Original subtitles

Saskatoon is a small city on the Canadian prairies.

We've got big sky, big agriculture, and big oil.

Nightlife here is very small townish.

Typically, it's country and classic rock.

So we decided to do things differently.

Sometimes on slow nights,

we like to take a little tour and see how the other clubs are doing.

First stop is gonna be a club here on 8th Street...

...and it does seem pretty busy.

Next club up here is... and it looks busy.

Even on our concert nights, we rarely get a cab stand like this.

Of course I see one of my bartenders coming out of there,

which I'm really not too happy about.

For many years, I've wanted to see the DJs I've always listened to.

From Benny Benassis to Paul Oakenfold and whatnot.

Chunk's vision to finally transform the club into a room...

...that we could make that happen in...

...and build a real, real actual big city nightclub in a small city,

I was like all over it and just needed it.

Yeah... is a little bit busy.

That's why I usually don't go on tours,

'cause I get stressed out and it kind of drives me a little crazy.

Three years ago, I would've never have thought...

...to go on a drive like that, because three years ago,

Tequila nightclub was off the hook.

We saw clubs in Los Angeles and Las Vegas...

and we wanted to bring that big city club experience to Saskatoon.

We literally put Saskatoon on the map for the world's best DJs.

Tequila was doing things that local clubs never did before.

Bottle service, dress code, VIP.

Three years ago, we opened Tequila,

and it's one of the biggest and most beautiful clubs in the province.

Hundred thousand-dollar lighting system...

...and the best sound system in the province.

It was a club where the DJ was the king.

We never told them what to play.

We probably put on 50 big shows, flying in DJs from all over the world.

When we opened three years ago,

we were doing nights of 35 to 50,000 dollars in sales.

One night, we sold every single ounce of alcohol in the club.

17.75!

I'd never seen anything like that before.

Now those 45,000-dollar nights have turned to 5,000-dollar nights.

We've put everything we got into this club and it's all on the line.

We've got one chance to take Tequila back to the top.

We need to turn this place around.

Yeah, it's all around that furnace. So...

Chunk is the nuts and bolts to Tequila.

He was the visionary, and he's the finance guy,

and a really hard worker.

He's also a total control freak.

Getting someone else to do it usually means it's not done right. So...

It's a lake up here.

I'm up till 4 AM at the club, and the next morning,

I'm up at 7 AM with my boys.

And my wife of 13 years, Natalie.

I drink a lot of coffee.

Get your head up, you jibber jabber!

Simon and I are great friends.

We've been in business together for three years now.

He's the face of Tequila. He's the front man.

He brings the party to the club.

This club is my passion,

and sometimes, I get a little too emotional.

Keep off cement. Get off my... ledge! Let's go.

I haven't had a night off in over three years,

and it seems almost impossible to have a normal relationship.

But that's not always a bad thing.

Oh, this is gonna be trouble. Pub life is a tough life.

On an average, we're losing right now. We absolutely are.

Like, when you go, you know, we spent, you know,

50,000 dollars on booze last month and we did, you know,

whatever in sales, it's not adding up.

It's... We're out 10 to 15,000 dollars.

Blair Anton is our new general manager.

He's got a ton of experience in this industry.

So we're really hoping he's the guy that can get Tequila back on top.

Kinda what I'm looking to bring to the club,

I know you guys have obviously had some success here,

but what I wanna try to do is maybe bring a little bit more consistency.

I think you guys spike a little bit.

Music, dress code...

...as being probably maybe...

...maybe two of the key things that we need to look at doing.

You know, moving away from the hip hop music,

bringing in a little bit more rock, little bit of country.

We're a bit against it, but...

It's something we've fought.

I don't think Blair gets Tequila.

He comes from a country bar background, and if we start playing country and rock,

we're gonna be like every other club in the city.

I don't think that's the right mentality.

I think that's a fair comment.

So if you think that way, then I think, maybe other people think that way too.

You'll have to sit back and you might not like...

...how something's going one night or for a week or two or whatever.

And you're gonna have to sit back and go, "We're gonna get there."

I don't know if Simon and I are buying into Blair's ideas,

but we'll try anything to turn this place around.

I think this weekend, I'll just kinda come in on an unofficial capacity,

just watch the room and the staff...

...and get a feel for a full night in here and see how the room works.

It's time for a fresh system and with you coming in, I think this is...

The opportunity's there.

We have... playing at the club tonight.

He's one of the top DJs in the world.

Trying to fix the CO2 tank, so we get a little bit more air pressure.

There's lot of work goes into preparing for a show like this.

Matt's been a big part of our stage production...

...and lighting production, and I don't think...

...we could do a big show without him.

Okay, clear, we're just putting it on.

-Cool. -Awesome.

