Inside The Industry: Ministry of Sound Club Inside the Reinvention of a Global Clubbing Icon | 50th Episode Special

So many people have gone on from being in these four walls to doing some amazing things in the industry.

I used to pay my builders in ministry cities.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm not even fucking joking.

The key bit was as well as bringing the DJ back into the focus of the dance floor.

I'm the band-held him for the birthday.

Amazing, that was incredible.

I owe my career to this person.

So we've launched five in-house brands in the past year.

How's the content? It's going to be amazing.

Everyone's going to love it when we post that online.

They're like, I was like, you're not going to like this man.

No, this is Josh's work dream.

Sitting in the middle of the box.

I think we're talking about ministry of sound.

Welcome back to Lauderdone Philwood.

Today we are filming in one of the most iconic spaces in London at the box at

Ministry of Sound.

I just wanted to come on air and say thank you very much to everyone who's downloaded,

everyone who's listened.

But to keep this podcast going, we need to get as many subscribers as we can

so we can keep bringing you to the best podcast.

Please give us a like and hit that subscribe button on YouTube,

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But yeah, massive thank you to everyone.

And yeah, here's an next episode.

Welcome back to Lauderdone Philwood.

Today we have a very special episode.

We're doing this live from the new refurbished box

inside Ministry of Sound.

I'm joined with Josh, my fellow presenter,

who has a lot of great history of ministry.

And he ever talks about in the office.

You've got to say this is probably one of the most

iconic spaces in dance music.

Everyone has played here from Larry Levene.

These are Harvey, Karl Cox, Annamy Lennes.

It's only helped for his Frankie Knuckles.

You can kind of fill the history around us.

And yeah, we're joined by two of superstars, I shall say,

who are kind of rewriting the new chapter of Ministry of Sound.

And we kind of want to get in and have a chat and find out a bit more.

Welcome to podcast, Matt and Joe.

How are we doing, boys?

Good, how are you?

There we go.

Yeah, very good, very good.

Like, yeah, we kind of just want to get straight into it.

Like Matt, we've known each other for well over 10 years

from the glory days back in Leeds.

Joe, we've worked on a couple of different projects together

from E1 to the various other clubs around London.

Yeah, like tell us a little bit about yourselves

and where you've come from and kind of how you've

kind of ended up here as well.

Yeah, of course.

So, yeah, I think we've been known each other for way over 10 years.

Yeah, probably as well.

And I might just feel younger there.

The back of the early days.

So, yeah, we knew each other from Leeds.

I kicked off my career doing monocle there,

open canal mills and then done various projects since then.

We're like Canvas Yard, which we all worked on together doing that.

Yeah.

And we also had a food and drink project.

Ciao down.

And now I've joined, as you said, the iconic Ministry of Sound.

It's on the club direct here.

Okay, amazing, Joe.

Yeah, yeah, I've known you guys a long time.

I guess I started my first start in the industry

about 10 years ago with lock and load events

who are now louder to do the Friday's here.

So, I've kind of gone full circle.

But yeah, I was across sort of festivals.

Started in Festive with Southwest 4.

It was doing together at Amnesia.

And then I sort of moved over to E1.

So, I've always remained just in the London Club World.

Then COVID sort of killed it all, as we all know.

And then I moved to Label for a little bit.

I went for Shogun Audio.

And then dipped over here to the Ministry of Sound,

which has always had a place in my heart.

Oh, amazing.

Yeah, I mean, we're super buzzing to have you by phone.

And like, there's so much kind of a ministry now.

And obviously, Josh has got so much history here.

So, yeah, I'm going to let him take a little bit of time.

I feel like, yeah, we're just saying, I mean,

we've had a lot of ex-menitial people on the podcast.

Then, Caitlin, actually, was one of the first episodes that we did

when she, yeah, back in last year.

She was the first, huh?

She was the first or one of the first couple, I think.

So, you're actually the first, this is actually a bit of a record for us,

as you're the first brand, at least, to return.

So, you obviously do like you guys.

You like that, I am.

So, like, yeah, it's our first one from a club as well.

Yeah.

Which we're super excited about.

So, yeah, I think, you know, as Alex said,

you know, jokes aside, there's like,

Ministry has been a huge, huge part of my life.

It was like, you know, it was one of the proper right of passage

for me coming in as it has been for so many people in the industry.

So, yeah, it's been awesome for me to work with you guys

again, obviously doing all the PR marketing for the club

for the last couple of years.

But yeah, man, this is, you know, a huge year,

35 years, massive anniversary,

and this room is like night and day,

like it's insane.

So, that unbelievable amount of changes,

it's hard to not look at everything in just a minute.

Sure, this is actually my first time in the box since the refurb.

So, yeah, it's exciting to see it.

It's unreal, man.

It's unbelievable.

Like, when I walked in there, they were on the size of it,

without the, I mean, the stacks, obviously, are legendary, you know,

I call him again.

Yeah, it feels big, isn't it?

It's insane how much, you know, how much space it feels like there isn't here.

It's absolutely, it's mega.

But yeah, what do you think?

I guess, tell us a little bit about the changes that have happened.

Obviously, everything has been ripped out.

But yeah, tell us what's going on and why, why now?

You know, the first time in 35 years, I guess, the box has been touched.

Yeah, yeah, talk us through.

So, a few things here.

So, you know, we're hitting 35 years.

It's a big year for us.

But ultimately, the box has been such an iconic space in both London

and across the world as a clubbing space.

But over the last few years, we felt like it had a bit of disconnect

between the DJ and the audience and the customers and stuff.

So, for us, it was really about, right, 35 years.

Let's, what can we do to bring this back into the clubbing focus

and sort of reposition ourselves for the next 35 years?

Yeah.

And we worked with Lucy, create and patchwork

and over the last 12 months to both a pure sound system

and also work from an AV perspective to sort of go,

what can we do to go?

This is us again.

It's an iconic space.

It's breathtaking and really around the centuries and stuff.

We kind of lost that in the latter years of the box space.

And Lucid have created this overhead.

Visual bespoke piece where it's like layers of screen, LED

and then completely bespoke sort of diamond we're calling it.

And then the key bit as well as bringing the DJ back into the focus of the dance floor

and we've kind of pulled it in where it's lowered the move, brought it in

so that people can dance all around it.

The DJ feels more connected with the audience

and then we've allowed like a stage behind as well.

So you've got that sort of 360 perspective.

Yeah.

It feels a lot bigger.

I was going to say it feels bigger to know it.

It kind of is though.

I think we've, because we had the stacks which roversy legendary

and it was a big, it was a bit of a hard decision for us to make

because ministries always been known for having the best sound system

in the world, one of one of the best sound systems in the world.

And I think it's like how do you actually top that?

Right.

There was a lot of chat going around before about whether

is it even going to be better?

When we first sort of tested the sound, we were like

losing those stacks.

I think it's such an iconic piece of ministry history

and you know, Martin Ordeo is being there right from the start.

So to kind of hear that those stacks were going in.

Everyone, like I think it took a little bit of panic.

Yeah, it's a bit of panic, right?

Just to jump in, that was the first thing I noticed.

I was like, oh no, there's a stack stomach.

Then I was like, oh wow, actually, this thing.

That's what everyone associated.

You know, the stacks were the thing that people saw when you came in

but ultimately like, it's like, we wanted to make sure

that the sound and the order was still correct.

And that's why the anxiety of picking

and doing the testing of all the corrects, you know,

we did some months.

The guys, Oscar, our production manager,

worked with Patchwork.

They went tested sound system all around the world.

They went to places, went to studios,

listened to stuff, and we also did last summer,

a week's worth of testing in the club.

Nobody knew we were doing it actually.

We replaced the martin with different sounds from KV2.

We did head on head sound test

so that everyone from our resident DJs

to all the club team, to the customers,

we really worked on what we were going to get right.

And that was so key.

Like, that was fundamental.

You know, we managed to sound the sound needed to be correct.

And that was absolutely, you know, so important to us.

And we built everything else around that.

But with those, so with those stacks going,

it was six, right?

Yeah, six.

With the six stacks gone,

we've actually gained like an extra 200 cut in the room.

Oh, really?

So it is genuinely big enough, which is great.

