King of clubs

Georgios Hatzimanolis

Sunday morning. 4.30am

It's dark and cold outside.

While most of Melbourne sleeps, or at least approaching the conclusion to their Saturday night out, the party is only just beginning for some.

The coolest club kids are slowly making their way towards the city's most cutting edge nightspots, where early morning clubbing has become so popular most stay home and rest Saturday nights so that they can be refreshed for the Sunday morning session.

At St Kilda's iconic Prince of Wales, steady streams of 'fresh' clubbers arrive through the doors, replacing the tired and depleted punters that arrived much earlier in the night.

Saturday's at the Prince means One Love. A party like no other.

Under the watchful eye of Frank Cotela and Peter Raff, short for Raftopoulos, One Love has grown to be the most successful brand name in Australian clubbing, complete with tours to most Australian cities and gigs as far as South East Asia.

Their mix cd's are in the top selling Australian dance compilations.

And there is little wonder why their devoted fans are snapping them up, much the same way they will line up for hours just to be granted entrance to the party.

The One Love DJ roster has included Australia's most popular DJ's, boasting the likes of Grant Smilie (TV Rock), Goodwill and John Course. Bankable names that are guaranteed to get the party going every time.

Amongst the ranks a group of young Greek Australian DJ's have also made their mark, including Bodyrockers star Kaz James and Derek K, who now spins at Famous.

In their absence another young "Greek from the suburbs" has stepped up to entertain the One Love faithful.

A promoter turned DJ, Nick Foley is irreplaceable to the One Love brand. His skills in both departments help attract large numbers through the doors.

And once in, he knows how to show them a good time. Ensuring they keep coming back for more.

"For us Greeks I think it's in our blood to party. We just love to have a good time and that's really what my job is all about, making sure people are having a fantastic time," said Foley, whose real name is Nicholas Flaounas.

He first realised he wanted to get involved in the club scene when he was fresh out of high school and eager to make money by doing something he loved.

Together with some friends he helped organise a large all ages event, which despite their hard work fell well short of its projected figures.

"We tried to be too big too soon and it hurt us. I lost $17,000, money which at 18 years of age I didn't have," Foley explained.

He borrowed the money from his brother and immediately set about making it back.

"I learnt from my mistakes and worked on smaller scale parties with minimal outlays to guarantee profits," Foley said.

As the parties started to grow in stature, so did Foley's reputation.

Pretty soon everyone wanted to be part of his events and his personal guest lists were far exceeding those of his peers.

The secret he says was simple.

"My parents always told me to be nice to people and treat them with respect. You will be surprised how much more you are appreciated when you follow those simple guidelines."

He moved from underage parties to nightclubs and before long he was getting involved with some of Melbourne's biggest parties.

"I was asked to join the Agent Mad crew with Brett Robinson and Francesco Nazarri and together we hosted the hugely successful New & Used parties," Foley said.

As he had envisioned, the club scene had now become a full time job.

But despite his success in the industry, his family was not keen on the idea.

"My dad is a taxi driver, he would drive people home on Saturday nights and see them affected by drugs, carrying on like idiots, he knew it wasn't the best environment for his son," Foley said.

Against his family's wishes Foley continued his work, first joining the crew at Seven Nightclub, before accepting an opportunity to join the One Love team.

His impact was immediate.

Foley brought with him a new group of patrons, disciples who follow his advice on where to go clubbing as if it were gospel.

This new, young, up for it crowd helped inject a new lifeline into the club, making it the number one destination on a Saturday night in Melbourne's house music scene.

"One Love is the place to be on a Saturday night. If you want a guaranteed good night out then it's the best spot to party," Foley boasted.

Part of the reason why kids flock to the club is to hear Foley's morning DJ sessions when he spins from 4am to close, whenever that might be.