Sonic - Heart & Soul

[Sonic Nightclub]

My name is Nevio Persia, I am David Morales partner at Sonic. It has been a long journey getting here. It has been a long battle dealing with many of the old creditors of Boa, dealing with the landlord, and dealing with contractors. There have been a lot of sleepless nights for me and my wife. I am so proud of what I have accomplished and the people that I have working for me. We have all worked very hard to make Sonic special, a place like no other.

I am very honoured to have a partner like David, he has taught me so much in understanding the level of commitment required for us to reach perfection. We spent a lot of money getting the venue to where it is, and it is our home. As this being our home we still have a lot of work to do. There are still a number of personal touches that need to be added to this space. David and myself personally hand picked everything inside the club to make it feel warm and comfortable.

Saturday night was a great success for us and a great learning experience. We did our very best in planning to accommodate everybody but there were a few challenges that we faced unexpectedly.

First, we had over 1000 people show up at our front doors between 12:30 AM - 2:00 AM. For any club in this city to move that many people into a venue safely is a big challenge. We have already addressed the issue and we apologize to all of the advance ticket holders for all of the stress and frustration. From this Saturday forward we will be using the front Spadina entrance for advance ticket holders ONLY. Our paying customers and any guest list will be entering through the main entrance. The additional entrance, searchers, and security will eliminate any further chaos at the front door, and ensure that advance ticket holders are the number one priority to us.

Second, the issues with our front door staff has been addressed firmly. The issues were addressed as soon as management was made aware of what people were going through to get past the front door.

Third, is the coat check. Unfortunately we had two of our staff members call in sick which left us drastically under staffed. This left us having to use two bus boys (and a family member of our staff) to service the massive demand for people to check jackets. The coat check is capable of accommodating up to 1500 jackets, which is beyond our capacity and when it is properly staffed we will not have any further issues.

Fourth, the heat inside the club. We are looking into getting a proper exhaust system installed in the building. The A/C unit in the building works perfectly, unfortunately with the amount of sound insulation and sound treatment that the room has received, it holds a lot of moisture and heat. The additional lighting does not help either.

Everyone has my word and my heart. I said that I was Djing until midnight on Sunday night and I did for the 30 people that were still here. I still was not ready to let go. I am living a dream and have not come this far, put in this much blood, sweat, and soul to let you all down. We will try to overcome all obstacles to make this a home for everyone.

The one thing that I expect from everyone is from each individual to respect our home. Please smoke outside, please do not throw any gum ANYWHERE other than the garbage...if I came to your house I would not disrespect you in either way.

Thank you for your continued support

Nevio

 

[TrIbAlNuT]

It great to have another establishment in Toronto that caters to house music, after all variety is the spice of life. The fact that you guys have your heart and soul behind this whole endeavor makes Sonic even more appealing to me. It’s nice to know that the place you go to dance and party was meant just for that by its creators, and not just monetary gains.
Best of luck

 

[deevah]

thx for taking the time to share and explain the situation

my suggestions:

add some fans back to @ least circulate the air - the 2 stairwells act as natural ventilation as there's a down draft. Keep the air moving.

add more garbage cans - there was only 2 that i saw - beside the stacks closest to the booth. When the club is full, ppl are not going to swim thru the crowd to toss out their btls or gum

keep up the good work!

 

[tobywan]

Nevio, hats off to you, David, Carey, Jennstar, Gavin, EddyK and the rest of the Sonic Family for pulling off a fantastic opening night, taking into account issues that were raised...honestly, the moment I walked up those stairs into the main room and soaked it all in, I knew it was gonna be something special.

Keep up the great job, and I know I speak for a few others when I say I look forward to spending many a night (and morning) @ Sonic.

 

[veteze]

I think despite the problems with the number of people who showed up you guys did an incredible job - especially for an opening night. the whole show was running as though it had been done 1000 times already. kudos. i kept seeing the blackened gum on the floors and it made me so sad. maybe you should employ hall monitors? pink slips for litter bugs. i thought the club closed at 2:30... it was open till midnight?!?

