Music
“If you feel like you are bringing something to that scene and into the community…that’s probably the right the right way to approach it.”
Few have defined UK club culture in the modern era quite like The Hydra. Founded by label boss Dolan Bergin and The End’s Head of Programming Ajay Jayaram, the pair set about offering clubbers unique experiences in an array of locations, ranging from abandoned department stores to an Essex island.
Programming a broad spectrum of electronic music and its many strands, The Hydra aim to celebrate its tenth anniversary with a series of parties alongside some beloved partners at regular home Printworks. Ajay tells Lee Wakefield about his party inspirations, advice for first time promoters and his standout events.
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Firstly, I wanted to say congratulations on the big milestone. We’ll get to the current day and the upcoming celebrations, but could you take us back and explain how the Hydra came about?
Yeah, sure. I set up the Hydra with my partner at the time, Dolan Bergin. I think Dolan had genuinely blazed a trail for the advent of warehouse and off-location events since the beginning of the decade, and I’d been running events independently since the closure of The End nightclub in 2009, where I had been Head Of Programming. And I think we both very strongly felt that the capital needed something fresh, I suppose the idea that London thrives when it’s challenged, so the goal was to represent the alternative in a higher profile way. We started with an event series in the autumn of 2012, and that featured twelve events. It featured the likes of Innervisions, Deviation, BuggedOut! and a few others, which made it have a real diversity of sound.
When you think back to those early parties, what were you setting out to achieve with them and how has it evolved over the years?
The original inspiration for the Hydra event series, which is where we began, was The Warehouse Project, and us feeling like London should have something similar. Many of the key figures and artists that might have got showcases or would headline up in Manchester, they weren’t available to us in London that existed from affiliations with venues down here. And, those limitations definitely drove our ethos of things being a bit more left. Then it was the idea of presenting parties that didn’t feel perfunctory or uninspired. The starting place for the best events; simply putting on shows that you want to go to yourself, right? I suppose, in the most saturated and competitive electronic music market in the planet, it was just to stand out and to enjoy ourselves. I think we achieved some of that.
It’s not been without all sorts of all manner of difficulties and challenges because ultimately, what we do is, has been and still to this day, still quite niche. But it’s been a wonderful journey and it continues.
For you personally, were there any parties that inspired you to start putting on events? Or any touchstones that made you keen to set The Hydra apart?
My electronic music tutelage, if you like, started in earnest started with a club in Wandsworth called Club UK and they used to do a Friday night there called The Final Frontier. And they used to have these extraordinary lineups with maybe Jeff Mills and Richie Hawtin and Lauren Garnier, all on one lineup in one very dark, very hard backroom. That was one of the regular events we would frequent.
That evolved into stuff like Metalheadz and Blue Note. Mo’Wax used to do a night called Dusted and then that progressed to The End, which I used to love and ended up working there. That was incredible for me as a young promoter. I think the ethos behind the Hydra as influenced by all those touchstones. We all have musical phases, right? You can get really into one type of music, whether it be techno, drum and bass, house, hip hop, whatever it is, you obsess over it for a period. And I’ve definitely had phases like that in my life. But I think the one thing that maybe differs from other listening habits that other people have is that, even when I “moved on”, I still maintained an interest in whatever was left behind. I’ve always tried to keep abreast of everything going on in all these different scenes. I always wanted The Hydra to reflect all those things going on. We’re very fortunate to have this brilliant, eclectic electronic music scene. It’s basically a case of cherry picking the best of it and trying to work with it in some capacity.
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Can you explain to me the process of finding a space, what you’re thinking once you find it, nailing down what you want to do with it and booking the right lineup? Is there a process you follow, or do you work on instinct?
I think what’s at the forefront of all the discussions around where and when has always been; what can we do that brings something different to the table? In the first instance, it was this event series concept. I’m not sure that had been done before but, if it had, we felt like there was a different way of doing it.
In terms of venues themselves, the first series we did was quite nomadic and we migrated from space to space, which threw up lots of problems frankly. We had to navigate them but it felt worth it. But I think those ad hoc kinds of situations soon became quite hard. Generally, for each one of shows, we’ve tried to find a home. The first longer-term, medium-term home was Studio Spaces, which is now E1. Then we did a series of Sunday shows at Ministry of Sound which arguably has the best club sound system in the world, then Barbican Hall for a few bits and, most recently, Printworks.
I think the idea of having a space is a powerful thing. I think it’s also interesting for the people who come because I’ve always believed that, as a club goer, you develop a relationship with a space and with a promoter and with an artist, so it’s all one package. As broad as it is, I’ve always felt like there’s a thread that runs through: a Hessle Audio fan, is a Detroit techno fan, is a jungle fan, is a Steel City Dance Discs fan.
Over the ten years you’ve been putting on parties as The Hydra, what changes in club culture have you noticed that sort of stick out for you, both positive and negative?
I think the level of event operation. Things ten years ago may have been perceived as being a bit loose, but now there’s a professionalism and a gravity to proceedings which ensures that there are safe spaces, and we provide the right duty of care. There’s still work to be done, but it feels like it’s moving forward in the right way. One of the other main things is there being more females and more black and brown faces in the dance and behind the decks. Again, still work to be done there. But there’s been progress there, which is positive.
Do you feel a responsibility to set an example and lead on that as promoters?
