Transcript (edited for ease of reading) 

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Hi, I'm Ginny Koppenhol and I’m a photographer and DJ from near Lancaster and Morecambe. I'm doing a project at the moment which I've called ‘Get the Message’, focusing on our local electronic music scene. I’m speaking to people involved in that scene, whether that's DJ's, producers, promoters and other people, hopefully as the project progresses. I'm keen to find out the state of the scene at the moment. Things are tricky, but that doesn't mean that people aren't still doing great things.

One of those people is Summer Jenkins, and I've never really had a chat with Summer before but I’ve been aware of the fab things she's been doing, often in collaboration with Matt Thiss, but lots of things on her own too. She has her own events company, as well as promoting a lot of events, and getting into production, as well as being a DJ.

I was really keen to talk to her and it was really interesting to find out her journey, which was a little bit the other way round to the way a lot of people do it. A lot of people get into DJing first and then put on their own events to showcase themselves and other people. But Summer started off in events in promoting and helping with local events and then got into the DJing through encouragement from friends, and she loved it. She's not looked back but is still very much involved in the events as well.
She has some great advice for people wanting to get into it. It’s really solid, useful advice although I’m partly saying that because she gives the same advice as I do!

Anyway, here is Summer….

Hi Summer.
Hello.

Thank you so much for agreeing to have a chat with me and I'm really interested to find out more about you and your DJing, your journey so far and your opinions on the local scene in Lancaster and Morecambe. I've seen lots of the things that you are up to, but we've never sat and chatted before, so I'm really excited.
I always start off by asking people about their DJ journey. Where did you start out? Where did you first get interested in the music… wanting to play it out…. wanting to put on events?
 

One of my best friends, Matt Thiss has been DJing for years. As I was growing up, I would go and watch him play and he got to a point where he was doing big events, big festivals and I was ticket selling for him. I'd make a commission on the tickets and promote what he was doing. Then it got to a point where I was really interested (in the DJing) as I thought it was so cool. I've always loved the music…

 

So just going back a little bit… my mum was heavily into going to Wigan Pier, Maximes and Monroes, and she'd go out to these events and bring back the tapes. I was 6-7 years old and I'd have my little tape recorder and was always listening to house music back then and the old school Classic 90s. I'd never listen to pop or anything like that as a kid, it was always house.
So that was probably where it all started with the house music for me. And then going and watching Matt and then I got interested in the whole event side of it.

I started being a ticket rep for Sunrise and S2S.  Then me, Matt Thiss and Dave Lee set up Escape Events and we did our first one in 2016, and we had Yousef headlining. So it was a pretty big deal. But I wasn't really DJ and back then I was just kind of dabbling in it. I had some decks and Matt was showing me bits and how to mix, but on that first event Matt and Dave said to me, “Look,  it's our event, you're gonna do it”. So Dave was stood next to me and I went on and did a couple of mixes and I loved it! I just got that that feeling that you get when you're up there in front of a crowd. I thought “This is what I wanna do!”.

Yeah, that's where it all started really and I was just playing at our own events for Escape.
COVID come round not long after, and I did a lot of garden parties and private parties. I think that's how I got my confidence, by doing it on a smaller scale and obviously you learn as you go along. I was being more confident to mess with all kinds of things on the decks. Then obviously  Lancaster is quite small and word of mouth got out, and it went a bit crazy from there really!
 

Yeah, that's kind of an unusual way in, getting into the event side first because often it starts with DJing and then you think maybe I could put on my own events. So that’s an interesting way round.

What does DJ and club culture mean to you? So obviously you've got the links with your mum going to those events and bringing back the music. And you said when you were up there, you just love that feeling. How important is it in your life?

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I’m a raver. I love my events. I love the Warehouse Project and Creamfields (that’s the big one I go to every single year). I love going to Manchester, Liverpool, London and going to different events. So yeah, it's massive for me. I love the clubbing side of it. So it just goes hand in hand with what I do and with the DJing side of it. I love the vocal piano side but if I'm going to an event, I love the techier, heavier side. So I love all aspects of house music, even trance. I’m going to a trance event in a couple of weeks (Goodgreef). I love it all and that feeling it gives you. Nothing else matters when you're at one of them events. So when I'm putting on events, I want people to have that feeling as well.
 

