NIGHTLIFE’S GOOGLE FEVER

Taking inspiration from Google, the No.1 employer of choice, Nightlife Music + Video works hard to make work fun for its 60 staff in their Brisbane premises. In May 2007, Nightlife employed a Human Resource Manager to assist in providing the best environments, careers and culture for its team members. As Nightlife grows so does the number of team members, it is Nightlife’s aim to ensure the best service and products are provided to clients each day, this will be done through employing and keeping exceptional people. 

What makes Nightlife a great organisation to work for?
The past few weeks have seen Nightlife employees undergo one on one meetings with HR Manager Heidi Richards, who asked the question ‘what makes Nightlife a great organisation to work for?’ The overwhelming response was that the people here make it great.
Nightlife creates a relaxed yet professional environment that allows for innovative and creative thought. The Managers always ask themselves before implementing a change how it will affect Nightlife and will it make us a better organisation for our clients and staff. Here are some of the benefits:


Monthly 1 on 1 meetings: This allows for managers to meet with their staff to discuss goals and Nightlife’s 12 month employee development plan. 


E-Nob: The Nightlife Office Bulletin is completed monthly and gives a great overview on what is happening within the Nightlife family.


Fruit & Nuts: Nightlife provides a selection of fruit and nuts for staff each week.


Ice cream Monday: Every second Monday, staff meet in the kitchen to have ice cream and a catch up.


Friday night drinks: Fridays from 5-6pm, Nightlife provides a time for employees to relax and wind down. The HDMS™ is turned up and the light beers and chips are brought out!


Social events: Nightlife is a very social place; social events outside of the Nightlife environment provide another avenue for developing relationships. This year Nightlife has had a night out at the comedy club, a Skirmish day & BBQ in May, staff team building week-end away in July, a secret adventure in September and a very exciting end of year celebration in December. Nightlife has upped the stakes this year providing an extra two social events in comparison to 2006 efforts.


Gym Membership: Nightlife encourages gym membership for all staff, promoting a healthy mind and body philosophy.


Group Hug: Each month Nightlife has a ‘Group Hug’, this is a group get together which usually consist of a BBQ breakfast or morning tea and time to socialise with colleagues.

Breakfast: Nightlife provides healthy breakfast cereals for staff each day. This is another way Nightlife promotes a healthy lifestyle.

 

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MUSIC MUSE FOR YOUR VENUE

CROWDED HOUSE – ‘Don’t Stop Now’ (Virgin) RX135, EX135, JX119

Probably the biggest news in music right now would have to the massive comeback of Crowded House, a move that has caused some mixed feelings amongst fans for the fact that drummer Paul Hester passed away in 2005. If you debate whether possession of the band belongs to Australia or New Zealand, well now you can add an American into the mix as former Beck drummer Matt Sherrod steps in to fill Hester’s very large shoes. ‘Don’t Stop Now’ is the first single lifted from the band’s fifth album Time On Earth and was penned by legendary frontman Neil Finn as a joint effort with The Smiths’ former-member Johnny Marr, who also contributes guitar to the song.

THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS – ‘Do It Again’ (Virgin) CX135, DX68

There is no denying the impact and status The Chemical Brothers have had within the dance scene. They are one of those artists who are a bit like a machine and know just the right formula and what needs to be done to produce a solid dance tune. And they’ve done it again with ‘Do It Again,’ one of their biggest stormers to date and a true return to the innovative creativity that put the duo atop their game over a decade ago. Lifted from their new album We Are The Night and featuring a 70s-like falsetto from vocalist Ali Love. As with some Chemical Brothers clips in the past, this one pretty much defies description, seemingly mashing together references to Marathon Man, Babel, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Napoleon Dynamite and countless other films.

MIKA – ‘Love Today’ (Universal) CR135, JB119, DR68

Following up the mighty, chart-topping ‘Grace Kelly’ is a task no singer would want to be lumbered with, such was the attention and love it received. However the London-based vocalist takes out the award for the most humm-able track of 2007 with the bubbly ‘Love Today’. This is a truly funky disco-pop number that that will get all Scissor Sisters fans shoulder-shimmying all over the place and even though you’ll probably hate yourself for loving it, you won’t be able to stop yourself from having a great time while you listen. Ladies and gents, this your guilty pleasure of 2007.

