Dominic Gorham - The Thief, President Obama, Jay-Z, Petter Stordalen, Hotellvirksomhet, Michelin

Så det er nett i veggene og i taket, og så er ballen i spill hele tiden. Og alle får litt skåret en del mål, alle får litt kjeft, og du får så ekstrem temperatur. Ja, virkelig? Ja, ja. Cool. Så det er dødsbra. Jeg er lyst til å spille med et team som kjenner hverandre, og de er veldig kalme. Ja. Veldig gode mennesker. Ja. Så vi spiller god fotball. De vil spille god fotball. De vil at det blir interessant og divers. Og ballen på bakken. Ja, ja. Ballen på bakken, ballen til fett. Hvis noe går feil, er det bare at det går feil. Vi prøver igjen. Ja, ja, ja. Godt, godt vibe. Ja, coolt. Og jeg spiller med så mange, du vet. Hvilken nivå er du på? Jeg var på Chelsea som barn. Var du det? Ja. Wow. Du, ta en mikke. Vi bare begynner vi nå. Men mikken kan, vil du ha headset på, eller av? Ja, ja, ja. Det er det beste. Wow, så går vi rett inn i fotballen her. Du, det er nydelig å ha deg her, Dominik. Så gikk vi bare rett inn i fotballen med en gang. Det er fotballpassjonen som bringer oss sammen, tror jeg. Jeg tror det. Musikk og fotball. Fotball aller først. Uansett. Og hvis du fisker også, så har vi en annen ting i sammenheng. Du, jeg så det. Jeg gjorde litt research før det intervjuet her. Og så så jeg en sånn reportasje fra Migrapolis, var det det? Ja, det er korrekt. På NRK igjen. Jeg visste ikke at du fisket. Ja. Og så vakkert. Med Bennett Lund, som forstås gikk bort. Men vi hadde en fantastisk morgen. Jeg hadde lyst til å komme opp om klokken fire i morgen til Fornebu. På siden her, faktisk. Jeg synes det var noe kjent der. Det er her, ja. Og vi gikk flyfiske. Det var en fantastisk morgen. Jeg så faktisk at du var litt brydd at du var der også. Jeg vet ikke hvor lenge dere har holdt på. Det var litt sånn at du stod og fisket, og alt var så rolig. Og så snakket vi hele tiden. Så du var litt brydd på slutten av utslaget. Jeg må forstå at fiske for meg er en slags religion. Det er min terapi. Så jeg gjør så mye av dette snakket. At når jeg går bort, jeg bruker termen fra Simon & Garfunkel-sangen, «The Sound of Silence». Jeg elsker «The Sound of Silence». Jeg finner det generelt stående i en rive, kastet en fly, og ikke hører min egen vokse, hva som er en absolutt glede noen ganger. Du er jo i en bransje hvor du nettverker, snakker med folk, du selger ting. Du er på hele tiden. Så kommer de til å bare... Det stopper ikke. Det er for sikkert. Ja, det er om kommunikasjonen. Og det blir mer og mer om kommunikasjonen. Fordi folk blir så langsiktige i deres profesjonelle liv, eller de grunner de bruker. De kan langsiktige seg fra folk. Og grunnerene vi bruker er helt annet. Å bringe folk tilbake sammen gjennom kropp, kommunikasjon, gjennom touch, gjennom skjønnelse, gjennom alle de elementene som har gjort, i faktisk, om jeg skal snakke om hotellet, i hvert fall, en enormt suksess. Fordi vi er... Vi er veldig informelle som et eget. Jeg tror virkelig at fremtiden av servis, og jeg gjør mange presentasjoner om dette, er i informelliteten av servis. Jeg var født til å servere. Det er et sitat jeg har sett godt til på Google. Jeg var definitivt født til å servere. Jeg tror virkelig på det. Jeg tror virkelig på det. Jeg hadde mine aspirasjoner av profesjonell fotball og rockstardom. Jeg gleder meg stadig på både. Men jeg tror virkelig på min vokasjon er det samme. Det er akkurat det jeg gjør. Jeg har funnet min ting. Ok, la oss ta det kronologisk. Vi var på Chelsea. For du spiller fotball... Vi begge skal spille fotball etterpå. Vi skal, vi skal, ja. Jeg skal bygge opp min team, Håsler, som er en av de største teamene jeg har spilt i mange, mange år, fordi de elsker å spille fotball. Er det en divisjonssystem? Det er en 7-a-side-team, og de har ulike kategorier. I faktisk var det veldig vanskelig, fordi jeg var med dem et par dager siden, og jeg så vetterne, og de vet at jeg elsker å spille fotball, og de vet at jeg elsker å spille fotball, og de vet at jeg er veldig inn i fotball. Og når jeg spiller med dem, de vil selvfølgelig at jeg spiller med teamet. Og jeg så vetterne, og jeg tenkte, jeg kan spille med dem. Og de tenkte, nei, du må være over 55. Og jeg tenkte, jeg er over 55. Og de tenkte, wow, det er veldig kult, vi hadde ingen aning at du var så gammel. Og jeg tenkte, jeg kan spille i alle tre kategorier av team. Og i all sannhet, jeg er ikke sikker på, hvilken divisjon de spiller i, og jeg burde vite det selv. Men det jeg vet, er at jeg gjerne elsker å spille fotball med dem. Det vet jeg. Det er som gutta på vårt lag sier, og de her har spilt tippeliga, og utlander, noen som har spilt, og høytemål, bare som at dette her er noe gøyest de har gjort. Spille sånn med kompiser, klokka fem på en tirsdag, og folk kan bli så sure at de går hjem fra trening før. Så snakker de ikke med hverandre etter treningen, det er helt fantastisk. Voksne mennesker kan bli sånn. Det er et eller annet spesielt. Jeg har tatt det til en annen nivå, fordi jeg er referer nå. Og jeg refererte de første to kampene. Jeg gav ut min første penaltid to dager siden. Og det var en penaltid. Jeg ble det inn, og det var 100%. Jeg hadde mine kartene klar i min pakke. Jeg har en jævla og en rød kart. Jeg har ikke brannet dem enda. Men jeg venter på tilfellet til å bringe de to ut for å spille. I really enjoy the refereeing part and I think if you have a love of football and you enjoy football you know a referee can make a difference to a game so I've started refereeing now as well which I really enjoy you've started to earn in football it's crazy to think about when we were young who is this judge who stands up for 200 kroner and judges so we can stand here and play football it's crazy to think about if I was to be brutally honest if I had my time again of course I'd love to be a footballer but the second choice would be a referee I'd be a professional referee and I'd be travelling the world refereeing hopefully at the highest level and thoroughly enjoying myself I'm sure I'd be hated by many because unfortunately referees are that's just the nature of the game but I really enjoy it I really really enjoy it I think so too when you talk about it maybe I should try it myself and give something back it's exciting to look at the team and try to stay neutral exactly the neutrality is really really good because you're just making decisions based on the rules of the game and also your interpretation of the game which is very important so people stay calm not just keeping people people under control is important but it's also interpreting a 50-50 ball it wasn't a foul it was a 50-50 ball they both went in they both put their heart and soul into it and it went crunch they both came out of it but it wasn't a foul there was no foul on either side it was just a 50-50 ball and a footballer needs you obviously need a footballer to kind of understand that and that commitment that you have to make to kind of make that tackle work because if one goes 70 and one goes 30 there's going to be pain on one side that's for sure so for me it's the interpretation of the game watching the game and there is I wouldn't say a grey zone but there is definitely a referee's interpretation that's very, very important to make the game flow I remember I was a football judge for some kids out on Kalvøya an ABC cup and I was like 20-80 nine-year-olds and I thought it was really, really hard but I think I have a bad level of concentration so I fell out of the game and suddenly I heard one of those fathers who was like Hey! What the hell? So I just took it and even then it was hard both to stay concentrated and follow me all the time not thinking about anything else but once you think about something else then you're done Yeah and then you have to be like Oh my God and then you learn a lot to look at the players' reactions which way you should because you are in doubt quite a lot when you judge Yeah, all without a doubt They get hell I mean I've seen parents give referees absolute hell and it's not fair in a way because the guy is just trying to do his job Okay, if he's not doing his job well that's one thing but there was a guy on that particular year it was two days ago there was a guy who was he was from the north of Norway and he had plenty to say for himself and I had to eventually it was an obvious handball I gave the handball and he was yakking away about something about handball I said listen you've got the foul shut up and he looked at me I said listen don't do it again mate because then then I'm going to come down on you so just shut up But you get a little edge with the English Oh, without a doubt This is the language of football But the player answers in Norwegian in English He got back to me in Norwegian but I gave it back to him in English Okay This is we could do a whole a whole program on this language because it's I've thought a lot about it It's very interesting You know what I've set up a point where I might not be able to talk about it in the end because I have a lot of friends from Australia and I got to know a lot of Englishmen in London not London but in Trondheim and a few different places in Norway and in contrast to other Europeans who also speak English but they changed very quickly to Norwegian while Australians and Americans and Englishmen they didn't do that because they had I think it's something like that it's a it's a it's a social edge with that especially out in the city in the social media you check out ladies get an edge in social conversations You sound a little cooler when you speak English and I think a lot of people dare to go over to Norwegian because they go over to gibberish Norwegian is a big difference Yeah As I say we could do a whole program on this because it's very it's very interesting and people do talk to me about it but I have a lot of people who know me I've been here a long time you know it's the truth and I speak very not that I don't speak Norwegian because I do speak Norwegian but I use very little Norwegian in my life if you like in my everyday life with my children I speak English with my wife I speak English with my colleagues at work I speak English and with the guests at the hotel I speak English I speak French as well and I do that quite a bit at work it's just one of those things that it's just one of those things that it's just one of those things My job relies predominantly on my levels of communication and I understand that and it's something that's the foundation of, of, of what I do. Um, and if it turns into a language that I don't probably completely command or have command of, I lose part of that skill. And this is the brutal truth. Um, and so, so to lose that for me is a major disadvantage. Um, and if I can get away, if I can work in the way that I do and communicate at the level that I do and achieve what I've done, I presume I'm doing something right. Now I don't, I don't understand any disrespect for a country in a language because I do speak Norwegian and when people come in and there is obviously a communication issue, I will switch to Norwegian without a problem. But, um, it's the, the level that I'm working at and especially the international level that I'm working at, it seems to be appropriate. It also seems to be appropriate for the properties, that I'm running at the moment, which is the Thief Hotel. Um, we have, I mean, predominantly an international clientele. We must be the most international spot outside of the airport, must be the Thief Hotel. So the language thing actually works and it, but it's always worked. I have a little anecdote where this is concerned is that I opened a club here called Buddha, Buddha Bar, which was back in the day. Legendary place. I mean, it was massive, 800 people and a lot of stuff went on. We did a lot of good stuff and it was a very interesting place. And I'd been working a lot in Paris and I was working with some French people and we used to greet people on the door in French. Now it's, it's like stealing what we have an expression at the hotels, stealing you away from everyday life. Your everyday life would be to be greeted by somebody in Norwegian, at a Norwegian club and say, hi, hi, velkommen. And you see how you laugh. We used to say bonsoir. And when you say bonsoir to somebody, it just takes them out of their everyday life. And suddenly they're in Paris and they're eating croissant and they're in a cafe and there's pastis and there's the whole pain au chocolat and there's boulangerie and there's a parfum and there's all these French things, the basic French things that kind of take your senses somewhere else. And we also used to comment a lot on the way that people looked because we re-appreciated when you come to the club, you've made an effort. You, you, you've, you've, you've taken time to come, you know, to get yourself ready. You bought a new dress, you bought a new pair of trousers, you had your hair done, whatever it may be. And we were very keen to kind of emphasize that first of all, we appreciated what you've done and that we'd recognized it. And it just, because a girl would walk in and say, I love your dress or really like your shoes, have a nice evening. And she'd be like, oh my goodness, he's got my shoes. Or in French or in any language. I mean, it didn't really matter in a sense, as long as you just took them out of their everyday life. And also you create, and I said another show we could do about this, about doors, how establishments are run from the door. Yeah. You run a club from the door. It starts at the door. In fact, it starts probably before you've even got to the door. But anyway, when, when you physically, it happens, it starts at the door. And if you can create that kind of charm, that kind of welcome, that kind of, that warm feeling, and especially in another language to somebody entering your establishment, I guarantee the effect inside the establishment is completely different. And we used to work on this and not in a cynical level or a manipulative level, but just on a sensual level. And when you start working with people's senses, your club becomes very sensual. And that's, you can ask for nothing more than a sensual club, because then stuff can happen. People interact in a different way, they groove in a different way, they drink in a different way, they socialize in a different way. And you have a very, very interesting arena to work with. Especially Norwegians, who love to, who change as soon as they leave. Exactly. And we used to get them involved. You'd shake people's hands, you'd give girls kisses on the door. And they were your best friends. And as I said, there's nothing cynical