Vitamin: A sanctuary from the daily noise

Jonáš: Hello Daniel, David and Toby! How are you, how’s it hanging?

David: Hi Jonáš, I’m listening to some music in my bedroom. Things are good, life’s been a bit better, but also much worse.

Daniel: Hey Jonáš! Currently enjoying a trip back to my family in Canada before the events at Vitamin kick off again.

Toby: Hey hey, interesting times. Had a great NYE here at Vitamin but managed to cut through one of my hand’s nerves on a glass bottle the same night. So doing all the behind the scenes work at the moment for the comeback after winter one-handed.

I wanted to ask about the NYE event actually, but more in the context of the attendance in general. We keep hearing about low numbers from all corners of Europe, how is it with Vitamin, or how it’s been lately in comparison with previous seasons?

David: I’m actually really surprised how well it’s been going considering the circumstances. This is our first season with regular programming and we mostly just book locals, so Brno/Prague and very rarely an international guest. We do Fridays and Saturdays and I gotta say that even most of the nights where I was slightly worried (considering their musical nature) turned out alright in terms of numbers.

As for NYE, it was brutally packed, but what really hit me was that everybody was really nice and warm.

Toby: I think Brno’s an interesting case, the scene has been mainly confined to one-off events very rarely tied to a venue and if so, only for a night every 3 months rather alongside with everything else from student nights to stand-up comedy. The only example of a physical location in the last 8 years would be Herna.

I think it means that most of these nights have enjoyed this novelty factor of being in some kind of ‘secret location’ or being genuinely from a community, but without giving a space that can reliably host and grow that community over time, week after week.

The first season I think we enjoyed that novelty factor where people wanted to be here just because of that to some extent, plus we were doing nights twice a month maximum. This second season has been a transition from an event to somewhat of a club (although we have more plans for the space), with nights pretty much every Friday, give or take. So now it’s become less about novelty and even more about the community that surrounds this spot and gradually building on that. There’s been two nights this season to which there have been particularly low numbers, but there’s been more actually where we’ve reached capacity. All the while we’ve been gradually bringing in more and more diversity to the programme which has been super encouraging.

And totally agree on David’s point that what’s really encouraging is when we have these at capacity nights where the place is completely packed but we still manage to keep this atmosphere of community where people are respectful and genuinely looking out for each other. We have our team who are constantly on the lookout for people’s wellbeing but when you have the crowd doing it themselves as well, it’s something special.

How do you achieve having such a good crowd, that communal vibe? Do you filter people at the doors? Is it the minimalistic communication that keeps the bad crowd at bay? Is there still a connection to Herna?

Daniel: As well as the reasons listed above we have a unique first line of action for the process. Because of our communication technique, everyone who wants to attend the party has to inquire via DM. This kinda gives us a heads up about who might want to attend the parties and then we can plan and make decisions accordingly.

So you are basically vetting your visitors.

Daniel: I would say more so than that we’re seeing how well our advertisement streams are working, and then we can adjust depending on the responses we’re getting.

David: We filter the crowd at the doors as well, but a very small percentage of visitors gets turned away. And while there’s a bunch of regulars from Herna who still come almost every Friday, they make up only a small portion of attendance at every event. But also, it’s not always particularly smooth. While I do believe we’ve got some of the most intense * nicest dancers around, there is an incident every now and then that needs to be addressed by the staff.

Daniel: The community will keep expanding here in Brno as the population (specifically young population) grows. If we can create a space for open minded people to explore, even if they don’t have experiences with contemporary electronic music, then I think we’re on the right track. This also goes hand in hand with giving local DJs a platform to help them grow as artists.

Toby: I think it’s from ‘circumstance’. Our first events were promoted purely by cards with a QR code that linked to a google doc. It meant the only people who knew to begin with were those we physically gave a card to. The first event like that brought attendance close to capacity and we’ve been building on that ever since. Now we have events also posted on Instagram but only as posts. Then if they see the post and they don’t know the place the only way they can find out is through DM which offers us further selection. Then upon arrival they have to find the entrance which isn’t all so clear and then pass through face check.

I think all of this friction means the growth remains organic, it’s practically impossible to stumble across the place and there’s some level of effort, for want of a better word, in order to arrive here. Mind you, there’s still examples of when incidents have to be dealt with or times after events where we feel the crowd wasn’t what we want for the space, and we need to review how we deal with face check etc.

The people are vetting themselves, those that aren’t so interested and are just looking for a party are far less likely to get in touch in the first place I think. Plus we’re staying off Facebook which I think changes the balance of things a bit as well. Our audience (according to the analytics) is mainly 20–35 year old women versus on Facebook where it’s mainly older men.

So the advertisement and analytics, that’s all Instagram? Is that the only digital platform you’re using? How do you see yourself in a few years when Instagram declines? Are you willing to endlessly adjust yourself to new means? Would you set up a TikTok?

Toby: It’s hard to say I think, but I get the feeling that the promotion/marketing side of things has become completely out of control when it comes to grabbing attention and building some kind of anticipation. Feels to me quite often that it has reached such a level that it leaves the night often feeling like an anticlimax. I think the whole idea of Vitamin (not just the nights, but the place itself) is that it’s better IRL. You come here to experience it, and you come back (sometimes with others) because of that experience rather than some TikTok video. Of course, we still question that decision from time to time but for now we’ve been mainly pleasantly surprised how that’s been responded to.

