Scene: Organik

Organik are a musical collective of producers/live acts and DJs comprising MData, Chop5, Flashjak and the.CHAIN. Their event showcases the very best of local underground electronic music, combining both live performance artists, and DJ’s from the electronic, house, techno, and drum and bass genres.

The fifth Organik event will be taking place at Laurels, Whitley Bay Saturday 17th June and features special guest, Glasgow’s Urgula (Subplant Records, Flash Recordings, Format Records, Concepto Hypnotico, Bricolage) performing a live modular techno set.

Here, the Organik team tells us more about the vibrant scene on the Tyneside coast…

While the North-East has (and always has had) a vibrant, varied, and visionary music scene, larger gigs and events have rarely transitioned to the Newcastle Coastal areas of North Tyneside, Whitley Bay, Tynemouth, and North Shields. This is now no longer the case with the area seeing a surge in events from promoters and venues, and a growing demand from fans and followers.

Venues such as Barca, Laurels, Rhumba, Salt Market Social, and even local Social Clubs have seen events from Molls Mayhem, MeMeMe / Man Power, Snow Moon, Butter Party, and others prove massively successful and draw crowds.

The areas are growing in popularity for hosting events of all genres of music; with increased costs for travel and transport, and in general really, people are wanting to stay local.

The coast is a huge suburb of Newcastle; there are a lot of people who live within easy reach of Tynemouth, North Shields Fish Quay and Whitley Bay. With these areas being revitalised through the growth in cafes, bars, restaurants, and nightlife, it’s natural for this to progress into the music scene.

It’s great that we have so many gigs and live events across the area that now welcome and include electronic music, with both DJs and live performers catering for all tastes. The coast appears as a separate space to the Newcastle scene; there are some big acts, promoters and events that could only take place in the city, we believe the coastal areas provide something different, something defined, and linked to and within each area! 

Laurels – Whitley Bay 
Host to our electronic live event Organik, and progressive house night A Night With the.CH4IN, Laurels is an artist development hub, fringe theatre, and nightspot founded by Olivier Award-winning theatre maker Jamie Eastlake, and comedy writer Steve Robertson in 2021. The venue has quickly become a local hotspot with a focus on comic talent, drawing in crowds for its stand-up comedy, live theatre work (notably its ‘radge’ work!), guest speakers, and music events. Split over 2 floors, the unique 120-year-old venue, situated on Whitley Road, also holds regular weekend socials, featuring local DJs playing alternative, punk, and many other styles – “well worth popping in to find out a little more!

Barca / El Globo – Tynemouth 
Situated in Front Street, Tynemouth, the venue comprises Barca Art Bar and El Globo events space. The bar, on the ground floor with its unique, quirky interior, is open daily and serves great food with a good selection of drinks; the events space can be found upstairs and also offers the same intriguing eclecticism. Home to many of their own events (Surf Ball pop-up, Jam on Coast, Sunday Market), the venue has also played host to Butter and Molls Mayhem, amongst others. Events there are great; the Molls’ disco/house/tech and trance parties with DJs such as Annie Marron, Francesca Traxx, and El Chetcuti reflect the vibrant scene in Tynemouth. It’s a great party vibe in a great venue and location.

Rhumba – Land of Green Ginger – Tynemouth 
With its Day of the Dead-theme and rum/tequila-based cocktails menu, Rhumba is one of a collective of traders found in the former Land of Green Ginger Church in Tynemouth Front Street. As well as a huge variety of food and drinks, recent events have seen Fun Lovin’ Criminal Huey Morgan and Happy Mondays Bez fill the venue with their indie/funk /soul/hip-hop DJ sets, making this a place not to be ignored. It’s a great combination of multiple independent traders all under one roof offering great food and drinks, definitely worth checking out.

Snow Moon – Tynemouth Social Club 
With its unique setting within Tynemouth Social Club, Snow Moon is a music event showcasing live independent local bands and musicians from all genres. Established in 2019, they regularly welcome singer/songwriters, indie, rock, synth, and punk bands from the region to perform. Showcasing hundreds of artists (including Hannah Robinson), and with a catalogue of successful gigs and punk specials behind them, Snow Moon have long cemented themselves in the local scene as staying true to their roots and being here to stay. 

The Engine Rooms – North Shields Fish Quay 
What more can be said about The Engine Rooms; a great pub/event space fund just off Tanners Bank. Featuring a great selection of local beers and spirits, the venue continually showcases upcoming bands through regular events covering a huge range of genres; Detroit techno, electro, hip-hop, synthwave, rock, punk, pop, singer/songwriter, folk, spoken word… the list continues. Not just happy with that, the venue, in conjunction with its neighbour Three Tanners Bank, regularly holds a record fair across both venues, with DJs and other acts throughout the day; definitely one to keep an eye on!

Salt Market Social – North Shields Fish Quay 
Salt Market Social is a pop up event, held monthly in the heart of North Shields Fish Quay at the former Cosalt Building. Featuring an amazing range of street food, cocktails, and craft beers, all from local suppliers and traders, the venue provides a different backdrop and unique theme to the coast. With recent events including DJ Yoda, and forthcoming All Out Indie, 00’ies and Hacienda Nights, the Salt Market is definitely putting music on the map for a wider audience. 

We are excited to have the opportunity to be part of this scene, something like this is huge.

Many people in the area are fans of electronic music; we started Organik to showcase local, up-coming talent – hence the name. Providing a diverse, cross-section of the music we love to play and perform, appealing to fans of great electronic music from all sub-genres in general, is our main aim… everyone who goes is there for the music, the amazing atmosphere, and the place is always full of friendly people with a mutual appreciation.

Covering aspects of techno, house, drum and bass, and breaks, Organik has evolved, sparking much interest from the local music community. Each event is unique, focussing on delivering both a “club night” experience but also capturing an immersive and exciting “live gig” atmosphere and electricity, through live performance elements, stage show and visuals. 

It’s great to be involved at such an exciting time. We share the opportunity to nurture a new electronic music scene right here – which for us is amazing. Many people in the area are fans of electronic music; not just DJ’s and club-style events either, but live performances too.

The Organik events, held at Laurels Whitley Bay, promotes local, upcoming talent offering not only DJs but a unique opportunity to see live electronic artists in a live stage setting. 

As musicians and fans, we enjoy both club scenes and live gigs; merging both at such a unique venue is a great opportunity for us to bring the best elements of each together for a great live music experience. We have more events planned this year with the same ethos; friendly, safe, entertainment-oriented events, continually pushing to featuring a wider and more diverse selection of live electronic music and DJ’s from local and surrounding areas… we can’t wait! 

We can’t wait to host Urgula on 17th June; we believe having one of Glasgow’s premier live techno artists perform a modular set will offer something unique for both our event and for the North East. It fits exactly with our vision; to welcome and introduce talented live performers and DJs to a new platform of fans and appreciation here in our region. We hope the event sparks interest from fans of the genre into coming along and seeing what we are all about.

Team Organik