about it. There's nothing cynical about making somebody feel welcome. It's part of my industry, and it's part of what we do, and it's part of what we do very, very well. And if you can take that to a level where people feel extremely appreciated, they feel recognized, they feel like you are there to take care of them. And I've always taken this job very, very seriously. This is my profession. We had a little bit of a chat before we started about them having a drink. Mm-hmm. And you said, well, we're not going to have a drink today because I'm playing football tomorrow, tonight. I'm like, well, I don't drink in any case, so you can forget that. And you said, oh, that's why, yeah, you don't drink. I've never drunk, in a sense. I've tasted alcohol. I know the wines and the beers and the spirits that I sell. But I don't like the effect of alcohol. Mm-hmm. So, have you lived a normal life, not a normal life, but a normal consumption? Have you consumed alcohol on a normal level? Mm-hmm. Have you ever been drunk? Is that what you're asking? In fact, I can't remember the last time I was drunk. Well, I can probably remember it, and it was probably when I was 18, but I can't remember it because it was that long ago. Mm-hmm. And I'm a true believer in the natural sense of things and I don't believe if you're a teacher or a pilot or a road sweep or somebody who works in RIMI, you can go to work drunk or drink alcohol at work. So what makes my job any different? Just because I work in that milieu doesn't mean that I can actually consume. And I'm a real believer in the natural sense of if I'm happy, I'm happy. It's because I'm naturally happy. And if I'm sad, I'm sad because I'm naturally sad. Not because I'm hungover from the day before or the day before that or I said something stupid when I was drunk to somebody and I regret it or I did something with a girl that I shouldn't have done because I was drunken. That's not my way. It is a very natural. If I want to do something, I will be responsible for it. Possibly, have you had more evenings in the city where you've been on the other side of, or you've been on the professional side than on the clientele side? Have I been in that situation? No, you've had more. You've probably had more. You've probably had more days or evenings in your life where you've been on the professional side, you've been on the job side, in front of being on the clientele side, you've been out in the city yourself. Yes. So you've been much more, you've been, you've almost been more on the job side than you've been. Oh, without a doubt. Yes. You've been on a good life. Oh, without a doubt. Yes, yes, yes. Oh, I've, I've, I work every day. Mm. Literally. Where does that come from? Because you have a very special journey. Would you say that you're self-educated? Yes. You're like, you have sweet knowledge. Yes. Well, yeah, but self-educated in the sense that I put myself in a position where I was taught by what I presume to be very, very good people. So my education was started in London, but it should start at the beginning. Just a quick brief on the very beginning. I was adopted into an English family. I don't know my mother or my father. I've just recently found a photo of my father. So I know somebody who looks like me now, which is, which is, yeah, it's quite unique. It's really quite special. Where did that photo come from? My brother. Wow. So he has the facet. He's, he's, he is my biological brother from, from our father. Okay. But I've just found him, literally just found him. Shit. Yeah. But that's another, that's another story. The next part. The next part. Adoption. Transracial adoption. That's a super interesting one. Cause I was trying, my parents are both white and I was raised, uh, I got adopted posh in a sense. I was adopted into a house in Wimbledon, uh, which is a very nice suburb of London where the tennis tournament is. And, um, Chelsea, but that's, that's because it's South London. Yeah. That's Wimbledon weren't a glam. When I was a kid, Wimbledon, Wimbledon were an Ishmian league side. My first ever football game. It was Wimbledon against Metropolitan Police at Plough Lane. And I must've been nine, eight, maybe eight years old. Mm. I remember it to this day. And that was, that was Wimbledon took it. And they went up in Premier League. Then they went to win the FA Cup eventually. For seven, eight years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It went super fast. Every season they got promoted and now, uh. A whole drill to come. Exactly. And, and Bjørn Jelstin. Yeah, I bought the club now. Exactly. That's when it went. Bjørn Rune. Yeah. Nice guy actually. Mm. Anyway. Yes. Um, yeah, so the adoption was, yeah, I was adopted into this English family. I have eight brothers and sisters and there were, four of us were adopted. My mother gave birth to five. So we were a large Catholic family in a beautiful big house in Wimbledon. And so life was pretty dandy. I landed, I landed well, I must admit. I was very, very lucky. And, um, my brothers and sisters all went to university. I was the only child not to go to university. But then my father kind of took me through private education. And tried to get me back on the straight and narrow. Because I was a little bit wayward. Without going into too much detail. I was, I was a good kid. But I was, you know, I had my own ideas. And, um, to cut a long story short, I have a French grandmother. And he sent me to live with my French grandmother in Paris. And I moved when I was 18 from London. And I, uh, yeah, and I moved in with her. And she was an older lady. I mean, she was, uh, and I was her little grandson. So she wanted to take care of me. But I wanted to explore Paris and... And you did. I definitely did. Oh my goodness. Between 80 and 2000. I was there for like 18, almost 20 years. Amazing. Paris was absolutely on fire. Some of the best years Paris has ever seen. Were they the 70s and 80s? It was 80s. I arrived there in 81. And I left in 98, probably. 99. Wow. So many things happened in culture and music from then on. It was incredible. It was the end of disco era. I had DJ Cam. Um, and Miles, uh, Giles Peterson and David Guetta and all those boys. They was paying for me for like a beer and a... and 100 kroner shit I remember these boys they were and David Guetta in fact when I met David Guetta first of all he was a bartender in the Bandouge wow he was a bartender his girlfriend Cathy was on the coat check actually David came to stay in the hotel a couple of a couple of weeks ago and we had a little reminisce about Paris and the day and the Bandouge he was I mean he was he's a ledge now I mean the dude's doing he's doing pretty damn well for himself for a man who was standing behind a bar in one of the coolest but probably the coolest club in Paris at the time wow but it's so strange that there's no I think almost no Norwegian knows like once in the background that he was a house star or a DJ a super super French DJ before he broke through the USA yeah yeah yeah that almost no one in Norway knows exactly nice guy nice guy too really really nice time I heard that he's incredibly he's very passionate yeah but extremely very happy guy totally yeah polite friendly centered focused I mean he's he's a good guy but I know him from I've known him for over 30 years now yeah but I was lucky enough to meet a Norwegian girl and I should big up a girl called Jorunn who now works in Stockholm big up Jorunn big up Jorunn respect respect because I got a job in a in a in a fruit cocktail bar called Le Paradis de Fruits and it was it's still there still exists they have many different outlets in Paris but there was one very famous one in Saint-Michel and Le Paradis de Fruits was a place where you made fruit cocktail drinks and I was they clicked with me immediately they could see the profile was right this guy who spoke English behind their bar and making these fruit cocktails in this kind of tropical paradise of a restaurant and I did that for two years and Jorunn came in as a guest and we kind of just made friends and she was working in this really nice place called La Mousson La Mousson was a place where Catherine Deneuve and Jean Nouvel and all these really kind of cool hip Parisians hung out and she took me there she was a waitress there she said listen Dominique come and come and see this place because you're good you know you should maybe be doing something different than making fruit cocktails so I went to this place long story short again another big up is the Nicolas and Charlotte Testu they are half Swedish half French they still own a place called Le Fumoir now Le Fumoir is opposite Louvre it's a very famous cafe in Paris it's a beautiful place and any Scandinavians who go in there will actually if you look around you'll see the Scandinavian detail it's very French it's a French institution almost now but if you look at the detail you'll see little moments of Sweden in there or that moments of Scandinavia anyway this restaurant called La Mousson it was very cool and they saw me and they clicked again they said listen this guy could do something for us so I started being I started running the bar for them and I just I stayed with them and opened a new place called Le China Club and then I my real kind of my high point was when I opened my own place which was called La Casbah now La Casbah was a take on a bar what we call a bar à thème in French it means a themed bar but it was probably the first one that ever existed definitely in France and let alone Europe I mean we really went over the top and went to Marrakech and bought all these bits and pieces and fountains and tiles and doors and windows and we created in the back streets of Paris which was not a famous area at the time it's very cool now a place called La Casbah now the thing for me about La Casbah was it was all about the door again the front and we had it was like a dark alley and there was two enormous doormen one was called Abraham and one was called Mouhad Mouhad was from Morocco and Abraham was from Liberia I mean just two giants and there was this dark space two guys standing in the dark space and two massive doors behind these two guys nothing else and that was La Casbah but the trick was in fact when you open these doors you walked into Aladdin's cave I have goosebumps thinking about it and just the doors the smell of the doors these doors were made from cedar wood and I went back there I had a bit of a bad experience I went back there and I was very sad because it was it's not what it was but but the smell of the doors is still there I was almost in tears standing in these doors we create absolute magic at La Casbah as I mentioned before Le Bandouche was the place to go and that was David Guetta's place and I should tangent slightly on this one because there was there's a story about a physiognomist now if you talk about a physiognomist in Paris it's somebody who judges you physically now a physiognomist is is not a it's a great job in Paris because the clubs were very very protective of their doors and they were very selective And there was two famous physiognomists in Paris. One was called Marie-Lyne and one was called Jacques Henry. Now, Marie-Lyne, anybody who knows Paris, and I'm sure people who are hearing this will know, the ones who know the bandouche back in the day, Marie-Lyne was a ledge. She was the number one physiognomist in Paris, without a doubt. And she was incredible because she just controlled that door and you had to get in. I mean, you just had to get into the bandouche. And you stand outside and she'd be looking over and picking people out of the crowd. Yes, yes, you can come. Oh, no, no, not you. No, no, I told you. I told you two weeks ago, you're never coming in here. Go, you know, literally. Wow, brutal. It's the same thing I remember when I was at Studio 54 and they filmed it there. Same, same. Same. But the thing is, I did it at the Buddha. I did it at Buddha Bar and people who know Buddha know exactly what I did. I did exactly the same thing. But I suppose there's a way of doing it. She was pretty arrogant about it, but she could afford to be. She was married into the bandouche. You had to get into the bandouche. There was no two ways about it. In fact, they say, the rumor has it, she had a secret address. Nobody knew where she lived because she was so hated by some that it was almost dangerous. But she was there every night. Every night Marilyn was outside the bandouche. She had her boys with her. The big guys was there in case there was any trouble. And she would rule that dorm. And it created a magic inside the club because she was so, so dominant outside on this dorm. Anyways, where was I? The doors of the Casbah. Yeah, we had Abraham and Jack and we had a fusion of music called Jack Henry. He was this kind of number two. He was the second guy. But what we managed to do was create this kind of vibe around something that wasn't particularly trendy before. But we managed to hit it. Like hit the nail on the head. And sometimes these things happen. It's a bit like the thief. We just hit the nail on the head at exactly the right time. In exactly the right place when the market needed it. And we did the same thing with La Casbah. North Africans weren't particularly well viewed. It was like this whole thing about Les Arabes. And France wasn't too kind of cool with it in a sense. But the sort of mystic, the magic, the beauty, the colors, the textures, the herbs, the spices. It was there. All the elements were there to make something very, very magical. And we were brave enough to do it. And we built La Casbah. And where does that vision start? You have to have the right contacts. You have to have money. You've probably known a lot of people who have been there for many years in Paris. But it must be a gutsy move to start your own club in Paris. How much was the vision and how much did it get to you along the way? At that place? I believe like anything. You need to be highly professional, highly dedicated and highly focused. because but you need a big slice of luck as well i mean it's yeah it is it's i i luck for lack of i think you make your own luck i think if you are on that vibe and on that energy and on that in the kind of groove you create your own luck luck will come to you in a sense as long as you're serious about this you can't just start throwing fads around and then despairing and yeah that's cool no it's not anymore no i'm gonna change you you have to have some kind of foundation for this and when we did buddha of course buddha was you know i didn't buddha bar existed before