Paul Hemming Talks About Inspirations And What To Expect From Temple Denver In OneEDM Exclusive Interview

Paul Hemming Talks About Inspirations And What To Expect From Temple Denver

Paul Hemming is an entrepreneur from California who has figured out how to fuse his passions for music and art in a captivating way.  The arrival of his second Temple Nightclub in Denver is shaking things up in the music community. Temple Denver has revamped the old City Hall Event Venue at 1136 N. Broadway with cutting-edge sound and light installations. One EDM had the opportunity to sit down with Owner, Paul Hemming, to get the inside scoop on what to expect from Temple Denver.

One EDM: What would you say is the most significant difference between Temple Denver and templesf?

Paul Hemming: Definitely the size and scale.  Essentially, what we’ve done is we’ve taken our formula and brought it here to Denver.  There’s a certain language that we’ve developed over the years, certain building blocks and tools that we are now using in this space.  This space is three times the volume, and we’ve had the benefit of 10 years of experience and experimentation to really perfect it. So Denver is getting the best of everything we have learned over the last ten years.

One EDM: It’s easy to see that you have a lot going on here at Temple Denver.  There is a cutting-edge light installation with 100,000 lights, and a new sound system. Tell us more about what you have going on here.

Paul Hemming: Sound is everything, you know.  My background is DJing; I’ve been DJing for 20 years.  I opened a record store in Oakland in 2000; there was the record store, a music studio, a label.  We threw parties that later evolved into Temple. So, music and sound have always been critical in my opinion.  That’s why we chose to go with a new Funktion-One system because they’re the best.  We were able to get two of the new 32inch subs. They are massive! We’re excited to crank our system and see what it can really do.

One EDM: What is your main market as far as talent buying?

Paul Hemming: Well, we definitely have a formula that we used in San Francisco.  But, we book all spectrums of dance music.  We book all types of EDM: house, bass music, even hip-hop.  We want to bring headliners from the past, present, and future.  So that’s really our goal is to book the best talent that’s out there.

One EDM: Over the last couple of weeks there has been some online turmoil or some controversial backlash about Temple Denver before the club is open and anyone has been inside.  Do you have any comments on that? And what do you believe make Temple different from any other nightclub in Denver?

Paul Hemming:  Well, yeah, I mean I’ve heard about that.  It’s unfortunate, you know I don’t really know what any of that is based on.  We are here to elevate the music scene even more in Denver.  It’s already an incredible music scene. We are really excited to be a part of the music community here.  One of the things that we are going to be doing, which I’m really excited about, is we are going to be setting up a bulletin board right at the front where any club can put posters up and promote their events.  I know there was some rumors about us like taking posters down or promoting in other clubs, which both are categorically not true.

So we want to implement the poster board to dispel that belief that we are competing aggressively in this market.  We want to celebrate all nightclubs, so we’re going to invite them all to promote in our club. In reality, Temple is so much more than just a nightclub. Really it’s an entertainment company; it’s a lifestyle company.  There’s the nightclub, a co-working space, a gallery.  I’m going to be taking this project around the world. We have the music studio, the label, all these different dimensions.  We want to be a part of the community. So it’s definitely my goal to resolve any issues or concerns that people have about us coming to Denver.  I think that, as time will prove, people will appreciate what we are bringing here.

One EDM: You are a self-proclaimed “Artrepreneur, ” and you have a deep love for science-  fiction. Tell us more about that has influenced portal entrance at the front of Temple Denver.

Paul: Well I think entrances are key, so we came up with this whole concept of walking through a space tunnel.  It’s like you’re going through warp-drive because it’s going to be motion activated and at the end will be a fog screen that is projecting a hologram that you will pass through and enter into our new dimension of nightlife. Tron, Bladerunner, both are big inspirations for what we have going on here.  I love cutting-edge music, cutting-edge art,     cutting-edge design.  So it just a natural fit. I think that when people are in nightclubs, they want to escape. It’s about escapism. It’s about being taken to another world, and that’s what we are providing here is an otherworldly experience of escapism and magic.

One EDM: So, the disco-ball is still not up yet, but it will be soon. We’ve heard some crazy things about this installation, tell us more.

Paul Hemming: Well its going to be an 8-foot diameter disco ball with 13 layers.  Like a cake.  Each layer is laid out like a bicycle spoke, and there will be about 100 LED lights in each layer. It’s basically going to look like an atom.  Like electrons and protons.  And it’s going to descend from the top of the club all the ways down to the ground level. So it’s going to come down about 30 feet.  Definitely excited to be able to unveil that in the next couple of weeks.

One EDM: Temple Denver is a 21 and up experience.  With that in mind, what kind of dress are you looking for from the crowd?

Paul Hemming: We want people to look nice.  We’ve put so much effort into the design and transforming this space.  I think attitude is most important, you know.  Dress code is not something that I think too much about, but I do know that we put some policies in place.  It’s really about the music.  I mean we don’t want people wearing hats and athletic gear or shorts and flip-flops.  We want everyone to look good while you’re in our spaceship dance hall.  Look good feel good.  We can’t wait for Denver to experience what we have created for them.

One EDM: Thank you so much for taking the time to sit down with One EDM.  It’s been a  pleasure.  We are looking forward to seeing what Temple brings to the community in Denver.

One EDM met with Paul Hemming before the Temple Denver Pre-Party on Thursday, October 27. At that moment, the main room was being worked on by everyone in the crew.  We were able to watch the Temple logo be put up on the wall above the main stage.  By the time everything is finished, Temple will be so much more than a nightclub.  Temple Denver will be part of the Zen Compound, which is four different experiences sharing one space. By night, the Temple Denver will propel Denver’s nightlife into space. By day, the Zen Compound will transform into a café, art gallery, and co-working space. These three pieces are scheduled to finish at the beginning of 2018.

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