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As well as more than 5 years of activity in Brixton - first at the Windmill, and then when we outgrew that, The Canterbury Arms - the People’s Republic of Disco has a long history of other events. From the festival circuit (including Glastonbury, The Glade, Beautiful Days, Endorse It!, Ireland’s Electric Picnic and Lewisham People’s Day) to benefits and activist events (such as the alternative ESF happenings in 2005) to weddings (seriously.. )
If you’re interested in hiring us for any kind of event - or asking us to do a benefit for you, which we’re often keen to do - please take a look at this page, which is a summary of a fuller proposal we presented for some of our festival work. But essentially - just ask!
This is the essence of a fuller proposal we provided for some festival work, which means it’s a little more involved than it needs to be if you’re thinking of asking us to do your wedding, Christmas party or benefit gig. But nonethless it does cover the basics, so please read through it and then feel free to ask us any questions at the usual email address.
PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF DISCO PROPOSAL
PROD works well at events because it’s flexible, both in how it can be operated because it’s genuinely democratic and changes character to fit the people in attendance. Whatever diverse group of people you get to a People’s Republic of Disco event, there will be something for them. It always works because the PROD crew aren’t telling people what they’re going to enjoy – the people decide that all by themselves.
Wrapped up in the guise of a revolutionary movement seeking to overthrow the superstar DJ and put the power back in the hands of the people, PROD has played to thousands of people over the last 5 years, and has not only built up a very loyal following but also worked brilliantly when it’s been taken to other events.
When we take PROD out of its natural environment, we can adapt it a number of ways to suit the event.
If the event is perhaps a corporate party or fundraiser, or anything else where a group of people will be coming along knowing what the evening is about, they can be notified in advance that to get the most from the night they should try and bring some tunes along (this can be done in any number of ways – links to an event-specific page on our website, or by simple email notification, or via an invitation).
If it’s more likely to be something that people “happen upon” – such as part of a festival or wider event – two things are possible. We’ve succeeded in the past in generating enough prior publicity that some people do find out about bringing tunes along. But this is also where the Juke Joint approach is most useful. Anybody wandering by can select some tunes and get them played.
Juke Joint:
As a result of our many festival / event appearances, we also came up with a spin on the PROD theme, Juke Joint. We realised that it’s often difficult to notify people in advance of a festival or event that they should bring tunes, and that even if this were possible, they may not want to do so. So we created the Juke Joint Jukebox, essentially a massive (3000+) and constantly updated collection of tunes we bring with us, covering every possible eventuality from hip-hop to jazz, pop to house, jungle to metal, ska to country. These tunes are compiled in big booklets which are made available for people to take a look through and choose tunes from (these jotted on a small slip, much like a karaoke night, and handed to the DJs or their glamorous assistants). This way, the people at the event can still be part of shaping the music of the event without having to bring any themselves. We’ve used this Juke Joint approach countless times and have never come across someone who couldn’t find something they wanted.
What We Can Offer:
The PROD Collective is very flexible, and we can bring as much or as little to an event as required, up to a full-on PROD experience complete with backdrops, projected visuals, themes, badges and the like. We can supply everything except a PA (including visual equipment, decks / mixers etc) or we can just show up with a big box of tunes.
PROD does have a very distinct visual theme which can add to the ‘vibe’ of the event (be it the tent or club or room) and we’ve experience of making a variety of spaces look very “PROD”.
Promotions:
PROD has a massive mailing list (in the thousands) and has a pretty high profile both in London and on the festival scene, which can be used for those events where the public are in attendance. If the event were a private one, we can help in any way necessary – designing promotional materials, supplying a wide range of themed and interesting fliers, logos, graphics and webpages.
Previous People’s Republic of Disco / Juke Joint events:
While our focus has always been very much on our monthly Brixton club night (and its Juke Joint spin-off), we have taken PROD to numerous festivals and events. During the debut appearance of the amazing spiegeltent at Glastonbury 2005, we headlined two nights running, and on both occasions filled the venue to bursting. We’ve repeated this kind of success several times since and have been cited on various websites / forums as ‘the best bit’ of some festivals. We’re likely to be doing a large number of festivals again in 2007, and look set to be running an entire tent for the weekend at August’s Endorse It! Festival.
We’ve also given our support – in the form of benefits at our normal night or by appearances elsewhere – to a number of charities or organisations.
Previous Major Events Include:
- Glastonbury Festival
- Lost Vagueness Festival
- The Glade Festival
- Lewisham People’s Day
- Electric Picnic Festival (Eire)
- Beautiful Days Festival
- Endorse It! In Dorset Festival