and in fact i remember the thai embassy contacted me and said listen dude buddhism and drink don't mix so you gotta stop using this name and i'm like i'm very sorry but the place is called buddha bar and there are many buddha bars in the world so you know you can start a war with everybody that's entirely up to you but we will we will do this i didn't go that far but um i would be very happy to welcome them anyway the the idea was as i say to take the whole the beauty of north africa and create a club around it and we we did exactly that and i was working with a very another big up the guy called philippe des rois philippe des rois was a guy from club mediterranea genius this guy was an absolute genius he was brilliant with interior he was in brilliant with deco he was brilliant with creating the kind of visual backdrop for for a club it was he he he was he was magic this guy and i remember i did had a meeting with the staff and i put all i knew a lot of people in paris and so i chose all these people and i sat down with these people i said this is uh this is the casbah this is what i want to do you want to do this i remember looking at everybody thinking damn there's not one french person here and i rang philippe i remember picking up my phone philippe i got something to tell you mate i've got all the staff they're brilliant but there's not one french person in this in in the group He's like, Dominic, if that's your vision, then there's a reason for it. And I'm like, you're right. And when you look at La Gazebo, in fact, La Gazebo was a walled city in a sense. and everything was inside i mean there was every shape color form of of yeah everything was there so it was a real melting pot in a sense and i think we managed to create that in paris and that was that was legendary we we we yeah we were we were kicking the bandage all over the place palace privilege all the other clubs are like what the hell i was 24. also business smart but that's like a middle so you can you can see a little bit more now and and then but that you have that creative boost there and so much will and so much time then probably to be willing in the 20 years do you miss that time no no i don't no i don't miss it i i i really enjoy i i reminisce and i i still see people who are part of that who tell me you know what a wonderful time it was in fact i met many norwegians in my club in paris and so when i came to oslo life got a little bit easier for me because they knew what i did in paris they'd been to my clubs in paris and they'd seen what i could do wow and when i came to oslo they were like okay um what about doing what you did in paris here and the first person another massive big up massive big up sisel quello in the industry was a ledge an absolute ledge she's still in the industry and doing very well i hope i don't see her that often anymore which is a shame but i have a lot of respect for this lady because she started the place called aqua um oh you know you should never ask me but i barely know my own age i'm serious i'm so bad on this yeah that's about all that's about all exactly that's about it yeah i'm really bad on ages but it was when you come to norway don't even go there because it's you're asking the wrong questions because i was back and forth in the first three or four years i was back and forth between paris and i didn't settle i didn't i didn't really like it to be honest with you but aqua was uh top of my head don't know don't know late 90s you're in yeah that was the moose and oh No, it wasn't Juden. It was Trudy. Okay, there was a new Norwegian girl called Trudy. And she's the mother of our son, Dylan. Who's 25 now and a father of his own. He has two children. So I'm a grandfather. Wow. That's another story. But when I came to Oslo, there was Cicel and Kristoffer Vesberg, who is another very, very cool guy and a good friend. They were looking to start a restaurant. And if I remember correctly, they took me to a place on the back of Sully, which was some kind of tapas restaurant, some underground restaurant. It's like we're heading to a palace grill. Exactly. Keep going down from palace grill towards Aker Brygge. And then on the way down, there's a strange, Spanish tapas place thing that existed back in the day. I don't know what it is now, but it was underground. And their idea was to create in this location before the tapas place was there, it was a place called 360 or some degrees under the sea because it was actually located. And the name of the place was representative of its physical location in the city. And that was the idea. And they came to me and said, Dominic, do you want to be part of this? And I'm like, listen, let's have a look. So they took me to this place. And I'm like, oh yeah, cool, cool, nice. It's you guys. I like you guys. You guys are cool. So yeah, maybe let's do this. And then it didn't happen. And then I can't remember how long it was after this. Suddenly this thing, this aqua thing came along and Cicel came to me and approached me and said, listen, would you, will you do this for me? Will you front it? And I'm like, yeah, I'd be more than happy to do that for you. So I fronted, actually, we had a laid back section and a gourmet section. And there was a bar and it was kicking and everybody was there. And it was probably what I'd described as one of the first times that there was some kind of pizzazz in the city. Before, you know, I was going to the clubs, it was all pretty dark and you couldn't see if you were wearing Gucci, Prada or Hennessy Maritz. I mean, it was, but aqua was like a goldfish bowl. And you could see people, people would walk around and the girls would get up and go to the toilet five times a night just to show the new dress. And it was one of those really kind of, it became pretty glamorous. So there were a lot of clubs in Oslo. It was all dark. Yeah, it was all dark. It was all hallited and dark, you know. It wasn't glamorous. It wasn't cocktail-y. It wasn't she-she. It wasn't guest-listed. it was very pretty it was pretty kind of basic but cool you know head on and those sort of places yeah and Aqua was Cicely did something completely different and she took the idea from River Cafe which was a very cool place in London and off we went and we absolutely rocked the city it was brilliant it was a very cool time and big up to her because she saw that what I did in Paris I could duplicate basically to a certain extent in Oslo and I worked with some really good people there there were some really really nice people one I'm a big up this isn't going to be a big up show because I've got I've got a big up a few people here there's a girl called Magda Magda who now owns Le Benjamin in Gronluka I remember coming into just you know coming from Paris and working with some some really good people and I I was kind of frustrated in Norway because I didn't see people seeing this as a profession what I was doing they saw it as a job they could do between jobs or they made good tips so yeah I can do this I can do that but she was proper business this girl I was like man you are good and not only are you good you have an understanding of this of this business and this profession and it just goes to show what she's doing now she's she's one of the best restaurants in town she's a top girl so big up Magda have you seen any other places and clubs in Oslo that have gone the same after you came to Oslo and did the things you do that you've clearly seen that have inspired you or the things you've done or that you've taken with you to Oslo I think they definitely took inspiration in possibly the service presentation music because we we went out on a limb we were doing stuff and playing stuff that wasn't as I say it was more like the buddha-esque kind of thing where you can kind of mix up things lots of different types of music and people have a really good time it's like escapism in music basically it's not just funk and soul but they didn't they tried yeah they tried some of them tried the door policy one but that's a difficult one it's a really difficult one because it takes somebody to do it and somebody with enough kahunas to stand and take the rough with the smooth I mean you get you know you get 90 kisses a night but you also get some people who just don't like you because you have to say no you have to say no there's no point in having a door if you can't say no and you have your own own vibe in the door it's a little bit it's very static to come in and you get your own own rhythm because you did Cosmo in Vika and I think that's what I got in my 20 years instead of 20 and that was very new for me that you took it out because you were so used to standing in a queue it's very Norwegian standing in a queue even your tour that was my anecdote in fact was the queue I remember I had some pretty good doorman these guys who'd been working Oslo for many years and they were like no no the guy's in the queue he's waiting and I said yeah but he's in a shell suit and he's got a beer in one hand and a sausage in the other and he's in my queue he ain't getting in it's never gonna happen he's approaching the door with completely the wrong attitude but if he comes back tomorrow he freshens himself up and he's got a little good thing going on and it doesn't take much it doesn't take much to get yourself into a club you just gotta show that kind of I say certain respect in a sense and also a certain understanding of where you're going and that you're gonna actually add something to this environment I've had people I've had the poorest people in the world and I know I've had some boys on my doors oh my goodness me I can't big up them because they'll get insulted because they had nothing at the time and actually there's one of them who's doing really well in New York now he's a big photographer he used to come to my door every night in Paris and I'm like oh man not you again yeah man yeah let me in man yeah come on man this thing oh let me in and he was very unique and not just the fact that he had felt my feelings but I'm a great believer in the fruit salad if you look on my Instagram profile it says a bowl of bananas is not a fruit salad your bowl of bananas is not gonna make an exciting evening you need the apples and the grapes and the pears and the passion fruit and the mango and the papaya to make an exciting fruit salad that's just what you need and a club is exactly the same so I would be doing this and and juggling and trying to find that combo that would make an interesting evening and an interesting clientele inside a club that would create the magic and he was one of those people as I say he's now a very famous photographer in New York but back in the day he had nothing and I used to I used to give him a bit of a hard time on the door sometimes I'm like oh man not you again no man alright come on man let you in man yeah yeah go on and he'd get in and he'd create a vibe he was a he was a very unique dude he was very super creative and you know you need those people it's not just the guy who can buy the bottle of Dom Pérignon that interests me whatsoever it's in fact the opposite because the Dom Pérignon guys they're flooding to your club It's the ones that will make that environment interesting that you need. And that's what I look for. That's why I do, I work so hard with The Thief, inviting the people you probably wouldn't expect inside The Thief and making them feel welcome at The Thief. I did a presentation for... Thank you for this meal, Bernardo. No, no, no. I think about guests. But not guests who are necessarily going to bring you massive revenue today. Because I do a lot of work with universities and with students. And I'm actually on school's curriculums now because I've taken so much time and effort to welcome the students into the property. I do literally a two-hour presentation about marketing, about brand building, about informal service, about The Thief, about the whole industry. And I anecdote, I quirk, I tangent, I do loads of different stuff. And then I take them on a tour of the property, show them the house. And you can see. I get letters back from teachers on a regular basis saying, you don't know what you've done to these kids. You've actually taken them to another place because, first of all, they felt welcome. And this is The Thief Hotel that they've heard so much about. It's the most expensive hotel in Norway, which it probably is. And all these famous people stay there and all the business people are there and it's all this and that. But that's our foundation and that's a reality, which is true. But it doesn't mean... It doesn't mean you're not welcome. And I try and emphasise to this. At the end of the presentation, which takes a long time, a lot of effort and a lot of talking, I say to them, now, what I have here in front of me are 35 ambassadors of The Thief. You are now 35 people who've been to The Thief, you've smelt The Thief, you've tasted The Thief and you've probably met The Thief. Now, it's up to you now whether you like it or not. In fact, it's entirely up to you. But you now know, instead of hearing the story, oh, yeah, my brother's friends, girlfriends, brothers, uncles, cousin went there and, yeah, he was a famous guy in the bar. That's not an opinion of The Thief, that's just hearsay. What's really important for me is these people actually come to The Thief. And so I invite them now, teachers write back to me on a regular basis, can we come back again? And I've had them for six years now. It's cute. Yeah, it's fantastic. I absolutely love it. And I think the most fun, actually, I have, in a sense, is actually working with students because they're like sponges. I've had teachers come back to me and say, listen, you don't know that that class, you've just taken on board, they were an absolute nightmare and they never listened to me. But they sat there for two hours listening to you. I'm like, well, I don't know what it is, but... It sounds to me like it's something that goes into all the things you've said now. It's this welcome. Yeah, welcome, mate. How important that is. I do the five-point test with the students. And I do the whole, I create a scenario around a business person who's coming to Norway. And I give them the five points. And point number two, is when you walk into the property, what should you feel? You walk inside the doors of the Thief Hotel, what should you feel? And I want one word. I stand there and I stand back and I'm like, oh, give me that word now. Warm and yeah, I don't know. And they're sort of mumbling away and I'm like, what's the one thing you should feel when you walk