Babies Events is a new party on the block introduced just over a year ago by a South-African DJ and promoter, Dino Ciancamerla. This 15-hour phenomenon spins around the idea that if your birthday turns out to be in the same month as the party, you get in for free. It is that simple. Agnes Klos was sent out in hot pursuit to find out what the event had to offer.

Babies Events are more than just a clever and original clubbing concept. “The events have this amazing synergy between the rush of full on clubbing, the care-free liveliness of an outdoor festival and just chilling, socializing in the beer garden of a pub on a Saturday, all wrapped up in a 15-hour tantalizing audio visual package,” said Dino to me when I finally met him at the party. His words captured beautifully the spirit of these legendary events, one of which I was about to experience on my own skin as I got invited to May Babies at King’s Arms pub in Wandsworth, London.

To be totally honest, if someone asked me to go to a party in a pub I would most probably refuse the offer and quickly come up with an excuse to escape such an invitation. In the end, after many high-recommendations from my friends I decided that it was high time that I overcame my own stereotypes and tried out clubbing in a pub for once.

Once I stepped through the door my inner emotional blockage disappeared within minutes. 15th May turned out to be the perfect date for the party as the sun finally came out from behind the clouds after what seemed like endless winter. The place was buzzing with positive energy from the moment the party kicked off at 2pm till the very end at 4am. Full to brim with revellers and pumping beats which dominated the air, it was definitely the place to be.

With the party overtaking the spacious beer-garden area and two rooms inside the pub, May Babies can be described as one of very few legal parties in London (if not only) which boasts both indoor and outdoor festival vibe. When I walked into the garden I was stunned to find the entire space transformed by the incredible Global Village team into what seemed like a psytrance paradise. The beautiful and creative set design spread all over the concrete walls of the garden took form of paintings which illustrated entangled sprigs, butterflies, fairies, set against the blue-bubble background. Delicate stretch nettings between the trees glued the entire space together in a perfect harmony.

With some of the top London club brands always hosting the floors at Babies Events it came as no surprise that May Babies’ outdoor area, which welcomed legendary Sick Vibez, was the centre of everyone’s attention. Apart from the usual top notch ‘phatass’ sound system, the amazing LED board behind the DJ booth (provided by God-Lights) served as a great bonus to the outdoor dancing space. An established female line-up entertained clubbers with the finest tunes on the market, covering music styles from house to minimal and techno. Such names as Sarah Holder, Anna Kiss and Natalie Parker definitely added some fresh flavour to the event.

When Natalie Parker finished her set I had a chance to talk to her and ask what she thought of the event. Natalie wearing a very stylish and fierce white outfit told me: “I had an amazing time DJing at the Babies Event with my promotion Sick Vibez, the crowd were nothing short of fantastic and one of the best I have played to on the London circuit. The production and planning that went into the event was second to none by Dino and the team which certainly showed on the day with a huge turn out, it was a great atmosphere and for charity too! I love Babies!”

Even though the outside area had to be closed one hour earlier at 10pm due to complaints from the neighbours, the moods of the party-goers did not drop. The garden was transformed into a chill-out area with the décor revealing a completely new dimension in the dimmed light of the evening. Some of the ravers stayed outside to chill and talk. Surprisingly, having a conversation with a total stranger seemed so natural and easy. I ended up talking in the garden for two hours, which I never do since being away from the dancefloor for more than 10 minutes seems almost like a sin to me.

One of the indoor arenas was hosted by A.T.A.R.I project, a brand created by Dino Ciancamerla aka Neutrino, Stephan Hoffman aka Devine Machine and Tobie Allen. A.T.A.R.I creators (without Tobie) and such DJs as Hamish & Bedouin, Nikki S v Nick Sentience, Ryan Wilkinson and Phil Raynolds massively flooded clubbers with high-quality progressive, psychedelic and tech trance till 4am. Imagination-awakening UV posters hanging on the walls, bubbles drifting in the air and clubbers jamming on the dancefloor in an ultimate ecstasy created a clubbing heaven.

