Nightlife Takes Nerve
by John Buchanan photographs: Joseph Brown

What is the basic concept for Nerve as a new kind of South Beach club?
Storms:  We’re looking to use all the years of experience in the nightclub business to come up with something new, fresh, exciting. Basically, we’re all bored with the local scene as far as it’s people coming into the same type of venue, sitting on an expensive European couch, ordering a bottle and then sitting there all night because there’s not very much going on. We’re looking to be very visual, to have a lot of good energy, and to be exciting. We’re looking to shock people...(pauses thoughtfully)...if I had one main goal for what I want people to say as they walk through the front door and as soon as they turn the corner and see the club, is that these people need help, that we have serious issues —then two seconds later say, but this is the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. It’s a fantasy. It’s not reality. And we’re looking to be super-creative in creating the fantasy.

Since we’re talking about mental illness, that’s a perfect opportunity to bring in Rodolphe Pieper, the disinherited champagne kingpin and erstwhile New York…

Pieper:  Ah, yes—the doctor. Actually, my mental illness is one of my roles here, I think. But I’m also in charge of the décor, PR and talking to obnoxious journalists. And putting blonde wigs on for obnoxious photographers so that everybody thinks I’m Andy Warhol—which I actually am, but I got tired of the publicity. So, I wanted the excitement of a double life, so my most important role is to ensure that there is enough fabulousness, that everything is fabulous.

You’re outrageously improvisational and hilariously funny, you remind me of Robin Williams.
Pieper:  Who is Robin Williams?

Rodolphe

Even with all your combined experience, how will you manage to bring something truly original and different to the South Beach scene?
Pieper:  By being steps ahead of what the trends are, and by looking at what’s going on in Europe and in some bad neighborhoods of New York, and adapting this to a local taste that’s softer, because the tropics tend to round off the edges a little bit. We’ll also play music that you would have heard three to six months later in Miami, but you heard it well in advance of that here at Nerve. At the same time, we’re going to create an environment in which there is more integration between the different tribes of the city.

Now you’re invoking tribalism into the nightlife trade. You’re the first to make that sociological connection. Why?
Pieper:  It’s very necessary, because it explains exactly what the crowds are. They go out together and move through the night in the same direction, together. But what they have is very little overlap among tribes. And that’s what is missing in the scene here. And what makes a club great is that friction from an overlap. Most crowds do not really integrate that well, and it’s not only in Miami. It’s anywhere in the world. But that friction creates this energy that ultimately pleases most intelligent people with good taste.

You mean the incongruous element, the unexpected, too, correct?
Pieper:  Yes. There is definitely the incongruous element, too. But it’s more important that people like you and Michael Storms, one of my partners, create friction but ultimately they are fun and they make for an interesting environment. In your case, since you’ve been thrown out of so many places, maybe we’ll throw you out every night. People will love it.

You can’t throw me out. I’m a prominent international journalist and I am on assignment for the #1 South Beach web site. The places that threw me out later regretted it, I believe. Don’t fall into that trap.
Pieper:  Now that we fully comprehend that you will be a customer of Nerve, we may have to rethink our security policy and beef it up.

(At this point, Back Door Bamby promoter Carmel Ophir who has been listening-in on the interview, walks out laughing and shaking his head...)

DJs Michael Storms and Roman Ricardo

Let’s try to maintain some sense of decency and decorum. Is there anyone else who has any comment on how you will be different?
Ricardo:  Musically we’ll be different. It won’t be the same kind of “European” sound that you hear today everywhere else. I think with all of the experience we have, especially in New York, we know how to play to a different audience. The main thing, though, is that these places hire the same DJ’s, so no matter where you go, you’re hearing the same DJ’s. It’s just a different night. We’re never going to fall into that trap. What we do and what we play will be different, every night.

How is the hottest European music of the moment different from what is being played on South Beach right now.
Ricardo:  The new European music is more electronic and in the U.S., it’s more soulful. European music is more technical.

Do you categorize music as house, trance, progressive trance and so on?
Ricardo:  I feel like it’s all the same. It’s just either a little faster or a little slower. There’s a million definitions of what house music is now. I think it’s all pretty much the same.

