What makes up ‘Equal Parts?’

Jacob Fairless Nicholson

As part of Grow’s 10 year anniversary celebrations, we wanted to understand ‘what makes up’ the unique party that is ‘Equal Parts’ and what makes our collaboration special! We spoke to Jacob Fairless Nicholson who is a DJ, geographer, climber, and resident of Hackney Wick since 2013. He is part of the Equal Parts collective that has thrown quarterly parties at Grow since 2018. We caught up with Jacob to hear a bit about Equal Parts' inception and plans for the future, including their upcoming party at Grow with John Gómez in April.

Interview by Aaron Cross (Grow Duty Manager)

Can you share your perspective on how your collaboration with Grow began? And what initially drew you to work with Grow?

I've been a resident of Hackney Wick on and off since 2013, just before Grow touched down. I was in and around, knocking about with people here, part of the warehouse community. I was spending a bit of time at Grow and a lot of time at the Hackney Wick Boulder Project which was another formative space operating in Hackney Wick just across Main Yard on Wallis Road.

I think the first sort of collaboration that I had with Grow was sharing my work - my day job is lecturing in Human Geography - at one of their “Grow Talks'', a series of events in 2016 that gave artists, activists, storytellers and academics a platform to share interesting things to Grow’s audience. I remember contributing and participating in that, which I guess that was a point where I started to get to know Jordanna and Reuben a little bit more than someone that you might see day-to-day on the street.  So that sort of sparked that collaboration and I think enabled me to kind of reach out to Jordanna and say ‘We've got an idea for a party, would you be so kind as to let us use the space to throw it?’

All the Equal Parts residents have got backgrounds as educators, architects, designers and so on. So it's just more of a kind of organic thing, none of us have backgrounds in hospitality or events. Grow historically has always been a kind of public-facing and in a way that some of the other venues around Hackney Wick perhaps weren't, so it seemed the right space to throw a small DIY and see what happens.

How do you feel your partnership with Grow has impacted the local community and the audiences who attend your events? 

This is really difficult to comment on just because Equal Parts don't have a very robust marketing strategy, so there's no sort of real insight into who comes to our events or why. However, on a few occasions, we have heard people in public and on the overground talking about our events! Plus we do see some familiar faces coming back to our parties, which I feel is because we are an accessible night. We are not one of those nights that plays 120/130 BPM from 8pm, or we're not trying to curate a night that is telling people what to listen to. It's more like flowing with the energy.

We've always chosen to come back to Grow, and Grow has always been happy to have us. So we're really proud of that collaboration and that continued partnership. I guess it would make sense to say that we hope that people associate the two equally, in the sense of associating Equal Parts with Grow and vice versa. 

What are some distinctive features of Grow that contribute to its atmosphere and appeal for performers and audiences alike?

Firstly, it's the flexibility and dynamism of Grow as an event space that kind of imprints itself into your mind. I remember going to a party at Grow for one of those Hackney Wick day festivals that take over the whole neighbourhood for the weekend, a multi-venue party. I remember walking out onto the terrace area by the canal and being amazed at what was taking place. I’d never been to a party at GROW before where the dancefloor flowed out into the seating area outside, it was just amazing. It got me thinking that Grow is not only a reliable night-time venue, but it’s also a venue that can come to life at any time of the day. 

This venue has so much to offer. It’s one of the first places I show to people visiting HWFI or if you’ve got visitors coming from out of town, it’s a place I'm really happy and also proud to bring family and friends. Especially for me, as I’ve seen how they’ve built on all the technical aspects over years to produce such a top venue. It’s a kind of organic/DIY ethos, seeing this grassroots venue keep progressing and progressing over its 10 year history from a sausage factory to what it has become today - you really see the growth Grow has gone through. Shout out to Thursday nights when Pete's playing records and the house Jazz band Stratos are on, I love coming down for that. 

Could you share a memorable performance or event you were involved in at Grow and what made it stand out for you?