As psytrance parties in clubs are such rarity in London, Babies events truly stand out on the market in that respect. While the party got properly heated up in the psytrace room I kept on checking the indoor arena 2 hosted by Carte Blanche. Although I am not a big fan of tech, minimal or tech house which predominated that room I must admit that the quality of the music kept me rocking whenever I entered the room. Behind the decks were DJs that I had never heard before such as Josh Hanger, Seano, This is Sterio, Hugo and Alco Fury and Hamza vs Brad SK but I will certainly look out for them while clubbing again.

Babies events are more than just an ordinary party. Apart from such attractions as luscious massage girls, UV face painting, free Shisha lounge, stalls, BBQ and out-of-this-world decor and visual projections, there is a deeper level under the surface. These events are run in support of charity. Each time a new charity is chosen and the amount of £2500 has already been donated across the various charities over the last four events. May Babies managed to raise over £400 which was donated towards the Fauna Forever Tambopata, displaying support for Mother Earth.

Regardless whether you are looking for a very high quality of production, a range of top quality dance music played out by some of London's finest DJs, a serious treat this summer without travelling outside London and spending heaps of money, or a perfect opportunity to enjoy your birthday at one event without you having to lift a finger, Babies events provide it all. Instead of breaking your bank account you are guaranteed to break the ice on a first clubbing night in a London pub.

Babies events take place throughout the summer. To check the next event go to www.myspace.com/babiesevents or contact the team at yeahbabyinfo@gmail.com

After the event on 15th May I got intrigued about Babies events and wanted to find out how they came to life. I sat down for a lovely chat with the promoter, Dino Ciancamerla, to get a juicy insight into Babies Events.

Hi Dino, thank you for taking some time out to answer questions for DONTSTAYIN readers. Could you take us back to the very beginning of Babies Events and tell us how it all started?

The Babies Events were conceived last year for the first time and we did three over the summer. They are regular in that we do about 3 or 4 over the summer months. They are 100% legal. We have three arenas covering all forms of House, Electro, Tech, Minimal, Progressive and Psy Trance.

Last year we had our first event which was just a small private event called March Babies for close friends who were having their birthdays in March. We just used one room of the pub but this was when we established a good relationship with the pub owners who are amazing. I also noticed the amazing beer garden and decided I would put on a proper production during summer.

I then planned June Babies where we just made use of the outdoor garden. It was a bit of a testing ground as to what we could do at this venue. We decorated out the whole garden and got a HUGE sound system. We started at midday and carried on outside till 3am. At which point we got loads of complaints from the surrounding neighbours and so we closed the party down. At this event we got over 400 people, which was amazing for our first public event.

I then went on to do August Babies (650 people) and September Babies (550 people). During these two events we worked out the best way to make use of the entire venue and the event structure was formed whereby we ran the outside floor playing house, tech, minimal etc from midday until 10pm. We then change the outside to chill-out which is perfect as the garden is always so beautifully decorated and lit and you will always find at least 150 people chilling outside till early hours of the morning. At 10pm the inside floors start to run, one normally hosted by my other brand A.T.A.R.I Project which runs progressive psy and psytrance, and the other will run Tech, house, minimal, electro etc.

Over the past three events we have moulded the structure and style of the events to see what works best. But my absolute main priorities for these events are: top quality crowds, top quality music and top quality production.

What is the core idea behind Babies Events?

The whole Month-Babies concept is what forms the basis of the events. The idea behind it is simple: if it is your birthday in the month which we do the event, you contact me and we put your name up on the FB event and you get free entry. Because these events are such a fusion between clubbing, pubbing and festivals, most people decide to just make that their primary birthday bash as you can enjoy the social aspect as well as the party aspect.
We also aim to promote unity in talent. By this we mean combining the best of our local talent, be they DJs, artists, sound crews, decor/production crews, etc to put on an absolutely smashing event with the highest of quality in all areas and give you the best birthday/party/mini festival ever!

Why did you start these parties?

