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In Conversation with Room 2 Radio

April, 2020

Written for FEAT. Artists

In times of crisis, humankind turns to music. You may have seen videos of Italian neighbours raising their voices across-balconies, or pop stars performing their songs via Zoom. It feels like music is tucked away somewhere in our DNA - it is fundamental to our communication and the expression of our emotions. 


COVID-19 has resulted in new and innovative ways of keeping the joy of music alive in isolated hearts. Many artists have started streaming their gigs online, and Australian-born festival Isol Aid has been blessing ears with Instagram live streams of artists performing every weekend since March. 


One group of mates from Sydney, including Nicole Beck, have launched an initiative designed to keep the spirit of the almighty boogie alive, by creating Australia’s first ever online club. FEAT sat down with Nicole to find out what it’s all about.


Ally: Hey Nicole, thanks so much for joining me! How’s isolation been going for you?


Nicole: Hey, no worries! Honestly, I’m just exercising a lot more than normal, which is kind of the only thing I’ve got going on...


Ally: Same here, I love the routine and it feels so good. I’ll jump straight into the questions - how did the idea for Room 2 Radio come about? 


Nicole: So, it came about on Mardi Gras this year, actually! Everyone was out, and then we all went back to Charlie (Poolroom)’s house. He’s got his bedroom and his studio next to each other, separated by a doorway. Super random, but everyone started dancing in his studio room, and you only really needed about four people in there for it to feel like a massive party. We all started calling it Room 2.


Then this whole pandemic got far more intense, and we were like, we could make this Australia’s first online night club! And it became this idea that we hyped up for fun. And then, a few days before we were told about the proper restrictions, we thought ‘we have to do it tonight, otherwise we’ll miss the opportunity’. 


Ally: That’s awesome. You’re exactly right about the room - when I was tuning in, there were only a few people in there but it looked like it was popping off and that everyone was having the best time. 


Nicole: Yeah, the room is so comically small. 


Ally: And how’s it been going so far? What’s the response been like? 


Nicole: Yeah, it’s been really good! The first one was a bit stressful because it had been mega hyped up. I think because there wasn’t really any good news that week - everything had really started to become serious. 


Then the night we launched, we had 11, 000 individual devices tuning in and we were like; “‘What the hell?!” It was so intense! But now we have a more normal amount of people watching, which is good, and means we can play a bit more of the music we like. 


Ally: Amazing. On that note, how do you choose the DJs that play?


Nicole: Well, we started just with friends because we didn’t have any money and were mostly doing it for fun. But now that we have a bit more momentum, we’ve been reaching out to bigger acts just to see what they say! For example, Ben Fester is probably one of my favourite DJs in Sydney, and we asked him and he was like; “Yeah, I’ll do it!” And we were like; “What, really?!”


Ally: That’s so cool!


Nicole: Yeah! And now that we’ve gone beyond just asking our friends, we’re trying to focus on asking people that we know have lost income. We’re trying to be able to support people (obviously not as much as we’d like to), but to give them at least some kind of income. 


Ally: With everything that’s going on right now, it feels like the music industry has pivoted towards online live stream events - how would you say that Room 2 Radio differs from other music live streams out there?


Nicole: I think our main point of difference is that we have a really big focus on fun, silliness and joy, which mostly comes from our great desire to be interactive, and to replicate a club as much as possible. With Room 2 Radio, we try to be like; “Turn off your lights, actually dance, get drunk, get dressed up, interact on the chat, pretend to order a drink.” 


The whole concept is that it’s a nightclub, more than just a stream. So, we try to play on that funniness by having a seccy, and a venue manager, and a bartender that you can order a drink from and message on the chat. 


Ally: I love that - when I was online, I ordered a mimosa and the bartender replied! It gave me such a little kick of joy.


Nicole: Yeah! It’s been really interesting - tonight is our fourth time running it and we have people on the chat who come back every week. We’ll be like; “Welcome back!” and people know each other, and it’s really quite funny.


Ally: That’s incredible! Such a nice sense of community. What do you see as the future of Room 2 Radio?


Nicole: We’re definitely doing it very much week-to-week at the moment, and we haven’t really looked too far beyond isolation, because I guess that’s the main thing going on in life at the moment. At the moment, we’re working to keep things interesting every week. It would be really epic to run a real IRL party in the future and take it from there, but at the moment we’re just looking at a variety of artists as the weeks come. 


Ally: Ok, so I’ve got one last question - if you could say one thing to someone who hasn’t tuned in before, but is considering it, what would you tell them? 


Nicole: If you’re feeling like you need a pick-me-up, I would recommend tuning in, turning your lights off, and just getting involved, and forgetting about COVID for at least just an hour.


You can find Room 2 Radio online here.

In Conversation with Room 2 Radio: Text
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