And you know, it's nice when you're here

and you're on the sort of new stage behind the booth.

It's nice because you're now seeing

like people come around the booth, right?

And we never really had that before.

It was always the DJs up and, you know, he's up.

It was linear.

You know, you came in and everyone was just in the line

and looking up.

Yeah, and you've been, you know,

I think those days are gone,

where the DJs playing up in the gods

and everyone's kind of worshipping the DJ.

Now, you know,

you should, obviously, yeah.

But like, you know, now it's everyone's equal.

I mean, everyone's like on the level

and it's like, you know, you're more of the,

there's more connection with the crowd automatically,

which is worse about.

The, one of the things, one of the big things,

I think I noticed as well,

I know you mentioned it, you know,

the kind of sit the whole stage behind the DJ.

That's obviously,

yeah, yeah.

That was always something that was tricky

in the club with the previous booth.

You know, even if we were doing content or something

when we were here,

you're kind of stuck at the, we say,

and like really like,

you know, the solo room to breathe

or to move around, you know,

it wasn't, that's been a big trend

in dance music, I guess, you know,

with having this kind of like boiler room,

I guess,

S-type audience behind it.

You can see it and everything.

And everything now.

Was that a big conscious part of the decision

to have that whole space behind

where you've got this kind of more,

like 360 immersive feel to the set up?

Yeah, it was, it, it, it, it, it makes.

We've got more to be, we're to adapt the space

with more as well, you know,

and it's bringing, and it's the connectivity

between the audience, the DJ,

the audience in front of the DJ behind

and stuff, what it means, you know,

when we've got performers, dancers and stuff like that,

we've got way more flexibility

across all the different nights we do.

But yeah, absolutely, we, you know,

we're in Ibiza last year

and we went to see like Shimwa

and now that flowed and stuff.

And that was like, they were in,

you know, we're taking inspiration

from where we went and, and it was like,

what, what does the box need

for the next 35 years to make, you know,

people coming back here and stuff

and that's like, it was key really.

Yeah, a bit in the design element.

Oh, right.

I think, you know, for me, just,

when, when, you know, when you first start going out clubbing, right,

it was, it was very much just one big room, right?

In, in most of the clubs that I remember

from my early years going clubbing,

it was just one room and as soon as I started going to Ibiza

and I was going to clubs like,

Amnesia or, or privilege or like,

just, just any sort of like,

international club really started to see

that there were levels, right?

And there's platforms and there's people

that are above the DJ, there's people that are on the floor.

And for me, that was like,

that was like a whole transformation

in like clubbing experience.

And I think, you know, more and more clubs now

that you go into, there's, there is different levels

of like, where people are at.

And I think it changes the, changes the experience.

And like, for me, now, in here,

you know, just having all that space behind the DJ,

it's just, yeah, it's just added a new,

new viewpoint, new dynamite to it as well.

And how lucid have made the content for that back screen?

Yeah.

Well, the people behind the DJ

are now silhouettes of the visuals.

So how they basically, the, the colour pop behind the screen,

the people dancing behind it

become part of the stage experience as well

from the customers from the front.

And it's like the silhouettes.

So like, it looks incredible in here.

I don't know.

Just currently, I was going to ask,

have you seen, have you been watching people's faces

when they walked in here and like,

they'd seen their first reactions and of it?

And what's the feedback being like?

From my side, 100%.

I've taken a few people in here.

I remember one, it was Ralph Lawson

when we were doing the press event

and we were walking around.

And then he was like,

so, so this is a new room, right?

Where's the box again?

It was like that.

A phone off disorientated.

What we'd done.

And I was like, no, no, this is the box, you know,

because I think you've visual from seeing the stacks

and the used to being the DJ and stuff

and bringing it so much back

and like, lowering the ceiling and stuff.

It's like, it feels completely different.

And we've seen it from a customer perspective

when you see him coming through the tunnel.

It's like, wow, this is breathtaking.

It's not, you know, they've created something like,

you're not going to go and see somewhere else

in another club now.

So it's like, really breathtaking.

Amazing.

So I'm like, as it's at 35 years this year,

I thought we'd have a bit of a history lesson.

I want to, like, when do you remember

your first comment experience?

When you first came to the Ministry of Sounds,

I'll start off and say, like,

my name was David Getter.

I'm not going to say what year it is

because I can't remember.

But all I remember doing is standing on the stacks,

dancing.

I think it was probably off of me as well.

But I just haven't made the experience.

And that was my first entry point into dance music.

So yeah, I want each of you to kind of tell me,

what was your first?

Like you kick off.

Yeah, so I mean, for me,

I actually started,

I actually started doing artistly A's on here

when I was about 24,

not going to say how long ago that was either.

I started when I was working for lock and load.

So they used to look after the gallery,

which was like a legendary Friday night here,

which most people were aware.

And it was champion in trance and a bit of EDM,

I guess, but it was predominantly trance of that time,

which isn't been my thing at all personally,

but it was work, you know, you crack on.

And it was actually, you know,

it opened my eyes to that side of me,

which is huge.

And it's a proper community crowd in trance,

you know, which is nice.

But it was proper reach for the lasers vibes.

Do you know what I mean?

And like, I had like, I think I was,

I think there was a parachute.

You know that, bro.

Yeah, I think it was like,

pink panda was the, it was a duo.

The legend, the legend, the legend.

The legend, the legend.

The legendary pink panda.

Yeah, never know who they are.

Right, right.

They had these masks on.

And it was rammed out, I think,

there was like, to the, to the rafters,

you know, 1800 people in.

And I was obviously, it was like my first shift

doing artists, the A-Zone, right?

Obviously you got five rooms here, yeah.

So there's like, five DJs, you got like,

a little label in the baby box over there.

And I'm like, running about, I've got my radio on.

I've never really like used the radio before.

And I'd like, Pete, who's like, head dormant here.

He was like, he was like, Joe,

obviously, A-Zone, where are you?

Where are you? And I was like, I'm in the box.

I just took, I've just taken the headline.

It's like, drinks fruit, just taking the ride on there.

It was like, come to the main door.

And then like, then the label,

we're after the drinks and the loft.

And I think I must have racked up, like,

30,000 steps at night.

Oh, wow.

Why don't I just use it on for five rooms?

That is very, that's very important.

You're very pro-planning.

All right, you know what I mean?

They beasted us, mate.

Yeah, you remember yours?

I did, actually, yeah.

I always, I remember being young.

And it was about 2008, 2009,

getting the train down from Leeds,

coming down for Secret Sunders,

at the time when they used to do

some of their legendary events.

And I'd only been to a few of them,

but they'd started doing,

minutious on one summer back in the courtyard.

We went outside.

Outside when they used to do the functioning one outside.

I don't know if anyone remembers the old air stream

that used to be out there, as well, yeah.

And they used to, they used to have to bring you around.

They didn't come through the front normal way and stuff.

And it came through the back way.

You see, packed out.

But I was, I was super young early 20s at the time.

And yeah, you used to come down there

and I'd just be like, well,

you know, train down, train back same day kind of thing,

you know, for the day part.

For the same day, yeah.

I mean, Josh, you've worked on it.

I've been trying, I've been trying to learn into one.

Been trying for like multiple days to try and I remember,

honestly, like, you know, we were saying before,

like everything moves into one.

Yeah.

I think it was a gallery show.

I feel like it was either a transfer drum and bass.

So I was definitely, I was definitely there.

I feel like it was like a cosmic gear or something,

but I'm pretty sure it was a gallery.

But that at the time as well was like, you know,

a ministry was, you know, it was kind of championed that sound.

You know, trans was like, I think for years gallery

and was like one of the only places you could really see.

Completely.

Like global trans artists playing in London.

You know, like a championed that sound massively.

I had, you know, I always noticed, you know,

from when I was before and when I was working

I'm sure you guys do as well, like the difference

and like how different the crowds are, obviously,

you know, with different genres, you know,

the club is not pigeonholed as one sound.

So it's everything.

So there's, but very different audiences,

like different vibe in the club,

but like the same people coming.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dedicated fans who were coming,

both for the music and for the club

because people would just love this place.

Yeah.

Like, love this place.

I think it was always interesting to see as well, you know,

the mentors who are coming in as well.