into your home? What's that one thing you should feel? What's that one word? And you hope that somebody's, well, it's actually welcome. Yeah, welcome. Welcome. Welcome, welcome. It's the foundation of our industry, welcome. You cannot go wrong if you're welcoming people into your property. First of all, because you've laid the foundation. And you can see, and I do the five-point test. And there's five words and five things. And it's very, very simple. And I did a presentation actually for a young form of African entrepreneurs and business people. And a girl at the end of it, she came to me and said, you make things sound so silly. It's very simple with such clarity. And I'm like, well, it is simple. And there is clarity to this because you don't have to complicate life when it comes to the essential needs of people. It's not complicated. You can call it whatever you want. You can paint it in whatever color you want. But the basics are very, very simple. So a mix of welcome and first impression is probably also one of the important details. And that's why I position myself. You'll see when you come to the hotel, I position myself by the door. That you can't get past me without saying hello or me saying hello to you. And that's another thing we have that steals you away from everyday life. It's probably my favorite expression when the hotel is concerned. How do you come up with that? Don't say like the consultants, seminars and post-its on the walls. No, no, no, no, no, no. Well, I can't give credit to that. I give credit where credit isn't due, so I prefer not to say. But I have to big up one more person on the Big Up show. It's a girl called Siri Learning. Siri Siri Siri learning learning this girl I mean we're the closest thing to a married couple who aren't married because we we have a genuine love for the industry and we have a work rate that's second to none and we have a deep understanding of each other and Siri was the person she was Petter's right hand on the Thief Project Petter Stordal Petter Stordal exactly who I should big up as well big up Petter because you're the man trust me you're the man he's not your boss but he is I didn't say that because I didn't say that because he's my boss I say it because I mean it I could do a whole program on Petter Stordal I mean that's what I think oh my goodness we should take our own podman here what a dude that man he's got it going on he really is yeah we well not as much as I'd like to because we have a good time every time we have a chat and he's the man's just mad busy but when we do we kind of look in each other's eyes and I say what I've got to say and he says what he's got to say and then we kind of leave it there but there's one thing I will say about him is the level of emotion he can create around something that belongs to him which is his company is phenomenal I've never seen anything like it he is a public speaker of excellence when he just lets his heart out and he will he'll stand on the stage and cry I've seen him I can say this because I know it's true and I was there he talked about his sister back in the day and his sister's his sister's gay and he had a he flew in all his leaders and management and and he brought us into an arena and he he always opens this seminar it's a thing called Vickle it's it's his it's his thank you to all his people every year for what they've done and it's a great gathering and it's a black-tie dinner and a party and seminars and keynote speakers this is legend in the industry this is this is a very special moment to be invited to Vickle and he opens Vickle every year and he was up on stage talking about how his sister struggled and then was brave enough to come out and tell people exactly who she was and what she represented and how she felt about herself and and being gay you know and he said back then it wasn't trendy it wasn't no fashionable thing to be gay and she was brave enough to do so and I remember he was in tears on stage it was one of the most emotional things I've ever seen because he's he's genuine and he's honest and he can take you to places with him and you can feel his pain you can feel his joy you can feel his sorrow you can feel the emotions that he has and I equate that through very much through work that we're doing and work that where we where we find ourselves in this industry and I always equate it to vulnerability I think being vulnerable is a fantastic thing because we can all build this wall around ourselves and call ourselves this and call ourselves that and give ourselves fancy titles I'm the GM I'm the CEO I'm the this I'm the that but at the end of the day the vulnerability means that you're open and you're open for a kiss and you're open for a slap you can take both and if you're willing to take the kiss you should always be willing to take the slap so the vulnerability of our industry I think is an absolute charm to work with because you're being very very honest and people can feel it so the example would be if somebody came to me and said oh Dominic yeah I just stayed in your five star hotel I've just arrived it's a five star property and I'm like well it's very nice of you to say that we're a five star property but I shake your hand now and on the way out shake my hand and tell me how many stars you'd like to see me do because I don't own five stars I don't have five stars on my lapel I'm not like five stars on the back of my shirt calling me the five star five star Dominic I'm not I'm only as good as the guy checking in now so my vulnerability will be to say to you it's up to you this is exactly your call because I try and avoid using those terms that put me in a position of not just a position of strength but a position of full fake strength because there could be a guy checking in now is having a horror at the thief hotel what does that make me does that make me a five star hotel not in the slightest so I am vulnerable every single day I wake up every morning vulnerable but I love that vulnerability because it makes me strong and it makes me want to go to work it makes me want to deliver oh I'm alive like Petter I mean it's the same thing he's the man he puts himself in a position of vulnerability oh he lives but it's also from the outside from those who don't work with him but I see him on the mainstream press and stuff and for my own part I think it's a man who gives a fucking spesielt i opinions i oppslag, hva folk måtte mene, synes, han gir fullstendig faen av, han har en sånn regnjakke utarbeidet regnjakke hvor det bare preller av men han er samtidig sårbar det er noe menneskelig herlig med han det er jo noen av de her folk liker han så godt jeg tror det jeg tror du skjønner hva jeg mener jeg tror du skjønner hva jeg mener jeg tror du skjønner hva jeg mener jeg tror du skjønner hva jeg mener men jeg tror også at han har en dyp forståelse av hvor han kommer fra og en dyp forståelse av hva det er som det er ikke å ha veldig mye og jeg tror at når han ser mennesker som ikke har veldig mye som strider, nummer en strider hardt til å oppnå og da oppnå han har mye respekt for for jeg vet hvor du kommer fra og jeg tror, som du sier ikke å gi en døm kanskje litt mer med verden som står utenfor, for den kan være ganske brutal å ta deg når du virkelig ligger ned han er den første som skal fortelle deg han ble skrudd av noen mennesker og han har kanskje hatt noen problemer med menneskene i sin business-karriere og det er bare når du kommer til toppen av ditt spill det er uansett at det har vært noen det er naturlig ja men jeg har sett ham gjøre noen ting jeg har sett ham interagere med mennesker på et nivå der han belongerer til dem og de belongerer til ham og du ser tre og en halv, fire tusen mennesker de bare står og applauderer fordi han gir det alt han gir det alt og han vil, som jeg sier, den vulnerabiliteten er noe jeg virkelig oppfører i menneskene for du ser mange av disse menneskene på stedet og det er alt meg og jeg tar en bære og de går jeg lar ingenting tilbake men han lar sin søn på stedet og for meg er det en massiv kvalitet er han like intens eller? når du snakker sammen sånn på tomt og sånn ja, ja, ja det er ikke noe sånn nei, nei, nei ok nei, nei, han er på det tenk deg han som er midtbanespiller da han måtte jo vært helt sin her i et annet liv han var som Vidal du vet den mannen med Mohawk som spiller for Barcelona han var den slags spiller tattoo, sweat give it everything man, you done kjefter alle på en positiv måte yeah, exactly might have been the best player on the pitch but damn, he'll let you know he's there ja, ja, ja he will let you know sånn positive Roy Keane oh yeah exactly, yeah, exactly exotic Roy Keane let's say, yeah, yeah men hvordan har du for nå jeg leste jo en liten artikkel for tidligere i dag at nå har det har blitt seks år på å komme i pluss altså nå har du endelig begynt å tjene penger på hotellet ja men har Petter vært lik sånn er han enda litt mer fornøyd nå som liksom ting har snudd litt rundt at ting at penger renner inn altså skjønner du altså er det en forskjell fra de første årene til nå da hvor dere sannsynligvis har satt systemet ting fungerer dere har lært mye dere vet hvor dere er på vei igjen I think first of all when when the thief yeah, when he came with the idea of the thief he wanted to do the thief it was because he has many properties already across Scandinavia but to be possibly recognized as a great hotelier you know one of the greats in the industry he has 197 properties at present you need those flagship properties that really stand out one thing is having volume you know the other thing is having that little extra and I think the thief was his was his shout out to the world that I'm good at what I do but now you're going to see something a little bit special and he pulled every rabbit out of every hat to make this happen I mean he's worked with some of the best people in the industry the hotel was it's a stunning property in a stunning location we have the whole art profile with the patrons of the Astrid Fernand Museum he is a patron so we have the artwork on the property we have you know beautiful rooms there's it is a beautiful property and it was truly recognized as one of the great properties in fact we were nominated we were voted as the best hotel in northern Europe in Condé Nast Travel er det du som tar imot disse folkene her som Michelin folk og de som yeah yeah yeah that's my job basically I'm on meet and greet when these guys arrive it's me they're going to meet first and that's where Siri comes into the game Siri learning who she reaches out to me to these people and it's one thing is saying I've got the best chocolate cake in the world the other is actually having the best chocolate cake in the world because people will turn up and say oh yeah where's your chocolate cake there it is have a taste you know And you're like, damn, that's the best chocolate cake I've ever tasted. And that's what we would choose. That was our goal. You can't go out to these people and invite them from around the planet and say, listen, we've got one of the finest hotels in Scandinavia. They're like, okay, great. I'm coming. Let's see what you've got. And when they come, they're like, damn, this is special. And that's what we created. They don't just go around and write notes and be quiet. They express their enthusiasm. No, they're on a different level. As I say, this whole informal thing is probably where I have to kind of land this in a sense. When you're dealing with informality, you're dealing with people on a different level. And you can take them and say, listen, let's just have a breakfast and just chat about this place. And that's exactly what you do. And you share food. I love sharing food with people. I do a lot of breakfast meetings. I think it's a great, great leveler. People love breakfast. You sit down and have a breakfast and you start chatting away. And I could be talking fishing, football, music. Fashion. Yeah, exactly. With them. Because you don't. I mean, it's amazing the level you can sort of interact with people on before you even started talking about business. And I can't even start. There's no point. Because there's been so many links and so many friends in common and so many things we've done and so many things we've experienced at the same place that may be different. Anyway. So Siri, as I get back. I get back to Siri because I have to end this kind of where she started it. In fact, she will go out and contact these people. And she has a fantastic network. And she will let these people know there's something special happening in Norway. And this place is called The Thief. And they're like, oh, I'm assuming it could be somebody at Vogue. It could be somebody at CNN, BBC. It doesn't matter where it is. I mean. And they click. There's something clicking about Norway. And it's been great for us. Anyway. So they come. And I meet them. And we have this whole informal thing going. And one leads to two and two leads to three. And we have a breakfast. And blah, blah, blah. And they say at the property. They absolutely love it. I know they're going to love the property. It's just giving them that extra kind of little something that just kind of puts them in the cake. You divide them really up a little. Yeah. But I'm there. Things like I live on the property almost. So I'm generally there at all times. So whenever they're coming in from dinner. Did you have a nice dinner? Yeah. Where did you go? Oh, did you meet someone? Yeah, I did. What are you doing tomorrow? Let's have breakfast. There's this whole. You just interact with people. But it does take a lot of time. And you have to generally. As I say, I live on the property practically. So that's another. Yeah. That's another. How would I put it? That you get people to visit. Is it almost like that? Is it like that? Do you feel that you're very proud to be able to invite almost home to your other homes? Yeah. Kind of. Kind of. But I believe to do what we do. Because what we've done at the Thief and with the amazing people that I work with, you have to dedicate your mind, body and soul. You just have to do it. There's no other way to put a property on the map that we've done with the Thief. Because in all honesty, we were up against the great properties. The Grand Hotel, the Continental, the Bristol. And those guys have been there for a long time. Yes. And they are your competitors. Oh, big time. Big time. But a competition, as you know, as a footballer is the wonderful, the best part is the competition. I love. I'm highly competitive. You give me. You give me a race, I'll join it. So they're great properties, but