 

[kaniz]

Great to see that you guys took the critisms from opening night to heart and are taking steps to solve them. Looking forward to heading out to Sonic on the 13th.

 

[Skipper]

wts - the party went til midnight on Sunday?

Nevio, or someone related - could you answer officially when the club STOPS letting people in? If the club is going to be like stereo and operate well into the morning, I'd be more inclined to come and pay cover at 6 or 7am and stay for the last half of the party. I'm sure there are others like me. Is there a time when people can no longer pay to get in?

 

[s1k]

i left at 3 because I thought the party was over! no one was dancing and he was winding it down. i'm guessing people knew, went home and came back.

and the gum thing is a huge thing, you should have signs that say, don't spit gum on the floors! people don't even think about it, it would be such shame to see the wicked wood floor go to shit.


respect to sonic crew.

 

[Spinsah]

You should look into those high-tech cooling things that shoots glycol based mist into the air and coolsl rapidly. How this works exactly, I don't know...

 

[Wiseman]

those things are way expensive man! Apparantly they run you a couple grand everytime you turn them on!!!! and they don't keep the temperature down overall, just for short bursts. Plus they add to the humidity of the room.

 

[Spinsah]

Doesn't the Guverment use them? They can't be that expensive if that's the case.

If so there's another solution.

LASERS.

 

[Wiseman]

I would say the guvernment has a much bigger capacity/budget for this kind of thing.

 

[Skipper]

Doesn't the Guverment use them? They can't be that expensive if that's the case.

If so there's another solution.

LASERS.

Really? because lasers are usually ON FIRE.

 

[why not]

You should look into those high-tech cooling things that shoots glycol based mist into the air and coolsl rapidly. How this works exactly, I don't know...

are you talking about the things that instantly fog up the room and cool it at the same time?
those are wicked - i remember playground in montreal had some kind of system like that. apparently you can do it with liquid nitrogen or CO2, but nitrogen is supposed to be better for various reasons. when they go off properly, you can't even see a foot in front of you, and the lights look insane.

here's something cut and pasted from a club gear message board about these systems -

Member

Registered: Sep 2003
Location: San Francisco
Posts: 33
We have a big nitrogen system here in San Francisco at 1015 Folsom. It is 4 cryo soleoid valves in each corner of the main room approx. 10' off the floor all pointing to the center of the room. Each solenoid attaches directly to a 160 liter dewar tank. The LN2 is internally pressurized to 200-250psi and the relaease is triggered via DMX relays through the lighting console.
Each tank costs around $400 for the rental, liquid and delivery. We usually blast the room for 30-60 seconds and can get a max of 10-12 blasts at the 30 second blast rate. We have also installed a timed ventilation cutout to kill the forced air in the room along with a high pressure water atomizer system that preloads the room with humidity for extra cloud hang time.
It's an awesome effect and last time we used it, the room was packed with people and the clouds were so thick I couldn't see the console and the DJ couldn't see the mixer!! Essentially for $1600 we get a decent weekend of nitrogen blasts. The crowd goes bananas when we hit it every time.
I have seen the CO2 versions and the LN2 is a much better effect.

 

[Carey]

wts - the party went til midnight on Sunday?

Nevio, or someone related - could you answer officially when the club STOPS letting people in? If the club is going to be like stereo and operate well into the morning, I'd be more inclined to come and pay cover at 6 or 7am and stay for the last half of the party. I'm sure there are others like me. Is there a time when people can no longer pay to get in?

Hey Sarah,

Just to clarify for you...we stopped letting people in around 8 AM. The club will open every weekend until the dance floor is empty or the DJ is tired out...with a nice soft dance surface, tons of seating, fantastic lighting, amazing sound, and a warm and welcoming feeling I am pretty sure it won't be too difficult to stay open until at least noon every week.

So yes, we encourage people to go to sleep Saturday night...wake up in the AM and come join us for some dancing!!! We officially closed the club at 3 PM when the general public completely cleared out and continued with about 30 Sonic "Family" members until midnight Sunday.

