, gaining a bigger crowd every event we have had! How did you come up with the name? And is it symbolic in any way? The name Sick Vibez came some time after the initial idea and I didn’t like any names I was coming up with, they were to gimmicky. I wanted something different that did not scream out house music but meant something good without being typical. When I finally found the name I was going to lots of South African parties. I was at an after party at a house with my SA friends and everyone kept saying how sick the party was and how it had a nice vibe about it and there it was. It was perfect. That’s how SICK VIBEZ was named! Sick Vibez is symbolic to me because when people say it, it doesn’t just mean the parties that I put on. It symbolises an amazing journey, an amazing story, great memories and a great future. What is the music policy of Sick Vibez? The music policy is HOUSE but all different types: tech and electro, progressive depending on who we have as our headliners. Who makes up Sick Vibez team? Who is the organisational brain, who decides about djs, who creates the posters? Tell us everything. I couldn’t ask for a better team, seriously. They are so dedicated and help me with everything I need to do in order to build the brand and make it grow. Meet the team: Shane Cooke (founder, owner, promoter) Jason Bands (owner, merchandise) Lizzie Curious (resident) Jeff Laurence (resident) Garth Hill (resident) Leroy Schneider (art and design) I organise the events from start to finish with help from everyone when asked. Once I have organised and picked the djs I will check that Jason is happy with the ideas behind the event and the line-up. Then we go from there. Everyone will do promotion even if they are not playing, that’s how good they are and how tight we are as a team. Leroy is our designer; he creates great posters and flyers for us. He also created the logo that we use currently. It was based on the general idea of the first one we used when we launched. I will give Leroy a basic idea and he will create amazing eye catching designs. Each of my djs has been picked because of there great styles, energy and talent. They all know how to create a different buzz when playing and they are all adaptable depending on there set times and headliner! Sick Vibez prides itself in being a brand new name on the market which has already headlined some of the biggest names in house music. Could you tell us about the past parties? Which of them are you the most proud of? Past parties include headliners such as Jnr J, K-Klass, Matt Darey and Nocturnal one of only two UK shows, Timo Garcia, N-Joi, Toolroom Records djs: Kim Fai and Marc Storie. We featured in South city with Timo Garcia and CR2 Records. We also had the main arena at the prestigious Babies Events where we were featured in a write up for Mixmag, written by your very self Agnes. I am proud of each of my parties, in different ways obviously, because each of them was different. The ones that really stick out for me though are Babies and our SW4 after party with Timo Garcia. Babies was very special. We had the outdoor arena, it was amazing. The atmosphere was electric, there was such a good vibe, pure love everywhere, mass visual display behind our stage and it was packed out. Everyone was going wild and we left everyone screaming for more, it was euphoric! We had to close our stage early as there were complaints of noise pollution but it was still incredible. There was about 650 people through the door and the rest of the floors smashed it as well. Carte Blanch were amazing as were A.T.A.R.I. Project who set up Babies Events. Our last party at Inigo was our SW4 after party with Timo Garcia headlining. It was almost too busy. I couldn’t have asked for a bigger turn out. We went past capacity and I got more emails and feedback from that event than any other. One person sent me an email saying "that was the best party I've been to for years, guys I loved it and the music was unreal. One of the best line-ups I've seen. I'm sorry guys but I don’t think you can top this one, it simply was too good". So you can imagine my delight! If you were to describe the party to someone who has never attended it before what would you say? Sick Vibez parties are pure energy from start to finish, expect great décor, amazing djs, free giveaways, love and unity, and music that will make you want to dance all night long. We will give you butterflies and make your spine tingle. We will create theatrical euphoria in the company of beautiful, sexy, weird and wonderful individuals. At the end of the night, Sick Vibez will leave you screaming for more! What do you have to do in order to prepare each party? Well first on our list of things to do is picking a venue. We research it to find out the vibe, clientele and the whole feel of the place. It has to have an energy about it and feel right even when there is no event on. I like to visualise what we could create in there and if it would be the right place for the theme, music and idea behind the event. Then we move on to the line-up. Once the headliner is confirmed you got to choose the line-up which would best suit the headlining dj. If one of my residents plays music that most suits the headliner they will probably go on before them. Once you have all the information on your event you have to get the design for the event posters, flyers, tickets ect. Then it's all about getting the promotion out on the street and the web. Once people know about it then the best form of promotion starts, and that’s word of mouth! With my events I have décor and branding so that also needs organising. We will decorate the club the morning of the events. There is so much work going into events more than I think people realise. However, as a promoter you do always get out what you put in so work hard and the turnout will be big! I could give a big list of preparations but I think it would be too big for the page! How do you advertise yourself? I advertise through the web on several different clubbing websites and social networking sites. We have a range of T-shirts