they've had hundreds of years to establish themselves and their brands. And they have the location. They have Ibsen and Munch and all these, you know, quintessentially Norwegian things. We've been there for six years. Excellent. And we've absolutely moved mountains. So it takes a dedicated team and it takes a team of people who really know what they're doing to achieve that goal. But it also takes, as I say, the word dedication is priceless. Probably the foundation is you, you know, I have children, I have a wife, I have a house, I have. Don't leave. Yeah. I have another life. But they understand what I do. They truly understand what I do. And my colleagues at work, there's a few who are Andrea and Jens and Yala and people who have really given their mind, bodies and souls to this property to make this a great, great property. Yeah. And you need those people, you truly need those people. Otherwise, it just won't work. I've seen a very good video. One is a presenter and one is very popular on YouTube lately. It's Simon Sinek. Have you heard of him? He talks about a lot of what you're up to and has a statement of one thing. He means that the customer does not come first. He has his own video support with everything that's a little interesting to listen to. So it's interesting to hear if you agree or not. But he says that you do not want to get involved. Yeah, that's not true. It is true. It is true. And there's a balance somewhere along that line as well. But what we do take extreme care of is that we have a school. I'm actually the teacher at the school. It's called Thief School. And anybody who works at the Thief has to go through the school. And I give probably a three to four hour presentation of the property and I interact with that person. And we truly try and install the sense of being a thief in that individual, regardless if it's from dishwash or from, you know, new food and beverage manager. In fact, who I'm meeting. Identity. Totally. Culture. Identity and culture. And that culture is infective. And you realize that when people understand the level they work. And the expectations, then it just takes them. It's like playing in the Premier League almost, you know. You know what's expected of you. You don't join Man U without thinking, damn, this is Old Trafford and Alex Ferguson sitting in the stands. And I've got this red shirt on. I'm running out on that pitch. I've got to deliver. I mean, that's just the name of the game. If you don't want to play for Man U, then go and play. Play somewhere else, you know. But when you decide to put that shirt on, when you decide to put the tee that we wear, which we're very, very proud of, that's an obligation. And also, you're mine. As far as I'm concerned, you're a thief. And you are a thief 24-7. And another thing we could do, the whole thing about is brand representation. I am a brand representative. And I believe that my colleagues and the guys who've really been successful at the thief, they're brand representatives. They'll be known as thieves. And it also stands you in very good stead in future life. Because when you've... When you've actually left the thief, when you're out on the market looking for a new job, that name starts ringing bells. And people are like, damn, let's get that person in. Because then they can hopefully tell us how it was done. How did the thief manage to achieve what they've achieved in such a short space of time? So it's important to get the people to think more about just the paycheck. To think that it's a bigger... It's a bigger honor and a bigger responsibility. You'd like to think so. There are, of course, you know, we don't live in an ideal world. And people, you know, have different... Priorities. But at least being a thief at the thief and working there, you have to have a completely different value and a completely different feeling than working at a, let's say, regular hotel. Yes, I would definitely think so. Yeah. So it's probably more passionate people. Yeah, but yeah, you try. You try. It's not easy. The market isn't easy because there's not an abundance of people who... Because this is an industry where you, as I said before, I spend... A third of the year, I sleep at the hotel. Wow. So a hundred and... At least 120 nights. Do you have your own room? Yeah, I've got my own room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. How does it look in there? Looks like any other room. Does it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Have you done anything with it? No, no, no. I spend so little time in that room, there's no point in even personalizing it. No, no. It's just a... Yeah, it's just a room. High top? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. But I'm in the middle of the artists. Okay. Not to give too much away. But I generally position myself... Where the artists will be. So I'm surrounded by the artists, basically. So when you come into such a huge entourage with Rihanna, you're... I'm in the middle. Yeah, exactly. But do they book like... Yes, yes. Whole floors? It can happen. How does it work? From the first event to... Do you talk to tour managers and then... Or do you compete with other hotels to land deals and stuff? They generally have agents who book their tour, first of all. And the agent will generally decide where they're going to stay. If the tour manager had a particularly good experience at a hotel, he will then tell the agent, this is where we want to stay. And that's what happens with us. We get guests come back, basically. Once that's been established and we know when they're coming and how many rooms, then we can set it up and deal with generally the PA. Because the PA will know... About PA? Personal assistant. Okay. Thank you. The PA will generally know what the artist likes, doesn't like, and all the idiosyncrasies that go with it. So once that's been established, then it's... The thing is, once you've created that sense of, one, understanding, because they know I understand, and two, delivery, then you're good to go, basically. But once, of course, we're in the house, things can happen, things can change. But that's why I live on the property. Simply because you're there 24-7. And I could go home. I live, you know, up by... Du har noen slags rektor og syvende far i huset. Big up, Lina. Thank you very much. Big up. Big up, big up. Sett rundt øverst på big up-listen. She should be at the top. I should have started with her. Yeah, there's the understanding of what I do and how I function. She allows me to do that. Without her, I wouldn't be able to do it. There would always be something that would be trying to drag me away from what I do instead of her taking care of all of that. Saying, just do what you do. So I try and make up for it when I come home. I'd love to be part of home and do the homely thing. But in all honesty, I've been doing this all my life. I've always, and probably my children, probably when they get to the age where they can express this, they will say, yeah, dad, you worked. Ja, her var du. Dette laget du det. And I'll have to live with that. And I do live, and I did a presentation the other day. And my example was, my role model was my father. And he was a very hardworking man. He woke up in the morning, he went to work, he came home, and we had au pairs at the time. And I remember trying to run past the au pair to say goodnight to my dad like eight o'clock in the evening when I should have been in bed. And that was a very important time for me to see my father. But that was probably the only time, I did see him, apart from the weekends. And on holidays. We always went on some really long ass holiday. Always traveled the world with him. And that was always a pleasure. But my example was a man who worked very, very hard. And I just took that as being the norm. And I've always been that hardworking man. If there's anything I can thank him for, anything, if he's looking down on me now, I know he'll have his hand on his heart and say, I did good. That boy, he works hard. And how long do you think you're going to hold that coke in? Do you think you're going to hold this tempo here and work with this? I've got a new project in the pipeline as we speak. A side project? No, no, no. Well, I can't talk about that. No, no, yeah. That's the problem. Yeah, that could be a little... With a little alcohol as well. That's a whole top. Fuck. But you didn't have to kill a hotel before you started with Thief, right? This is my first hotel. Isn't that right? So now... I don't know. Er det noe helt annet nå, eller? No, no, no. Another hotel. Fotballklubb? No, oh, I wish, I wish. Chelsea? No, it's for sale, but I ain't got the money. I haven't got that kind of money, that's for sure. Du har ikke møtt Abramowitz? No, never, never. Synd. No. Nå har han flyktet til Israel, har han ikke? I've heard. Han har ikke vært der sin tolte på sted. They were all letting back in England. Well, they were all letting back, but he can't, he's got this lack of, you know, residency, and there's all this stupidness. Anyway, I can't, that's just politics, I don't want to get involved. Nei. But it's not had a good effect on the team, I don't think, not the greatest effect, but we're still, last night, respect, got a little 1-1. Kjemper om fjerdeplassen. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Got a little 1-1, and hopefully in Stamford Bridge we can bury them and go to the final and meet Arsenal, who might beat Valencia in Spain, or they, I don't know, that's another one, I can't get involved in that one. Chelsea har blitt Liverpool i nå. Vi kjemper i Europa-liga nå. Ja. Ja, det er vondt. Ja. Men tilbake til, jeg synes det var interessant det der med artister på det, jeg skjønner, du kan jo ikke snakke om spesifikke artister som har vært på besøk hos deg og sånt. Nei. Men jeg kom på en jævlig bra historie med Per Osmundsvog. Åh. Han fortalte meg om, kanskje ikke jeg skal si det her. Big up Per, actually. It's a big up show. Big up Per. You the man. Jeg har invitert han hit, da. Has he been here? Nei, jeg har invitert han. Really? Han sa, jeg må ha noen øl før jeg kan gå på. Top boy. Ja, ja. Top boy. Per, respect to you, man. He's a good boy. Han er et vanlig råfyr også. I like Per. Kanskje ikke jeg skal si det. Jeg kan vel si det hvis han har sagt det til meg, jeg tror ikke det. Han hadde en jævlig bra historie på Prince, Rest in Peace. Okay, okay. For det lurer jeg på, for jeg hørte noe sånn at de drev å bygge dem Grand Hotel. De modifiserte Grand Hotel til å passe Prince sine behov. Så de, vi hørte en story på det, at de hadde to rom, de bygget dem to toppsvitter eller noe sånn. Så hvis den ene ikke funket, så hadde de den, ja, det stemmer det. Har du hørt noe sånn? Yeah, I've heard. I've heard. Yeah. In the mix. Her er det en professional in the mix story. Loyalitet. Yeah, no, there are stories. I've got a few, but I, yeah. What I would say And generally, they are very, very nice people. I've met them all from Obama to Jay-Z to Rihanna. And those are the ones I can talk about because they've been in the press and they've obviously been saying that the thief, I mean, it's there. Yeah, I had dinner with Jay-Z, had dinner with Damien Hirst not so long ago. Yeah, nice, nice people. But just to come back to them in a sense is that a lot of people have a lot of opinion where these people are concerned. And if you take, I don't know, take one guy, for example, say, yeah, just say Jay-Z, for example. That dude has a world tour of 50 dates, let's say. Every date, there's 50,000 people. He's doing the big stadium tour of America, let's say. Now, my job when he comes to my hotel and in my environment is to make sure that he can deliver. Now, if he says to me, Dominic, I don't give a damn about anybody else. I want to sleep all day and I want chicken and rice and this and that and get this into my room and I want it this way and that way and not that way and I'll do it. Because the repercussions of that guy not being able to do what he should be doing, which is on stage, performing, could be that disappointed 50,000 people and that starts with the people. Then you're talking about transport, then you're talking about hotels, then you're talking about the guys who sell popcorn, then you guys sell the sausage and the guys who sell the beer. There are thousands and thousands and thousands of people and money linked to this guy's performance. So my job is to make sure that he can perform. And I don't care what anybody says. Oh, yeah, he's so special. He just wants chicken with that and not on the bone and he wants rice. You're damn right that's what he wants and that's exactly what he's going to get. And you've got to deliver it. That's what I want. That's your job. It's not that he's being precocious or being unfriendly or being rude about something. He's just being very specific. And I love that. For me, it makes my life really easy. I say, what do you want? Because the trouble is that the issues generally come when it's the people around the artist who start pulling strings and saying what thing, how things should be. In fact, when the best thing to do is to go to source, go to the artist. But do you always have the opportunity to do that? Isn't it often to start with... That you relate to another person to begin with? Yeah, yeah, yeah, true. You do. But if they trust you, you can get very close. If not as close as you need to be. Yeah, you can get there. If they trust you. But then you're very much part of the entourage. You're very much part of the operation. And you're very much part of making sure delivery is as it should be. But if once... If you know them, then you get in very, very quickly. If they don't know you, they've generally been told about you. Because all these tour managers talk, and I like this, when you get to Oslo, talk to Dominic. And that's the only person. Once again, I'm in the hotel, I'm there 24-7, they have one point of reference, that's me. And it's 24-7. Anything they need, any time of the day or night, call Dominic. It sounds like Prince artists would have gone to Dominic Graham at Grand Hotel and said, I would have built them fleas on the bathroom. It sounds like an apparatus. You know, I think those days of... Modificating? Yeah, the days of madness. Because you've heard of artists wanting room to be changed, colour, and they won't come until the room's right, white or pink. There's other points of focus now. Because they're not selling records, they're touring. And touring is probably the most lucrative part of their industry now. So they have to deliver. And they generally have to behave. They're