Everyone in Nottingham has at least heard of Ocean – if not, who are you and what have you been doing your entire student life?! HC Nottingham caught up with the big man owner himself, Andy Hoe, to find out what he thinks it is that makes Ocean so famous.
Why make Ocean a student-only club?
I did it because no one else was at the time, and it just made sense to me because students like ‘being students’ and enjoying themselves on nights out. By taking out the element of locals/townies, the students can enjoy themselves without worrying about offending most other people. So it creates a very safe environment for a good night out. I started the student-only Friday over 10 years ago, and it’s gone from strength to strength so it must have been a good idea!
One thing I’ve repeatedly heard about Ocean was its infamous carpet. Could you tell us a little bit about that?
Well…let’s just say Ocean had a very ‘distinct’ aroma, which came from the carpet, a mixture of stale booze, old cigarette smell (from before the smoking ban), vomit, and anything else that ended up on the carpet. It did get regularly cleaned, a bit like the the big suspension bridges…starting in one area and working our way round it in sections. By the time we’d finished, it was ready to start again. But it always maintained that fragrance to a certain extent. It’s sticky status and ability to strip flip flops off feet as you walked round was legendary! The carpet was about 15 years old when it finally came out in August…I had been holding back on replacing it for quite a few years until some big development plans for the area had finally been scrapped, due to the cost of replacing it being over £45,000! It now smells a lot more fragrant…and your flip flops are safe.
I’ve read in one of the articles you’ve done that you think Ocean works because it’s not just a faceless company. Is there any other reason why you choose for people to know you? Is this important, do you think?
I do think it’s a factor in why Ocean is successful, not that it’s ‘me’ but an actual person rather than a brand or company name. But in all honesty, it’s something that happened organically rather than something I planned. When Facebook started in the UK in 2004 it was only open to a few select universities, Nottingham being one of them, the students’ were all raving about it so I managed to ‘blag’ myself a Nottingham Uni email address and signed up. It quickly became apparent that it was a really easy way to promote the club directly to the students, and most importantly ONLY to students as the general public couldn’t register on there at the time. Then I started to get students adding me on there, and sending me messages etc, and over the last few years it’s just snowballed from that. I eventually scrapped a direct email address, and use it for all our communication as it’s easy to keep track of in one place, it’s also easy to find people who have lost stuff and not contacted anyone, I just type in their name and if we’re not friends we will generally have a few mutual friends so it’s easy to figure out if it’s the right person! The simple reason it’s my personal account rather than using a ‘Club Page’ is because that’s how it’s grown, and it works so I don’t see any point in changing it. People get to both complain and congratulate direct to the person at the top, not just send off an email to an anonymous someone that never gets read or replied to. I answer all our messages myself, and I get a LOT, I probably spend the majority of my work time doing that. I also like to see what students are saying to each other about the club on there.
The ‘Big O’ is known for its cheesy music. Why do you think this type of music makes for a good night out?
This is a simple answer. We get a lot of people in the club, with a lot of different tastes in music. We try and cater for as many as possible throughout the night, you’ll notice when you’re in there the music style generally changes every 15 minutes or so, so we’ll cover all the dance, R&B, pop, cheese etc we can in one night. Each year the popular styles change, you might get a year that R&B is huge, then Dance, then something else. Within all those styles with the exception of cheese, the songs and even the styles change slightly. It’s the same songs every year pretty much, with the addition of a few new pop songs that stick around. Most of the cheesier songs we play have been a constant presence as long as I remember! So literally EVERYONE in the building knows them, they know every single word, if there’s a way to dance to it, they know it. In general, most people like to sing and dance to songs they know. A lot of clubs/DJs take themselves far too seriously and think they have to break new boundaries and won’t play a lot of the stuff we do. Whereas we have no shame and will play pretty much anything. Except that song about the fox. I don’t care what the fox says. It’s a bloody awful song.
You sell out even during exam time. What is it about Ocean that make it so irresistible?
I think it’s a combination of being able to walk round the club and know just about everyone, or someone that knows them. Know that it’s a safe environment for students to be in. Know what music is going to played and at various points in the night you’ll hear stuff you like! Know that if you act a little bit daft you’re generally not going to get thrown out (unless you’re putting yourself or someone else at risk!). Know that you’re not going to get scammed at the bar for some random drink that costs about £6 when all the posters said £1.50 drinks. All our drinks are priced within a certain band rather than sell a few things very cheaply, and others more expensively. (The tipsy student at the bar doesn’t always see the tariff and can get stung!). In short, you know what you’re going to get with Ocean, no pretentiousness, just a good night out!
Other than what you’ve talked about, for what other reasons do you think Ocean was voted as Nottingham Students’ Official Night Out on the survey taken last year?
I think that the other answers say it all really, the club has built up a really good reputation over the years and I work hard to try and keep it. We actually get a lot of new freshers every year that have heard of the club before they’ve even arrived at Uni, from older siblings, friends etc and are already excited to go there!
What are your long term plans for Ocean?
To do exactly what we’ve done for the last 10 years, unless it starts to become less popular – “if it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it!”
Finally, sum up Ocean in 3 words.
Legendary. Unique. Messy.