Babies Events just grew organically. Like some of the current large UK brands such as Heat etc. They grew from one event where a few of my friends were sharing a birthday in the same month. The pub owner said we could bring in a sound system and once we saw how easy going he was I couldn't let the opportunity slip to pushing the boundaries and my in inner promoter in me burst out and keeps on going almost over the top on each new event we do.

The events have this amazing synergy between the rush of full on clubbing, the care free liveliness of an outdoor festival and just chilling & socializing in the beer garden of a pub on a Sunday, all wrapped up in a 15-hour tantalizing audio visual package.

Who runs Babies Events? Who is the owner and who is the organisational brain?

I am the "brainchild" behind it all if you have to use those terms:) I run all aspects of the event as well as the planning but I do get help from a few good friends along the way so I can’t take all the credit for myself. A good friend of mine, Ryan Wilkinson helps me coordinate the events. Ryan and I used to help run the infamous Friendz boat parties, which he is still very much involved with. Another friend Kate Elks has also helped me very much on the admin side of things. The Décor and overall transformation of the venue is a major part of these events and for that I need to mention and thank Jason & Ivy of Global Village Productions www.globalvillageproductions.co.uk. Their creativity, ambition, talent and shear hard work have been major factors in the success of these events. They are an amazingly versatile production and Décor company who can make unique just about any venue no matter how big or small, indoor or outdoor, for any occasion. Not just dance music events.

Last but by no means least; I would like to thank Ian & Ross from www.element5systems.com for being the sole provider of all the amazing sound at the Babies Events. These guys are incredible. Not only are they very professional, but they have an awesome creativity about them that unusual for a group of techies. They build all their speaker systems from scratch and as I am sure you heard, the sound is right up there with Opus and Function 1.

Tell us a bit about yourself, why have you decided to start promoting your own night? What is your story?

I started off as a DJ, honestly never thinking I would ever become a promoter. Originally from South Africa, I moved to London to progress my DJ carrier after spending two years in Dublin. At that time is was DJing trance and hard dance in places like Ministry of Sound & Turnmils. I then started getting involved with the promotion side of things joining the Friendz brand and helping them run their amazing boat parties. As awesome as it was and as grateful as I am for the experience, my passion is really Psychedelic and Progressive Psychedelic Trance. The scene is small and closed knit and I realised that running my own event would be the best way to get stuck in start to progress my DJ carrier. So together with two colleagues Stephan Hoffman & Tobie Allen, we started the Psy brand A.T.A.R.I Project which is a club based psychedelic brand which pride ourselves on the highest quality nights in London. Our most recent event was the Crystal Experience with Ace Ventura where Babies Events actually hosted the 3rd Room.

Once the promoter bug had bit I became like a runaway train. The Babies Events brand grew organically and I enjoy every minute of the planning and running of the events albeit quite hard work. But when you are doing something you are passionate about, it’s never too hard.

Promoting is not the only thing you are known for on the clubbing scene, you are also a well-respected DJ on the Psytrance circuit and I have heard you have some productions in the pipeline as well. Can you tell us more about that?

Yes, primarily i would like to be considered a DJ/Producer who has a passion for promoting my own events. I Dj & Produce under the guise Neutrino. So far i have messed around with a few nostalgic remixes from my Hard Dance days and i have written one single called Elated which is on the full on side of things but has very uplifting trancey vibe to it. However i have some rocking progressive psy in the pipeline together with my A.T.A.R.I Project partner Devine Machine which we are hoping to get finished very soon. As well as 3 or 4 other tracks which will be part of side project called Time After Time together with my friend Ben Adda. So keep your ears and eyes posted on www.myspace.com/neutrinopsytrance for more info.

Do Babies Events aim to fill a gap in the clubland market?

I definitely think the Babies Events fill a huge gap in the market. The Babies events story as mentioned before was born from the love of the outdoor party scene in Cape Town, South Africa. There is nothing like partying outdoors and sadly in this country the powers that be seem to be doing everything in they can to stop us from being able to do quality outdoor events due to the financial implications related to all of the ‘over the top’ licence restrictions and requirements. At the Babies Events however, we have an amazing venue with a stunningly huge beer garden, where you can still enjoy the festival feel without the stress of the event being shut down.