While I am on the boards...may as well thank everyone for joining us on Saturday night. Working with Sonic has been an abosolute privelage. I have never met owners who truly care so much about making each and every person that comes through their doors feel so comfortable and welcome. It feels like home and I look forward to the times ahead. All the issues Nevio has mentioned are being dealt with, and in a much quicker manner than I have ever seen any other club owner deal with situations as such.

We look forward to seeing you all soon.

 

[litespeed]

props for the post Nevio.. though i wasn't there I heard the night was a blast!
Congrats to everyone at Sonic for putting everything together, and best of luck with the new venture/adventure

looking forward to checking it out myself!

You should look into those high-tech cooling things that shoots glycol based mist into the air and coolsl rapidly. How this works exactly, I don't know...

they have those at the Docks and The Guv.. refreshing!

 

[beatjunkie]

Hey Sarah,
I am pretty sure it won't be too difficult to stay open until at least noon every week.

 

[Spinsah]

We have a big nitrogen system here in San Francisco at 1015 Folsom. It is 4 cryo soleoid valves in each corner of the main room approx. 10' off the floor all pointing to the center of the room. Each solenoid attaches directly to a 160 liter dewar tank. The LN2 is internally pressurized to 200-250psi and the relaease is triggered via DMX relays through the lighting console.
Each tank costs around $400 for the rental, liquid and delivery. We usually blast the room for 30-60 seconds and can get a max of 10-12 blasts at the 30 second blast rate. We have also installed a timed ventilation cutout to kill the forced air in the room along with a high pressure water atomizer system that preloads the room with humidity for extra cloud hang time.
It's an awesome effect and last time we used it, the room was packed with people and the clouds were so thick I couldn't see the console and the DJ couldn't see the mixer!! Essentially for $1600 we get a decent weekend of nitrogen blasts. The crowd goes bananas when we hit it

 

[grit]

props to sonic for doin what they're doin. sounds like they're doin it all for the right reasons. respect for that.
just one thing, keep the air clean inside, NO smoke machines please!!!

 

[grit]

....and bring jeff mills

 

[slave2da dncflr]

I love SONIC. I have loved David Morales for yrs and am thrilled that him and Nevio have opened a new home for us. I have a question for Nevio, you played a track at the beginning of the nite that had the vocal "sexy baby", very sweet and uplifting. Can u give me details on it, I need it.
Also, ask David if you guys would bring Desyn Masiello. Tell him Sheela is asking. ha. Thanks everyone to everyone involved with Sonic and I hope to have many good nites there.
sheela

 

[Skipper]

Hey Sarah,

Just to clarify for you...we stopped letting people in around 8 AM. The club will open every weekend until the dance floor is empty or the DJ is tired out...with a nice soft dance surface, tons of seating, fantastic lighting, amazing sound, and a warm and welcoming feeling I am pretty sure it won't be too difficult to stay open until at least noon every week.

So yes, we encourage people to go to sleep Saturday night...wake up in the AM and come join us for some dancing!!!

Perfect - thanks!

 

[billy]

You should look into those high-tech cooling things that shoots glycol based mist into the air and coolsl rapidly. How this works exactly, I don't know...

liquid nitrogen is what they use. as mentioned already, it's a fairly expensive effect. i say effect because although it does significantly drop the temperature in the room within a short period of time, it doesn't last much longer after the jets are turned off.

that and they are really frikkin loud even in a large room with the sound on. they can't be used in smaller venues for safety reasons. sonic could handle a set up, but i think they will wisely choose proper exhaust fans as nevio mentioned instead.

 

[miller]

props and congrats.

and yes....bring jeff mills!

 

[why not]

just one thing, keep the air clean inside, NO smoke machines please!!!

the nitrogen effects we're talking about aren't like traditional smoke machines, where you can feel it in the air when you breath. this is more like simulating an actual cloud indoors - it's refreshing because it momentarily cools the air, and you don't taste it either. trust us, they're super cool.
it disappears after a few minutes of intense fog.