I don't know if you guys are still seeing the same thing,

but you know, it's a, you know,

ministry is an often probably always well-being.

You know, one of the powerhouses and global dance music,

you know, it's a brand that resonates

it's like the man United of a fast.

I think, I just made this contest.

Wow.

The second I've been, there was a liberal father, yeah.

You know, you guys were like,

it's just a commitment.

It is.

In the same sense, like, you know,

it's like, you know, they're in between us.

Is that Manchester United?

Yeah, I don't know what you mean.

No, it's like, but you know, everywhere in the world,

people are like, oh, anyway, they're not everywhere.

Yeah, and all that.

It's not, no, it's so true.

And so, you know, people are in London for a weekend.

They're like, we're gonna go out one night

where we're gonna go.

Like, we're gonna go to fucking ministry.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was like, it was always good.

Well, there was a lot of the same people.

You also saw a lot of new faces.

There were coming and experiencing that sound

that you just couldn't really feel anywhere else.

So, yeah, I think track like, you know,

we spoke to me and Greg talked to this recently,

you know, Transan.

I mean, I won't quite use the,

Greg will call them fascists.

I was a bit drum and bass and Trans fans,

but I was like, well, I wouldn't quite say that,

but dedicated.

I'm dedicated.

And you fought, you know, Transan, in particular,

you fought exoans and I've got ministry was, you know,

a champion of that.

And so, yeah, I think it was like, it was a gallery show.

And then obviously, you know, working here,

it was so many countless things.

Most of them, I cannot fucking remember.

I'm gonna squeeze somewhere out of you later.

Yeah.

Just to bring it forward now, obviously,

you guys have been here a couple of years now,

and you're kind of, yeah, you're leaving things forward.

What's been wanting to do like,

you'll stand out moments,

like whether since this is open,

even since you actually joined the club?

I've only been here just over, yeah, myself.

So, coming on board and being able to, you know,

put a standpoint in the box and...

Did you feel, I don't know, like,

did you feel the history and feel the heritage?

And feel it was a big demand on you when you actually did join the club.

Absolutely, you know, like,

my history had been all been in lead,

and you have done some events down here,

when we used to do monochrome and stuff,

it was all lead based, so coming down here,

and obviously I knew everyone does

how important the initial sound is in the club and ecosystem,

and coming on board and, you know,

as club director and taking on the brand and stuff,

yeah, absolutely, you know, it's absolutely pride in that,

but during my initial interview process and all that,

you know, I knew there was a bit of a disconnect,

and there was talks of, you know,

there's something we want to do with the box,

but we didn't have any plans,

so for me, coming on board and then going,

yeah, let's go with this, and let's do this,

and we'll bring on Lucie Crates as well to,

if we're going to do it,

let's do something really good,

and you know, all this senior team here are really supportive,

and that I'm really want to drive it forward,

and invest where, you know, it's right and stuff,

and so, yeah, for me, this has been a

absolutely pinnacle point in sort of.

Yeah, so the actual turns of the box,

yeah, that's absolutely, that's been, you know,

a good building towards that.

Yeah, absolutely, and I'm, you know, from my,

personally, I'm super proud of what we've done here as well,

but even lead over the last two months leading up to that bit,

as well, like doing the VIP,

bringing up a really good team,

Jo's on Joiners as Head of Marketing,

we've got a really good team,

so it's like been proud moments of doing that over the last two months.

Yeah, right, is it?

Yeah, anything you're super proud of since you've been here,

or any special moments?

Yeah, for sure.

I mean, I'm really proud of the team, actually,

and also my marketing team, you know,

that we've sort of grown massively

and changed as well quite a lot,

because I actually started at the club in,

in talent, so I started as a booker,

and then moved over to Head of Marketing,

so I've sort of built the team up,

and we've had some amazing shows,

right, like in the two years I've been here,

like, so I mean, it's too many to list,

but like, I mean, a couple of standout ones

would be like Armored Van Heldon for the birthday.

Amazing.

That was incredible.

Yeah, like one of the best,

probably up there is probably the top three events

I've ever been to.

Really? Oh wow.

It was nuts.

Absolutely not.

I mean, I've always been a huge super fan of Armored anyway,

and he's wicked, but yeah, that was insane.

We've also grown our own sort of sub brands as well,

so we've launched five in-house brands in the past year,

and I'm super proud of sort of those in-house brands

where we've got to with them,

because they've kind of got an entity of their own now,

which is super cool,

and that's helping us to reinvent the club quite a lot.

I think, you know, there's always been a perception

that Ministries fully been mainstream commercial,

which it is, you know,

and a lot of that is down to the label,

and you know, the history of the compilations,

and all of that, you know, like I'm sure

probably all of our mums at one point had a Ministry compilation.

So I'd say that's...

Tell my mums about it.

But we're in...

I used to pay my belders in Ministry CDs.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm not even fucking joking.

That would be nice, man.

It's actually currency.

No, this is coming out to be like,

you got...

Listen, I've, like, Twitter quite short,

but I've got a fucking 100 Ministry CDs.

Do you want to choose any?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Right, and that's the thing you can't forget that, right?

And that's...

We...

It's kind of...

We owe a lot to that,

in terms of, like, where the club,

and where the brand's sorry has got to, right?

But, you know, from our side now,

it's really been about reinvigorating the club,

and kind of showing people that it's also, you know,

a mad, insane, underground club,

as well, the Champions Underground music,

as well as kind of those big commercial names.

And I think, you know, we've got a lot to thank,

thank for the history,

like, and that's partly the reason

that a lot of international has come through, you know,

because we are on the map, like, globally.

There's not many clubs, I think, in the UK,

that have such a global footprint that we do.

Yeah, that's...

You've kind of segwed quite nicely

until I was going to ask you,

I just want to talk about the kind of marketing of the brand.

I was here pre-the sale to Sony.

A couple of the things you just said there is interesting

to touch on.

So, you know, I was doing the tour of stuff,

running tours and programming events all over the world.

At the time, you know, pre-the sale,

compilations was huge.

I think there was, like, 55, a year,

or 60 compilations a year or something.

You couldn't turn the TV on a night without seeing

3, 4, 5 ministry adverts on every fucking show

that you watched, which was good.

I mean, at the time, we used to hate it,

because it was like, you know,

when you're trying to book, like, super cool events

and stuff all over the world,

and then you're competing with, like,

R&B anthems and ministry,

whatever, fucking crazy mouth compilation.

Every single genre of music, which, you know,

but so you're competing with that

because then you've got this global thing.

But what I realized when we lost that,

you know, what I realized when we lost that was the,

it was free marketing.

You know, you couldn't, I was a bit,

it's a big reason why I come back to where I was saying,

well, you go to anywhere in the world,

people know the industry, they know the brand,

because of the compilations.

Have you found, you know,

you said you mentioned you've launched a few new brands,

which look like they're doing great.

How have you found continuously finding ways to market

the venue and the brands and innovative ways,

you know, since, I guess you guys went here just after the sale,

but, you know, without having that kind of global presence

and TV presence that the brand previously had,

and, you know, it's an increasingly competitive venue landscape,

both in London and beyond,

and yeah, how have you managed to keep that going?

Did you find it super challenging?

What's the, yeah, I mean, I think it's always a challenge

in market in a club,

because it is hugely competitive in London,

and particularly for a club,

like Ministry with such a vast, wide programming

that we have right at the club.

So we, you know, we welcome most genres,

pretty much all genres, to be fair,

and we work with such a huge book of promoters as well, right?

So we do, you know, a full mix of in-house shows,

which probably make up, I don't know, 50% would you say?

Yeah, 50% of the program, I guess, is probably in-house,

and that's why we've kind of launched

and developed these in-house brands

to kind of manage all of our in-house shows

under those five entities, right?

And keep quite a clear marketing strategy

and a clear brand entity for each of those.

So that's kind of how we've managed with the in-house stuff,

and then you've got external promoters coming in

and then we do a lot of co-pros as well.

So the challenge, I think,

is being able to segment your audience through, you know,

anything from down, like, it's easier with CRM,

and things like that, you know,

and being able to do email broadcasts and mail out

and like growing communities to then talk to

in those niche pockets, which helps,

but the challenge, as you said,

Josh, is like, when you're kind of known

as this huge global beast,

how do you kind of then pivot that into being like a new,

a newly, a new been improved

or a newly launched underground club, right?

