top of page

GET TO KNOW - BEATZZA

"... and make it a hang out spot once a month for beats and pizza lovers alike."

Beatzza is the new night in Leicester, where eating pizza and listening to beats goes hand in hand. We caught up with Miranda and Jon about the to-be monthly funky pizza zone.

 

Who runs Beatzza?

 

M. Hi, I’m Miranda and I’m the manager and one of the chefs at Oscar and Rosies’ and organise the pizza side of Beatzza.

 

J. And I’m Jon, aka Jon1st, and I’m the resident DJ at the events and book the guest DJs etc.

 

Where did the idea come from?

 

M. Outside of Oscar and Rosie's I run a food company called The Mystery Booth with my friend Chet. We hosted a night to celebrate us launching our desserts at Oscar & Rosie's and I asked Jon to play. The atmosphere was amazing and we got great feedback from people so we both agreed it'd be fun to do another event in the future.

 

J. We were both big fans of the food at the restaurant before Miranda started working there. I’d been looking to find a local alternative to a bar or club to start a beats night for a few months and, after DJing there for Miranda’s event, I knew Oscar and Rosies’ was a great place to try to make it happen. 

 

Quite often there’s a lot of pressure to play quite hard music or music everyone knows in Leicester, and the restaurant offered an opportunity to share more laid back music I’m passionate about outside of a club setting, and make it a hang out spot once a month for fans of beats and pizza lovers alike. People are also welcome down to have a drink and just enjoy the music, there’s no pressure from us to order food - although you’d be silly not to!

 

In terms of the music we play at the event,  it’s mainly, but not limited to, ’Beats’, which is a general term for instrumental hip hop that can cover anything from instrumentals of rap songs to instrumental tracks by producers like DJ Shadow, Flying Lotus or J Dilla to tracks with heavier sounds by producers like Om Unit and Ivy Lab. We also play some Chicago footwork music and music influenced by it too. It’s a style of music I’m hugely passionate about, and the heavier sounds from the genre are usually what I play when I DJ outside of Leicester, but it’s been really refreshing to find this outlet to play the more laid back aspects of the sound locally. Miranda and I are also a couple, so it’s been fun to have a project we can share together too.

 

I also received a lot of feedback from other DJs who play beats, asking to play. In December we had Jonny Dub from Manchester’s Levelz group joins us. He’s one of my favourite DJs and regularly plays internationally at festivals like Outlook and Soundwave, so to have him play at the little canteen was a real treat!

"They’re into amazing music and it’s been amazing to see their label grow in the time I’ve known them."

Did you design the logo or get someone else to do it? 

 

M. The logo was designed by Jon’s mate Oliver.

 

J. Yeah! Oliver, who illustrates under the name Mumptown, is someone I’d worked with a few times before for artwork for various DJing projects. I love his work: his style is really fun and I thought he’d be a perfect fit for the Beatzza brand. I drew him a rough picture of a pizza slice holding a record and he hit me back the next day with the amazing pizza slice.

 

Where is Oscar and Rosies? 

 

M. 4 Market Place, Leicester, LE1 5GF. It’s really close to the new market square, where there’s been lots of interesting events happening recently. It’s also close to all the lovely independent eateries, shops and salons around St Martin’s Square and Hotel Street, which we’re big fans of.

 

What pizzas do you do?

 

M. You can order pizza by the slice, by a full 14" or by the metre, which is becoming a favourite among a lot of our regulars who come down as a group. We also offer Mac N’ Cheese, Wedges and a vegan friendly cheesecakes for dessert supplied by The Mystery Booth.

 

For Beatzza specifically, we also make some exclusive menu items that you can only order at Beatzza. Each event has an exclusive meat pizza, and an exclusive vegetarian pizza option and they are different at each events.

 

J. At the first event our specials were Pocket Rocket (Rocket, gorgonzola and pear) and Spanish Harlem (Pepperoni, chorizo and jalapeños - shout out to one of our chefs Jack for thinking of this one!) and for our second event we had Whatta Man (Artichoke, manchego and olives) and Late Breakfast (Mushroom, sausage and bacon - another shout out to Jack!).

 

Pints?

 

M. On the soft drink side of things we have old school classics like Lilt and Ting, as well as some cool brands like Soda Folk and Karma Cola. In terms of alcohol, we have a range of IPAs from Snake Dog to Yeastie Boys, and then some alternative ales from Tiny Rebel and even a peanut butter milk stout from Tail Gate.

How did the upcoming link up with City Fly’s Darran P and Jonna on 14th March come about?

 

J. I’ve known Darran and Jonna for a long time through DJing in Leicester. Darran also played for my old DROP nights at Sub8ten (Sophbeck back then!) a couple of times and did a few poster designs for me for a few events back in the day too. They’re into amazing music and it’s been amazing to see their label grow in the time I’ve known them. We’ve often spoken about our shared love for artists like IG Culture, Dilla, Flako etc, and I’m really excited to hear what they play at the event.

 

The T shirts look sick!! Want to cop the black and white one. 

 

J. Ah nice one! We’re really happy with how those have been received so far. The initial run sold out and we had orders from the USA, Canada, France and Asia! We’re currently ordering some more and will have them back in stock in the next couple of weeks. We’ll also have them for sale at our next event.

 

Plans for the rest of the year?

 

M. We’re making Beatzza monthly from March. We wanted to make it monthly after the second event but Jon already had a tour in North America booked for January and February, so we’ve had to postpone it, but it’ll be monthly from our event on the 14th March!

 

J. I’m really excited to bring more guest DJs to play in Leicester too. It was one of my favourite things about running my old DROP nights and something I really miss doing. I don’t want to spoil anything, but there will be news soon! Likewise, I’m also exciting about putting on some local Leicester talent who make beats who feel they don’t have an outlet to perform at locally too.

 

Any last shout outs?

 

J. We both want to thank everyone who’s attended the events so far and bought t-shirts, and Mumptown for all his work on design. 

 

M. Shout out to the restaurant’s owner Olly for letting us put on the event and supporting us throughout!

 

The next Beatzza Event is on Wednesday14th March with DJ sets by Jon1st and Darran P & Jonna from City Fly Records.

 

Big up Jon, Miranda, Oscar and Rosies, Mumptown and everyone supporting!! 

 

Beatzza:

Menu: http://www.oscarandrosies.com/menu-leicester/

Merch: http://beatzza.bandcamp.com 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/beatzza/ 

Instagram: @beatzzaclub

Matthew Knight

February 5th 2018

bottom of page