not throwing your TV out the window anymore. Those days of that rock and roll era, seem to have gone there. They're business people. They realise that there could be a... The longevity of their careers is maybe not as it was before. And ultimately, delivery. If you're touring, you've got 50 dates. You've got to deliver 50 times in 50 different places. And that's a job. But do you have some sort of template for yourself, something you operate after? I meet them here, take their speech here, and then I invite them to lunch, and then I talk to the artist there, and then I show them the room. You don't have any... You don't have a routine, is that what you're saying? There is a certain routine. There's a foundation in that you need to know when things are going to happen. You need to know when flights are arriving. You need to know who's on pick-up. You need to know who's on reception. Those things you need to have very, very good control over, because then you can control movement. And once you know that, where they're going to be at any particular time, it makes life so much easier. But there's no template for this. You just... Once again, if it was a template, I probably wouldn't have to do the 24-7, but the 24-7, it's an organic thing. And you never quite know. You just... You never quite know what curveball they're going to throw at you, you know? Fantastic guy. What a guy. That was probably one of my highest points ever. Yeah, yeah, yeah. We had a chat. We talked golf. Golf, yeah? Yeah, we talked golf. Golf, because I'm a bit of a golfer, a bit of an amateur golfer. I emphasize on the word amateur. Kisking and golfing. Oh, I love. It's my father-in-law, actually, who plays, so we spend time, our bonding time is on a golf course, and it's very enjoyable. And I caddied as a kid. My home is close to a place called Coombe Hill, which is one of the richest courses in England. It's a beautiful course. And to make money, we used to go and caddy and carry a bag around 18 holes, and I used to get £5, 50 kroner for 18 holes. And you could do two rounds a day if you started early. And you'd go home with £10, and this is 40 years ago, which was a lot of money for us then. But I remember Coombe Hill, mate, what a place. And the caddy master, we had a caddy master. Can I tell the story? Yeah, sure. Okay. The caddy master, he was a guy from the north of Norway. No, sorry, the north of England. And the caddy, that real kind of prestigious golf club. And if you can imagine, there was like this sort of pit where all the caddies stood, and there was a stairway going up to the golf course. And it was like the caddy master stood at the top of the stairway and looked down and chose the caddy who he'd be appropriate for the golfer who just presented himself at the first tee. And I remember my first round ever, and every caddy had been chosen. There was nothing left. There was... Only me standing there. I promise you it's true. And the caddy master was looking under every rock to see if there was any other human being apart from this guy who was standing down there. And I don't mean to sound funny, but it was a black thing. I was the only black boy there. I'm sure they'd never had a black caddy there. Never. Actually, I've often found myself in that position of being the first black person. I was the first black member of Hazelmere Fishing Club. Wow. Ever. I was 15 back then. And there was a prop of carp fishing club. This is how it all started. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, it wasn't a bad thing. It was just the thing. It was just life, you know. What did you think? I'm used to it. Yeah. I'm so used to it. When you're raised with white parents, you start life strange. You start life... You never think about it. No. You do because people are always remarking that when you're walking down the road with your sister, for example, who's white, they say, oh, Dom, who's your new girlfriend? I'm like, no, that's my sister. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's your sister. Yeah, yeah. But I'm serious. You get it. We got stopped at customs. My parents got stopped with me. The worst ones is the hotels. When I was young, you know, being a young boy, you know, 15, 16, and staying with my father who was a rather large business person and, you know, obviously didn't look anything like my father or who they expect to be my father, we used to... I'd get stopped by hotel security saying, excuse me, sir, what are you doing? Oh, I'm living... Yeah, but, yeah, do you live in the hotel? Yeah, I do. I live... That's my father. Yeah, yeah. And it was kind of like the red boy, you know, the little, you know... So for the forklaring of... Yeah, you had to explain very often. The worst, actually, the worst one was my sister. I have a sister who was adopted as well. She's the same. She's mixed race. She's half Nigerian, half English. She's beautiful. She's really stunning. And every time she went for dinner with my father, it was the same thing. This beautiful mixed race girl sitting at a table, with this white business guy. And the way it was like, oh, go on, go on, son. Yeah, nice one, mate. Oh, pretty girl. And we... That's our father. I mean, we got it all. Anyway, so we got used to this. It's just... We just, yeah. We accepted it to a certain extent. But the canny master looked down, looked in the pit, couldn't find anybody under any rock apart from me. And he was like... And I remember his words. He's like, oi, darky, come here. Darky. Darky. I was darky. And in the north, oi, darky. Darky, come here. I was like, oh, why? And I was like... I'm like, are you talking to me? So I climbed up the steps and I walked onto this course. And Akum Hill is a stunning course. It's a beautiful course. And as I say, it's one of the richest courses in England. Not that the golfers are the greatest golfers in the world. They're just very, very rich. And you carry the bag. There's no trolley. There's no car. You carry this bag around. And I remember, I remember climbing to the top of the stairs and there was a lady standing there. And he literally said to her, listen, this is all I've got. This is it. And she looked at me and she's like, all right, no problem. And she goes, pick up the bag. And I sort of picked up the bag, kind of half wrong. And she's like, yeah. She says, just come here, come here. She goes, have you done this before? And I'm like, well, sort of. She's like, listen, I've got a competition here. She was actually the women's open golf champion. Wow. And she was training at Coombe Hill for a competition. She was training for this weekend for a competition the following weekend. She goes, listen, I can see you're not very good at this. But just bear with me, and I'll bear with you, and I'll try and teach you how to do this. And in fact, she taught me over 18 holes how to caddy. Wow. So that was an incredible experience. There's a bit of film on the script there. The caddy, yeah. It would be. And I ended up, yeah, being not the last guy to be chosen after a few weeks. And then after a few months, I was a decent caddy. And I learned to play golf. I learned to play golf by watching golfers. So I just picked up a club and a ball and just started swinging. And I had actually another big up, Darren Webster-Clark. Darren, he is a golf pro at the golf club I'm a member at now. And he rectified my stance and my hand position last week and put me on a simulator to test my swing. And he was like, damn, this is. And he's like, I don't want to take too much of your funky swing out because you've got your own little way going on there. So I can't really rectify, but I can do this and this and this and rectify these moments. And then he took me to the golf range. I was smacking this ball and the 7-iron was going like 120, 130 on a regular and straight. Nice. I was like, damn, this is good. So my last golfing experience was wonderful. So I'm now, I've applied for my green card and I will, if I have to. I don't have that much time to play golf because it is a pretty time-consuming activity. So you have a certain level on golf. It's not just recreation. When I turn up on a course, I'm there to win. I don't care who you are. I'm there to win. And I'm serious. I don't care who you are. I'm there to win. And one time during the 18 holes, I will hit a shot better than you. If it's just once, I don't care. And what you said to Obama, wasn't it? Oh. Well, he was actually very curious about, the history of Schufholmen and why we were called the thief. And this is another great part of our storytelling is that we have a name and a profile and a brand that demands a story. You can't get by calling a hotel the thief without having the story behind it. And that, of course, people are very curious about. So it gives us that chance to kind of interact with people and explain why we're called the thief. And the way the name's written and the whole profile and culture around the thief and how we do things. And he was fascinated. He absolutely loved it. And we managed to get him out, of course, because he spends a lot of time in. And the freedom of being out is obviously limited for him. And we managed to take him out on a beautiful walk in the sunset on the fjord. And I can't go into too much detail about it. But what I will tell you is that we were spotted by three people. The first was a family who lived in the area who filmed us and sent the footage to NRK immediately, as soon as they, because they couldn't find him. The footage was sent straight to press. The second was a jogger. And it was really funny because as you're walking towards people, you know how people function. And you know how the setup is. What the fuck? Exactly. And as he was jogging, he could see us. As he was running towards us, he was like, oh my God. But as a jogger, you can't stop jogging. Because as soon as you do, security is asking you questions. So you have to keep jogging. And the second one, in fact, sorry, the second one was the jogger. And the third one was another jogger. And the same thing happened. Jogging seedlings. He almost fell in the fjord. He was really jogging and trying to keep his head, trying to keep an eye on what was going on. But that was very nice because it gave him. It gave him the chance to relax. He had a very nice cup of coffee and just walked around in his casual gear. And we had a casual conversation. You could see he really, really relaxed. And then I can say this bit because it was such a nice walk that we couldn't go anywhere else because that's where the people were. There were a lot of people waiting to see him. And we couldn't go that way. So he said. He said to me, can we go somewhere and continue this walk? And I'm like, well. We can't really, but we can do that walk again. And he was like, let's do it again. The same route. Yeah, we did exactly the same thing, the same route. Lovely. It was beautiful. That was, I... It was just the two of you. And of course, with the team. I can't even go down that road. No, no, no. It wasn't just us two, that's for sure. But in the conversation, it was just the two of you? Yes, yes. I was called by his PA to try and give him a chat. About where we were and what we were doing. And how we were doing it. I can imagine that you came in on him like this. The type of time you used, like 10 seconds, it was right in the same time. I'm sure of that. Yeah, we started chatting. You have that skill. He's a super nice guy. What a nice guy. And the more you meet these people, the more you realize that there's something very unique about every single one. And they say, yeah, yeah, him, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. I've met him. And he's true. Truly, very, very unique. I think he has that skill. And also, I think it was a pleasure for him to actually click off and be able to click into something completely different. Because, I mean, you know, the sun was setting. The fjord was beautiful. It was like a fishing trip. Yeah. I should have taken him on one, actually. Yeah, that would have been fantastic. But it was a beautiful evening. And the setting was right. Very often you find this in Norway. I'm absolutely privileged, in a sense, to be working in such an incredible environment. Because, you know, our hotel could be on Oxford Street, for example. You step out of a hotel onto Oxford Street, I mean, it's like night and day. You do not have the luxury or the freedom or the space or the clean or the fun. Or the fresh or the crisp or the tranquille. There's nothing about Oxford Street that would represent a relaxing environment. And it has a direct effect and impact on the property. So us being located on an island, which we are, has a direct impact on the way people actually function inside the property and the way people sort of interact. It's an absolute joy. It really is. It really is. It's a privilege to be surrounded or be given such a great tool to work with. Such a brilliant property to front. Do you think you're going to leave one day? Yeah. Unfortunately. One day. Is it that you have to? Or that you're just... You sound like you're going to take your life into consideration. So you're restless, then. No, I'm... I'm... I'm... I'm highly competitive and I love a challenge. And I get really good. The bigger the challenge, the better I get. And I know Petter and his team, they know that. Petter has something to say now. Yeah. I hear that. He knows. We had this conversation some time ago. And there is a new property that we are... That's in the pipeline. It's not a secret. It's been in the press. And it's a place called Somero House. And it's in Somero Gata. And it's in... It's in Soliplass. Ah. And it's a beautiful building from the 1920s. And he's brought in two outstanding interior designers. One from Brooklyn and one from London. Who are world renowned. He's gone all in on this property. I mean... Where? On Soliplass? On the little... On the height on the other side of the cafe? Or are we... No. If you know where Vescon Bad is? On Soliplass? Yeah. No. I don't know. Okay. If you're standing... You know... Do you know... Is there a bath on Soliplass? Yeah. If you're standing... You know the two tram lines that go across Soliplass? Yeah. If you look on the other side, it's the old NAV building. Okay. It's a beautiful building from the 1920s. He's bought the whole front, basically. Okay. And they're in the process of creating... Actually, Siri, who I spoke about earlier, she's head of this project. And they're building a hotel that's going to absolutely blow this city. Wow. It's an incredible project. I'm very honored. I'm