And I think part of that is why we've done this huge refurb

is to kind of, like, relaunch ministry 2.0 essentially.

Yeah, well, first of all, up and then,

I put a fresh nut up, man.

35 years, right?

So like, after a while, you've got to switch things up,

you've got to show that you've got to be disruptive.

That's a huge part of it, right?

Continually being disruptive.

You've got to keep a fresh program.

You've got to be able to reinvent yourself

and launch these new brands to keep fresh

and also to appeal to a younger audience, you know?

I think that's the other thing is a lot of the

previous programming that we were doing.

So gallery, for example,

probably had a much older audience.

And, you know, we want to make sure that we're always,

always staying relevant,

particularly as people are just getting into clubbing

and just getting into, to, to go in out

and getting into dance music, you know,

we want to make sure that we're hitting that target market.

So I think a huge part is content.

I mean, content is clearest as fuck,

but content is king, right?

A lot of people know that.

So making sure that our creative team are doing the best they can

to really push the boundaries.

You know, and just, and we've had a whole rebrand.

We literally wiped our socials,

which was a proper scary moment, you know?

It's like, are we doing the right thing?

Should we do it?

It's going to be a backlash.

On the second of January, just going,

you know what I mean?

It was, yeah, it was, it was a scary moment for me

because I was the one leading that and pushing the button, right?

You know what I mean?

And just wiping everything.

Like, from the past 85 years.

Like, oh wow.

I mean, dilly.

It was your Instagram was around.

I'm talking about Instagram.

Yeah.

But like, you know, I mean, we, we had some archive content, mate.

Do you know what I mean?

We still repurposed that.

But yeah, so, so to wipe all that and then re-launch was,

was a big moment for us.

And, and making sure that when we come back and we,

and we put the lights on,

that we had some strong creative to complement that.

And that's what we've done.

Sabrina, our head of creative has smashed it

with her direction.

You know, Adam Natalie Lucas on my team,

they've, they've worked really hard

from, from the content to design to it.

And then, and then just making sure that we market that

in the right way.

Yeah.

I was going to say, at least perfectly on.

It's like, obviously club cultures are changed.

The audiences are changing.

Like, how do you see,

initially now, evolving into the next, like, three, four, five, ten years?

So, a few bits that we've been, you know,

like, Lena and what Joseph said here, that we've gone right,

what, where do we see the brand here, what we're doing?

There's a bit of a, not a brand reset,

like how we're, how we're evolving, we've kicked off,

um, tours or doing events outside of the club again.

And we're really picking locations and partners

that we're doing those with so that we really represent

what we're about now, what we're doing is ministry of sound.

So, we're just in a really big showcase,

um, event in Dubai last month in the January.

And that had people that haven't been held in Dennis

for, uh, DJ tennis,

huge list of artists.

Then we're going into like Miami Music Week.

Again, we're working with partners over there,

um, to deliver a really key show.

We're going to do one show this year in Ibiza.

And, and we're building back up and going,

right, this year we're doing some really key locations

for this year for our 35th year.

So then next year we're looking at some residences and stuff.

And we're kind of, you know,

everything that we're doing at the club

and rebuilding the brand here as well.

And a little, um, we're also launching the merch brand

as well and doing like a capsule collection

across our clothing range as well.

And just trying to tap into all those different audiences

and not, and just be like,

it's not just the club again.

We're back, we're, we're a brand.

This is where we're at.

We've got the global reach again.

Um, and, and position ourselves again across that

in those little different touch points.

Yeah. I'm loving seeing the brand back onto again.

Obviously, I think this is the first time, well, it is.

It's the first time since, since I was here.

Yeah. Yeah.

Basically that it's actually with you've had an end house team

that's been, been driving stuff.

And Jared actually is running things now.

He used to boot shows off me.

When I was, when I was, when I was, when I was a child.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He was, he was the guy booking the ministry shows over there.

So, um, so yeah, but it's awesome to see, you know,

there's, I think the brand, you know,

with his global presence and how much it's loved and known

worldwide, it's, it's always deserved to be out there

and be on the road.

And, you know, in these awesome venues and awesome places

and, you know, it's a perfect example in front of the,

the, the, the big wheel and, you know,

you know, lighten ups of the scale that they're booking in it

and what, three thousand, three and a half, four thousand people

wherever it was at the show.

Um, that's where the brand should be.

So, yeah, for me, it's like, I'm loving it.

I'm loving seeing the brand back and, you know,

supporting Jared in different ways and, you know,

and you guys and, um, yeah.

You've got something to connect with the ministries.

Like, as I said, let's start.

Like, I, I still, I still, I still talk.

I lived and believed it.

I, I, I, I, oh, my career to this place.

Yeah.

You see the passion, though.

And I look, I, you know, I talk about this.

I said before I say to Caitlin, there's like, I talk about two things in my,

like, in, under the Liverpool and, in the industry,

I talk about two things with, like, real passion as Glastonbury and Ministry.

Yeah.

Glastonbury, I'm a geek.

I drop out of the game, like, just a fucking glass of freak.

But like, ministry, I, I will always feel like I am part of this brand always.

Like, I was here for six, seven years.

Um, it was such a huge part of my life.

I love it.

I, I do all the brands.

And there are so many people in the industry now who came through this brand.

You know, it's, and it is.

It's a proper, right.

It's a proper, right.

A passage for so much of the industry is considered.

It's, you know, it's, it's, it's a tough place to work.

Yeah.

But, you know, I, I couldn't do what I do now without my experiences here.

I, so many people will say the exact same thing.

But what is it about this place?

You think that brings like, so many of it, like I said,

you know, so many of the industry have worked here and are now doing these top things.

What is that about this place?

You think it's, it's special because it is more special than, than, like, anywhere else.

Um, good question.

It is you right though.

Like, since joining here, everywhere I go, you know, when you got to ADE, I met you.

You meet people who, oh, I work there.

I've done that.

And so many people have gone on from being in these four walls to doing some amazing things in the industry.

And like you say, and, and everyone's really passionate about what they've done and their experiences here and stuff.

I don't know, I guess these four walls can, you know, got some history and can speak from this.

There's like, there's a real, there's a real driving to the degree.

What is different here?

Yeah.

Yeah.

But there's always been like, like, you know, a kind of focus to just deliver the best that we,

but the ministry possibly can't in all areas, right?

And I think that that goes back right to the start from when Justin launched it, right?

He was doing all he could to make sure that he was bringing massive talent, like big name talent from New York and Chicago to here.

And obviously then, you know, I think over the years it's been through so many different teams and different, like,

different departments have come in and, and shaped it.

And I think there's always been a, a level to uphold and maintain that, that, that, like, quality.

Yeah.

Do you know what I mean?

And I think, and from all departments, you see that, you see like Oscar and the tech team on the night of doing everything they can to make sure that the visuals and the production and the sound and everything's on point.

Like the creative team with the content roll out, you know, and in the marketing team, we're always doing our best to make sure that we stand out with better than anyone else.

And I think that that's, that's partly what it is, is that, like, people really do put their all into it here.

Like, like a crafting man.

Yeah, and it's the key.

Like you see going, like, yeah, it's real passion that goes into it and comes from, from the top from Matt, free down to the team.

Like, and even above, like, you know, low hand still comes in and we still have the odd meeting with them.

And he'll come to the odd, like, event here as well.

And, um, I think it means a lot when you see him, like, real proud.

No one's got the thought of the team.

So, I mean, and like, like, back to the Caitlin thing as well.

Like, Caitlin's in the build, you know, she's in the club night.

She's seeing what's going on.

Yeah.

Yeah, she's a group, I'm David.

She's here. She's seeing what's going on.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Seeing what the customer's saying.

And I'm waiting for us.

It's instilled with everybody in the office from the accounts team.

So, you know, the IT team's meant to everyone's, everyone literally don't know what role they play in this building.

They live and breathe it.

Yeah.

And it really pays off.

I don't know if you guys still do this.

But when, when I first started, you know, the label was still here.

There was 170, you know, the office was double the size, three times the size.

