By Jennifer Colbourne (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: October 2, 2013
September 26 marked the third weekly SUS pub night, and according to SUS President Shane Potter, they are back for good.
Despite the controversy surrounding pub nights a few years past, Potter is optimistic about bringing them back.
“To be perfectly honest, we have a completely different culture here,” he stated. “I’ve got people studying in the back, I’ve got students working on midterms today, [and] I’ve got a lot of people here who are trying to enjoy the music … We’ve had some very successful pub nights where people did go out and have a good time, but people are getting home safe, we’re cutting people off when they get too much beer in them, and we’re really diligent about working with facilities, working with security, working with the university, to make sure we have a safe and efficient pub night.”
DJ Arise, a CIS student and Baker House resident, seemed to enjoy the opportunity to share his music, which he described as “a roller-coaster ride of electronic dance music,” with a wide range of beats progressing through the night from deep house to electro-house to trance. “I always have a good time playing the music I love,” he said. “It’s become my passion to produce electronic music and play it for people that may or may not have been around it. So yes, tonight was pretty awesome at AfterMath.
“I think pub nights are very important to relieve some stress, hang around your friends, and almost have a ‘day off’ from all the homework and tests during the week. It’s a very comfortable place to just have a good time and have some drinks with your closest friends and even meet new people,” he said.
Morgan Dionne, a third-year psychology student who has attended all three pub nights this year, shared his enthusiasm: “I love it! I like the music,” she said, adding that she thinks such regular social nights are important for “the community, [getting] students involved, and socializing.”
Potter was also eager to showcase AfterMath’s new variety of beers. AfterMath has also added ciders to the menu, as per student request. “There weren’t a lot of options for cider, for gluten-free [drinks]… so we’re trying to bring in some options,” Potter said, as well as “international beers for international students … [such as the Japanese beer] Kirin Ichiban.”
Bringing in a range of local beers is another priority for Potter. “When I think of a student pub, I think of having those microbreweries, those smaller breweries – you can go anywhere and get a Canadian or a Budweiser or anything like that. But when you have people that come in, and literally come in every day, for a Seadog, for a Steam Whistle, for a Chilliwack Blonde… all these nice local Canadian smaller breweries, it’s really cool … It creates a different culture here. It [makes] us different than a lot of the other restaurants or pubs around because you have unique beers and unique flavours and unique inventory that cater to what students want.”
“I think the variety of beers [is] pretty awesome,” agreed DJ Arise. “It’s always [a] good idea to have a choice of things that different students may enjoy.”
Though the events are slowly growing in size, Potter is confident they are going to get a lot busier once students are aware that a regular pub night is back. “If students [know] every Thursday from 6 p.m. until 10 p.m., they know that [they’re] going to go to Aftermath because something is going on – they may have not seen an advertisement for a specific DJ or CIVL … but they know that there’s something happening here, and it’s going to be lots of fun.”
In the future, Potter stated they will continue to bring in many student musicians such as DJ Arise. “It speaks to the whole mandate of the Student Union Society…we want to provide as many options and as many opportunities for students as we can. Right now I’m providing students with a good time, a break from their exams, a break from their day to day.”
Pub nights will continue every Thursday night at AfterMath from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
