Secret Admirer asked Meg Sullivan, one half of the promotion duo behind brand spanking new club night UGH, a bunch of important questions. Lily Walker wasn't present for the interview so Meg hassled her over the phone until she turned up for a photo shoot in a park. Boom.
What
I’m dying to know to start with is what is with the name? What is UGH? What does
it stand it for?
It doesn’t stand for anything. It’s pronounced ‘uhh!’.
We were just sat around a table thinking of names and I think I said something
like ‘uhh, this is so hard!’. Then I thought, we’ve got it. It epitomises a
generation. It’s boredom, its attention seeking teens saying ‘ugh, I’m so bored
with my life!’. We thought it could be a bit of a joke too.
I
guess it’s all in the delivery.
Exactly. I can’t even say it right.
Why
did you choose Birmingham for this club night? Why The Rainbow?
Birmingham has got such an amazing scene. There’s so
much going on around here. We really want to be a part of that but we’re not
talented so we can’t be in bands. So why not put on some amazing bands! B-Town
massive! Hash tag Digbeth massive. We chose The Rainbow because it has been
proven to be the best venue, aside from O2. Reppin’ Rainbow. It’s not a gay
club, FYI.
Which
bands have you got for your debut night?
Our debut night? Well, we wanted to get Birmingham
bands but they all pulled out on us. So instead we went for Mafia Lights from
Manchester, Mowbird from Nottingham and Moscow Youth Cult from Nottingham.
Are
they friends of yours?
No but I guess we are kind of Twitter pals with
Mafia Lights.
Is
that how you get your connections?
Yeah, I just obsessively tweet them. I might ask
them for an interview, like I will interview you and I will come to your house.
No, but I’ve been into Mafia Lights for a while. I used to write about them on
my blog. They kind of knew who I was through that. I just got in touch and I was
like ‘hey, I’m putting on a club night, do you wanna play?’. They said yes, of
course. Wait, don’t put that in the interview, I want to come across as humble.
Arrogance doesn’t come across well.
What
kind of people do you want turning up? Who’s your target audience?
Hip. I’m just going to leave it at hip.
How
the devil did you get Pete Doherty’s producer to DJ?
He’s my best mate. He’s twenty four now; I’ve known
him since he was about twenty. He used to put on club nights in London. I interviewed
him and we spoke about pink wafer biscuits then became best mates.
That
was the connection you had.
Totally. He’s an amazing guy. Really amazing. So talented
as well. He’s only like, twenty four but he’s doing stuff with Pete! And yeah,
we are DJing together. Friends who DJ together, stick together.
Are
there going to be pink wafers on his rider?
Well, you know, we are doing a remix of The
Aristocats so maybe. One band asked us for fine Spanish meats and a stuffed walrus.
Are
you going to deliver?
Maybe on the stuffed walrus, not so sure about the
Spanish meats. That’s taking it too far guys. Bit too far.
What’s
it like working with Lily?
It’s amazing. We know each other so well but
sometimes it’s a bit of a conflict of opinion. I mean, I want to put on bands
that she doesn’t want to put on. But I’ll put them on anyway but then she’ll
get pissed off because I’ve put them on.
Maybe
you should take it in turns to curate your nights.
She’s taller than me so she already has the upper
hand on this.
You’ve
taken a kind of street art approach to your marketing of the club night. What inspired
you to plaster up posters around Birmingham?
I don’t know, we just thought of the cheapest way to
do it, and that was it. It wasn’t really much of a campaign. Scrap that bit, we
wanted to seem really elusive. We wanted people to think: who are these people?
What are they doing? What is UGH?
UGH featuring Mafia Lights, Mowbird and Moscow Youth Cult takes place at The Rainbow in Digbeth, Birmingham on 13th July 2012. It's going to royally kick off.
Photography by Jack Parker
