Max HeyraudEarlier today, Nexus, the mostly Irish, community-owned club night which has been operating out of Berlin’s M01 as its home base for the past two years, announced its penultimate party.
Nexus is a community-driven club concept between Ireland and Berlin, built on a collaborative approach to event-making, shared responsibility, and a strong focus on quality, trust, and inclusivity within underground music culture. The project was launched in 2024, initially inspired by the difficulties of running independent shows in an increasingly risk-heavy and commercially pressured scene, where rising costs, sustainability issues, and shifting audience habits have made grassroots promotion more difficult than ever.
Nexus emerged as a response to those pressures, a way of maintaining high artistic standards while distributing both creative input and financial risk across a broader collective of DJs, artists, and contributors. What began as a group chat between a small network of collaborators soon evolved into a wider community platform, connecting emerging and established talent across Ireland and Berlin. Nexus operates as a shared ecosystem where everyone has equal ownership, accountability, and a stake in the outcome, rather than working under a traditional promoter–headliner dynamic.
Over time, the project has grown beyond club nights into a wider cultural space — one that prioritises connection, mutual support, and a sense of belonging both on and off the dancefloor.
We spoke to founder Offtrack about the journey thus far and why its next event on July 17th is its final chapter.
You can purchase tickets here.
For people who may not be familiar, can you explain the concept behind Nexus and what originally inspired the project?
First of all, thanks for having me back, Max. It’s been a minute, and an even bigger thanks on behalf of everyone who’s ever been involved in Nexus. The support from Four Four since we started this has been invaluable. Forever grateful. But yeah, Nexus… I think we’re touching on two-year territory now since we started the idea.
I’ve been running my own shows & label for a while now. I operate with a no-compromise approach to quality. Nothing can step in the way of this for me, lineup, sound or production. When you’re passionate, nothing else really matters, and I’m sure many people can relate to this one; it’s not the friendliest business model.
Anyways… going back to the project’s original inspirations, during this time (and still now) I was collaborating with a few labels & other parties. It’s worth considering if you want to take the sting out of the costs that come with it all. Not that it matters, I’ve always found a way to make it work regardless. But the scope of what you’re doing can be really extended with a good collaboration. So, with this in mind, I was always thinking what could be done?
You know, when you want to focus on a quality vision, what’s actually good, it comes with a cost, a lot of risk. The scene has changed so much now. People navigate to what’s secure. The big clubs, the big names, you know how it goes and how the landscape has changed.
I was faced with: I don’t know if I’d call it a dilemma. But anyways, the amount of talented people around me, a lot of close friends, great producers, and serious DJs. The list goes on. My aim was and still is to book people purely based on this, but it’s not a sustainable approach. There are many factors to consider when you have a club rented out, and the bills are running into the thousands. At the end of the day, the tickets must be sold.
Nexus was an idea, or even a strategy, to kind of curb this risk. How can we maximise quality & lower risk? Sometime in May or June 2024, I think, I reached out to maybe 20-30 or so people, then put together a group chat. When running a solo label, your dynamic, your fanbase or whatever, it’s subject to the label only; it’s subject to the one or two headliners you have booked. Nexus was the opposite – Everyone involved owns it evenly, so already touching the dynamic of 20 – 30 people, or however many are involved in the given project. The risk is diluted the same way, where all are even. Everyone is in 100% of the way or not at all. If we don’t sell out, or even if the event is a failure, it was never really a serious issue for any single person or organisation. It really takes the stress away from that side of things. It enabled a less serious & more fun approach.
While I’m here, I must give credit to Dave O’Neil. It took some time to find an appropriate name for the concept. Nexus by definition – “A connection or series of connections linking two or more things. It suggests a central point where different elements come together”…. And that’s exactly what it is.
You’ve contributed a huge amount to the Irish club scene over the years and are now based in Berlin. How important has Nexus been in continuing to foster Irish talent while building something in your new home?