But as now, there was 167 people in the building.

And they used to do lunch with low hand for the new starter.

Right?

I know it was nice.

That was pretty nice.

It was.

It was.

It was.

I will never, I talk about this a lot.

And I will never, ever, ever forget it.

Because that, that, that was a huge reason exactly what you're saying now.

Right.

Why.

And I think it is.

And stay.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Three lunch.

Of course it was.

That's for another project.

But the, that's fine.

But, you know, so they have like, you know, there was 12, 13 different departments,

however it was.

And they'd wait, you know, you'd wait.

So there was like 10, 12 new starters in the building.

And then they'd lunch and you'd sit in the boardroom,

lunch at the top of the table.

We'd get all the free sandwiches and shit.

Lovely.

Great.

Nice.

And then, and he just told the story of ministry.

Yeah.

And obviously he's been here since the beginning.

He's my lot, man.

Well, not quite since the very beginning.

But like near enough to beginning and huge part of the compilations and where that came from

and drove that side.

But, you know, it was the fucking Wild West in here.

Early 90s.

This was like, it was fucking Cowboys and Indians.

And it was like, it was wild.

And I remember sitting there and it was my first, this was my first, like, industry slash corporate

role in the, in the music industry.

I before this I'd run events and I'd done my own thing and run my own brands and build my own stuff.

But this was like my first like, you're in the end, you're really in the industry.

And I sat there for an hour or whatever it was.

And I remember sitting there with my jaw on the fucking floor, just listening to him tell

these stories.

And I was like, oh my God.

This is this place.

What the fuck?

And I was like, to be part of something.

And at the time as well, you know, it was wild.

When did I start working here?

Like early 2000s and middle of the 2019 or something?

I don't remember some of that.

You know, it was, it was a beast.

You know, the compilation saw running.

It was everywhere.

The brand was everywhere, globally present everywhere.

And it was, it was a powerhouse.

You know, it's still a powerhouse.

And I just remember getting the interview and, you know, it was five at the time.

It was running the department when I started.

And I remember like feeling like this is it.

Like you've like all this grinding and all the doing these fucking events and flaring and pissing,

dragging around fucking leads and selling guesses tickets to like fucking 18 year old freshers.

We've all been there, mate.

No, no, no, we've all been there.

We've all done it almost all of a sudden.

We've all done it almost all of a sudden.

You know what I mean?

You know what I mean?

If you huddled up getting his sweat through with some wet flyers flying,

I've still lost my ground.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

So I mean, unless you've lost money promoting, then.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I think that for me anyway was a big like that.

I remember that day I was like, fuck, like you're part of this thing.

And like, and that gave me, and I'll never, ever, ever forget that missing.

Ever.

There's such a massive part of my like entry world,

into the entry into the world of this of music and events.

Yeah, yeah.

And I think that and massively installed this like instant pride of the brand.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's why you stuck with me forever.

I think that's it.

And that's so relatable.

There's so many people that I talk to in the company now,

who have at one point maybe been here in their career.

They're kind of here.

And it's like when you're, you know, when you're navigating the mad world of the music industry,

it's like where, where do you really want to go?

Where do you end up?

At what point do you really feel like you've kind of made it?

Yeah.

And I think for me, I think that's that's ministry.

Literally, like there's, I've worked in quite a few different clubs,

different brands, different labels right across the board,

and worked with a huge amount of different businesses in the industry as well.

But I think it's such a relatable thing that we all share here.

Right?

That once, once you hear it's like, where'd you go next?

Do you know what I mean?

Like for me, it's kind of like, this is it.

This is the pinnacle.

You know what I mean?

It's relatable with what you said about the jaw-dropping moment.

You know what I mean?

Like, because still even when I'm chatting with Lohan two years in here,

and I've spoken to him countless times now,

when you still hear those old stories, those like legendary stories,

when it was the Wild West, right back then.

Yeah.

I wish I could tell some of these stories.

I'm going dirty.

Me too.

I'm going dirty.

Me too.

Half the dark episode.

Oh mate.

We need it.

You need to get Lohan on it.

Really.

Yeah.

I mean, you've mentioned that.

You've worked a lot of different clubs.

You've worked a lot of different places in these.

Well, I actually think, like, after Covid now,

people seem to be coming back up.

There's lots of new clubs opening, especially in London now.

Where do you think ministry kind of sits within the London landscape?

And then also in the UK, but then also globally as well.

Where do you think it sits now, and within those three different places?

First of two points about coming back up to Covid and stuff like that.

Certainly for my side, I've seen like,

a lot, some places bounce back incredibly well.

Like Manchester and stuff like that.

And London has, you know, and people seem to be going, you know,

doom and gloom, people aren't going out and stuff.

But they are.

They're out.

You know, they are going out.

But just people are just going out at different, you know,

they're going out for occasions.

You're not just coming out every Saturday and stuff and enjoying clubbing.

People are buying specifically for an event and stuff.

And we're still seeing, you know, really strong numbers coming in.

And they are going out.

And I think that peddling that all people aren't going out.

They are, you know, and London's exciting.

And DJs still want to play here all the time.

Even though they can go get two, three times the fees elsewhere.

They still want to play in London.

And London's still like that hop.

Yes.

Where do we see ourselves in London?

Yeah, the London landscape.

Yeah, the London landscape.

It's competitive as well.

There's lots going on.

But like, I think you ministry has something unique.

And like, yeah, do you market in a different way or how are you trying to position it within?

I suppose a global scene as well.

I think also just to add to that question.

Particularly when they're the last couple of years, I guess.

Because I agree with you.

I think especially the last couple of years, London has really picked up.

Yep.

I think it's exciting to see new things happening.

That's why I think the first time, first time in a long time, you know, we've seen five, six new venues open up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But it's great for them, right?

It really is.

You know, it even feels like a new venue's opening up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

For the ecosystem.

It's fun.

That's it, man.

We need new things.

We need new places where people are going to experience.

It supports the ecosystem's supported constantly.

So, you know, we have to like get new things opening.

And it means that there's new promote.

It's coming through.

There's new DJs happening to come in, they're playing and stuff.

And we are a, you know, we're a big club.

We're not super clubbing stuff.

But it's like, it means that new things are happening.

The ecosystem's getting supported.

And it means that people are coming back out and about and stuff.

Yeah.

And it's good.

I mean, London's helping.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, it goes back to what I was saying about reinventing

ourself and making sure that we're always doing something to,

to kind of like stay on top, really, because we are,

I see, I see ministry as a leading club in London, 100%.

Like, and there are some other clubs that are smashing it, you know,

big time.

Like, and I've got, I've got some real favorite clubs in London as well,

you know, like, obviously I'm biased.

You know what I mean?

But we're one in them.

Yeah, we're one in them.

No, it's about us.

But like, I do see what's great about ministry is that we are,

we are that destination venue yet.

So we're always going to have a big mix of international

was coming through, which is great.

It's amazing to see.

And that's why we, we try and keep the program fresh and varied.

And, and we always have like a strong walk up of people coming,

like we came week out.

We've always had that people know that, right?

And it's partly down to where we are, like location wise.

You know, it's accessible.

There's always people about.

You've got a lot of bars around here.

And there's people that just come straight from London bridge and around

that area.

You know what I mean?

But it's nice that you always get people just turning up.

You know what I mean?

Just because it's ministry regardless of the program.

It doesn't even matter what's on.

I think that's something when it comes to the club.

Yeah, that's something I was going to mention the walk up thing as well.

Because obviously, you know, post-COVID, you know, everything shifted.

Yeah.

Buying habit shifted.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, people weren't buying things fine in advance.

And you guys never necessarily relied on because you always knew, you know,

obviously there's not the odd event that sells out well in advance.

But the ministry has always been a club, as you said,

where just really good tickets beforehand.

But there's always been a huge walk up footfall.

Yeah.

So I guess, you know, a lot of people struggled massively.

Maybe more so than you guys did.

Yeah.

Not saying you didn't struggle because everybody struggled, you know.

But I think a lot of people who were entirely reliant on those pre-sales.

Yeah.

You know, that was just like the different beast for you guys.

Because, you know, the walk-ups always been crazy.

I remember, you know, I've been working here.