THE SHINS – ‘Australia’ (Sub Pop/Stomp) EX135, RX135

Regular visitors to our shores, The Shins clearly love Australia and we love them right back! About to embark on what will be their fourth Aussie tour, they release a fittingly-titled single to get us all excited. Across three albums, the Shins have never put a foot wrong, and this joyous and quirky little indie-pop ditty is a catalogue highlight. It bursts with a sunny vibe and infectious “la-la-las” that are enhanced by vibraphones and subtle banjo. Lyrically, there’s actually very little relating to Australia unless you count the opening lines: “Born to multiply/Born to gaze at night skies”. All the regular ingredients are here: James Mercer’s flawless falsetto, up-tempo Smiths-like guitar jangling (but with twice the melody of that band) and intelligent and ambiguous lyrics.

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With the release of their sixth studio album, Brisbane’s Powderfinger have certainly cemented their place within Aussie rock’n’roll history as one of the finest and most consistent bands to ever surface.
Dream Days At The Hotel Existence saw the band part with longtime producer Nick DiDia for the first time and head to L.A. to work with Rob Schnapf who has worked with the likes of Elliot Smith and Beck previously.

The result is an incredible step for Powderfinger’s catalogue. As frontman Bernard Fanning puts it, “This album is in no way supposed to present itself as a rehash of any period from the past. Nor is it designed to recast Powderfinger in some stunning new vein. It is simply an extension of our past efforts to write good songs, in an original way, and an attempt to communicate ideas to people which actually makes them ‘feel’ something. Music that ‘means’ something to the people who hear it.Music that has an enduringquality. It is not an altogether common experience in this day and age. But of course it is there if you know where to look. It certainly sounds different to our past efforts, or so everybody keeps telling us anyway.”

Thanks to the good folk at Universal, we have five copies of Dream Days At The Hotel Existence to give away. Just drop us an email – music@nightlife.com.au – and tell us your name, your address, your venue and the name of one of the five member’s of Powderfinger.

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NEWS FROM NZ FOR NZ

June is closing in on us now and the sting of a failed Super 14 is just a painful memory (at least for Crusaders and Blues fans); the World Cup is officially on its way and the depths of winter are starting to hit hard, particularly in the South Island and the central North Island. It’s the time of year that most bars, clubs and restaurants find themselves looking at new ideas for spring, re-developing menus, working on marketing and providing staff with sales training.

The next few months - through to the end of September - are important ones for most venues, giving owners and managers a chance to look at any changes needed; to re-build, refurbish, re-launch; to look at the overall aesthetic they produce and what things are needed to lift their game ready for the spring and summer markets; plus its a great time to look over the calendar and see what events have done well and what can be repeated and done fresh for next years events calendar. Let us know if there is anything we do to help!

On the music scene, it has been fairly quiet since the end of Music Month, but new material from Crowded House and Hollie Smith should be finding its way to your HDMS™ soon! For the moment, why not add some Black Seeds, Uncle Monkey or Fat Freddys Drop to your daytime playlists, adding a bit of Kiwi zest to the chilly winter afternoons! For the evenings, why not check out some great dance tracks from the likes of Savage, Minuit or even one of the older crowd favourites like Nesian Mystiks “Whats Next” or Scribes “Not Many”?

 As always, please send in your feedback - we love to hear from you!      

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AT YOUR SERVICE

Making sure you are not skipping songs unnecessarily

This month we will be looking at the skip song function as many bar staff use skip to bypass the current song because they personally dislike the song, not realizing that skipped songs are permanently removed from playing in all lists in scheduler.  Which means your Nightlife system will never load that song automatically.  In the field we sometimes see systems that have thousands of songs skipped.

Skipped songs should only be used if a song is deemed unsuitable to have in your venue and you want to quickly remove it from playing in scheduler.  Skipped songs will not be loaded or played whilst the system is in scheduler or when using [F9] to load a list (and will not appear on the jukebox). 
Skipped songs need to be maintained by the venue. Regularly clearing out skipped songs is recommended once a month. This will make sure songs which are appropriate are not unnecessarily prevented from playing by staff.

You can view the songs you have skipped by selecting ‘Search’ from the toolbar and then selecting skipped songs.

When a song has been skipped from a list a blue * will mark that song from the far right hand column. Any of these songs can be reinserted from the skipped song list into a playlist by removing the blue *. This is done by highlighting the song and pressing F10.

For help with checking your skipped songs or for any other assistance, call the client service team on 1800 773 468.

 

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