For the latest instalment in our series ‘A day with …’ we spend the day with up and coming Manchester club promoter Adam Crowley.
On a dull and dreary Thursday Manchester morning Adam Crowley patrols the living room of his Spectrum apartment anxiously peeking out onto the balcony to see if the December rain has stopped. He stands over looking the city like an emperor gazing down on his kingdom, returning from the cold, he proclaims: “I’m going to get absolutely soaked wet through handing out flyers.”
Crowley is the Manchester face of Place2be promotions and today is his busiest day of the week, the event. This evening he’ll be fronting the club night Romp which is held at the nightclub Boutique. The day hasn’t started well, other than the weather he’s also facing a ticketing crisis for this evening, he explains: “I’ve just had a call from our ticketing agency and they won’t be able to send our tickets across until tomorrow. It’s a bit of a nightmare really as I’ve got seventy people waiting for tickets.”
He is clearly upset but Adam can’t afford to waste time being annoyed, so he quickly rushes to his mobile phone and begins making alternative arrangements. Once that problem has been addressed Crowley picks up his laptop and says: “Right, now I need to update my Facebook.”
Crowley explains that social networking sites have become essential to club promoters, he believes: “Facebook is just invaluable, it’s free, allows me to assemble my contacts and most importantly they’re handpicked. So we know what we are getting.” Although he is sceptical of other promoters who take the site for granted, he says: “It’s getting saturated with people banging on about this night and that night. I mean of course you have to hype your own night but it‘s pathetic the way some go about their business, they may as well beg ‘please come to my night’ it reeks of desperation. We don’t do that with Romp.”
Every Thursday night Romp takes place simultaneously across three cites; Leeds (Chilli White), Manchester (Boutique) and Sheffield (DQ), Crowley says: “We want to build a brand and spread the word from city to city. It’s a lot easier than setting up three separate nights.” Place2be’s ‘stylish and sexy’ Romp only moved to Manchester in September which makes it the youngest of the three siblings, he enthusiastically explains: “This is my baby and I’m really proud of it and I think it helps that I was already a fan of the venue. Boutique really helps portray the image we’re after.”
This isn’t the first time Manchester has been home to a club night called Romp. In 2002 One central played host to a funky electro night called Romp but that was brought to an untimely halt soon after the tragic death of it’s promoter Nicholas King, who died in 2004 while holidaying in Thailand. This has caused some controversy in Crowley’s efforts to establish the Place2be night of the same name, he says: “Knowing of the circumstances surrounding One Central’s Romp I was very unsure about giving our night the same name. If I’m honest I didn’t want to:” Adam explains why they kept the name, he asserts: “We are trying our best to build a brand, it came down to the fact that our other Romp nights already existed in other cites.”
Place2be’s reluctance to give their Manchester night a different name didn’t sit well with some of the city’s promoters, Crowley reminisces: “During the Freshers Fair at MMU I did get some grief from a promoter about using the name Romp. He said I wasn’t respectful, I explained the situation and I think he understood.” Adam ensures that the public know the difference between the two nights, he stresses: “Whenever anyone asks if we are the same as the old Romp I explain we certainly aren’t as I’d hate to take credit for their previous success and steal their crowd.”
There is a break in the downpour so Crowley, dressed in a hoodie and tracksuit trousers emblazoned in the company name, jumps to his feet and says: “Lets get these flyers handed out.” Crowley leaves the mod-cons of his flash apartment long behind as he heads for the ‘student central’ that is Oxford Road. Some may not expect the person who fronts an event to actually get out on the street and do the dirty work but Crowley believes: “It gives me a chance to work my magic drawing people in and it also lets me keep an eye on the staff.”
Once Crowley arrives at ‘student central’ he uses his charismatic persona to cast a spell worthy of an almighty sorcerer, as despite the blistery conditions he still manages to grab the attention of passers by enthusiastically selling them his dream. As Adam is busy giving special attention to a young lady, Taran Jefferson, one of Place2be’s street team speaks of Crowley’s technique as a boss, he feels: “Adam is a really inspiring boss mainly because he has such belief in the night. Plus it’s clear for anyone to see he’s a confident guy.”
