Spoke to Chris from the Salmon.

Firstly, it’s gonna be called Nerdfest for all intents and purposes because firstly it raises interest from those currently outside of the inner sanctum of the underground London lords...! But another good reason is that pretty soon we’re gonna be looking at a monthly night offshoot where we’ll be DJing – that’s where the name Nerdfest will really come into its own. More about that later.

Nerdfest will be included on the SalmonÂ’s monthly flyer. WeÂ’ve missed the deadline for the new batch, but thatÂ’s okay, weÂ’ll be chugging along just fine for now. As for a dedicated flyer/poster that we can leave in record stores, other peopleÂ’s DJ nights etc, Chris will pay for whatever design we come up with.

I happen to have a very close friend who Peter Saville himself has said is the best graphic designer in the UK today, Julian House. HeÂ’s one a whole bunch of awards for his record sleeve designs, he does Stereolab, Broadcast, Primal Scream and God knows what else, I canÂ’t keep up. He even did last years flyers for the Salmon cos me and him DJ there... Anyway, I could have him come up with something, just a suggestion though, plus heÂ’s obviously super busy...

Back to the possibility of doing a DJ version of Nerdfest. Basically, I guess weÂ’d work a rotation of the regulars, which will probably grow at the same rate as the swap meet itself. No space for trading on this one, instead weÂ’ll have a prime night thatÂ’ll be open until around 2am. Probably a Fri or Sat, even Thursdays are good down there. However, although Chris is totally up for it, weÂ’d have to get at least 50 people down there for him to justify handing it over to us.

Now we can push for a weekend in May, since thereÂ’s a couple spare right now, or let our little scene grow a little more before we decide that weÂ’re ready for this. The first DJ version of Nerdfest will need to be really good if weÂ’re to make it regular... Maybe we should think about tying it in with a live set?

So does everyone reckon they can pull in a few punters for a night of heavy tunes? Really? If so, IÂ’ll start applying pressure for a date in May, otherwise we can do it in June/July. I reckon if we start at 8 til 2, we can spread that over 4 or 5 DJs. Personally, I like it when DJs swap over all the time, rather than play preset times, but whatever, IÂ’m rambling here!

One last point of business – the ad. Grandslam is the obvious choice. Who knows George the best? I know I don’t! We need to secure some kind of ‘mate’s rate’. Volunteers?!

Also, the Salmon has an account with a PR agency. TheyÂ’ll make sure some blurb gets to the listings etc. IÂ’ll start hassling some journos I know about putting in a little piece about the event maybe when things start to get a little bigger.

I can see the whole thing growing, but steady and in an organic fashion, I expect it to retain the intimate, community atmosphere it does at present. As far as IÂ’m concerned itÂ’s about having a good time and sharing the knowledge, so I think weÂ’re onto a good thing here.

N