honored, in fact, to be part of it. And Jala, who was the ex-director from Thief, will be the director of this new hotel. So I'll be working very closely with him. And he's a very close colleague and a very good friend. And a very exceptional individual. He's the best in the business, basically. So we will bring in... This is going to be a crack team of some of the very, very finest. Yes. But is it going to be up to the same level as Thief and Continental and Grand? Is it up to there? Yeah. Oh, it's hard to... It's hard to say because I couldn't do it unless I believed it would be better. Which is a very hard thing to say because the Thief, as far as I'm concerned, is the best hotel in this country. But I truly believe if I'm going to do this to the best of my ability, this will be better than what I've done before. Otherwise, I wouldn't do it. I can't function saying, I can't give my everything because I can't make it better than that. No, I can. And I will. It's an incredible project. What I'm really happy about is to give people an option in the city. They have places to go. They have a choice between properties, great properties. And it's also enhancing the city. It's bringing the city to another level where people are flying in from London, New York, and Paris. They are experiencing wonderful hotel experiences as good as they would find anywhere else in the world. It's not because you come to Norway and say, ah, it's going to be a little bit Norwegian. No, no, no, no. That doesn't wash anymore. You cannot do that. You cannot think that way. You have to think that this will be the greatest hotel experience that they can experience anywhere. Well, I don't know. Is it super high luxury? Is that one of the first things you think about? And what you think about with Succeed and the Thief and the, shall we say, the oversteer range hotels, is it a little bit of a high-conducture dependence that the hotels are doing well? Or is it just such a big advantage of international guests that it's a market for having so many five-star hotels in the city? Well, you just used the two terms that I try and avoid using. One is luxury and two is five-star. I know. I believe that there is definitely a market for it. We've proved it with the Thief and we will prove it again with the new hotels and new projects. There's America Linear just opened up. The Hub is now 800 rooms. I mean, there's another. There are properties coming into the city and properties that are of a standard and of a quality that would easily... be on a par with some of the great hotels in London, Paris, New York or wherever else you want to talk about. Because you have to be at that level now. You cannot be... There's no excuse, in fact. We're charging top dollar for our rooms. I mean, if you walk into the hotel and you're paying anywhere from 3,000 to 30,000 a night for a room... You've got to deliver. Exactly. Yeah. They were the monopoly, basically, on the market. They had the two spots. But I feel like before, the biggest A-star or most important person was at Grand. But is it practically better to put security and logistics out at Thief? Are there any advantages out there? That could be an issue for them, yes. They could be. But they've dealt with, you know, they do the Nobel Peace, so they can deal with the best in the business. They don't have an issue. They don't have an issue with that. What I would say, they're not on an island. They're not surrounded by water. That's for sure. They're surrounded by Kaliwan. So it's a different... It's like the Oxford Street. But, you know, Oxford Street light. It's more than... When you step out into the city, you step out into the heart of the city. When you step out of the Thief Hotel, you step out into Schufholmen. You have the Astrid Fernand Museum. You have the beautiful Oslo Fjord. You know, you have these fine eateries and you can wander around and you can just relax. It's a whole different vibe. And that's, I think, has been one of our enormous strengths of the property is to have that kind of profile. It's to just put yourself in a position and in a location where people can still travel. They can get from A to B. But they want something different now. They're looking for that experience that takes them a little bit away from the hustle-bustle. It's a hard word to replace. That's why. Yeah, that's it. It's a super hard word to replace. It's just a little... I don't know if we can compare it, but I feel that everyone, regardless of whether you say that you live a very ordinary life without having those big ups and downs, I think people just think of taking a taxi. I think people just think that it's a little luxury to take a taxi. Don't you think so? That's the feeling. You see a lot of things like the University of Oslo. They have access to electric cars when they work there. There's a lot of opportunities to get around there. There's something about that. I think there's something about that that's... I don't know. The worthiness of taking a taxi, that you sit in the back of the car, pay top dollar to get from A to B. Yeah. That it's a kind of... Maybe not a luxury, but it's... It's... Yeah. Do you understand what I'm saying? Yeah, I see what you're saying, but I also think that people, even though they have money, they're looking for a new experience. I'm convinced that, as I say, when we started talking about the informality of service, it's the approach. You can charge as much money as you like for whatever it may be, but it's the approach. It's how you actually deal with that person. How do you look at that person? How do you interact with that person? What are you giving that person? What's the experience they're experiencing? What is the value of what you're providing? And I'm a great believer in value for money, real believer. So, of course, selling the most expensive hotel in the country is a challenge. But I truly believe we'd give value for money. I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe so. So, there is a logical equation there and the equation for me works. If it didn't work, I wouldn't do it. But I truly believe if you're going to pay 10,000 to stay at the hotel. Sorry? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You will experience something completely different. Completely different. The staycation, we call it. The staycation, yeah, yeah, yeah. Staycation, I've never heard of it. Yeah, but they say it's just like that. You don't have to go as far as you want. It seems like a lot of money. It's like a lot of money that goes on vacation on The Thief. Exactly. It's just to get enough money from young people and fans. And also, once again, you're walking into a very international environment. It's not as if you're walking into a hotel where it's all vanlig wafflet and, you know, jajtost and even though we do have those two elements. You're spending time somewhere else. And it's very easy to escape in The Thief. You sort of walk in and suddenly you're surrounded by it. It's not as if it's not there. It is there. You'll hear the different languages being spoken. You'll see the staff interact with you in a different way. You're surrounded by, you know, there's a Richard Prince, Nicky de Saint Phalle, and, you know, these things are there for you. You can sit there and have a cup of coffee in the lounge and just enjoy the moment. I mean, it's – and I am a great believer in that every person who enters that door actually adds something to the property. You are part of it. It's not as if you're just staying there and going. Whatever you do whilst you're there will contribute to the actuality. It's not as if you're just staying there and going. It's not as if you're just staying there and going. It's not as if you're just staying there and going. And I think people are very much encouraged to bring themselves forward if that's what they want. They have the space to do it. Because the informality allows you that space. The formality, if I stand there, Mrs. Jones and everything is very, very formal. And there's no space there because that's the distance we keep. Once we break that barrier, then the world's your oyster. But the beautiful vision here, have you ever doubted that it would work? Instead? In the part of The Thief, have you ever thought, oh shit, never, ever, ever. I've never had a doubt about anything I've ever done. Never. That's very special. Never. Never will, otherwise I won't do it. Not the least of it, but what have you... Never. I can't, that doesn't even exist in my DNA. Shit. Because I know what I can do, and I know I will do everything. And the people around me will do everything to make this work. And I have an unmovable belief in what I do. And I've always had it. But is it after you've built up The Thief and made those experiences and got that vision to live, or is it after you've started with presentations and talked a lot about service and branding and such? Is that it? Say it again, sorry, what was the question? After you've done The Thief project. Mm-hmm. Is that when you've started with presentations and branding and traveling around? Yeah, it's a spin-off from The Thief because I think people have been very curious. I've had a lot of questions about how we did this, how have you actually achieved this? And the only way I can actually do it is to actually walk into an arena and give them the time that's needed to explain. And how we've done this, because there isn't a magic formula in a sense. It's a lot more, how would I explain it? You have to be able to get the message across. You have to be able to explain to people how this is done. And it's as simple as talking to people, because I have a presentation and I have films and I have PowerPoints and I have bits and pieces sometimes, depending on who I'm talking to. But I did the thing. I did a thing for BMW and it was the big wigs. I mean, the big guys came in and they just said, listen, can you just open up this seminar we have and all these guys are coming in and I'm like, sure. And I actually stood in the middle of a room just for an hour. I just talked. Yeah. Just talked to them. From the heart. From the heart. And it was superb. Yeah. It was really, really good. I enjoyed every moment of it. I think it was a real eye-opener for them. But they were very curious. They were curious if what we were doing could be duplicated or used in the car industry. Yeah. in their sales pitches, in their workshops, in their showrooms, in the how, how, the reason that we'd had such an effect was what I was telling them. And could we actually take that into the car industry, for example? I got asked by SAS the same thing. I did the same thing for SAS. Can this be brought into the airline industry? Are they compatible with other things? Exactly. And I would say 100% yes. Are they compatible? Do you remember the first time we met each other? I think it was 2011, 2010. Go on, go on. I think I probably heard about it. Everyone has heard about it. Everyone knows who you are. I think you're the most famous person I've ever known. I think you made contact with... I think I was project manager at NRK at one time, and you had Extrema Festival in Kalvia. Yeah, that's right. And then we had... It was a really nice meeting. And you presented the shit out of the project. And then it turned out that we have a lot of... You know my sister. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the whole pack of that. And then I remember, it was Extrema Outdoor. That's right. It was something quite different than almost everything we've talked about today. It's an outdoor festival, a Dutch concept, on Kalvia. It was a little crazy. I got buried on that one. My God. It was 2010, 2011. And there are a lot of YouTube clips of that. But one of the YouTube clips that's the highest up is when you talk to TV2 about narcotics on... And I got busted live on TV. Do you remember that? Huh? I got busted live, I think, on TV. Not me, personally. I wouldn't have drugs, but it was somebody got... They were filming. They were filming, and somebody was in the background getting done by a dog. The thing about Extrema was that... I met Marcel Mingus, who was another big up. Big up Marcel. He's a crazy cool guy. Top boy. Yeah. And one of the best festival producers in Europe. I mean, this guy is ledge. He came to me and asked me if I wanted to do this, and I was very curious about it all. And as I say, it's a very long story. Can we explain what that is, Kjappar? Well, Extrema was... It was a Dutch concept. But what they did is they put a festival together with DJs. Just to... To cut to the chase. But some of the best DJs in the world, and it was generally electronica, let's say. Yes. And they... I mean, you're talking some of the best DJs in the world. The big stars, you know. And he asked me if we could do it in Oslo, and I thought it was a bit of a whack idea, but why not? And then he came up, and he had in fact convinced the commune to give him Kalvoja. And when I saw that... There were his senses. It was amazing. The location was absolutely... It was absolutely brilliant. He always does things around water. It's very much his concept, and he does the same in Holland. Anyway, when he came with this idea, I was very into production, but in all honesty, I don't really like the music. It's not really my flavor. I'm much more of a soul, funk, jazz, blues, reggae kind of guy. I mistook you for that. Yeah, no, I didn't like the music. Still don't like the music, to be honest with you. But I love the production. I can't get my groove on. I can't groove to it. It's just not possible. Anyway, that's another story. But he asked me to work on the production and do the whole thing for him, which I did, and I worked a year. Every gig took me a year's work, and I was working... There was a few people around me, but it was a lot of work alone, in a sense. And I tried to convince him that we should do things a little bit differently in Norway, possibly change the name, because the whole Dutch profile and the DJs and the whole connotation of Nijmegen, and the idea of needing something else to make the party happen, was very much part of the culture, of that dance culture. And of course, the police clicked into it, and it went... The production was really good. The stages were brilliant. The location was stunning. He did exactly as he said he would do, and he did it the right way. The problem was that the police decided to use the festival as literally a training ground for their... every body involved in narcotics, including the four-legged kind. Every dog was on the premises. It was the most policed festival