On Thursday April 17th, JuiCe! celebrated its third anniversary with a wild party that lasted well into the small hours. A perfect occasion for the gazette to interview JuiCe!’s host Oliver Cream, who coincidentally was celebrating his own birthday as well.
Oliver, can you introduce JuiCe! to our readers?
JuiCe! was founded by a group of friends with the aim of having a great party every week. It was never planned to become bigger. JuiCe! is JuiCe!, the group and the room. People know what to expect when they see the name and that is a big compliment. We are doing some things differently than others but this is our way and we feel good about it.
A lot of the founding members of JuiCe! have a Virtual Sugar background. After Virtual Sugar stopped doing events in January 2022, we didn’t feel like retiring so we wanted to build something new for ourselves. JuiCe! wasn’t ready to launch so for a few month I opened Oli got bored on Thursday evenings until everything was ready.
On the 14th of April 2022 we finally opened JuiCe! for my birthday party. A lot was different back then but some things are still the same.
Who are the people behind JuiCe?
The founding members of JuiCe! are: Harlyn, Pandion, JuliaC, HMCRaven, Lexzia, Jack and Jessy Venture (now JessyBum), and myself. Everyone has their role at JuiCe. At the moment we are:
- Pandion: builder.
- Kitty: DJ, photographer, posters and builder.
- HCMRaven: DJ and discord Admin.
- JessyBum: local chat announcements, Discord admin and co host.
- JuliaC: builder (she build out very first room) and good soul.
- Oliver Cream: host and event organisation.
JuiCe! is a Team effort. Our goal is to have quality events where everyone feels welcome and can have a good time.
You must have had some memorable events over the years?
Oh yes, the first event that crosses my mind would probably be our 1 year anniversary in 2023. That was really wild and time flew by. Sometimes events create these kinda magical atmospheres where everything seems to be right. The music, the vibes, just everything fits together perfectly.
Luckily we had many of these nights in the past 3 years (e.g. Christmas, Halloween, New Year and Valentines). And it always makes us smile and keeps us going. A lot of the guests and DJs became friends over time. We know that without our guests we won’t have a party so the event itself is always the focus.
Your team seems very passionate about JuiCe!?
When you love what are doing it is a completely different atmosphere and vibe. It is felt, it’s not forced.
To feel the energy from the music and the crowd is just amazing. I only wish we would have more time for our guests sometimes. But to hear that people had a great time and come back week after week is the best compliment we can get. It’s pure motivation and reminds us what it’s all about and not to slow down. Quality, honesty, passion and a welcoming atmosphere are key.
What has been your experience running JuiCe! in 3DX?
There is so much Drama in 3DX and the event scene can be toxic. We learned to only focus on ourselves and not to look at others. We are only responsible for our events and this is where we can make changes. Everything else is not our concern. It’s not my job to tell anyone what to do or what’s wrong or right. But for our events we have our vision and try to make the best of it.
JuiCe! was, is, and always will be an independent Club. We don’t have partners or alliances. We think that everything based on friendship is way more solid. And we want to have people in the room because they want to be there, not because they feel they have to.
Aside from the core team you work with DJs?
We love to give talented DJ’s a spot to present themselves. Over the past 3 years we had 90 DJs playing for us. A lot come back regularly. We are happy and proud to have them. It’s a win-win and a lot of the DJs are dear friends.
At the moment we have around 30 DJ’s in rotation and with only 3 slots a week you can imagine it can be difficult to schedule this. Waiting times for DJ’s are longer in JuiCe! than in other rooms as we try to have a good variety and be fair with the slots.
One thing we added at the beginning of the year is the warm up sets. I reached out to DJs that play for us and asked if they would be up to record 20 min sets we could play before the live DJ performances start. I was blown away by the feedback.
Since we open the new room (9th of Jan 2025) we start 20 minutes before the official opening and the live DJ performances and play these sets. It works really well and is a great way to include our cherished DJs even more.
As we conclude our interview, do you have any parting thoughts?
I want to mention one more person who is so important for JuiCe! and one of my oldest friends in the game. We wouldn’t be here without her: Harlyn.
She stopped actively participating in JuiCe! at the beginning of the year but she will always be a part of us. She created the Logo and kept her eyes on it. You won’t see the JuiCe! logo anywhere outside of JuiCe!, that was one thing that was very important for her and us. She also created our posters and for me she still sets the quality bar when it comes to design. But most of all she is an amazing person and I am happy to call her my friend.
With special thanks to Oliver Cream
