History

How it all began

The concept for “Simple” was born in 1999 between good friends Nick Gladwin and Sean Holbrook.  After a particularly long and disappointing clubbing weekend in Manchester, Nick and Sean decided—over a much-needed cup of coffee—that there was no reason why they couldn’t put their heads together and stage events back at home in Oxford.

Simple launched soon after with a string of hugely successful bank holiday parties at the, then, Bar Baby on Cowley Road.  A weekly radio show on the excellent online station, Mezzmusic, soon followed, whilst Simple also began hosting Room II at The Coven on Saturdays.  Simple went on to establish its first regular monthly event in 2001, at The Cellar in Oxford.  After two years of top notch Saturday nights, Nick and Sean moved venue to the slightly larger Backroom @ The Bully on Cowley Road in October 2003.  The bank holiday summer parties continued but on boats down The Thames and the first Saturday of the month has come to be known, quite simply, as “Simple Saturday”.  In 2007, Simple teamed up with the owner of Simple's first home, Bar Baby, to completely refurbish and re-launch it as Baby Simple - now the venue of choice for pre-parties and after-parties.  In 2008 Simple teamed up with Slide and Eclectricity to form Fuse with the aim of putting on much bigger parties at the Academy. Not only that but after a festival collaboration in 2007, Simple, Slide and Bassmentality formed Out To Graze Festival in 2008.

Over the last few years headliners have included The Freestylers, Switch, Mr C, Rennie Pilgrem, Erol Alkan, Groove Armada's Tom Findlay, Touché, Kissy Sell Out, Annie Mac, Streetlife DJs, Simian Mobile Disco, Digitalism's Jens, Audiojack, Alex Metric, Zinc ... the partying just won’t stop!

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