that appear in an online catalogue. Me, Jason and our friends wear them when we are out. I get lots of people asking me about the logo on my shirt and what it stands for. Then once the logo is in clubbers' mind they will recognise it when they see it again. Then they will check us out on the web and tell other people about it. That’s the idea anyways so it’s like constant promotion everywhere we go. I’m always out and about meeting new people industry and none industry. I feel it's vital to be out on the field of play and be in the eye of the clientele that you are approaching, regardless of the line of business. Could you describe the type of audience Sick Vibez wants to attract? We want to attract anyone who just loves music and really appreciates the effort that goes into it. People who just want to have fun, meet new likewise people and have open minds to everything because our events attract all different types of people, because it's all about just enjoying life to the limit. We want everyone to talk about us for being the event that stood out, where there was a great atmosphere, where they made new friends and enjoyed great times. What is your dj screening process for Sick Vibez? Do you leave the door open for the newly discovered talents? I’m always on the lookout for up and coming djs. It is always nice to have fresh talents playing at your events. Also, I am happy to help them out by sending their links and demos on to other promoters. If a dj blows me away I will book them again. Up and coming djs can send there demos to sickvibezdemos@live.co.uk Who provides decorations and visualisations? Visuals are provided by Leroy - our personal designer. We have different visuals every time! Décor is created by ourselves. It's all about DIY. We purchased materials from Internet, electric blue to go with the logo colour. One time my friend Olaf Mason cut out 15 wooden circles for me at his work to make blank mobiles. The idea is that whatever djs are playing I will print out their logos and stick them on to promote them and let the public know who is playing. I know we are the only brand that does this, which again makes us a little bit different. We also have mobiles with our logo on as well, about fifteen in total, so they are everywhere. What clubs have you used in the past and why? Our first club was Inigo. We chose that club because it is well known, has a great atmosphere and a capacity of 200, which is a perfect starting point for any brand. It is also a great place for established brands because once the club is full, it absolutely goes insane but at the same time it's very intimate. Then we did Brixton Jamm which is one of those clubs where you don’t have to worry about anything as it's not pretentious and has a great vibe. The Whitehouse in Clapham Common is very well known with a good walk-in crowd. It hosts some of the biggest djs in the world and they give their promoters good deals. We held thereSick Vibez meets Nocturnal (Matt Darey) and Sick Vibez meets K-Klass which were two great parties. Not to mention the fact that The Whitehouse is a great club to have on your CV. Then there’s Gigalum where we hold Sunday sessions. I wanted to do daytime parties and Hilton Caswell - Gigalum's promoter, who I had worked with before at Inigo, asked if I wanted to come and do some events. It was a perfect opportunity for the brand as the bar has an excellent reputation for its parties. We held our last party there: Sick Vibez meets 'Leaders of The New School' with Kim Fai and Marc Storie, another amazing day/night. What improvements would you like to make to the party in the future? Well, I think if we just keep doing what we are doing we will keep growing. We are getting bigger turnouts with every new event we organise. My team is happy with such excellent results so am I. The bigger our budget gets the more money we can put into décor, visuals and promotion. Everything we get back from the events, it goes back into Sick Vibez so we can evolve, grow and improve the things we already have. What can we expect from the next Sick Vibez on 19th December at Gigalum bar in Clapham North with Ibiza legend Jonathan Ulysses and Curiousity Club Xmas fancy dress party? I know this will be amazing especially because we have two great brands coming together. Curiousity Club has an amazing reputation and throws great parties plus it is run by my close friend and club land colleague, Lizzie Curious. There are lots of surprises in store for this one with an amazing line-up and we are so happy to have Jonathan headlining for us. He is a great DJ with an amazing presence and energy behind the decks. This is going to be a top top Xmas party! I would just like to give a massive thank you for all the support so far from Lizzie Curious, David Minns, Hilton Caswell, Tobie Allen and Bootleg Social, Dino Ciancamerla and Babies Events. South City, Dolce Vita all the djs who have played for us, the whole Sick Vibez team and all our followers and friends and everyone who believed in our vision and gave us the time of day and support we needed to bring the brand so far in such a short amount of time and of course Agnes, thank you all![/b] Thank you for your time Shane. It was a real pleasure talking to you. See you at the party on 19th December. All photos courtesy of Sick Vibez. Not to be reproduced without permission. Share this :: : : : Follow HarderFaster :: Other Features By Agnes Klos: Back2Basics - 10 Years of Party Productions & Tomorrowland Stage Hosts Atmosphere Records - The opening of IBIZA 1936 Entering the world of Waldfrieden in Germany with DJoanna Piracy is not a crime – sail away with Feestgedruis! Progressive flavours with DJ R'Deem ahead of Neelix party The views and opinions expressed in this review are strictly those of the author only for which HarderFaster will not be held responsible or liable. Comments: From: Lizzie Curious on 15th Dec 2010 20:44.09 Loved reading this interview. You have a real passion for what you do and long may it continue! Roll on sunday's X-mess madness!

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