Adam calls time on his flyering escapades as he needs to return to Spectrum and find the suitable attire for an evening Romping. On the journey home wondering through Manchester’s festive European market he talks strictly about the importance of reliable employees, Crowley asserts: “As the majority of our staff are students we tend to encounter problems. It takes a long time to get a good team together, you’ll find a lot of time wasters In this game. Although I am pretty happy with our current team.” It would appear Crowley isn’t fearful of tempting the Gods of fate as no longer than a minute after he’d uttered those words he receives a phone call which doesn’t leave him in a good mood. A member of his hostess team has rang In ill but Crowley has his suspicions: “She says she isn’t well but if she’s out in town tonight I’ll know.” Understandably he isn’t happy but this is just another of the many hurdles he has become accustomed to in his career so he takes action and starts making more calls.
Back at Spectrum headquarters all is well, Crowley has found cover and now he’s in his element delving through his wardrobe trying to find that perfect outfit. The fashion conscious Crowley covers his bedroom in piles of clothing until he finds ‘it’, the outfit that captures the image of his night, he says: “A large part of my Thursday afternoon is spending a lot of time on my appearance as I need to be dappered up and look the part. I am fronting the night after all.” Adam lets an ounce of his vanity filter into his sentiment, as he says: “The public have an expectation to see Mr. December looking good.” He is referring to his involvement in the Galaxy Manhunt competition last year, where the radio station searched the length and breath of Manchester to find the city’s top twelve eligible bachelors for their calendar. Crowley successfully made the top twelve, so what has Mr. December chosen for this evening? Adam announces: “Tonight I’m going with a casual grey suit with a black shirt. I think it represents the night well.”
The now suited and booted Crowley heads to Lloyd Street, just off Deansgate and enters Boutique an hour before opening, in order to stamp Romp’s identity on the backstreet venue. He sets up the photo booth, raises the banners, dispatches the flyers and covers the main room in posters. Adam seems pleased with his efforts and then begins to talk of the anxiety he used to feel when he first began promoting in April 2007, he says: “In the past I did get very nervous on the night and I used to kill myself with worry, now I’m much more self assured.”
As the doors open and the first revellers venture into the club Adam speaks of the main thing that really used to trouble him, he recalls: “What I struggled to get my head around was the fact we can be really quiet for the first hour.” He takes a seat with his first guests of the night, as he states: “I always hate it when the first people arrive and they’re the only ones here, I feel pretty embarrassed. I always go over give them a drink on the house and assure them, they’re in for a great night.”
Crowley has nothing to worry about as the intimate venue gradually fills to it’s 350 capacity and DJ Stylus pleases the masses, playing classic RnB and soulful dance music. This creates a good vibe that compliments the club’s red lavish décor and sultry aesthetics, DJ Stylus thinks: “These guys do a great job putting the night together it’s a great crowd as Adam doesn’t just let any Tom, Dick or Harry in.”
The night maybe missing Tom, Dick and Harry but it does have Dappy, the easily recognisable member of MOBO winning act N-Dubz, who’s in his element enjoying the hospitality, he says: “People have said good things about this night, so I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I think it‘s one of the best I‘ve been to in Manchester.” Despite him being a celebrity Dappy best not be expecting any favours from Crowley, who explains: “It’s great getting well known people coming down but he won’t be receiving any special treatment. We have a community feel and all our regular faces deserve the very best too, we try to give everyone the VIP experience.” Never mind as Dappy doesn’t seem disappointed enjoying the relaxed atmosphere inside Boutique although that may have something to do with the female attention, he and his entourage are enjoying.
The vigorous Romping goes into the early hours of the morning and the night has been a success. Leaving Crowley looking to the future and matching his rivals, he says: “Every Tiger Tiger across the country has a Vodka Island on a Monday night and that is what I want to do, take our night national.” Although Crowley, who’ll have to go through the events of today all over again this week, realises how difficult this dream could be to achieve, when he concludes: “Obviously I’d like to say in a few years time we’ll be one of the biggest club nights in the UK but this is a fickle industry. On the good nights everybody wants to be your friend on the bad nights they look at you like it’s all your fault. All I can do is live for the moment and see how things shape up one week to another, it’s a fun ride while it lasts though.”