Just go for the green room rider, yeah,

Everything else is for the hotel.

When we bring in big DJs, they always have a rider we have to take care of.

She can't buy Cristal.

-Is there a substitution that you guys... -Cristal, the champagne?

Yeah. We don't have either of those two champagnes in Saskatchewan.

I think all the DJ equipment's ready for you.

It's just the microphone and the monitors...

......in the front of house that just have to go in.

-That's HTCP? -Oh, yeah. Yup. Yup.

It's just the microphone and the monitors in the front of house.

We're gonna head out the back door.

This is the time where we try and get away quickly...

...to kinda make ourselves look good and come back, so...

We'll go this way.

Chunk would kill me if he knew I snuck away.

Try and come back in a few hours.

Go get our hair, get a little pampered, and do a little quick shopping spree.

...in Saskatoon.

He puts on a heck of a show. It's not only music.

He's an electrifying type of guy.

He matches the vibe of Tequila and that's why it's his type of room and place.

The people are right there in your face and partying.

And Tequila's the type of club that Saskatchewan...

...has never had before, and I'm proud of it.

It took me two and a half years, and we haven't stopped.

It takes a toll, but I mean, our bodies are slowing down,

but we're still going. So...

I got doctors that can't read my liver enzymes...

...because it's like a straight line up,

and that's been about two or three months ago.

I'm not gonna stop, so...

-Hi, Simon. How are you? -Hey.

Tired, hung over, the usual.

So, yeah, you're not telling Chunk I was here today...

...on a busy Friday afternoon to try and look pretty.

-Where's Chunk right now? -Working.

-Working. -He's working.

Hey, Simon. Simon.

Hey, Simon.

Simoni?

A lot of people would say my Rolodex and my contacts...

...and knowing how to throw a party...

...is what I bring to the table and what I enjoy doing.

I'm pretty hands-on, yeah.

Doing everything, just making sure everything's proper.

Simon's definitely more of the party guy.

He's more on when the party's rocking.

Since it's Friday, we're doing the rock star,

Friday night rock star hair.

Wait till you see this.

-There you go, your party hair for you. -All right.

The Friday night hair, bang.

Now we're gonna go grab some clothes and head back to the club.

All right, see you, girls. See you tonight.

See how good of a mood Chunk is in.

Really? Oh, that's not a good thing.

Let's go ditch the clothes and try and help out.

-Hey, I like your hair. -The Friday night rock hair.

I love it.

Where's Chunk?

He went to pick up the kids...

...so I could finish up this stuff that he asked for.

-He in a good mood, or...? -Yep, yeah, so far.

Yes!

He has to be, he's got the dog and the kids.

Kids will always make him happy, babies and puppies.

It's gonna be a good concert tonight, eh?

I'm pretty excited, man. I'm excited.

I can probably get a deal on them. How many in the group?

How much is it?

-They're 25 regular, but how many? -Twenty-five?

I'm just gonna sort of check things out tonight...

...and watch how the night goes.

Hey, Taylor, can I grab a bottle of champagne, please?

That's our last bottle? Great.

We had a table order champagne...

...and we were completely out of stock at the bar.

Ask Chunk if Simon could pop some wine...

...for the people upstairs, or see what we can figure out up there.

I had to do something to keep them happy.

And if that wasn't bad enough, my staff is completely out of control.

He'll worry about that. I need you serving.

-It's okay. -My doormen are showing up late.

Oh, you showed up tonight.

You're on your own schedule now? You're on your own schedule?

And my shooter girl is late.

I really need you to be... on time.

I'm gonna let my employees start running my schedule, maybe.

Seems like they wanna do that.

I can't help but notice some of the staff have zero respect for the management.

I'm getting pissed off. I'm not in a good mood.

-Are you gonna take care of that? -Yep, I'm just waiting for them...

So more people are coming or what?

This place is crazy. Now we have owners seating customers.

I'll take care of it, don't worry about it.

I can offer you guys a table there...

...and I'll try and get you the table by the dance floor.

If you wanna have a seat...

I have three hosts on...

...and I'm starting to get really pissed off...

...'cause I'm doing all the hosting and seating at tables...

...and managing these bottles.

So I get really annoyed.

This night has been one thing after another.

Next, I see Mitch dealing with an unruly customer.

As it stands right now, you're out the door.

Mitch is my head doorman.

He's 200 pounds of pure muscle and he doesn't put up with any bullshit.

Now go outside!

I pity the guy who messes with him.

I have to call it a night. I have to call it a night.

Another night's another night, but we gotta call it a night.

I think he's.... Get him out of my face.

Dude, you're the one being kicked out and tried to come back in.

You ever get the... point?

Guys, we need a cruiser around 1201 Alberta Avenue.

The guy in the black jacket...

