How XOYO Became London's Friendliest Nightclub

XOYO's an unassuming venue, located just off the ridiculously named Silicon Valley roundabout in London's Shoreditch. When you're there, it's dark, hazy, unbelievably sweaty, and the main room is illuminated with a kaleidoscope of lights that is enough to send you tripping before you've taken your first anything. But most importantly, it's always rammed full of wide-eyed ravers keen to get their electronic fix, and it's devoid of many of the troublesome trappings that we've come to consider just part of a night out.

There's no VIP rooms where you can get some rapper's stupid cash cow vodka delivered to your table by a girl that's way out your league, nor is there over the top sculptures or unnecessary artwork slapped across the walls (you might find Artwork the DJ though), it's just two rooms, with the main set up with a banger of a sound system and one little glowing sign that reads 'I Feel Love.' It reflects the whole attitude of the place. The sign itself has also probably been instagrammed more times than Kim Kardashian's #OOTD, but whatever, it still looks fucking cool when you can see it glitching around your vision at 3am.

Andy Peyton runs a team of 9 that oversee bookings at another two London venues alongside XOYO, The Nest and The Old Queens Head. "When we started, I had massive fear about the pressure of filling the venue, as I'd only done one-off parties before," Andy tells THUMP. "We just tried to make sure we didn't screw up too much, so even when we got in someone big, like I remember Nas played in the first 5 weeks of us opening, we kind of just moved our attention to the next date we had to sort out."

But in this day and age, where electronic music is dominating playlists commercially, there is the added difficulty of making sure you're attracting the right people through the door. Nowadays it's far too common to go to a rave and be surrounded by some dickheads 'roided up in their extra small baseball jerseys and ultra tight jeans (did you forget leg day, bro?), shuffling not-quite on the beat. That's rare to see that in XOYO, which is some feat, especially in modern day Shoreditch.

Andy credits this to the fact that they tailor a service to both gay and straight crowds. "We've found that this leads to a really open minded crowd with lots of smiling faces, and a focus on music and dancing. The sort of crowd you're talking about will tend to leave when they see a 6ft tranny dancing on the DJ booth, and that's fine with us," he says. "What I really want is the club been known for being nice. That goes for everyone, the staff, and the people in it. We never get any fights or anything, so it must be working."

The diverse range of eclectic electronic music also makes sure that the atmosphere is on point. From nights hosted by Benji B, arguably one of the biggest tastemakers in modern music, alongside nights put on by dancehall & electronic craftsman Toddla T and with the weekly residency series that has featured Eats Everything, The 2 Bears and now Jackmaster, the music automatically induces a positive dance-orientated environment.

The residency idea itself was something that was criticized by many, who said that the format of the same DJ playing each week wouldn't work. "People sort of misunderstood the concept - we said it's a new thing but obviously residencies have always happened, and it was the fact that we were going to do it in London, weekly, which was innovative," said Andy. "So we got stick for that, and then others in the industry were telling us that DJs were worth less if they played week after week, but my counter argument would be that if you couldn't see Jackmaster one week, it's nice to know he's still there the week after."

It's seemed as if Andy was right, as it's arguably one of their most successful nights, and Eats Everything's final show was one that Andy credits as being the best night he's had at the club. He said: "By that point, every date had sold out in advance, and I recognized half the crowd as people who had been coming week in, week out. Everyone had a smile on their face, it was a night I'll never forget."

At the moment, Numbers label founder Jackmaster is in the middle of his leg with the residency baton and having hosted nights alongside Axel Boman, Joy Orbison and with Kenny Dope among others to come, he'll be passing it over in October, to a currently unannounced host.

The venue is also expanding in other ways too. As we descend into winter, XOYO Loves will be putting on one-off shows around London in venues not usually associated with hosting DJs and producers. "We felt that we should offer interesting events like hotel parties, rooftop raves etc, outside of our 4 walls, and that's where XOYO Loves originally came from," says Andy. "There are some acts we have great, loyal relationships with and we wanted to maintain them. By mixing it up with XOYO Loves we can offer up other opportunities outside of the club – hopefully keeping it exciting for the DJs we work with."

Andy also hinted at the fact that some big guns may be gracing the stage in the future, saying that he comes up with "a little list in my head every six months". "Damian Lazarus, Dixon, Ame and Joy O (played with Jackmaster last weekend) were all on my list for this winter," said Andy. "We've had one, and we've got two out of three playing at some point. Next year I'd really love to get DJ Harvey, Seth Troxler, Ben UFO and The Chemical Brothers down."So don't expect them to be resting on the laurels and wallowing in reflection. Why? Andy said: "The club has an awfully long way to go before it is what I would like it to be, so I'm not looking back just yet. For a club to become established, it needs to be consistently good for a long, long time."

XOYO is celebrating it's second birthday with it's second party on Friday 22th August. The lineup includes Ryan Hemsworth, Cashmere Cat and Oneman. Get tickets here.

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Patrick Mills - @patomills