On a dull and dreary Thursday Manchester morning Adam Crowley patrols the living room of his Spectrum apartment anxiously peeking out onto the balcony to see if the December rain has stopped. He stands over looking the city like an emperor gazing down on his kingdom, returning from the cold, he proclaims: “I’m going to get absolutely soaked wet through handing out flyers.”
Crowley is the Manchester face of Place2be promotions and today is his busiest day of the week, the event. This evening he’ll be fronting the club night Romp which is held at the nightclub Boutique. The day hasn’t started well, other than the weather he’s also facing a ticketing crisis for this evening, he explains: “I’ve just had a call from our ticketing agency and they won’t be able to send our tickets across until tomorrow. It’s a bit of a nightmare really as I’ve got seventy people waiting for tickets.”
He is clearly upset but Adam can’t afford to waste time being annoyed, so he quickly rushes to his mobile phone and begins making alternative arrangements. Once that problem has been addressed Crowley picks up his laptop and says: “Right, now I need to update my Facebook.”
Crowley explains that social networking sites have become essential to club promoters, he believes: “Facebook is just invaluable, it’s free, allows me to assemble my contacts and most importantly they’re handpicked. So we know what we are getting.” Although he is sceptical of other promoters who take the site for granted, he says: “It’s getting saturated with people banging on about this night and that night. I mean of course you have to hype your own night but it‘s pathetic the way some go about their business, they may as well beg ‘please come to my night’ it reeks of desperation. We don’t do that with Romp.”
Every Thursday night Romp takes place simultaneously across three cites; Leeds (Chilli White), Manchester (Boutique) and Sheffield (DQ), Crowley says: “We want to build a brand and spread the word from city to city. It’s a lot easier than setting up three separate nights.” Place2be’s ‘stylish and sexy’ Romp only moved to Manchester in September which makes it the youngest of the three siblings, he enthusiastically explains: “This is my baby and I’m really proud of it and I think it helps that I was already a fan of the venue. Boutique really helps portray the image we’re after.”
This isn’t the first time Manchester has been home to a club night called Romp. In 2002 One central played host to a funky electro night called Romp but that was brought to an untimely halt soon after the tragic death of it’s promoter Nicholas King, who died in 2004 while holidaying in Thailand. This has caused some controversy in Crowley’s efforts to establish the Place2be night of the same name, he says: “Knowing of the circumstances surrounding One Central’s Romp I was very unsure about giving our night the same name. If I’m honest I didn’t want to:” Adam explains why they kept the name, he asserts: “We are trying our best to build a brand, it came down to the fact that our other Romp nights already existed in other cites.”
Place2be’s reluctance to give their Manchester night a different name didn’t sit well with some of the city’s promoters, Crowley reminisces: “During the Freshers Fair at MMU I did get some grief from a promoter about using the name Romp. He said I wasn’t respectful, I explained the situation and I think he understood.” Adam ensures that the public know the difference between the two nights, he stresses: “Whenever anyone asks if we are the same as the old Romp I explain we certainly aren’t as I’d hate to take credit for their previous success and steal their crowd.”
There is a break in the downpour so Crowley, dressed in a hoodie and tracksuit trousers emblazoned in the company name, jumps to his feet and says: “Lets get these flyers handed out.” Crowley leaves the mod-cons of his flash apartment long behind as he heads for the ‘student central’ that is Oxford Road. Some may not expect the person who fronts an event to actually get out on the street and do the dirty work but Crowley believes: “It gives me a chance to work my magic drawing people in and it also lets me keep an eye on the staff.”
Once Crowley arrives at ‘student central’ he uses his charismatic persona to cast a spell worthy of an almighty sorcerer, as despite the blistery conditions he still manages to grab the attention of passers by enthusiastically selling them his dream. As Adam is busy giving special attention to a young lady, Taran Jefferson, one of Place2be’s street team speaks of Crowley’s technique as a boss, he feels: “Adam is a really inspiring boss mainly because he has such belief in the night. Plus it’s clear for anyone to see he’s a confident guy.”