As someone who’s going to be a resident DJ here, what do you think is the essence of good music that will be successful in a new club that positions itself as different?
Ricardo:  It’s about creating an atmosphere, because a lot of the top DJ’s now, they come in at one o’clock in the morning and play until three o’clock in the morning. Anybody can play for two hours, but I think if you open the place and close the place with the same DJ, you create a mood for the night and that energy that Rodolphe was talking about. You take the crowd into peaks and valleys.

Mario Sopena

Mario, as the financial backer of the venture, how do you feel about what has been said so far?
Sopena:  From a customer point of view, from someone who has come to South Beach a lot and spent a lot of money down here, this is the first time I’m on the other side of that equation. But everything that has been touched on so far is absolutely true. I’ve been to the nicest, best and most expensive clubs down here, and I get bored very easily.

For the same reasons that have been discussed?
Sopena:  Yes. And so the opportunity to be a part of something different really excited me when Michael came and talked to me about it. I believe these guys have a good plan and I’m one hundred per cent behind them.

How long have you been coming to South Beach?
Sopena:  More than ten years. I used to drive from Naples when I lived there. Now I live in Ft. Lauderdale, so it’s easier and I come more often.

So you’re a local now?
Sopena:  Yes. And we will focus on the locals. Those are the people you want in your club these days. They have the money and the class.

Back to you, Michael. You’ve been here a long time, too. How do you think the South Beach market has changed over the last few years, and how do you plan to address that?
Storms:  The biggest thing that I think is wrong with the club scene in Miami is that when somebody opens up a successful new venue, everybody else tries a cookie cutter approach and tries to hire the same DJ’s and contract the same furniture maker.

They use the same lighting. So, a lot of people come through town as a flash in the pan and somebody else learns the lesson about how easy it is to come here and lose a million dollars if you’re a wealthy guy who just wants to play. Fine. There’s nothing wrong with that. But they’re not club people and it shows. To be a real club person, it’s not about the money. It’s about being a nightlife person and understanding and enjoying the experience you create. It’s either in your veins or it’s not. Anybody can throw a checkbook around and duplicate what’s already been done. We’re going to be fresh and innovative.

Rodolphe, as a club person that comes from New York with a long background in the business, how do you think South Beach compares to New York at the moment?
Pieper:  Right now, there isn’t that much of a difference because the people in Miami clubs are as jaded as their counterparts in New York. But New York has the Williamsburg district in Brooklyn, which has developed into a really cool neighborhood. There’s an alternative scene based on ’80’s revisionism. That’s very fresh. And it changed the whole scene and it made the whole “big-name DJ” thing look very old. I mean, the Paul Oakenfolds of the world are old now. That is something that is just not happening that much any more. The fees these DJ’s get are coming down.

What do you think the impact of that will be on South Beach?
Pieper:  Unfortunately, we do not have a Williamsburg yet in Miami, but we have the mainland, so the new scene is amphibian.

That’s a perfect segue to the 23^rd Street district that we’re sitting in. It’s off the beaten path and away from the established and city-recognized club district. You picked it for exactly those reasons?
Pieper: (He gets excited. It appears that he has been struck with a new idea)
Yes!!! 23^rd Street will become the Williamsburg of Miami! You set me up with that question.

Michael, what is your sense of the 23^rd Street scene now?
Storms:  I think this area is completely up and coming. We’ve done a lot of research. We have other great venues all around us —there is the new SkyBar at the Shore Club, we’ve got Mynt right around the corner, Rain is just up the street. Another new place, called Narcisse, is opening up just down the block. This area also seems to be a lot cleaner and fresher. There’s a beautiful new regional library going up next door. There’s a lot going on. It’s the evolution of a town.

So you’re part of a neighborhood movement that you think is legitimate and happening?
Storms:  Absolutely, and it’s the neighborhood that’s important to us, not just our club.

Pieper:  Everybody thinks the neighborhood is going to improve because of the new library. Fuck that. Are you going to go there? No. And it’s even less likely that my partners are going to go there. Oh ho, I forgot. Everybody will go to the opening night party, but there can’t be any books there because that would just ruin the party.