To be honest, it grew in ways I didn’t expect. A lot of Irish artists are under-represented, so on a more personal level, it did feel really good to enable artists’ growth in this way. I never set out for it to be an ‘Irish’ party, but early on it stuck & some things you have to roll with.
At the end of the day, whether you’re in the booth, on the dancefloor or in the studio, were building something that creates a sense of togetherness. An inclusive community free of any shit. The fact that Nexus has achieved that speaks loudly enough. Some people met genuinely for the first time at Nexus events, the group chats are a support network for each other’s standalone projects, meetups are arranged, music & just general crap exchanged. So, whether it’s big or small, the contributions in this way, I feel, are extremely important. With all of this going on, in the meantime, some are going on to do some really big things, while staying part of the community. This I have to credit.
One thing that makes Nexus unique is how community-driven it feels; every DJ and contributor is genuinely invested in the project. How important is that collective ethos to what Nexus represents?
I mean, every factor comes into play here. For this concept to work, there is no other way. It wouldn’t be a community otherwise.
Despite the contribution and investment everyone takes, the elements and factors that make it what it is come with many different weights & responsibilities. To be true and to remain solid as a community, it’s here where egos must be removed. Trust, ethos & to truly represent & empower each other becomes the most important thing. Whether it was doing the tickets, door selection, playing the daytime or opening slots, it didn’t really matter.
The importance of stepping up and taking on the less desirable parts really showed us what kind of party & community we had going for us, and it’s something everybody put themselves forward for.
With inflation increasingly affecting club culture, from ticket prices and drink costs for attendees to rising artist fees, rent, and operational costs for promoters, how difficult has it become to run underground, grassroots events in the current climate?
Things have shifted; people want a safe bet. Up & coming punters are exposed to a completely different side of this, too, which doesn’t help. There was a little golden age in Ireland, at least for me anyways & I’m sure a lot of people can relate. Around 2016-2020, you had clubs making bookings week in week out, a choice between Hangar, D8, Index & some of the smaller spots too. The fees were manageable, people trusted the bookings & the clubs were simultaneously full. Of course, you had the big DJs by times too, Jeff Mills & the likes. Now, the headline DJs that have younger punters’ attention, if Mills were next door, 90% of them wouldn’t know who he is. So, what chance does grassroots stand? I’m more & more on the fence about it as time goes on; it’s a really strange position to be in. Not that I’ll ever give up, I love what I do, but I find myself looping back more & more to the sustainability of it all. The fact that I find myself in this position, as do many others. I think it answers the question; it has become extremely difficult. Staying true to what you believe comes with a lot of weight in many regards. You have to truly love it to keep going. But it’s like anything, if you keep putting your heart into it, opportunity awaits. So let’s see what comes of it.
This upcoming party is the penultimate Berlin edition of Nexus. Why have you decided to bring this chapter of the project to a halt?
Yeah, with a heavy heart, it is the last edition of Nexus. I thought about it a lot & I didn’t want to end on unannounced terms, which didn’t sit right with me. There are too many good things that came of the project to just let it fizzle out like that. So, ending this amazing chapter with one objective: finish strong.
But the reason, it loops back to the last question. Despite having a somewhat more sustainable approach, even with the growth & success the project had, the workload remains absolutely huge; it’s difficult to run sustainably, giving it 100% time & effort is a requirement, or else everything falls apart. To do this in today’s climate, which is already hard to compete with. That can be quite defeating despite the positives that do come out of it.
I’ve been to several Nexus events myself, and there’s always a really distinct energy in the club. What do you think creates that atmosphere, and why do you think people connect with it so strongly?
The community itself. We simply feed off one another. Everyone has become such good friends. I think those who are new to the party or who just roll in the door, I think that can be felt. It’s a hard one to ignore.
After Nexus wraps up in Berlin, what’s next for the project?
Haha, a break. Jokes aside, I don’t know. Let’s see where people’s hearts are at. Maybe something in a more creative direction. It won’t be my call to make alone.
However, there is a huge backlog of set recordings going back to the very first nexus. It will be fun to go through them all again. Many of them are public or will be made public soon.