Adam calls time on his flyering escapades as he needs to return to Spectrum and find the suitable attire for an evening Romping. On the journey home wondering through Manchester’s festive European market he talks strictly about the importance of reliable employees, Crowley asserts: “As the majority of our staff are students we tend to encounter problems. It takes a long time to get a good team together, you’ll find a lot of time wasters In this game. Although I am pretty happy with our current team.” It would appear Crowley isn’t fearful of tempting the Gods of fate as no longer than a minute after he’d uttered those words he receives a phone call which doesn’t leave him in a good mood. A member of his hostess team has rang In ill but Crowley has his suspicions: “She says she isn’t well but if she’s out in town tonight I’ll know.” Understandably he isn’t happy but this is just another of the many hurdles he has become accustomed to in his career so he takes action and starts making more calls.
Back at Spectrum headquarters all is well, Crowley has found cover and now he’s in his element delving through his wardrobe trying to find that perfect outfit. The fashion conscious Crowley covers his bedroom in piles of clothing until he finds ‘it’, the outfit that captures the image of his night, he says: “A large part of my Thursday afternoon is spending a lot of time on my appearance as I need to be dappered up and look the part. I am fronting the night after all.” Adam lets an ounce of his vanity filter into his sentiment, as he says: “The public have an expectation to see Mr. December looking good.” He is referring to his involvement in the Galaxy Manhunt competition last year, where the radio station searched the length and breath of Manchester to find the city’s top twelve eligible bachelors for their calendar. Crowley successfully made the top twelve, so what has Mr. December chosen for this evening? Adam announces: “Tonight I’m going with a casual grey suit with a black shirt. I think it represents the night well.”
The now suited and booted Crowley heads to Lloyd Street, just off Deansgate and enters Boutique an hour before opening, in order to stamp Romp’s identity on the backstreet venue. He sets up the photo booth, raises the banners, dispatches the flyers and covers the main room in posters. Adam seems pleased with his efforts and then begins to talk of the anxiety he used to feel when he first began promoting in April 2007, he says: “In the past I did get very nervous on the night and I used to kill myself with worry, now I’m much more self assured.”
As the doors open and the first revellers venture into the club Adam speaks of the main thing that really used to trouble him, he recalls: “What I struggled to get my head around was the fact we can be really quiet for the first hour.” He takes a seat with his first guests of the night, as he states: “I always hate it when the first people arrive and they’re the only ones here, I feel pretty embarrassed. I always go over give them a drink on the house and assure them, they’re in for a great night.”
Crowley has nothing to worry about as the intimate venue gradually fills to it’s 350 capacity and DJ Stylus pleases the masses, playing classic RnB and soulful dance music. This creates a good vibe that compliments the club’s red lavish décor and sultry aesthetics, DJ Stylus thinks: “These guys do a great job putting the night together it’s a great crowd as Adam doesn’t just let any Tom, Dick or Harry in.”
The night maybe missing Tom, Dick and Harry but it does have Dappy, the easily recognisable member of MOBO winning act N-Dubz, who’s in his element enjoying the hospitality, he says: “People have said good things about this night, so I wanted to see what all the fuss is about. I think it‘s one of the best I‘ve been to in Manchester.” Despite him being a celebrity Dappy best not be expecting any favours from Crowley, who explains: “It’s great getting well known people coming down but he won’t be receiving any special treatment. We have a community feel and all our regular faces deserve the very best too, we try to give everyone the VIP experience.” Never mind as Dappy doesn’t seem disappointed enjoying the relaxed atmosphere inside Boutique although that may have something to do with the female attention, he and his entourage are enjoying.
The vigorous Romping goes into the early hours of the morning and the night has been a success. Leaving Crowley looking to the future and matching his rivals, he says: “Every Tiger Tiger across the country has a Vodka Island on a Monday night and that is what I want to do, take our night national.” Although Crowley, who’ll have to go through the events of today all over again this week, realises how difficult this dream could be to achieve, when he concludes: “Obviously I’d like to say in a few years time we’ll be one of the biggest club nights in the UK but this is a fickle industry. On the good nights everybody wants to be your friend on the bad nights they look at you like it’s all your fault. All I can do is live for the moment and see how things shape up one week to another, it’s a fun ride while it lasts though.”
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