I'm really interested in the event side, because you'll have a unique perspective about what the scene is like now, but also what it was like when you started in 2016. Have you noticed any changes in that time? You're Morecambe-based, but I know you put on events in Lancaster as well.

What we've noticed is the venues.
Our first event was at Morecambe Winter Gardens which was a unique, amazing venue. We had three events there. Our headliners were Yousef, Lovely Laura and Ben Santiago, and then James Hype and Judge Jules. All massive events and they all sold out every time. Then once we couldn't have the events there anymore due to the building not being safe enough, and the change of management, we went to different places but the feeling wasn't the same as it as was at the Winter Gardens where it was so unique. I think that's where we’ve struggled as a brand, to find the right venue. That's where I've noticed a huge change. The events have always had the people that come, and the same music, but it's just that ‘feel’ in the venue.

 

You’ve nurtured a following by the sounds of it. How do you go about that? How do you go about making those connections with people and getting the word out?
 

We started at the Winter Gardens and it’s a much-loved venue, and Matt's quite well known and very friendly with everyone. Same with me. I hope we’re quite well-liked. People support that. People are watching what we've done with the DJing and starting up and working hard at promoting. There's not money to be made in the Morecambe and Lancaster area for events. So putting these big events on for the Morecambe and Lancaster people and knowing that we're not making money off it (literally just breaking even or losing money), people see that and want to support because you’re actually doing something to help the towns and giving people something to go out for.
 

What are some of the other challenges? You've mentioned venues and the money side. You have to have a heck of a lot of passion to keep going with it when it's not-for-profit. It's for the love of it and to bring something to the community.
 

As well as the venues locally, the biggest challenge for us is getting ticket sales early on. A lot of our movement on tickets in the last couple of weeks and then maybe on the night. People are always planning on coming but getting them to spend the money on a ticket early on is a challenge. You've got your you big artists to pay, your sound and lighting to pay for, the venue to pay… it's having that cash flow right. I think that's probably the biggest challenge.
 

Why do you think people are reluctant to buy tickets early?
 

I think because they know it's gonna be going ahead anyway. It's not like Manchester or Liverpool where there's lots of different events going on, but then on the other hand, there has been instances where we've had to kind of say, “Look, we can't foot this up because people aren’t buying tickets”. You never know how it's going to go. We can have a really good early bird sale and sell out straight away, or it can be slow. We've thought “ Maybe it depends on the headliners, or maybe the venues”, but it's just so up and down. I do think it's probably the size of Morecambe and Lancaster. We haven't got a huge amount of people that want to go out raving.

On the flip side, what do you think are the opportunities of both DJing and promoting within a small area like ours… in a more local scene?

The promoting side, I put a lot of my success on starting off as a promoter, understanding the events, understanding how festivals work and things like that, and going events and supporting them. Promoters like to see that. They like to see that if they're gonna book you for their event, that you understand it, that you know the brand. I think that's an opportunity that I've had. And again, being in a small town, putting on these big events and being successful and DJing at the big events, it's made other people notice you.

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Big events locally, do you mean?

 

Even elsewhere. So for example, me and Matt played Pier Jam. Matt's been a resident for Pier Jam for a while, but for them to ask me to come and play, I think they'd seen what I'd been doing with Matt and noticed my name and my sets. That’s how I've got the bigger bookings.

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So starting somewhere like this allows you to build that name locally first?
 

Yeah, and gets you noticed in other areas.

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I don't want to put words in your mouth, but are you saying that if you are from a bigger city with lots more DJs and events around, you may not get noticed in the same way?

Yeah, and working with some of the headliners and artists that we have done, and giving them a good experience as well. I speak to Laura (Lovely Laura) quite regularly now and she's always said “We've never been as looked after as well as when we came to your event”. Making sure I always do the artist liaison well, and make sure that they have everything that they need. I think that puts you in a good stead as well. They'll obviously speak to other promoters looking for DJs. Bigger artists would remember me from the event that they did.

If you do what you love but do it really well. And you can do it really well when you focus in on not as many events perhaps as if you were in a big city. There's not the pressure to put on events every week. Then when you do events, you do them to the best of your ability and everyone has a fabulous experience.

