Time is ticking, and suddenly nearly a year has passed since our last “article” entry. It’s terrifying. There are multiple reasons for the silence, and the undeniable fact is that we’ve been quiet—or at least park90 hasn’t been running at full throttle.

Life

First excuse: life. We’ve been busy living it. While I’m juggling two jobs, Simon (ESS’Daccor) is trying to solve humanity’s energy crisis by dabbling in tungsten. None of that stops us creating, though: Simon’s been on Swing Dash Radio releasing vibey tunes on Spotify, while I’ve been popping up here and there with music and design. Balance is everything, and those creations won’t stay hidden—that’s for sure.

Pain and Suffering

The big killer last year was having to pull out at the last minute from a major project, which knocked us off balance for the end of ’24 and the start of ’25. Throwing a party takes a ton of work—especially when it’s not your main gig and time is tight. The venue situation (although changing fast—more on that in a sec) is dire. Licensing, complaints, and—most of all — the lack of well – equipped, music-first venues make it an uphill battle for small underground crews like us (and there are plenty in Notts).

Everyone’s doing DIY parties—just like us—hiring banging speakers, rigging custom lighting, going all-out for a once-in-a-while blow-out. But do the maths: if you’re splashing serious cash on a venue that holds maybe 100 people and you only get a 5-hour slot (10 pm–3 am), what do you charge your mates on the door? You’ll probably need a sell-out just to break even—and I’m not even talking about paying the DJs; we’re all martyrs on that front.

Commercial clubs? Next-level dog-shit. They don’t care about the music; they care about shifting booze. If — and it’s a big if — you find one with decent sound and lights, expect to be charged hundreds for the “privilege” of promoting there, and expect to be shut down early if they’re not selling sambucas at 1 am.

Our tactic so far has been to ignore the economics. Hard work means we can treat our parties like house parties and just eat the losses for the sake of good sound and vibes — but we know that’s not how it should be.

Hope

Enough moaning—there’s hope. Two amazing venues are opening in Nottingham this year: Movers, already up and running, and The Model, still under construction as I write. Refreshingly, both are run by music heads who know the struggle.

Movers feels like a natural extension of Swing Dash Studios — already a well-established radio and studio space. It’s one of Nottingham’s brightest stars in electronic music — perfect if you fancy a bit of everything and that cool, boiler-room-y, housey vibe. The first couple of parties I’ve been to were banging, and the place is shaping up nicely.

The Model is the takeover of our beloved Bar Eleven, which closed last year, and it’s being run by Luke Peachfuzz—another city legend and massive music head. Honestly, all my money’s on that place. It’s surreal how in-sync we are with Luke on the vision. I can’t reveal too much about how this rebuilt hub will look, but it sounds exactly like the best possible reincarnation of Bar Eleven.

Future

The future’s bright. As things stand, we’ve got two parties lined up this year. The first is 22 August at The Model—which also happens to be my birthday, so no excuses. We’re aiming for the second in November; more info on both soon.

Catch Ess’Daccor on his monthly Swing Dash Radio shows and follow him on Spotify—he’s been dropping tunes regularly. As for me, see you around the bars and clubs of Notts, playing tunes at the World Yo-Yo Championship in Prague on 10 August at Altenberg (buzzing for that!), and online, where I’ll be back-posting some of last year’s gems that never made it onto the internet.