Daniel: Through our work with local artists who produce our graphics, photos and text I think we’re building an image that isn’t based off of the instant gratification that social media so often favours. This can be seen as a risky approach but definitely a more sustainable one. Especially as platforms come and go as you said.

Toby: I think it leads to sustainable organic growth rather than a quick rise and quick fall.

David: Our focus is on keeping Vitamin an IRL thing primarily. Communicating through Instagram is a necessity for us, and we’ll swap it for another one if time requires so.

Toby:  And that’s for everything, not just the club. You’ve seen that outdoor Jonáš, it’s a beautiful spot but again not right in the centre, and down a ‘private path’ away from the main street. The whole place works on this concept of some kind of slightly hidden sanctuary of some sort from all that day to day (TikTok) noise we have rammed down our throats. 

And we still hand out physical cards. That hasn’t stopped, every month we print a card tied to the monthly programme graphic +/- a series tied to a particular event, and they’re accessible to everyone no matter the age or background should we want to give them to someone.

What are the reasons for sourcing line-ups mostly locally?

Toby: It’s a combination of factors, financially it’s quite scary at this point and ultimately the crowd can’t support it plus I think local talent is greatly undervalued and ultimately they make up the community for who we cater to and we should support. Despite that we still have had our fair share of international names – Katiusha, Ron Wilson, Viikatory –but there needs to be a solid reason for it each time. We’ll have some v exciting names coming up this season, and I’m sure more after that as we become more established but it will remain important to keep our nights ultimately on elevating our residents and locals, and contributing to the level and diversity of the scene and as much as we can.

David: Booking foreign names is hard on time, logistics & finances and you never really know what you end up with. Our priorities are to a) throw parties for ourselves first and foremost, and b) support culture that is subversive and local. Of course there’s a name sometimes we’re really eager to get but if there’s no connection, there’s very little chance I’m gonna shoot an email to a booking agent. I’m not really into the ‘industry’ aspect of parties personally and there’s just so many nice people around that need exposure that we sometimes struggle to book at least once during the season. We’re also trying to give a decent wage & support to everyone working the nights and I don’t feel like paying ridiculous amounts and five star hotels help with that.

Daniel: So I think our goal right now is to continue to build a space that we are proud of and that, as Toby said earlier, is for the community that we love and want to support.

I would like to circle a little bit back into the past. There was this interesting moment for me right in the beginning, Vitamin used to be called Fratelli Tutti when it opened. I am always interested in what lies behind names and titles, could you explain the change and your choice?

Toby: Fratelli Tutti is an Italian phrase. It was tied to the concept of the congregation (both in religious and non religious context). Martin heard it at one point on a radio talk on the pope’s latest encyclical which was based on the importance of care for one another no matter the person’s race, gender or background. It was meant to have a deeper meaning as well as be some sort of troll because none of us are devout catholics by any stretch of the imagination.

There was the issue though, the very thing we were trolling was against the meaning we were aiming for. The deep Christian ties it has made it a little uncomfortable for us when we consider the catholic church’s record on inclusivity to many of the groups we wanted to support and build a place for.

On top of that in Italian ‘all sisters’ is ‘tutte sorelle’, ‘all brothers’ is ‘fratelli tutti’, and a group of male/female/non-binary siblings is also ‘fratelli tutti’ because in Italian (like most languages) the masculine form always takes precedence. We meant it in the last form but we ultimately didn’t want a place with one of its main pillars being inclusivity, to be named as a direct translation of ‘all brothers’.

David: I wasn’t really around when that name got picked so I don’t really know what was the process. We ended up changing it because it means like ‘All Brothers’ or something when translated, although I guess it could also mean like ‘All Siblings’. Some people around us took offense at that, which I understood to some extent, but for me the bigger problem was that it sounds like a name for a bakery and it has all this papal baggage tied to it. We just somehow collectively decided at some point that the name is distracting, and later, Martin who also came up with Fratelli Tutti, put ‘Vitamin’ on the table. I found it extremely funny considering the actual physical nature of the space with all its sexy dust and mysterious electrical wires floating from the ceiling.

Are there any non-male members in your team?

David: Yeah for sure, I guess we’re around 60/40%. So definitely some space for improvement there. We just consider it a big team since most people do a couple of things.

Toby: Like if we’re talking about Vitamin and the whole team we’re a pretty varied bunch, gender, ethnicity and sexuality. The team here works in a non hierarchical structure with a flat wage, which amongst other things helps combat any toxic power dynamics. Having said that, there’s definitely space for more diversity in specific parts of our team and when we look at this interview there could definitely be a little more balance!! Everyone should have an equal say but of course there are people that spend more time here so they end up having more responsibilities.

Are those members people in positions of power and involved in the decision making process? There is a very strong tendency for groups of men to run and form the ‘scene’ as I am sure you’re well aware.

David: Gotcha. Well I guess outside of when we decide who to book for nights (but that’s also somehow changing gradually) we try to involve everyone in most parts of everything. We don’t really have that much hierarchy here, for better or worse.

Vitamin and Ankali will host a club night exchange in January 2023.
Vitamin crew will arrive on Jan 20th to Prague.
Ankali crew will travel to Brno on Jan 27th.