How a Lancaster student founded one of the city’s biggest house music event organisations

Archie Slevin is both a Lancaster student and the founder of one of the city’s biggest house music event organisations. Last week, I spoke to him to find out how his success came about and how he manages it all.

Archie is at the helm of Synthspace Events: The business that claims to be bringing “the biggest house music event Lancaster has had in over a decade.”

The event, with 13 DJs scheduled to perform, is set to be hosted by The Sugarhouse (the Students’ Union nightclub) on Saturday 17th October, and will be open to members of the public too.

When asked what sparked the initial idea for Synthspace, Archie said it was a “combination of my love for house music and an experience I had working at Into the Woods Festival in Wales.”

It was during this experience that “seeing how all the different parts of a festival came together really inspired” him, prompting him to try co-ordinating an event of his own (ENTER Synthspace). 

In its early days, Archie’s “completely self-funded” business endeavour was not without its challenges. With the savings that he had built up from working over the summer, he headed to Worcester, ambition in hand. During his first event in Worcester, at a 250-capacity nightclub, 75 people turned up.

Archie remembered how “devastated” he was as he “ended up playing the final hour to about four people.” However, he did not give up. 

It was his resilience that enabled Archie to put on Synthspace’s first Lancaster event at Kanteena, one of the major clubs in the city. He explained that, from that point on, his business “started to develop into what it is now”. 

Many would deem this business endeavour, with a university student at the helm, to be a success. So what does success look like for Archie Slevin? He claimed that “success isn’t just about making money for me […] If we can build something that people are genuinely excited about and that brings people into Lancaster, I’d consider that a success.”

However, I had to ask Archie the key question playing on my mind: What is it like to balance running Synthspace alongside earning a law degree?

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He said that working on the business “every single day” can be “intense” and that finding a balance between focusing on his studies and the business is something he has to “manage carefully.”

While “building the brand” in Lancaster and making the city “a real hub for this sound” for the next two to three years as he studies, Archie hopes “to prove that Synthspace can eventually become a full-time career” for him.

Once he has built a strong base locally, he hopes to travel internationally with Synthspace, expanding the business exponentially.

Archie is adamant that he wants to keep the brand “centred around house music, particularly the garage-house sound we’re focusing on with our next event” (at The Sugarhouse).

He said: “Booking artists like Laidlaw, Lucas Alexander and Wax Material is a reflection of the sound I want Synthspace to become known for.”

Archie, and Synthspace, seem to have come a long way since their days “playing the final hour to about four people” during the business’s first event in Worcester.

Synthspace’s upcoming event at The Sugarhouse features a 1,4oo capacity, which is “more than double the size” of Archie’s previous Lancaster event at Kanteena.

Although the pressure is on, and Archie feels his next event is “both exciting and daunting.” His progress so far is definitely admirable.

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