Any other opportunities? It's interesting for you because you've got the DJ and the promoter experience. Do you produce music as well?

Yeah, so that is probably an opportunity. From DJing and meeting people through that, I'm working with Michael from Koda Recordings at the moment. I'm learning production with him and we've had a few tracks out already which have done really well. I could go away and start producing myself now, but having him there as a mentor makes it a lot better for me. Him taking his time to want to work with me has been an opportunity from the events that we've done.

 

And where's he based?

Burnley

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How are you finding that journey?

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Really good. Although I'm quite impatient, so I want a track finished straight away and obviously that's not how it goes. I'm learning that if you change one element of a track, it can make the whole track go out and it can be quite frustrating, but also really rewarding at the end.

 

With making music… do you do it to boost your profile? Or is it something that you're really passionate about as well? Or is it something you're dabbling with and just seeing how it goes?

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I think for the moment I’m dabbling in it. I work full-time and I've got quite a lot of other things going on. I don't have the time to do it as a full-time thing. For me I started wanting to play my own music when I'm out DJing. I know what I like and I'm trying to keep all my tracks to my sound, so I'm very ‘vocal piano vibes’ with quite big drops. I just want someone to say, “Oh, is that one of Summer’s?” if they hear it.

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Do you have any DJ goals, a direction, things you'd like to achieve?

 

I've always said Creamfields ‘cause I've been every year for the last 10 years and I think having my name on that line-up – that is my end goal.

 

Something I'm asking everybody who I speak to is about the connections with the biggest cities like Liverpool, Manchester. Do you have aspirations to make links in those places? Or is your focus on the local scene? Or a bit of both?

A bit of both. My main priority is local. I do a lot of work with venues in Morecambe and Lancaster and I have my own entertainment and events company as well. I run the entertainment and arrange DJs for some of the venues so my first priority is to try and get people out into them venues. Again, Escape Events is our little baby, so that’s also my priority. But we also have some good connections with promoters and brands in Manchester and Liverpool and I’m hoping to get a big Manchester brand to Morecambe. We’re in talks at the moment and it's looking like it could happen this year.

Good luck with that.

You're the second female DJ I’ve spoken to. What are your perspectives on women in the scene at the moment? Is that healthy and growing or do you think there's still lots of work to be done?

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I've never seen the divide. People sometimes ask me if I have found it difficult, but I've been really lucky. I've not struggled in that aspect. Locally we’re quite limited with female DJs, but some of the bigger names like Hannah Wants, Hannah Laing, Sam Divine; I think that they're just they're all smashing it. For me personally I've not seen huge difficulty with the divide.

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Me neither. I do ask that question just in case people have a different experience, but I haven't had that experience either. I've never felt people have patronised me or treated me any differently. There's a couple of occasions where women have been preferred for an event, so that's probably gone in my favour (the positive discrimination). But I'm not as keen to play those events because I just think “do you want me for me and for my style, or just purely because I’m a woman?”

A couple of times, customers have said “You’ve only been booked because you're female?” and this is before they’ve heard me play! And then obviously you get your back up a bit and you go and smash your set. Then afterwards, they’re like “Oh, you’re pretty alright you aren’t you”.

 

It's interesting that you've had a similar experience and which is good, isn't it? That's what we want. Kaitzy is very up on the kind of the 90s scene and how things have progressed, and in her interview, reflected on how things are probably easier now. But I think they're probably starting to get easier when I came into it in the 2000s.

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I think the stories are from earlier on, like back in like the Ibiza days when it was much more male-dominated perhaps?
 

And I don't really know the ins and outs of why that was. And you know, you can make assumptions and we have benefited from a lot of women before, paving that way. So I want to acknowledge that too. But I’ve only had positive experiences and we work in a really positive scene don't we? Most people are supportive and collaborative, forward-thinking and inclusive.

 

That's what I do love about it. Everybody wants to see everyone achieve. I mean you wouldn’t DJ if you didn’t love music. With other careers, you might do it just because they have to make money whereas this isn’t about that. That's why I think everyone's so supportive cause they know the struggles of doing it and doing it well.