Mario, as a real estate developer, what do you think about the off the beaten path factor and the neighborhood movement?
Sopena:  The formula for a good real estate transaction and future benefits from that transaction is to be ahead of your time. You don’t buy what is hot. You buy what’s not hot, from the inside. You buy what you think will become the next big, hot thing. That’s what we did. We’re going to make this area the new South Beach.

Roman, to the question of you personal opinion about New York versus South Beach, how do you see them as different?
Ricardo:  I think South Beach is more alive now than New York, because Mayor Giuliani and the city changed a lot of the laws and it’s much harder to open a club in New York. It takes two years.

How would you characterize your philosophy of music and what you play?
Ricardo:  I play soulful house, which is more classic. It’s not just a drum beat. It has a melody. It has vocals.

What night will be your resident night at Nerve?
Ricardo:  Thursday nights.

Michael, what night will you spin?
Storms:  As an owner, I have a lot of duties, but I will be playing and I believe it will be on Saturday nights. That was my original residency at the upstairs VIP room at Crobar, and quite honestly, I’ve never seen anything else in this town like the Crobar VIP room back then and the energy we created. It was the most fun place I had ever worked. It was crazy every Saturday night. We were breaking records. People were going nuts. It was like a rock show. I’m going to bring that to Nerve, bring it back. I haven’t played on the beach for a while, so I’m fresh. I’m going to do something very special.

What other DJ’s do you think you’ll bring in?
Storms:  We’ll have a few surprises. We have a lot of friendships. Each one of us has been in the business for over twenty years. So, we have a lot of relationships with DJ’s and other people that will play a part in what we’re doing.

Rodolfe, what are your thoughts on the kinds of DJ’s and music you might bring in?
Pieper:  Finishing my prior thought, from which I was so rudely interrupted by both of you scumbags, I just wanted to say that this new music from Williamsburg—which we now represent unofficially, by the way—started with a revisionist view. It’s remixed, remastered. And it permeated into the best parties in New York, although not entirely. It’s just that there is a touch of a pigmentation of a revisionist ’80’s remixes.

You see it as a pigmentation of revisionism?
Pieper:  Yes, and only you can understand it. I can see you drunk on a Saturday night, about to be thrown out, cursing that the problem is this damned pigmentation of revisionism from the ’80’s...

But you are being serious about the music and the scene itself?
Pieper:  Because this is coming. People are ready for this change. All of the stuff that’s being played here now, you’ve already heard. The night needs a fresh touch of something new. And that’s what we’re committed to do. But you can’t just feed an audience new things. No one has the stomach for that. It’s not our job to educate the customer about the role of this new music. That’s the job of journalists like yourself.

What about the décor of the club and its visual aspects?
Storms:  Like Rodolphe said, there are going to be a lot of surprises. Like I said, my wish is that people will come in and see what we’ve created and then think we’re out of our minds. But by the same token, I want them to enjoy it and to end the night saying this is the coolest thing they’ve ever seen.

In terms of basic South Beach décor, there are the old funky places like Crobar and Level, then there are the new luxury lounges like Mynt and Prive. Which extreme are you skewing toward?
Storms:  I think we’re going to skew toward the pigmentation that Rodolphe talked about—whatever that is...

Rodolphe:  ...it’s really more than a pigmentation of revisionism from the ’80’s. What we’re really talking about, on a grand scale, is a pigmentation of fabulousness, like nobody has ever seen before. And it’s definitely not Williamsburg. It’s really like the revisionism of Area, the New York club that changed and mutated at all time. The idea is to remain inspired. But we will re-do, drastically, the décor—every month or every few weeks, just as Area did. We’re going to spend money, crazy money. (pointing at Sopena) His money! A ton of it!

Storms:  Our main premise is going to be change, so we can’t really say what it will be. It’s going to change all the time.

Pieper:  It will be based on themes. We will be doing different themes all the time. It will start as a club, so then a month later we will transform it into something else. It could be Andy Warhol-Land, or it could be a Carmen Miranda paradise, or it could be a supermarket, where you have shelves full of detergent —and you had better not touch that detergent because we will throw you out, again. But the idea is that you are always doing something new.

