Life & Work with Austin Knight

Today, we’d like to introduce you to Nashville promoter, DJ, and talent buyer – Austin Knight. He has played an integral part in cultivating a thriving and vibrant electronic music scene in Nashville through his role at production and promotion company Full Circle Presents. Now, he’s here to share his story along with his latest venture, Night We Met, the first nightclub of its kind in Nashville.

Hi Austin, thanks for sharing your story with us. Maybe you can tell our readers some of your back story.
I’m from Wadsworth, Ohio originally. I moved to Nashville in late 2017 after graduating from college at the University of Pittsburgh. I didn’t know anyone who lived here, so it took me a few months to get on my footing in the city. That changed when I met John Hanna during their second Prism party in early 2018, which had just started and was the only house music-focused party I had found at the time, which was in the loft of their studio, Altru Creative. 

We initially just hit it off musically. We had similar taste in music, and he asked me to DJ the next party (I didn’t even know how to play on CDJs then). The Prism parties were instrumental in building and bringing together the small house music community at the time. Those parties laid the foundation for where we headed in the future. 

Through John, I met Blake Atchison the same year, and together, we started our Decompress party in Feb of 2019 at The Back Corner. I started as marketing director for Full Circle & Deep Tropics this same year. The consistency of Decompress & Deep Tropics, which brought national/international talent to the music city for the first time, led to the further development of the Nashville House Scene. At this same time, I was assisting in booking the talent/support for these shows and DJing many of them. I have been DJing since 2014 and have a duo project, Lux Velour, with Billy Cave. We (Lux Velour) also have our own party & record label, SOAPBOX. 

One thing we’ve always lacked in the city is a proper home base for house music, a true nightclub environment. Fortunately, that is all changing this March with the opening of Night We Met in the Gulch. My parents, Jim & Allison Knight, have been instrumental in building the scene here, being co-owners of Deep Tropics and owners of this new club venture. They have been huge house music fans for as long as I can remember and have been championing Music City as a new home for electronic dance music. 

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The biggest challenge for all of us at Full Circle Presents (Nashville’s leading promotion/production company for dance music events) has been that we have been a very small niche in Nashville for a long time, often feeling like we are going against the grain trying to build dance music in a place that is known primarily for country music. 

We’ve overcome this hurdle by building unique brands to introduce and educate people on different niches in Dance music, such as our Decompress parties or even through the greenest festival in North America, Deep Tropics: Music, Art & Style Festival. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe you can tell us more about your work next?
I’m a talent buyer, promoter, and DJ. In my five years with Full Circle Presents, I’ve been able to help develop the house music scene, booking several international, national, regional & local artists in various rooms in Nashville and building multiple branded parties to develop the dance music community here. 

This experience has given me an opportunity to deliver high-level & consistent music programming at Night We Met that is going to bring something new and fresh to the city. My passion is ultimately discovery and sharing artists, DJs & Producers that move me, with an open-minded community and environment. 

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Nashville will become a fully developed city musically, having multiple options, venues, clubs & lounges for every sub-genre and niche you can think of. 

We have momentum going here unlike any other city in the country in my opinion which will continue to breed demand for all sorts of live music options, especially within electronic music. 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nightwemetnashville.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/knyghts_/
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4dMppQABzRFaLGMYeXinOR?si=oMO6x9-7SVSewmL37kfCaA

Image Credits
Austin Friedline, Nick Letellier, and Tina Gionis