On the 29th September, the most anticipated night of the year quickly unraveled into the craziest Beastwang event to date, and I spoke to the man who started it all; Nico Signh. 

 

Do you think the Warehouse has lived up to the hype it’s created?

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Yeah I think so, well that was the scariest thing for me cos obviously the ticket prices were quite high and it was out for a while as well so that was definitely the thing on my mind. I think it did, I think the production was good, the sound system was a lot better this time, these guys are the best, they did all the boat parties at Outlook Festival this year, they’re very well respected in the scene, probably some of the best sound systems you can get in the UK, so. I think all the sets were sick as well, so yeah I think it’s definitely lived up to the hype I think. As soon as people see the queue, and people can tell it’s a bit more of a serious event.

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I queued up for longer last year definitely.

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Oh really? I think like this year, we didn’t realise the only thing that was holding up was just the searches, and only having two security. As soon as we put four security on there it went a lot faster.

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How did you find the warehouse and what’s the story behind it?

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They actually use it as kind of a wedding venue. It’s a bit random, before it was something like, they’ve produced the largest amount of knitwear at some point in Europe, and they supplied Marks and Spencers, this was like back in the day where it was like factories, there’s still factories round there. My mum came and told me they’d had random functions there before, then Jack’s seen it on a bar crawl, that they used last year, so I went to have a look at it and when I’d seen it it had all the drapings and things, and underneath all the drapings, I could see all the steel girders and pipes and I was like yeah, sick. Take all of it down, paint it all of it black, and yeah.

 

Do they do other music events there?

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Well in terms of music events like, I’ve got kind of a deal where it’s kind of like, if it’s anything that caters to my kind of crowd, that they’ll kinda only use Beastwang. But nah they don’t really do, yeah so, it’s kinda good that not anyone can use it so we’ve got some kind of exclusivity for it.

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Beastwang has shot through the roof in terms of popularity, DJ’s and the production in general. What do you owe your success?

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What’s the secret?  We do put on good events, but did it get enough recognition because it was in Leicester? So it was just kinda like, oh Leicester’s a bit shit nothings ever really gone on there, there’s that one little night called Beastwang that goes on. The first three years were a bit of a struggle, like I lost a lot of money, I’ve lost 3 grand on one event before, and that was definitely a sick feeling. But like, for some reason I still managed to carry on and I thought it was gonna be good at the end of it, so. So yeah in the fourth year we did the Sophbeck every Friday, that went really well. And then it was kinda a big jump going from Music Cafe for me cos I guess like Sophbeck was a lot smaller, but then the Music Cafe ones done well.

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What’s Sophbeck?

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Sub8ten, I call it Sophbeck cos that’s what it used to be called. Yeah we used to do Sub8ten every Friday, and then, I think at some time a lot of artists like heard about Beastwang and wanted to play for Beastwang, so as soon as I managed to get like, Flava D on board, and I’ve got a really good relationship with a lot of the agents and artists, so I think that’s definitely helped me kinda progress. And then yeah, this is the start of a new year, we’ve got some big events lined up. we’ve got the halloween one thats a big line up. we’re kinda looking to get those artists, but its having a relationship with those artists that’s what’s abled me to get them on.

 

Gotta be in the circuit I guess.

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Yeah definitely, I mean it takes a bit of time and just being genuine I guess. And then we’ve got a UK Garage thing, yeah that’s gonna be sick as well I’ve got a really really good producer called Mind of a Dragon, who’s like new in 2017 I think he’s actually gonna blow up this year. What else have we got, I’ve got Nottingham, I got the Deeprot event. In December I’ve got, I’ve got the Heatwave, I don’t know if you’ve heard the Heatwave. They play it all at big festivals like Outlook, Bestival and all those. And then I’ve got Macky Gee and Harry Shotta, in December, yeah so, we’re busy busy. I’m in the moment of planning 2018 at the moment so, I’m messaging like loads of agents and stuff.

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I’ve seen that you’ve played at Forbidden Forest this summer, are you focusing on Beastwang or progressing as a DJ?

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I think that’s the hardest one, I’ve always seen myself as a promoter over a DJ, but these kind of gigs keep on cropping up so. After the Forbidden Forest thing it’s kinda made me think that, maybe I should focus on a bit more especially getting booked on the UKF stage at Forbidden Forest. So when I got that, I was gassed.

 

Bassline has exploded in the UK in the past recent years, why do you think everyone loves it so much?

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I think maybe over certain artists, I think TQD started it all off. Then you’ve got groups like Lengoland, that definitely had a big impact on things and then. What else, people like Skepsis and Darkzy. 

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Would you branch out of Leicester and Nottingham if you could? Or are you planning on keeping it local?

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Yeah I guess so, I think the hardest thing is that, like Nottingham is okay because we have a few good relations in Nottingham in terms of reps and stuff like that so it’s a bit more easier, but I think what I wanna do is I wanna turn into a record label and just build up a following in different cities.

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Would that be bassline?

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No, no, no it’ll be multi genre, I don’t know if I’ll even touch bassline, like I’m not the kinda person that will just put something out because it’s popular like, for me it has to be credible, it has to be a good piece of music. It can’t just be like a throwaway that you’re going to forget in a years time, it has to be like, a classic tune.

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You must be so inspired and motivated because of the scene at the moment.

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Yeah definitely, I think there’s a lot to keep up with in terms of marketing and there’s a lot of things with events, people always ask me is this what you do for a living, like a full time job, and it’s nothing for me. I’m busy non-stop, 7 days a week, so I do get very very busy. I’m very thankful to be able to do what I do because sometimes I feel like it’s a bit of a dream job.

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For more information on Beastwang: https://www.facebook.com/Beastwang/

Keep an eye out for: https://www.facebook.com/NicoTheBeardo/