This person's drunk, person's like hammered to what extent.

What happens by the end of the night, we don't know, right?

On average, we're losing right now. It's time for a fresh system.

I'm just gonna sort of check things out tonight and watch how the night goes.

He'll worry about that, I need you serving.

Don't... do that.

I'm getting pissed off, I'm not in a good mood.

Next thing, I start getting all these threatening messages on my phone.

This guy we kicked out got my cell number.

The big thing with people like this is nine out of 10 of them are full of shit.

But you never know which one's gonna come back.

I've been stabbed once.

I've been in the middle of 1500 to 2000 fights.

I was fighting the other guy and his friend stabbed me.

I crawled to my car and got in my car and drove myself to the hospital.

You never know what's coming on nights like this.

It's a night, that's it.

The night's finally back on track,

and suddenly, the fire alarm goes off out of nowhere.

We have a packed room and the fire alarm goes off.

We take this very seriously.

As soon as I heard the fire alarm go,

I headed toward the wheelchair ramp, popped the door open,

and saw Mitch out there.

That guy?

Yeah, they just pulled the fire alarm.

I see two guys that are running out,

so I was like, "Hey, hey, you guys. Hey, hey, hey!"

They turned around and they were like, "What, what?"

I'm like, "Come back, I wanna talk to you for a second."

I got two guys on foot, one guy's wearing a plaid shirt,

white shirt, just pulled our fire alarm.

I felt it was important to grab Chunk and go check the security camera...

...to make sure we got the right guys.

Yeah, I'm walking with them right in front of SIAST here.

I corner these guys at a parking lot across the street...

...from the club with the police on the line,

and it's two of them and one of me.

And you never know what could happen.

Just right in front of SIAST, yeah, guys.

That was them for sure.

After we confirmed that they were the perpetrators,

I gathered a couple of the boys...

...and we ran outside as fast as we could to back Simon up.

I'm alone with these two guys and they start to become a little edgy.

-We're not looking for no shit here. Th-at's cool, man, it's on my video...

What video?

On my video. Don't worry about it. Just chill out.

At this point, I'm wondering where the... my bouncers are.

-Why would you ruin a night in my place? -No, listen...

You know what that does to my business tonight?

Do you have any... idea what that... does?

-I'm just wondering. -They're all still in there right now.

No, they're not, 'cause I got a... fire alarm going off.

What do you think those people are gonna... do? Hang out?

Trust me, it's ringing. Cops will be here in two seconds.

Just chill out.

Now I gotta worry about my business that you just... shut down.

...man, we don't need this shit.

Guys, two fellows decided to pull our fire alarm...

...on their way out of the nightclub.

I don't think these guys realize it's a serious offence...

...to pull a false fire alarm.

It's five years in jail or a 10,000-dollar fine.

We don't really want these guys behind jail or to really take a massive fine.

As long as he knows that it's really bad to our business,

then that's all we care about.

It happens once in a while and it sucks.

So we're gonna head back in 'cause we're freezing.

They got the nice luxury of being in a nice, warm police car,

and I didn't, so...

Let's roll. We gotta roll this way.

-We're on it, man. -GTFO, man.

We're getting out of here. See you next week.

We were quite busy tonight, but from what I saw,

the bars were quite slow.

So you know, I'm actually quite nervous to see what the ring out's gonna be.

The moment of truth is the cash out.

They need this to be a really big night.

All right, here we go.

Guys, out.

Nicole, out.

I don't care. How many times have I said out?

-You want me to do that? -No.

It was okay. I didn't think it was a crazy drinking crowd.

Yeah, unfortunately, that type of music doesn't bring in the drinkers.

It's a lot of water drinkers, and they're here to dance and party.

All the beautiful people here tonight, Blair.

It's not the crowd I wanna shoot for.

I want a drinking crowd here Friday, Saturday.

That's where music comes into it.

We change the music, next thing you know, you got people drinking, line-up the bars.

They're doing shots, they're partying, and that's the plan. So...

Well, I was off on my number.

-How much? -We weren't off by much.

I guess by half.

What? Man.

-We lost close to 10 grand tonight. -Bars weren't very busy.

They didn't seem...appear busy.

No, they didn't appear busy.

Awesome.

When you spend a lot of money on entertainment like we did tonight,

you need a lot of liquor sales to back it up to be profitable.

It was really disappointing to see that the night...

...didn't live up to our expectation.

The club's in a little worse shape than I had anticipated,

and I've got a big hole to kind of dig myself out of here.

It's a little overwhelming to say the least.

I really believe that it's the nicest club in the city,

but unfortunately, it's not doing as well as it should.

So I really think it's crucial that Chunk listens...

...and Chunk makes the changes necessary...

...to really bring it up to where it should be.