That said, have you ever lost the love for it? Has there only ever been a really challenging time, either with the DJing or on the event side, when you felt you needed to take a step back from it?

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For period of time I was taking a lot of private parties. Through lockdown I was doing them and garden parties, as I don't like saying no. I was getting to a point where it was every single weekend. Then I was doing my gigs on a Saturday night and a private party on a Friday or even Saturday and Sunday days. After a while I wasn't enjoying the private parties as much and I just wanted to do the clubs. So I think that's the only time I've needed to take a step back from a certain aspect of it.

 

And were you able to do that?

 

Yeah. I still do the odd one but it's not as much as I used to.

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It’s all part of the journey isn't it, figuring out what you love to do and what the priorities are, what you need to do for the money but constantly redressing that balance and bringing it back to what you what you love to do, and what you want to do.

Have you got a highlight in your DJ or promoting? What's something that stands out for you so far?

 

So many.
One that just pops into my head is the Float Your Boat party in Ibiza. We took Escape to Ibiza in 2019 (just before COVID). It was a boat party, then we had the super club Eden, accommodation, and we also had a beach club. The boat party was just unreal, and then obviously playing at Eden.
Every single Escape Event is a highlight. Like having Morgan Seatree at Halloween. Using Hitchins, which is an empty warehouse and then putting the sound and lighting in it and getting that filled up with people. I remember taking a video of that event and being like, “Wow, we've done this!” Every single event we do for Escape I get the feelings like “oh this is great - we've done this”.

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What advice would you have for people starting out, firstly in DJing, especially in an area like ours that maybe doesn't have hundreds of opportunities?

 

I always say go to the events. If you're wanting to DJ at an event, you need to be present. You need to go and see what it's all about. You need to see what the scene’s about before you just say, “Here's a mix, can I play your event?” That's one big one for me. Just going and watching what happens. I think that's probably the biggest bit of advice and just being a nice person. Being involved in what else is going on. I know it's really heavy on your social media presence at the minute and sending out mixes and stuff like that, but I'll be honest, I don't really like take much notice of that if I'm booking DJs.

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Good advice, that's the same advice I give.

 

Oh yeah? Good.

Going to stuff, connecting, being good to work with, observing and learning from people. Yeah, all of that kind of thing. All that actual connection stuff rather than mixes online and socials. It’s more about what you’re like as a person and how you’d fit with our team or whatever.

What about the event promotion side? If people wanted to start putting on their own events?

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What we did, we’d seen what was missing from the area. The nearest big events were in Manchester and the odd ones in Preston every now and again. But we had a look at what was missing from the area, and then just doing a bit of research on that. If you wanting to put on smaller events, speaking to your local DJs and local venues and asking what they want to see. Then just kind of tailoring it to that and again being passionate about it. You're not gonna make money. Well, it's very rare that you're gonna make money in the first few years of doing it. It’s about being realistic. As long as you know that and you're willing to put the work in before making anything, then that's probably what I'd say.

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So what does our area need to thrive, and to continue to nurture a scene? What do we need to do?

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We need more support from councils and the government cause it’s very difficult. We want unique spaces and unique venues and trying to get the council on board with that is very difficult. I think that's probably the first difficulty that we have. Again, if you're not putting on the event yourself and you relying on a venue to put that cost up, a lot of venues won't want to put money up before they’re seeing a return. Venues having that trust in what they're doing and realising again that they might not make money the first time, but it's building the brand.
And more just people coming out. Quite a lot of people have started just having drinks in the house and then going out at night, but they’re already hammered. I think we need the people coming back out and coming to the events, buying the tickets and sharing it.

Really good points

Where can people find out about your events?

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I'm on all social media, ‘Summer Jenkins’ and ‘Summer J Jenkins’ on Instagram. I put all my events on there. I've just started up promoting at my events company SDJ events as well. Then we've got Escape Events on socials, and we just share any upcoming events.

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Thank you. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you think is really important that came to mind?

Get in touch if you're looking to get involved in the industry and you want just to come and see what we do. We always need people to help, whether it be ticket-selling or helping on the day with getting set up with big events. So yeah, just get in touch if you've got any questions.

 

Fantastic. Thank you so much for your time.

 

No problem.