This weekend, Zinc nightclub turns a whopping 12 years old. On Thursday night, the Grammy-nominated DJ Mark Knight gets behind the decks at the Crown Plaza venue, while on Friday, Italian-American hip-hop and R’n’B DJ Skribble takes over.
“We wanted to offer something for two separate crowds. There’s an awful lot of people in Dubai who are into their hip-hop and R’n’B, and then there’s an awful lot of people into their house, so we decided to offer something different to our two genres of people,” said Patrick Maher, club manager.
“We want to make the place work, and it has worked for the past 12 years, and we want to make it work for another 12.”
Ahead of the anniversary weekend, Maher, who joined Zinc three months ago, told tabloid! what it takes to keep a club open for more than a decade, and how social media has become the name of the game.
In your opinion, what defines a good night?
I think if you start with, good music, good atmosphere, a good crowd, good staffing and a good venue. It’s not just the one element, you have to mix an awful lot of elements together to make sure you’re offering a great service.
Which crowd do you cater to throughout the week?
Zinc caters [to] a mixed bag of 21 to 50-year-olds. On Monday night, it’s predominantly cabin crew. Tuesday night is a ladies’ night. Wednesday is more of a ladies/female-friendly night again. Thursday night is a club classics night. Friday night is hip-hop and R’n’B. Saturday we’re starting an industry night. And Sunday night we do a mixed bag of hip-hop, R’n’B, and commercial. Zinc is probably one of the only clubs in Dubai that’s consistently open seven nights a week. And we’ve been open for seven nights a week for the past 12 years.
How do you keep on top of what’s happening, entertainment-wise, around Dubai?
From a personal point of view, I’ve just got to make sure I know exactly what’s going on. I’ve got a love for the industry anyway, which does help. I’m very musical myself, I’ve got a good rapport with DJs, and we’ve got a great base of DJs that work with us. I actually look through the local newspapers, magazines, Facebook, make sure that what we’re offering is a great product. You’ve just got to keep in there. You can’t just sit back on your laurels and hope that people are going to come to you, you’ve got to make sure that you know exactly where you’re going and what you’re offering.
Do you take into consideration feedback from club-goers on social media?
Definitely. Obviously, social media over the past ten years has exploded and we do use it to our advantage all the time. And believe you me, people are not shy if they don’t like a night or if they don’t like something that’s happened — they’ll be the first people to say it. Usually they say it through Facebook, and that means everybody can see it. You’ve got to obviously be very proactive these days. You’ve got to know what your customer wants and have a relationship with your customer — if you’ve got a relationship with your customer you know exactly what they’re looking for.
— Free entry for women and facecard holders this weekend. Dh150 for men after 11.30pm. Doors open at 10pm. For more info, contact 050-1515609.