Well, there was that one event that happened during storm Eunice in 2022 which was memorable for all the wrong reasons. I think like 80 people showed up, and were unable to leave due to the weather outside, everything was in some type of lockdown, it was pretty much ‘end of days’ stuff going on. But apart from that, you’re always going to remember your recent party the best I reckon. Especially as last time we had Dem come down, I felt she really took Equal Parts up a level, she has a certain mastery on the decks and really got the crowd going! However, I must say that after about 15/16 parties at Grow across the years you really create so many memorable moments that it kind of all blurs into one. There is one of our residents who goes by the name DJ Nick, who towards the end of every set would play John Paul Young’s “Love is in the air”, and people would absolutely love it. It became an Equal Parts tradition.

How do you see the future of grassroots music venues and the broader independent music scene evolving? And what role do you hope to play in that evolution?

As a collective of people without a background in hospitality or like promoting, it's really difficult to see and envisage those ‘bigger picture questions’. These are things we don't necessarily think about on a day to day basis. There's obviously a crossover somewhere between what we want to do as promoters and party organisers, such as what we have to do in terms of getting people through the door. But 2024, I think for us at least signals a shift to a state where we are more conscious of the need to support Grow as a business.

Since 2018, Equal Parts has been a resident-led party. We haven't invited guests that punters would recognise the names of, but 2024 we've got a series of parties lined up with guest DJs. At our April party, we've got John Gómez, a master purveyor of global dance music and international sounds, it’s a name we hope will appeal to Grow’s wider audience. We've also got Tia Cousins booked for November, who's a really fun and exciting DJ and will bring a different kind of sound to Grow. I think part of that shift into 2024 is about us taking Equal Parts a little bit more seriously and trying to make a bit more of an identity that people will start to associate Equal Parts with rather than maybe walking into Grow and visiting our night by chance. But this audience is also really important to us, we want everyone to feel welcome at Equal Parts, whether you’re a regular or a one-time visitor, hopefully you’ll like what we do and come back again another time.   

In the absence of robust grassroots environments, how do you envision cultivating momentum within a movement, while avoiding a complete reliance on virtual platforms? 

So, a lot of us from the Equal Parts team grew up in Newcastle, in the North East of England. Once a year, when we're all back for Christmas, a few of the group would throw a party at a pub in the centre of the city. And those parties, even though they were thrown for our friends and family, there was also a sense that it's a public night: people can come and stumble across it. If Grow didn’t exist it would be a lot harder to create spaces for the night that we kind of want to do.

We started our parties in 2018, and it's only in 2024 that we're inviting professional DJs, to kind of help open it up for the general public, and extend what we're doing into a natural trajectory of making Equal Parts somewhat bigger and better - whatever that means. Our night isn't just us playing records and throwing a party. It's a form of cultural production. We want to keep buying and playing records, spending time listening to music and playing out, not just for ourselves but for everyone.

As we celebrate our 10 year anniversary, what significance do you attribute to this milestone and how do you reflect on the journey and memories shared with our venue over the years?

I think, first of all, big up Grow, there's not many venues in Hackney Wick that have lasted so long or that do what Grow does. Grow must be one of the oldest Hackney WIck venues, in the past there was Giant Steps, Stour Space, Hackney Wick Boulder Project and Shapes, plus many more that have opened and closed over the years. This is because most of these projects or venues pop up in temporary or meanwhile-use spaces. Grow itself is technically a meanwhile-use space! It’s a good model if you want to make something out of nothing that is self-build or done on the cheap, but not so good for longevity or sedimenting and concretising venues that are so central, sacred really, for grassroots cultural production. So, for Grow to get to the point where you've got ten years in the bag, I seriously think it's massive, and to also get the Culture Recovery Fund award was also a huge huge deal. I am not someone to be lecturing Grow on what they should think of themselves but there's a lot of value in Grow. 

Whether it’s a jam session on a Sunday night, Spoken Word events, jazz on a Thursday or hearing the drums of Williams at the weekend weekend, people love it and rightly so. Even throughout the pandemic, Grow was streaming loads of shows during the lockdown. But since then, it’s come back stronger, programming loads of eclectic events. No other venue in Hackney Wick that I can think of puts on such a wide range of events.

Grow has always been there for me and Hackney Wick. I’ve been here a lot and have made loads of great memories here, and I know the rest of the Equal Parts team has too. Once again I’d like to say a big up to Grow for supporting us through these years and hopefully Grow stays around for many years to come.