And I remember there being like nights where it's like, you know,

tickets are okay.

But then suddenly it's like, yeah, we fucking met some people away.

Yeah.

It was like the walk-ups just as soon as it just blows up.

You've got that crazy stuff.

It was crazy.

Yeah.

And I'm sure you guys have seen the same thing.

Yeah.

You still have that, man.

Like quite often.

Sorry, you're kind of...

I was going to say, which leads on from what we were saying.

Younger audiences, obviously, for you guys.

That's it.

You know, for everybody, everybody wants to make sure they're getting in touch with the kids.

Kind of what I was saying before, as well, about the lab.

About the positioning of the brand through compilations and stuff on TV.

What I...

And it was always hindsight, because obviously we didn't know at the time.

But what that did was it was prepping the next generation of clubbers to know what the brand was.

So, you know, people who, you know, kids who were 12, 13, 14, they were seeing the brand.

They were seeing love Island adverts.

They were seeing all their favorite TV shows.

Jody Shores and all this on ministry was everywhere.

Suddenly when they're...

And they couldn't go clubbing there.

But when they're 18, the first place they're going to go to is ministry.

Because that's the club that's been shoved down their throats basically.

In the last five, six years, that's changed now.

So, like, this new generation aren't seeing the brand in the same way.

Of course.

How are you guys finding...

How are you working out ways, new ways to get in touch with the kids?

Obviously, you know, going out a little bit less, drinking less.

How are you guys combating that?

And yeah, what you're doing to... Yeah, what you're doing to combat it.

Yeah, there's a few ways.

So, I mean, a lot of it comes down to...

Targeted marketing.

So, as I said before, making sure that we're segmenting properly,

making sure that we're being super organized with our data

and that it matches up to specific genres,

specific sounds, specific communities.

We're focusing more now on community marketing.

Rather than just...

I'd say probably five years ago, it was a lot about organic posts

and more about what was going out on your social.

We all know how hard it is these days to beat the algorithm, right?

I think it's... Oh, we're pretty good at that.

Yeah, well, yeah.

That's it.

But, like, you know what I'm saying?

It's difficult, man.

And I think we're paid ads as a biggie,

because it's easy to...

You know, you can hit the right target in with the right people

that are overseeing the ads.

And if you've got the right content, you can tap into that.

A lot of it is about making sure that we're reaching out

for influencer marketing as well.

We do a little bit of that on the side of things.

PR.

Oh, from time to time.

We have a really good, really good agency now, yeah.

It's agency that we work with.

You guys, you know, they do right.

They do right.

Just to say no, that's not why they're on the podcast.

You know, I'll tell you an amazing story about anything.

They just peered enough.

Yeah, those cheeks guys do right.

Do you want some of that?

Yeah, plug.

Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to...

Sorry, Terryl.

No, no, I was just going to say...

But we also try and program things accordingly

to actually make sure that it's relevant

as well to younger people coming through, you know?

It's okay.

Travis is head of talent.

You know, he works really hard.

And we all do, actually.

We all...

We often have sit-down chats about just what's popping.

What's popping?

Looking at the market as well.

Like, what are people booking?

What's going on a beefer?

What's going on a South America?

What's going on the other side of the world?

What's happening in Asia?

What's happening?

Keeping your finger to the ground,

your ear to the pulse,

and, you know, I mean,

just making sure that we're on it.

Yeah.

And then a little bit back to your comment about,

you know, the younger audience,

not drinking as much as stuff.

We have...

We launched the...

Like last summer,

sort of like a no-and-low range here,

which...

Yeah.

You're probably thinking,

what can do that in Clubland,

but it's key to basically adapting to people, you know?

Change here, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry, say that again.

No-and-low alcohol range.

All right, I said it right.

We've got a range of...

No-and-low alcohol.

Yeah, there's now...

We ran up here, I can't pay him by the way.

There we are.

Yeah, he...

Yeah, it was good.

Did you know there's non-alcoholic beer?

You know that.

They do exist.

Non-alcohol.

They do exist.

Non-alcoholic beer.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's not another...

Is this word you taught?

Yeah.

We've got, like, tripping.

We're working with peak as well.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No, no, no.

The range...

So you're not just turning up at the bar and going,

there's a water or...

Yeah.

Adlass of Coke available.

You know, we've got...

Make it...

So it's acceptable, because...

Yeah.

Accessible, sorry.

Because...

Yeah.

Muck exchange.

Yeah, the market's changing.

Muck exchange.

Muck exchange.

Yeah, and the people are really caring about themselves,

believe it or not.

They're caring about what they're putting in the body

and we want to make sure that we've got...

Frazy.

The fridge range is...

Is there for them, right?

Compowerable nose.

And also, what the 90s look like.

DJs are saying...

You know, DJs are...

And they're riders as well.

Yeah, yeah.

And we're also doing events to complement that, right?

So we've launched Ministry of Sound Games,

which is a huge avenue now.

And it's really successful.

It's really taken off.

So that's combining raving with fitness.

Please, please, in the name, funnily enough.

But we've been working with some amazing personal traders,

personal trainers and various businesses in the fitness world

to come in and completely transform the venue

into a kind of mass circuit training rave-up.

Well, it's going to be here in the box.

Yeah, we've done it a few times.

Oh, right.

Yeah.

We've done a high-rocks type of vibe.

Is it a competition or...

It gets competitive.

It's going to work sort of thing.

Yeah.

It's competitive, but it's more social.

It's more social, though.

It's more social, though.

Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's less super built-up like competition here.

So they move around the room.

So I've actually led in a fitness way.

Yeah, I'm mad as well.

You look at it.

And you tell them about fitness.

Oh, what?

It's your wax.

Yeah, it's a very tracksuit on the day.

Don't normally wear chassis.

It's for you, Alex.

So, yeah, I was DJing the spinning session, actually,

that happened just straight drama based in jungle.

Just mad energy.

And it's wicked, man.

It's a big thing for a spin class.

Yeah, right.

But it's good to see it going off and people just loving it.

Having a good time.

So we're super excited about it as well.

One of the...

Just...

I was at a slight say in Tangerine.

One of the funniest events that I used to love here.

I was never actually at it, but it was Morning Gloryville.

I don't know if you know that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's an old one.

Which was sober rooms, right?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was like first thing in the morning.

Did you know that?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And we all come into the office.

And you have these fucking fairies.

And I like actual fairies.

People are all dressed in fucking fairy outfits and elves

and all this mad shit.

And they're all sober.

It's 7 a.m.

Yeah, it's 7 a.m.

And we're all coming into the office in the morning.

And we've all come into the books.

We're standing in the back.

And they're all just having a fat boy slim in Roger Sanchez

and shit playing the game.

Yeah, it's big thing.

We're just like, what the fuck is this?

And they're all just going for it.

Like mad.

So, you know, sober is just not like, you know,

it's not the newest thing.

But it's obviously,

it's more prominent now.

It's more prominent now.

Give us that alcohol is going to be starting

cheaper than soft drinks.

So I see the alcohol out there.

The alcohol industry is like losing the fucking mind

of this generation of drinking.

There's been like, it's like five billion pounds

dropped off the market value

in the last year.

That number could be a lot less than what it actually is.

But yeah, it's crazy numbers.

So yeah, I kind of just want to take it back.

The main reason we're here really is because

Minister of Sound is 35 years.

So it's still be around hearing that.

And it's sort of stood its test of time.

Yeah, what are the plans for the 30,

35 years?

You've got anything like big to a plan, big birthday.

Like, yeah, what?

What is it?

What is in store?

We've got a lot of stuff.

We've got a lot of stuff.

We've got a lot of stuff.

Okay.

So you pick up with someone else.

And then you sort of anything I've messed out.

Yeah, there's a lot.

We've been working on this all, you know.

So we've team across the world for last level.

And it's been very kind of to a timeline.

You know, it's been very time constrained.

And we've been making sure that we want to hit those points

because there's a lot to cram into a year.

I guess most importantly, we're doing the global tour.

Right?

So we're back.

You know, we're going global.

We're going outside of these incredible four walls.

And the plan is to do 35 locations for the 35 years,

which are Jared and the team are leading.

And actually, it's almost shaping up to potentially

be more than 35, I think, is what I hear.