With your background as owner of some legendary New York clubs such as Danceteria and Tunnel, isn’t a lot of that based on your own personality because you’ve been there, done that and bore so easily?
Pieper:  Don’t blame it on me, because we are all as bored as you are, OK? You won’t get bored with us. Suddenly one night, you’ll think you’re in ancient Greece because you are surrounded by statues.

If you take such a radical approach to the physical space, don’t you also have to take a different approach to the people you hire?
Pieper:  To a certain extent. But you still need just a good cocktail waitress or VIP hostess to serve you your bottle. But yes, they will have a lot of personality. They also have to be able to look good in costumes.

The kind of club kids that you like—the young couple that was on the cover of New Times with you, what is their name?
Pieper:  They are the witches. Their names are Danny and Tania.

Why did you adopt them and will they be part or Nerve?
Pieper:  Yes they will, and I adopted them because who else would I adopt? You?

But seriously, why do you like them so much as club kids?
Pieper:  They are definitely quirky and unpredictable. And unpredictability is really one of the great things about clubs, because that is the old school. When you used to go to Area, or a few other places over the years, you never knew what to expect. Now, what happens, not only in Miami—Paris, and especially New York, it is the same—it’s completely predictable, so you have nothing to look forward to except the same thing. There was even a band once called The Same. Then they changed their name to Not The Same. It’s that kind of creativity that I’m talking about, a real scene, and one that changes constantly. By the way, Not The Same was one of the five thousand names we considered for the place before we came up with Nerve.

What were the other top contenders?
Pieper:  We also considered the name Sperm. And we were almost there. We also almost named the place Bent. And Alter. And my personal favorite was El Globo. I once worked at a club in Paris that was called El Globo. I always loved the name.

Then why did you settle on Nerve?
Pieper:  It means what was required to show our investor, Mario, the budget. Nerve means chutzpah, but chutzpah with a certain twist of evil.

Will it just be a pigmentation of evil or the real thing?
Pieper:  That depends on who the culprit is at the moment.

Since you want to be different, let’s talk about the clientele you want to attract.
Storms:  We want the best of the best of the clientele that comes to Miami, but that doesn’t necessary mean just millionaires driving Rolls Royces. He could be partying next to a kid who arrived on a skateboard. That’s the whole point. We want a mix. Everybody will bring something different to the dance. If you’re outrageous or eccentric, you bring your own different element to the party. It can’t be people in the same Prada outfits. It’s not about Prada. It’s about personality. We’re going to be so over the top and so wild that it’s going to take nerve to come here. That’s why we finally settled on that name.

It seems that the colorful old characters like the over-the-top drag queens and other weirdos are gone from the Beach now. How will you bring that back?
Pieper:  They’re hibernating, but they’re ready to come out of their caves and even their tombs and drag their asses over here.

Of all of the things that you considered in terms of really making Nerve a smash success, what do you think was the most important and meaningful?
Pieper:  I think it was Michael’s idea for an all-dwarf staff.

Storms:  I just want somebody different, and dwarfs can use the work. It also shows we don’t discriminate against anybody. It brings something to the party. If everyone in six feet tall and drop-dead gorgeous, that’s boring.

How long did the dwarf idea get discussed before Mario threatened to pull out of the deal as your backer?
Storms:  I wasn’t threatened, and I think that because I’m an equal partner, I should have the right to insist on an all-dwarf staff. I haven’t abandoned the idea.

What’s the drawback to being able to do it? Are there enough dwarfs in Miami?
Pieper:  We would import dwarfs from Paris. They are fabulous dwarfs.

Is that the single worst idea you actually heard? Is there any real, genuine possibility that when I come on opening night, I will be confronted by a staff of dwarfs?
Storms:  This is a serious issue. And it’s not over yet—I’m dug in on this dwarf thing. And I guarantee that there will be some little people around the place.

How will a dwarf staff affect your door policy?
Pieper:  Well, considering that the door guy is a midget, he won’t have that much leverage. People will just kick him around and everyone will get in for free.