It’s interesting you say that because I’ve definitely had more conversations around that, I would say post-pandemic, and it’s absolutely something I need to be more involved with and want to be more involved with. When I started doing this, the prevalence of minorities at the higher end or high level of doing this meant that there are a handful of people that paved the way for me, and I think there’s a responsibility there for me to try and endeavour to do the same thing for people hustling in the same way right now.
I think increasingly people are talking about this, which is good, that the bedrock foundation of this industry was side of the industry was was put together marginalised communities of minorities, and so on. It’s getting better, but more needs to be shown in that direction by all of us, including myself, and what we do in that as well.
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You mentioned earlier on how certain parties bring their own challenges. What are some of the biggest learnings that you’ve found throughout the ten years?
We had this slightly tongue in cheek mantra a while ago, which was something like ‘if it’s not really hard to do, then it’s probably not for us.’ I guess that speaks to the idea that some of the things we tried to pull off, now in hindsight, seem pretty outlandish. There’s the battlecruiser where we did a couple of parties a while back or Osea Island, an island off the coast of Essex, all these really interesting and unique opportunities. And we were very lucky to have the chance to do those things, but they were also incredibly complex things to work on and make work at the right level. Something Dolan had a real gift for was producing these really off kilter things and making it work. I feel like those things don’t happen in London as much as they used to or as much as they should. But equally there’s incredible spaces in in London now and I think we try our best to make the most of those.
Are there any definitive parties or specific sets by artists that stick out for you personally when you reflect?
The very first Hydra party in Hackney was in Easter 2012 and we brought together Ostgut Ton and Substance, both from Berlin. This was in Hang Down Studios and it had never been used for an event. Incredible space, two rooms, it was just a vibe. There was something about using a brand new space for the first time and bringing those two brands together for the first time. Everyone seemed to play out of their skin and the audience there just got it inherently and it was the first thing we’d ever done. That was particularly special.
I would say the other one that stands out, and to bring this full circle, is the very last event we did. Earlier this year, we did what ended up being the last ever party at the Drumsheds in North London. It was a full lineup of all b2b DJ sets with Four Tet and Floating Points headlining and there was just something about that day. We’d had to cancel the event and reimagine it to a degree, but it all finally fell into place. That’s one of the best parties I’ve been involved with.
If we bring it forward to the present day and thinking about the ten year parties coming up at Printworks, why these lineups and how do they represent The Hydra?
I think we’ve become more conceptual, so the Drumsheds events I mentioned were b2b specials. One was more house focused and the other had a techno focus. I like the idea that every time we pop our heads above the parapet, it’s with something that feels like it has an angle or a hook to something that will make people stand up and notice.
With that in mind for the tenth anniversary parties, the tendency is to just put on a massive party with all the people that have represented the brand. And we didn’t want to do that. We came up with this idea of how it would be good to present the milestone anniversaries of other trusted key partners. In the case of Hessle Audio, they’re coming up to their 15th anniversary, we did their tenth anniversary five years ago. We’ve always been big fans and I’ve loved working with those guys. With Erased Tapes, we did the Nils Frahm show at Village Underground in the second year of The Hydra. Robert and the team behind the label always very gracefully acknowledged that that event helped introduce Nils to a wider electronic audience. We’ve been trying to do something with those guys for a little while, and then their 15th anniversary felt like good timing. Similarly with the London Jazz Festival, we’ve had an ongoing conversation with those guys around doing something that still felt in that jazz lane but also lent into the fact that we are electronic. Again, it was a milestone for thirty years. It felt like a slightly different way of mixing up the anniversary template.
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You mentioned Printworks briefly earlier. There’s a bit of uncertainty around the venue at the moment. What can you say about that?
It’s been a privilege to do events in a space like that and it has been a home for us. There’s sadness around any event venue of significance closing. The venue will close early in the new year and then in what is, as yet, a fixed period of time, three, four or five years down the line, there will be something else that Broadwick operate and run and programme and manage and so on. But it will be different. It won’t be the same. And so, in the interim, we’re constantly trying to evolve.
Do you have any advice for anyone inspired by The Hydra who wants to put on parties for the first time?
At any point in that trajectory of deciding to do it or planning to do it or even when you start doing it, at the risk of sounding like a gambling site disclaimer, when it ceases to be fun, it’s time to stop. For me, it’s paramount that you’re enjoying it. There will be ups and downs in that sense because it’s not enjoyable, putting your heart and soul and sweat and blood and tears into something, and then losing money or having your venue pulled or your DJ not being able to turn up. If you believe in it and you feel like you are bringing something to that scene and into the community, if that’s what’s driving you forward, that’s probably the right the right way to approach it.
Now looking to the future, you’ve done ten years of The Hydra and maybe you’re looking at another ten years. How do you keep it fresh and exciting for you personally?
Fundamentally, what we do is grounded in the music, right? And so, what we do is governed by what we’re listening to. There’s lots of fantastic producers doing all sorts of magical things in studios all over the world, but also around the country and very much so in London. If that continues to grow and move forward in that way, I think there’s always going to be something to work with. And equally it’s about speaking to that talent across the board about what interests them and how it dovetails with what interests us. We do a lot of collaborations with labels or brands or artists curating things, so it’s always collaborative. It’s like any collaborative process; you throw ideas around and bounce them against each other and things come up. Eventually you whittle it down and finetune it until you come up with something that collectively feels strong. I hope, in that sense, there’s plenty more to come.
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The Hxdra: Hessle Audio 15 hits London’s Printworks on October 29th. Stay in touch with the Hydra online.
Words: Lee Wakefield