Which is great.

And there's been so far we've done, I think, four or five,

starting off in UAE and Dubai.

And we've just locked in Miami and a beefer,

which is super exciting, yeah.

So we've got some really exciting shows coming up globally

with some banging lineups as well, some big names.

So we're really excited about that.

That's the first thing.

We've got, obviously, we've just read, we've done the box,

which is the biggest thing for the 35th year.

But off the back of this, just sort of, sorry, leading up to it.

We've also renovated each room in its own way.

So the box was kind of the last piece of the puzzle, really,

and it was all gearing up for this 35th year.

So we did the 103 and we put the new,

kinetic light rig in, which has been incredible.

A lot of people thought that was the main room, actually,

for a long time.

Yeah.

Which, then we realized we actually need to develop

the main, the main, the main beast.

Yeah, the main beast.

What we do, the main beast, which is now we've done to another level.

But we've also done the VIP.

We've done the loft.

We've done the baby box.

Every little bit of the club has been revamped.

So we're putting a lot of effort and a lot of investment

back into the club.

We've also got a whole load of merch and apparel

and product range dropping, which we've just done our first drop.

We've got quarterly drops.

That stuff to come.

We've also got a book, which is in the works,

which is coming out in September.

There's a lot of coffee tables.

Yes.

Okay.

I'll be amazing.

We worked with Simon Moore, which is our old ex-creative director.

He's worked with Resoli.

Yeah.

And it's going to be an amazing coffee book.

And he's reached out to ex-employees every DJ that's possible.

He's not fucking called me.

Every possible DJ that he's been through here, he's found

where he's lost some insane interviews.

I'm not going to say there's anything, but trust me,

there is some...

He's really pulled together some lovely stories about what to know.

Well, I'll do super well, because as we're saying,

I think everyone in our industry as well,

they have some sort of connection.

Yes.

Sound where they went to, whether they've worked here

or whether they've DJed here as well.

So, yeah, I think that's amazing when the clubs do that.

And because Ministry of Sound is probably one of the global leading brands,

really, to have all that history and bring that all together.

That will be incredible.

Yeah.

And then, obviously, most importantly,

what should we say is, obviously, it's celebrated in the 35th year.

I'd be very sorry, which we've got three.

Which I can't mention yet.

Three super exciting events on the Friday Saturday day, Saturday night,

which all tap into different parts of our history

and also the future of what the club is.

Yeah.

And what dates?

What dates?

We across the October 3rd, 4th, 5th.

You put it on the spot.

All right.

First week of October.

First week of October.

And they're like a real showpiece of what we believe,

like strong history and sort of a sign for everyone.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And hitting different demographics is really good.

The place is, I kind of remember the question was before this one.

23th.

23th.

So I can try and segue into this with it to being too random.

What were we talking about?

It was about us audiences, young kids, programming, by the way,

actually.

Yeah.

Okay.

Do you want to just talk about your work?

It got me to it.

I'll show you the picture.

I'll show you this one's the sign.

We'll flip it around and just go, hi Josh.

No, no, no, no.

Yeah.

Well, no.

It's, it's, it's, it's, it's a funny story.

And every say, it's a good sign.

It's all for questions.

I'm sorry.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're the same.

No, we say, um,

we could keep us in by the way.

This is the other thing.

I love it.

I love challenging things.

So Josh, tell us about your history of working on a minute.

So Josh, you know this is Josh's work dream sitting in the middle of the box.

I think we talked about registering as Alan.

Yeah, no, it's amazing.

It's great.

I put, I know more about registering than you two.

Yeah, you can do.

Definitely.

You think it's your date you do.

So when you come to say that.

Yeah.

What's your funny story?

I'll jump in.

Yeah.

Really.

Do you guys, should we start again?

You start again.

Tell us about my history of sound.

Tell us about 35 years.

All right.

Well, I reckon.

If you know what, I'm really gonna keep up with that.

You've all got to pass from a really history of sound, but it must be a really fun place

to work.

Have you got any funny stories from your time here, and I know Justin probably got

plenty as well, so.

I've got some great stuff.

Yeah, I've got a couple.

I probably get less in trouble for telling more than you.

I think you've probably got more sight of these dodgy ones here than I have, because you

could probably get away with a lot more back when you were here.

But I guess at a recent, but certainly a memorable one, we had to do some last minute content

for Matt 10 and Friends, which obviously is an legend in the grind world.

We've started doing this Matt 10 and Friends show.

We've built it massively.

It's been smashing it.

He's brought some amazing guests through, you know, Wiley Chip.

Like, this goes on.

He's brought some mad names.

And we've got a big one coming up, 28 for March, a slight plug.

That's basically, he is always super creative with the content.

But we didn't really have a plan for this one in particular.

And it was a bit sort of light off the cuff, but we needed something.

We needed to pull out the bag with two weeks to go.

I'm sure we've all been there.

We know the drill.

Yeah.

And so he normally, you might have seen, he does these streams out on the street, right?

And they call the essence, and he gets a load of MCs and he's jumping around the street

and dancing about on that.

So we just suggested maybe he could do something in the office, right?

And we were thinking, you know, maybe he just comes in at night or something.

And he was like, well, no, just coming in there.

So he's basically rocked up.

We didn't even tell anyone, right?

Because we wanted it to be like a natural reaction, yeah.

So like hardly anyone knew.

And he's just rocked up with this, like, little portable PSP and his controller, right?

And a load of, like, banging, like, 30 grime tunes.

And he's just rolled through, like, slinging these rhythms through and just jumping about

and pass reception and like, they're trying to stop you.

I don't know about it.

I don't even know what it's like.

So I can just say that.

You've got, yeah, it's exactly, it's like two o'clock.

You've got HR finance looking about and he's hopping on people's desk, like, rinsing it out.

Yeah.

So that was a high life for me, man.

Yeah.

It's a new one.

I've got a good one, but I think they'll hate me saying this, actually.

So back to the thing.

I'll tell anyway.

Tell anyway.

34th birthday.

I'm a vanne held in marketing team smashed it with sold out come on site.

Set was, it gets going, crowds going mental, we've got multi come with, but hiding cameras

for the night, doing loads of content, you know, really important.

So if it's a birthday, loads of the office team have come down for it, as you do.

Yeah.

Anyway, and during the night, we're like, whoa, some of the office guys are done a bit

close to arm and not sure if that's going to be in the camera and stuff.

One of them being our FDA, she'll let me say it anyway, big up, Sarah, big up, Sarah.

And we're all a bit like, oh, I don't know if that's going to be on camera or not.

Like, yeah, it's a bit like everyone's going mad in the DJB, the next week, we're coming

to the office.

Joe, Joe and Adam are reviewing the content from the week.

And anyway, I come over going, oh, how's the content?

It's going to be amazing.

Everyone's going to love it when we post that online and they're like, I was like, you're

not going to like this, man.

Yeah.

I'm not going to like this.

The content's not good.

We've just got the FD, the MD, head of HR, just all over, all over him, like literally

like grabbing him up.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And they're all just like, oh, Adam, content producer turns me just like, just don't think

we can use any of it.

I'm like, what?

Like, rumours start going in the office.

Like, the content's full, basically, from the week, and people have just got big

gilts of like, oh, what have I done?

Is that why you made them put them in the office?

Yeah, that's how we put a gate on the gate.

Yeah, I was like, strictly locked off.

Anyone in the senior leadership team is locked.

Really?

I love that.

I don't forget any goals, because I love the brand.

Yeah, it's nice.

I think it is.

That's why it was such a good night, man.

It was like a real highlight of the year, that one, and I think, yeah, everyone loved

it.

It was all ingest.

Good gesture.

Absolutely.

And we still, we still got some content.

It still went out.

But it was just, it's important to, you know, back in what we're saying at the beginning,

it's like, and that's why the passion in this building of people like, what department

you're working, you know, you've got a passion for the club, and you want to be in, you

want to be in that, and for us, it's like, that's what makes it worthwhile as well, like

everyone down and everyone getting involved in stuff.

Yeah, that's the reason, like, a brilliant start.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

We want, you know, jokes aside, we want everyone here, and that's why, you know, that's

why the legacy continues.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

The staff, staff lit in the hair downers, you know, the huge thing about it.

