Discotech are Making a Home in Notts

You may have heard of the discotech brand; whether that’s through us mouthing off about them, or with their co-hosted nights in the city alongside local promoter, The Waves. Originally based in Derby, they’re venturing further into Notts in 2019 and will be hosting a lot more events here, kicking things off with a festive knees up at Trade this December, headlined by Jordan Peak and TrueSelf.

While this isn’t the first time they’ve ran a night in our city, this event will be the first that solely comes from the discotech team, offering the chance to get to grips with their residents, and the type of things we can expect to see, and hear, more of in the new year.

We spoke to Jordan Diston, one member of the discotech crew, to learn more about the night, his relationship with Nottingham and, of course, what to expect from their upcoming Christmas special.

What’s the story with discotech? You started out in Derby, right?
We started the night six years ago as there wasn’t really anything in Derby that was playing the sort of music we were into, and the family has just grown from there.

discotech has always been about creating a decent vibe and positive energy. None of us take ourselves too seriously, we’re just people who love our music and I think that comes across and trickles down to everything we do.

There are quite a few of us that run it behind the scenes, and we have a hefty team of trusted residents too. I’m a strong believer that the resident DJs are at the foundation of decent parties, and we’re really lucky to have lads who know their stuff and are proper music heads. You can expect to hear everything at our nights, minimal, garage, house, breaks. A really eclectic mix.

Who have been your favourite headliners to date?
That’s a hard question! This year alone we’ve had Rossko, Seb Zito, Burnski, Eddie Richards, Kepler (both hosted in Nottingham) and TIJN to name a few. Some of my other favourites include Acid Mondays, Adam Shelton, Subb-an, Laura Jones, Alex Arnout, Clive Henry and also Back to Basics’ resident, Frenchy.

We know you’ve had a few trips overseas, but what made you venture over to Nottingham?
Yeah, we’ve been very lucky to take the party across the UK and Europe hosting events at Sankeys, The Zoo Project Ibiza and Rainbow Rooms to name a few, as well as The Zoo Project Festival, The Hills Have Vibes and WERFSTVL!

I’ve always enjoyed coming to events in Nottingham, and I actually started going to local free parties like.and Smokescreen was I was seventeen; both crews are from Notts and we know them well so it’s always been a city on our radar.

We’ve had the likes of Nail, Inland Knights and Kinky Movement play at our events in the past, who are big on that scene here. The venue where we first started in Derby had very strong ties with Smokescreen and DiY so I got to know them all from an early age. They really were inspirational to me for setting up discotech in the first place.

More recently, after coming to events like The Waves, Wigflex and Movement on the regular you get to meet people in the city and to be honest, everyone seemed proper sound. It was mint to be able to meet new people who were really passionate about music. So we thought, why not explore Notts and see what happens?

We’ve already done a few collab events in the city. The vibe was on point at both parties so we’ve decided to move forward and programme more parties in the city in 2019.

What is it you like about our scene here?
People make the party at the end of the day and Notts has a great scene for that. Proper music lovers who can have a laugh = a mint crowd in our opinion. Everyone has been supportive since we’ve come over and it’s refreshing to have promoters that work together and support each instead of getting into politics.

There is certainly a lot more venue choice here too rather than Derby, which helps us keep things interesting.

What made you choose Trade to host your Christmas kick-off do?
It’s been on our radar since it’s opened. The space is perfect for us, with low ceilings, intimate setting and cracking soundsystem. If you’ve been there you’ll know it goes off. If not check, it out this Christmas with us.

The team behind it are sound as well. It’s always good to work with people that get your vision and support it. We’re very lucky to have that with Trade.

Tell us more about this Christmas special this Friday. Will there be Baileys on tap?
There will be everything on tap behind the decks I tell thee. We love Christmas and it’s always been one of most popular times of the year for our parties. Everyone breaks up from work on the weekend we’ve booked it, and is up for a proper good knees-up.

We’re welcoming Jordan Peak, whose releases have been supported by the likes of Seth Troxler, Maya Jane Coles and DJ Sneak to name a few, and TrueSelf to join us behind the decks, as well as Nottingham locals Louis night, TABS and Scalera. Top lads. Proper DJs.

TrueSelf needs little introduction to a lot of people in Notts. He has had a lot of releases on Atjazz Record Company and his show on Mimm Radio is a perfect example of how versatile he can be. A proper vinyl purist.

We know you thanks to your collaborations with other local nights here. Is this something you’ll continue as you put your stamp on Nottingham, or will it be purely discotech events?
Absolutely, we love a collab and working with like-minded people. We’ll be working with the The Waves again, Louis is a geezer and a half and we’ve really enjoyed putting events on with him. We’ll also be working with another major night in the city, but I can’t say too much about that yet.

Any clues of what to expect from your Nottingham nights next year?
2019 is looking sweet for us and some amazing headliners are already locked in. We’ll be working with a range of venues across the city as well as continuing to work with other parties. We’ll be dropping more info very soon.

Discotech Christmas Shindig with Jordan Peak and Trueself is at Trade on Friday 21 December 2018. Tickets here

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