Meet the new Mark and Bert! Teen trio rocking the party scene this summer

Those of a certain age will remember, perhaps rather fuzzily, parties run by Mark and Bert, the OG’s (originals) of the music and clubbing scene. (Ask our erstwhile editor. He assures Jewish News readers that he was there).

Fast forward thirty-odd years and a new trio of event promoters has risen to cater to the under 18s.

Jake Woolf, (17), Jake Rock (16) and Sammi Harris (17) are the brains behind ‘Illuminateeventz’, their own brand of party promotion for teenagers.

Their first party was held at Pryzm, in Watford, in June 2022 and attracted 350 guests. Fast forward to Valentines Day 2023 and that number soared to 800 teens from schools, both Jewish and non-Jewish, across London, Leeds, Manchester and Glasgow.

Rock and Harris are both studying for a BTEC in business at Yavneh College in Hertfordshire. Woolf decided to leave school to pursue his entrepreneurial ambitions and hasn’t looked back. His business relationship with the Pryzm group proved to be the catalyst the trio needed to get the ball rolling.

The two ‘Jakes’ are the DJ’s of the group. Before Yavneh, Harris was at Wentworth College, where he studied digital marketing and media; alongside his studying, he’s secured a part time job at the Apple Store in Watford, whilst also heading up the group’s social media and marketing efforts.

Rock, appropriately named, comes from music legend.

His late grandfather, Monty Babson, was a well known music producer and entrepreneur. The genes clearly run strong in the family, as Rock was playing piano from the age of four, and has now added drums and trumpet to his repertoire.

In contrast, Woolf laughingly admits that he can’t play a single instrument “to save his life” and that best friend Rock taught him to DJ. “Jake bought me with him during lockdown to places I could practice. If it wasn’t for me watching him, I wouldn’t have the interest. We really work well together.”

The Illuminateeventz brand was set up in response to the Covid-19 lockdowns that limited their outlets for socialising, impacting directly on their mental health.

“It was the first lockdown. Covid was a dark time for everyone our age. A lot of our group was effected badly,” Woolf tells Jewish News. “Staying indoors, not being able to get out. Really struggling.”

When they eventually came out of lockdown, they weren’t old enough to venture out to clubs.

“After the dark times,” says Woolf, “we chose ‘Illuminate’ as our name to bring light and fun stuff to do for our age as a group.”

“Our biggest challenge was finding the people,” says Harris. “We didn’t know how many people would turn up. To our surprise, we had about 400 people at our first event at Pryzm’s small vinyl room at that first event on 27th June, 2022.”

The word spreads easily with this generation’s unique mastery of social media; their first TikTok video had more than 20,000 views, that number increasing by at least 1,000 each day.

Business savvy, they don’t want to talk finances. “It’s not really about the money for us; we just want to throw great parties,” says Rock.

Keenly feeling a responsibility for parents to “feel comfortable” with their kids at a nightclub, they take security on the party nights extremely seriously. “Remember, we are 16 and 17 years old ourselves. It’s our number one priority,” says Woolf.

They’ve recently hired more door staff and established ID security systems to ensure those who have tickets get in. Those without, don’t.

There’s no alcohol sold on the night. “We don’t want people coming in drunk,” Woolf continues. “That”s not the impression we want to give off at all. Anyone who is too drunk to come in, isn’t allowed. We want them to enjoy the atmosphere and the music we play.”

With ambitions to “expand the market across the country”, their next event features ITV Love Island reality TV alumni and influencer Wes Nelson. It will, Jewish News is assured, be “epic”.

And, as the Jewish News team has been firmly banned by our own teenagers from stepping within a five-mile radius of the party venue, (unless of course it is to chauffeur them to it), we are happy to take their word for it.

Tickets (age restrictions apply) available here.