Yeah.

I, the staff parties for us as well, I'm sure you guys are the same now, we're just like

stuff of legend, like everybody would just lose, would just lose their innovations out

the door.

You know, James and even James and making appearance for, like, maybe a little bit at the beginning

and low hand and hector and the guys would all come down.

You can forget that palace jacket back that you lost.

No, it didn't.

Did you know what I said?

There you go.

Only a guy starts from that and a bit.

Yeah.

But there, there was some throwing that in there.

It's throwing me off.

Good segue.

Yeah.

Yeah, there's no one in there.

There's zero context whatsoever.

No, no, no, no.

That's the question.

That's the question.

That was the context.

Staff parties.

Yeah, my favourite, I mean, there's, I've got loads of funny moments in here, but my favourite

thing is that it always takes out my mind, which is one of the staff parties.

And it was like, you know, all the offer staff would come down.

Everyone would be great drinking whatever, but it would go wild when all the bar staff

would come down.

They'd come down later on in the night.

Like, they were all the club staff and the, the offer staff would all come down at the

evening.

And then the bar staff would come a little bit later.

It's like, you know, when you go to our wedding, and some people get invited to the dinner

and then they'd come to you.

The bar staff were only invited to the dance.

I said, I mean, for a good fucking reason, because they would come down and just lose

their fucking mind.

It's like, like, coyote ugly in the bar and shit.

I remember I went into the office, went to the office and charged my phone and went

for a piss, come out the toilet.

And like, you know, we're killing the officers and stuff, and I used to be with the photocopiers

where, and I come out of the toilet and I'm standing.

And I've got like an eye line straight at the photocopier and also straight at the

front door.

And at the photocopier, I took the bar staff photocopying their tits.

And I'm standing there just like, well, that's new.

And then, and then I hear the door open.

I thought it's my left and hector who was CFOs, C-O-O, CFO, C-O at the time comes in and

they can't see him.

And he can't see them yet and I'm like, oh my god, this is amazing.

And he just, I was walking down and they're on their, she's like, sat up there with their

ass, fully sat up on top of the photocopier, ass, tits everything.

And I'm like, what?

I'm like, this is wild.

I can't wait for this to kick off.

And he just walks over and she turns her head and he just looks at her.

Nobody said a word.

And I'm stood there just like, she looks at him and he looks at her and he just went,

and then just kind of walked off and I'm like, oh my god.

Next day, next morning we come in, there's a hundred photocopiers of those tits on everyone's

desk in the whole office.

It was amazing.

Needless to say.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But you had a laugh.

Yeah.

That's great.

I liked it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yeah.

I, this, I, this, these stories, it's telling, I think that's such an important part of

the brand.

Like, like, just to finish off, like, do you still think it's going to be here in another

35 years?

Yeah.

Based on, like, the good vibes and the energy and the history and stuff like that, we'll

we still be here in 35 years.

Yeah.

We'll, we'll, it's brand still be here in 35 years, do you think?

I think it will, man.

I think it will, mate, genuinely, and, and it's down to exactly what I said, it's about,

it's about the, the, the passion, right, the people, the people have from the top free

to the, like, right free to the bottom, man, and ground up again, like, it's just like

the passion will ensure the legacy lives on the way I feel about it.

Um, and I, and I think that's, that's really been instilled here, right, like in all departments.

And I think everyone will still want to, want to uphold that.

There are so many stories about this legendary place, as we all know.

And, you know, it's amazing when you, when you go out and you tell people that you work

for ministry of sound, because most people have a story about it.

Right.

And I think that alone is enough for, for people to want to make it live on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I couldn't agree more on, you know, that's, and it's instilled in the staff and, and,

and, and doing that.

And, and listen from us, it's, we're not, like Joe said, we, we've refurved every part

of the club again.

And, you know, new VIP area with the green room, we've just invested in brand new green

room.

Like it's like, we've got a great amazing space now for the art and stuff.

And like, we're really investing to make sure that the clubs here, it is here for another,

you know, five, 10, 20, 35 years and stuff.

And like, we're not going to sit back and just let it, you know, fall, fall apart and stuff.

It's like we're investing in it.

Yeah.

We're driving, um, you know, good standards to sort of maintain that business.

You can be confident.

I'll still be fucking talking about it.

Yeah.

I remember.

I remember.

We'll in you in.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Guys, I like that.

That was, yeah, I think that was one of over it.

One of our best ones we've done.

And we're doing it live from here as well as made it extra.

Yeah.

So, um, we always finished the pod off with just a couple of quick fire rounds, just,

like, simple, simple artists, uh, to bow for you.

Um, yeah.

What, what was the one club that changed your life by for you?

Uh, for me.

So many ministry of sound, if you like.

Yeah.

You go straight away.

A lot of it.

Robert Johnson Club in Frankfurt.

I went there when I was like early 20s, like, and it's tiny.

I don't know for a bit.

And it's like, really small.

And it's like, wow.

Fuck.

And it's like, it reminds me of like, uh, if anyone remembers what wire club was back in the

day and lead stuff.

And it's like that.

Small.

Mostly then real, like, simple lighting.

But yeah, DJB, just in the middle of the dance floor.

Incredible.

Yeah.

That's the life changer.

Nice.

I'm an easier.

In a beefer.

Um, like my favorite film growing up was Kevin and Perry go large.

Right.

And, uh, obviously everyone knows the scene where they go in there and they get puked on

and all the rest of it.

Right?

You know, classic.

Yeah, yeah.

And it's like, you know, legendary film.

It's the watch, countless countless times.

But, um, go in there when I was about 20, 21.

Um, and it was my first time going to a beefer.

And, you know, you just, just get it.

I just remember the, the getting the butterflies in the queue before you went in and getting

in there was just like insane, like blew my mind.

And I think ever since that, I knew I just wanted to work in club worlds.

Do you know what I mean?

Yeah.

And also I could just, just to follow up a little one, Watergate and Berlin smashed it as

well.

Just another of just my first trips of Berlin changed my world.

Yeah, I'm going to jump in and have one.

I've only been the once.

The end.

RIP.

Oh, wow.

Yeah, yeah.

I do know what I only went once as well.

But I remember it just being incredible.

Incredible.

Yeah, okay, sir.

Like, and like, New Year's Eve Eve.

Once.

And I was just like, that was like, you know, live-changing Richard Horton in there, like,

wow.

Yeah, amazing, amazing.

Um, and like, final question is like, who's your dream booking then to fall this room then?

Life of you.

Who would you call me?

I know.

Is that straight work?

Is it someone I've wanted to bring back to the club?

Um, Harvey.

Getting Harvey back here.

I'm going to do some Harvey, yeah.

Yeah, amazing.

And it's happening.

Okay, amazing.

Nice.

Yeah, it's happening.

That is an exclusive.

It is happening.

But for me, he is one of the, you know, personally, he's like, absolute legend.

And I've seen him around the world.

I've seen him in Miami to Lisbon.

Like, he's incredible.

And, you know, he, and he is what symbolizes sort of ministry.

He's been here from day one and stuff.

And he's not been back in the club for so long.

And it was like, it was something that I've been working on since I arrived in the club

again.

You've definitely, you've definitely got a challenge though, because that, the last time, I think

it was the last time he was here, that artwork is maybe my favorite, every ministry artwork,

which is printed in the office.

The GTA style.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's in the office.

It's a massive show.

It's a ride with us, by the way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

It's so good in it.

It's my favorite.

It's in the office.

Every ministry artwork.

So, yeah, you've got to, you know, you've got to be there.

It lives behind Travis.

I had to tell it.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's incredible.

So, yeah, for me, that's, he's there.

Okay.

Put it somewhere.

Jays have finished his artwork, mate.

Jays what?

I've been lucky enough to have some of my dream bookings play already.

So, I'd love to see him come back, but I've been lucky.

And the two years I've been here, we've had Fat Boy Slim Play, who's always been a regular

mind.

Armand, like I said, I've always been a bit of a fanboy of Armand.

And Norman J, who we got to see last year as well.

So, but there were a couple of people I'd love to see.

I'd love to see Marco Corolla.

And I'd love to see Frankie Rosardo, both we are trying to get.