The Tab Meets…EXIT

One rainy Tuesday in October, the fastest-growing student publication in Exeter teamed up with the fastest-growing house night in Exeter for their relaunch. Needless to say, it was a pretty fast-growing evening. Here, the Tab chats to Sophie Massey and Simon Whitehead, two of the three brains behind EXIT at Cellar Door, about both that night and nights to come:

MMc: So guys, we all had a sweet time down at the last EXIT. What inspired the partnership with the Tab?

SM: We saw it as a new and exciting opportunity to broaden our base. Plus the Tab gets their facts right most of the time and can actually spell.

SW: Also because there’s potential for a lot of crossover between our demographics. As a venue, Cellar Door is oft overlooked as it’s slightly further away from the main student areas. Linking up with you guys hopefully meant that more people would give it a go, which is exactly what we want.

SM: We’re really trying to highlight that we’re not “too edgy”, which is how most people who haven’t been down seem to see us.

EXIT – if it’s good enough for us, it’s good enough for you!

MMc: I think that in our time at Exeter, there’s been a real expansion in house culture down here. What would you put that down to?

SW: Well, when we were in first year, Beats and Bass ran a trip to Bugged Out down in Bognor Regis. I wouldn’t say that was the sole cause of the growth, but it was definitely a catalyst. A lot of the best house music is coming out of Bristol, so it must have something to do with the fact that we’re an hour down the road from the epicentre of the scene.

SM: Also, a lot of the house DJs in Exeter are in our year [third year], so it really served as part of the bonding process in our friendship group.

MMc: In the “University of the Year” issue of the Sunday Times, Nick “Badger” Davis, last year’s Guild President, said that Exeter’s worst feature was its nightlife. How would you respond to that?

SM: Clearly he wasn’t here long enough!

SW: I think the emergence of Cellar Door over the last two years and the growth of Beats and Bass show that nightlife here is improving. If you’re stuck in your ways and afraid to step outside your comfort zone, I can see why you might think that.

SM: Essentially, Exeter’s a small city. You’ve got to be prepared to shift your outlook and throw a curveball at your going-out schedule once in a while.

MMc: Other than EXIT, what’s your favourite night out in Exeter?

SM: Either Thick As Thieves or Beats and Bass at Cavern.

SW: Yeah…I am a fan of the occasional Friday Timepiece though!

MMc: So what’s next for EXIT?

SM: This Tuesday we’ve got Brad [Vanstone, the third member of the EXIT team]’s birthday party – we’ll be giving out cake and party bags.

SW: Each of the bags have got an EXIT sticker in them, and we’ll be running a photo competition where whoever puts the sticker in the most creative place and sends us the picture will win free entry to EXIT for the year.

SM: We’ve also got something really big planned for Christmas…which we can’t say much about!

SW: All I’ll reveal is that it’s the first artist we’ve booked, their single’s a hit everywhere in house at the moment…they’re top 10 in the Beatport chart at the minute. We’re hoping to get a host of big DJs in from then onwards!