Meet the guys behind HOUSEWORK – your newest student-run night

The Tab sat down with the members of student-run collective Housework, who launch the newest night on the Oxford scene next Sunday with a 4pm-midnight outdoor party at the Oxford Retreat.

They told us that they’re ‘frustrated’ with Oxford nightlife, that they want to make open-air parties a thing, and that they’re steering clear of the tribal genre labels that quickly get attached to other nights.

You guys have DJ’d around the Oxford scene before, right?

Yeah. Katia and Lewis had a back-to-back set at Technicolour’s night last term in Camera Basement, as well as holding a residency at Varsity Tuesdays. Lewis also DJs at Supermarket nights.

Why did you guys start up Housework?

To be honest we were just frustrated at the Oxford nightlife scene – it doesn’t have that much to offer in terms of diversity. I remember when we first came to Oxford someone in the year above asked us what kind of music we were into, and then told us we should go to Cellar. Well Cellar was shit. We thought: ‘we can do better’.

What kind of music do you all like to play?

There’s a lot of overlap, but Lewis really likes Disco, Katia and Daniel enjoy Techno and House, and Kalyan brings in some world music.

Lewis, Daniel, and Katia

Where does the name come from?

We went through loads of different names, and they were all pretty awful. We wanted something to do with having to ‘work’ to make a good, enjoyable night, and the pun was kind of funny. But we also really don’t want to be labelled as a ‘House’ or ‘Techno’ night, because as soon as you get a label it’s pretty hard to attract people who don’t associate with it. It should be about mixing genres together to make sure that there’s something enjoyable for everyone.

What are you hoping to achieve with Housework?

Well if the open-air dynamic we’re trying with the launch goes down well, then we’re gonna try and have another similar event before the long vac. Hopefully that’ll create some good rep for the new freshers in Michaelmas.

Why do you think you guys are the right people to do it?

We don’t claim to be encyclopedias of electronic music, but I don’t think we need to be. All we want to do is build something in people, lead them towards some sort of insight or show them a genre that they hadn’t previously realised they’d like. We just want to be inclusive, because it’s easy for student-run nights to not be.

Housework launches Sunday 31st May. Check out the Facebook event here.