Who provides the visualisations for the parties?

At May Babies were fortunate to have the guys from God-Lights involved who not only provided the visualizations but also that amazing LED board behind the Dj booth outside. We got them involved at short notice but they still manage to pull off an amazing job. They are manufacturing their own LED products from scratch which have an almost endless range of applications. Some of their stuff is brand new technology and is going to literally take the world by storm over the next few years. They have just produced the most amazing DJ lighting stage for the D&B act Sub Focus which I am sure you can see on youtube. You can get more info at www.god-lights.com or info@god-lights.com. Chris Chase would be your point of contact there.

How would you describe the last party, May Babies? Was it a success and did you have any problem during the course of the night if any?

May Babies was unbelievable. The response we get after each event is just incredible. They just keep getting better and better which makes me so happy. I am so gratefully that I have had the opportunity to create these events and supply people with the surroundings & music to have such an amazing time. But in the end its the combination of this and crowd that creates the wonderful atmosphere that surrounds the Babies Events.
We managed to raise over £400 for charity from this event bringing our total contributions to nearly £2500 over the past 4 events.

Thanks to the amazingly professional crews involved, everything on the day ran smoothly without a hitch. Sadly due to a complaint at 9pm from some lonely person we got a call from the council telling us that we had to close the outside floor one hour early at 10pm. But even this couldn’t stop us as we just started earlier on the inside floors which meant party was in full swing from earlier than usual.

Babies Events take place only every few months, why not every month?

With an event like this I feel once a month can take away from the specialness of the event. If we do them too frequently then you get less people coming as they know there will be many more to go to. I don’t want this to happen as it would mean the quality of the events would drop. However as the brand grows and becomes more widely known we will see how things go and take it one step at a time:) Getting too big too quickly can have its challenges too so sometimes its best to just go with the flow.

The Babies Events brand is a young brand but it has exploded in size and popularity in the short time we have been running due to the huge effort we put into the production and the fortune of having found the most amazing venue. Hopefully the word will spread and more people will be able to experience it first hand.

What distinguishes Babies Events from any other party on the market?

I generally don’t advertise them apart from FB which keeps it all friends of friends and keeps the vibes really good. The events have seemed to speak for themselves via word of mouth.

Charity is also a big aspect with these events. As mentioned over the past four we have managed to give nearly £2500 to various charities.

Each event I try to make better than the last which is always a challenge. But I really think people appreciate the effort that is put into these events. And for many of the house music lovers, Decor is not something they are used to seeing that often in a club, bar or pub. It plays an enormous part on the psy scene, though. Therefore, décor at Babies Events has become a huge attraction for clubbers who have never been to a psytrance party before. It really makes the event something very special.

Who plays at them? Do you have residents or does the line-up change every time?

Most of the previous line-ups have been made up of local up and coming DJs and friends who I continue to try and support as much as possible as this is vital to the success of all DJs. However unlike most commercial clubs/brands who force their up and comings to play for free and put pressure on them to sell tickets, I pay every DJ on the line up the same amount no matter how big or small. The idea for these events was never about the line-ups by name, just by music.

Somehow the word of the events started to spread like wildfire and before I knew it I had label owners and large local signed acts/producers asking for sets at the events.

Hamish (Further Progressions Records) has played at our previous events and will be playing again. We have had Cohesion owners & Free Spirit Records Label DJs Prozak and Sati play for us in the past. But I think the May Babies event has proved the largest line-up thus far with the legend Nick Sentience giving us a preview of his brand spanking new psytrance material as well as Phil Reynolds playing something a bit more techy for us and then Hamish doing a two-hour B2B special of the best progressive psy around which was absolutely amazing.

Also I decided to try something new with the May Babies event whereby I outsourced two of the floors to other brands. The outside floor was hosted by Sick Vibez who are a new but very promising brand who are bringing to the table some very experienced DJs/Producers on the scene, for instance Natalie Parker AKA Mommy Rocks (Project House Recordings), Anna Kiss, Sarah Holder, The So Called Scumbag and Doctor Riboh to name a few. The inside arena was hosted by Tech brand Carte Blanche who did there first very successful event at the lightbox last year with Timo Garcia.

The Prog & Psy floor was hosted by the other brand that I am involved with: A.T.A.R.I Project. We recently did a fairly high-profile event called Crystal Experience featuring an internationally-acclaimed DJ Ace Ventura. The event took place at AREA club and turned out to be a smashing success. Looked like everyone was have a rocking time. We got a lot of great feedback from both the crowd and DJs. Since our brand is not positioned around illegal squats, we have decided to keep it alive over the summer by hosting the psy room at the Babies Events.

How much do you charge to get in? And what percentage goes to charity if you do not mind telling us?

Entrance has always been £10. I was hoping to never have to raise this but sadly with the May Babies event we had to. But only to £12. Because of this we gave people the opportunity to purchase tickets online for £8.50 which is inconceivable for the amount of arenas and the level of production we put on.

We are always striving to make our events bigger and better with quality over quantity being the primary goal.

I respect every body’s part in the process and pay everybody for work done on the project because I don’t believe in asking anyone to do anything for nothing. Inevitably this seems to result in people putting in far more work than they are being paid for - for the love of it, and I thank them dearly for this. I am so lucky to be working with such amazing crews such as Global Village Productions and Element 5 Systems who have provided decor and sound respectively far beyond anything I could have asked for.

Regarding charity - over the 4 events I have given nearly £2500 to charity. But of course these events not only cost money but also take up far more hours than I could ever compensate for, to myself and everybody who helps out. So now I work on a 1/3rd 1/3rd 1/3rd basis. 1/3rd to charity, 1/3rd profit 1/3rd to the Babies Events company to allow us to continue putting on future events.

Please describe the atmosphere in a one-sentence quote.

A pub, club and festival rolled into an enchanting and magical 15hours with joy in the air, sharing space with particles of luscious pumping tunes and friendly conversation.

Am I correct saying that you have used the same pub, Kings Arms on Wandsworth High Street, since the very beginning of Babies Events?

Yes this is correct, we have been so fortunate that they owner Ashley has been so relaxed with what we do. Not many pub owners would allow a 6k rig to be pumping progressive and psychedelic trance all night inside his pub:) He has helped us with dealing with the council and getting our licenses etc and then rest of the staff have been amazing too.

Last December we did one event called Winter Babies at the lightbox in Vauxhall after many many requests from our party goers. It was an Indoor Winter Wonderland Festival Special, filled with Phat, Chunky Psychedelic, Progressive, House, Electro & Minimal Tech Beatz. But afterwards we decided that we wanted to maintain the outdoor festival feel so we won’t be doing any indoor events other than perhaps hosting a room here or there like we did at the last A.T.A.R.I Project event at AREA club.

What is King’s Arms pub like? I know that it is located in the heart of Wandsworth, easily accessible by buses and that there is a beer garden but what about the other rooms, could describe the general feel of the place?

The Venue is stunning. The indoor area is cosy and intimate with two rooms, holding about 100-200 people. But this is made up for by the most amazing beer garden ever. It’s absolutely stunning with huge trees and begodas to sit under. We decor the garden and transform it into a magical wonderland. At night this becomes a chillout space but it’s lit beautifully by our amazing decor crews who run a shisha lounge as well which will be free on the night. In the garden we can have as many as 200 people chilling outside throughout the night. Overall at our previous events we have had between 400-650 people so the place gets full but not overcrowded.

Have you got the last word for those who still need convincing?

The Babies Events are always a treat for your eye and ear. It is a very special party with all the top quality bells and whistles that the Babies Events have become synonymous for.

Look out for our next event become part of the best indoor/outdoor beer garden party/fete/festival south west London has to offer.

Thank you for your time talking to me and see you at the next Babies Events.

Dino would also like to announce that he will no longer be going on the cruise ships and will be in London all summer to put my full attention into his future events!

Babies Events will continue over the summer as normal. Keep on checking Babies Events on myspace for the exact dates.

Written by Agnes Klos