in the history of Norwegian festivals, without a doubt. It was draconian. And of course, they found people with drugs. And it was perfect for the police to work with Kalvebro. You can see everything. There was no other way in. They had spotters on the way in. They took people on the way in. It was draconian. It was hardcore. But what we tried to do, and this is the one... The issue I had with The Commune was that we had an outstanding production. We were financed and we were serious and we had the best DJs in the world. Now, these dudes are flying around the world. They're not openly doing drugs or promoting drugs. These are business people. I mean, you talk to Armin van Buuren, the guy's not talking about drugs. He's talking about his private jet and how much you're going to pay him for his next gig in Marrakesh. I mean, these guys are very, very good at what they do. And he, Armin van Buuren was one of them who said, listen, I will come out and I will say we are anti-drugs. We want to do the first anti-drugs festival. And that was the idea. I came to The Commune and said, okay, two years has not been brilliant. And because there are drugs in Norway, that's just a fact. How about if you back us and we do the festival every year, we do the anti-drugs festival. We will be a drug-free festival. We will do the production. We will bring as Norm as everybody you can see, all the greatest DJs in the world. And we will do. You'll be there. The first Commune in Norway and possibly in Europe and maybe in the world to do an anti-drugs festival. How about that? No, no, no, no, no. They were like so negative. No, no, you bought the drugs. There was no drugs here. You bought the drugs with you. Wow. I'm serious. Yes. So there was an upvaskmøte afterwards. We had meetings with The Commune and everybody. And the police. Trying to convince them. And the police. Trying to convince them. Let's do this. Let's do this together. Because, in fact, all you have to do is jump on our bus. We have the coolest. We have the coolest bus in town. We have the coolest DJs in town. We have the best production in town. We have the best stages in town. All you've got to do is jump on. And we will promote the first drug-free festival. I also remember that it was a very professional, developed festival. I went a lot on Kvarten, Hove. And I think that kept it at a completely different level. Yes. It was brilliant. So there was a lot of upvaskmøte. The weather and so on. Yes, that was what it was in a way. But these narcos came to me at once, I remember. It was massive. We got the front cover of VG and Dagblad. And that's the genre, it really depends on the genre from the old days as well. I thought about the festival, okay, this is a re-spark of Hyperstate, Sub-City in the time, right? Yes. The same type of music and actually the same type of people. No. So. But, in all honesty, there is an issue. I mean, people do, unfortunately, believe that they need to take something to highlight the experience, you know, to make the experience better. Mm-hmm. What can you say? I mean, if you... I'm not sure if you could take any other festival in Norway and probably have the same effect if you put the same amount of police or dogs or... I think so. You probably would. Yes. But we were walking down, you know, we were on thin ice and that was for sure. And, you know, the whole extrema thing and it was... But, you know... Ligger i navnet. Yeah. It was there. It was waiting to happen in a sense. And it was unfortunate because we were very professional and we were very serious and we really tried... We tried to put something together that was unique in this country and... I'm wondering what the municipality thought or expected. I mean, what were they... I don't... Because they allowed you from... Because 2010 was the first year and it went fine. There wasn't so much... No, it was... We got away with it. Oh, okay. But there was a little bit... There was malarkey there. There was something going on there. So, yeah, I just found it... I'd probably still be doing it now. Mm. If I hadn't. But they hadn't eventually. Yeah. Pulled the plug. Mm. And I'd be promoting the first drug-free festival, simply believing that you can have a great time without taking drugs. I've been to some festivals in England, a lot of festivals in England and a little in Europe and stuff. And it's... Without comparison, it's so much more drugs and drugs than in Scandinavia. Yeah. There's a lot more in Scandinavia, but it's not comparable. No. It's like when I was at the Lovebox Festival a couple of years ago in the London centre in Victoria Park. And it was... I felt like I was the only person who didn't like it. But we partied so hard that people came over all the time and asked if we wanted anything. So we did a good job there. Yeah, for sure. Vikings at the festival. They don't have the same approach to, as you know, in London and England and other countries. It's not the same approach to drugs. They have a better understanding, in a sense. Is there something about culture now? Is it like the club culture is much more focused on... No! ...and has much more history? In England than in Norway? No, I don't think... I think it's just an understanding. I think to do anything about anything, you need to have an understanding of what you're dealing with. And if you don't have the understanding, you're dealing with something that's completely foreign to you. And I think the English and the Dutch and the French and the Germans or everybody, they have an understanding of how these things function. In Norway, it seemed to be a fear rather than an understanding. And to combat something... You need to understand. Also, you need to have credibility to the people you're speaking to. And the reason we thought we had such a great idea is that these DJs have massive cred. And if they're to say to you, listen, drugs isn't a good idea, we ain't doing drugs, it's not cool, it's just not where we're at. Not saying it would change your opinion overnight of drugs, it might not. But it might make you start to think about what you were doing with your life. And branding. The more you do it, yeah, and the more you do it, the more you explain, the more you try and, you know, understand that these are the people who have the issue, and they're here, and this is where we can speak to them. Because when they're in their basement in their fancy house, and their parents have gone to the mountains, and all the kids are there, and they're all doing drugs, you can't get to them there, because they're in a basement. But you can get them at a festival, because they're there. I can go to any club in Oslo, I remember when I was at a club in the early 2000s, Sika Mechanic and all the guys over there, and all the clubs, it was, man, it was, it was the 80s. 80, 90% were drugged there. And I drank almost only alcohol, and that worked well for me, but it's, if you're going to, if you're going to organize a big festival, or a club, you're going to be there anyway. So it's like, what, are you going to close all the clubs then? Yeah. I don't have a solution to that, but it's, No, no, but I say once again, it's having an understanding. I think it's essential. Do you think legalization will help? Yeah, I'd be totally for it. Totally. To what level then? Marijuana? Yeah, weed. Yeah, no, don't go mad, no, no, no, stop at weed. Yeah, people smoke weed. That should be fine. But the rest of it, no. I don't, I think that's a little bit, yeah, I wouldn't, I wouldn't go anywhere near that. But, I've seen an example, the example I had was on a, was on a, I was on a train going through Mayushua, and there was this boy on the phone to his parents. And he was smacked out. He was really not good. And he was on the phone with his parents, and I could just read the scenario. They had no idea that their kid was on smack. And this was a young boy. And I prefer to know what smack looks like. And the symptoms of smack, the symptoms of any drug, that I could look into my kid's eyes and say, no, no, no, you ain't drunk, you's on drugs. You's taking something. Because at least you know, and then you can do something about it. Say, oh, no, no, I'm not a fool. I know, I know, he's on something else, mate. You want to, maybe have a little word in his ear about that one. So, having the knowledge, I think, and I grew up with a family where there was drugs, was my big brothers, and they were smoking, and I knew all about it. So, I know, I know. And I've been around clubs long enough to just look into your eye and say exactly what you're doing, you know. And I can see if you're drunk. And I can see if you're high, or if you're both. And it's better to know. It's much better to know than not to know. So, I wouldn't, yeah, that's what I'd say. It was a, instead of having a fear, have an understanding. And then you can possibly do something about it. But without an understanding, you have no idea. I have to think about, should I try some of those things? Just to get an even deeper understanding. Yeah, I wouldn't recommend trying it, in a sense. You can probably... You can probably find out, or know a little bit about it, without going into too much detail about trying it. But... I've always thought, when I get older, I'm going to try everything. When I get older, I'm going to feel like I'm disappearing. You know what you'll find? But you know what you'll find? You'll find the greatest high is the natural high. I promise you. I work with them all. And I've seen them all. And they've all been through every drug, party, orgy you can imagine. They're all clean now. Yeah, exactly. And they've all realized... The greatest high has been staring them in the face forever, and it's the natural high. Now they play football and go mountain climbing. Yeah, exactly. But they're all personal trainers, and on green juice, and they're all healthy, and... It's a very good training. I think no one can remember that there's been so much focus on training. Like now. You want to keep yourself in shape, mate. You've got to deliver. I think that's good, yeah. I think it's fantastic. But you've got to deliver. You've got to wake up in the morning and deliver. If you don't deliver, somebody else will. Do you train a lot? Uh, football. Just football? Give me a ball and I'll chase it. Any way, shape, or form, I will chase it. But that's all you do? To keep the pace you're doing? You're almost 60 years old. I'll be 56 this year, yes. Yeah, so you're almost 60, and you're keeping a crazy pace. You look great, and it's just football, that's it. Yeah, and well, I fish, I hike through... It's your yoga, maybe. Yoga? Yeah. No, that fishing is your yoga. Oh, that's my yoga, yeah, yeah, yeah. Without a doubt. That's fantastic. That's fantastic. No, it's more... I'm very good at training when I'm focused on something else, like chasing a ball or chasing somebody. Put me in the gym, I'm a little bit bored. Jogging is like... why am I going I've got to come back cycling I kind of like to swimming I used to love fantastic training but it's basically if you put me on a football pitch I will run all day I love the whole football thing so it's probably the easiest way for me to train it's the most enjoyable way for me to train but as you say there's a training culture around us and I'm all for it it's a winning culture or at least a make it or break it culture among the young then you can discuss if it's true or not with this pressure with young people who feel they have to be something it's not enough to just be something simple everyone has to live their dreams and get a dream job and live a fantastic life do you have any thoughts on that? the pressure is on for sure is there any difference from before? yeah but I mean I mean I think it's just it's organic there's competition out there now you've got to deliver yeah yeah yeah you've got to deliver I mean if you go back in the day when I first started in industry the sort of business lunch and the guys sitting around with bottles of wine and it's all drinking up and in the evening they continued and it all didn't really matter the next day because it matters the next day now the guys I've got in the Thief now these are all the busy 30 somethings and they're on it they're in the gym 7 in the morning they have breakfast 7.30 they're out 9 sorry it's only quarter past 8 they're gone cars outside boom off they go boom shit they're ready and we actually we sort of looking at our dietary presentation the way we present breakfast to work to coincide with that lifestyle we have the croissant we have the pancakes and stuff but you also have a very fine selection of organic foods and vegetables and it's very interesting because when you put out say 10 slices of cheese instead of taking 5 you'll take maybe 1 or 2 and of course we'll replenish and then at the end you walk down and in fact when you walk at the end of the Thief at the end of the buffet you see people's plates are very diverse and very colourful they've got a lot of different things yeah a little bit it's a really cool way of actually yeah just sort of guiding people through dietary suggestions if you like to say listen just have a little bit of this and a little bit of that and then at the end of the day you'll feel by the time you get to the meeting you're going to be fine so if you're in Kjurholmen at 7 in the morning come and have breakfast come in on the Thief it's a new breakfast I will be there too I do every breakfast I do every morning is that true? are you there every breakfast? every morning wow clockwork mate 7 years it's one of those things you really need to know how productive it is because breakfast is maybe one of the only meals that some of these business people will eat in the hotel it's also you're in a frame of mind at breakfast that's completely different to lunch and dinner you've just woken up hopefully from a very very good night's sleep in one of our very very comfortable beds I'm serious I'm deadly serious yeah and you cannot get through breakfast you cannot get into breakfast without walking through this particular area and this is where I stand and I walk around I walk on my computer and I greet everybody literally and depending on depending on what level I know them at it could be on a you know on a good morning sir it's free seating make yourself at home we'll bring some tea some coffee or to the business some of the guys I know I see on it because we have so many guests who return and they you know we know the wives we know the kids we know the football teams we know what they like to eat we know what they like what sort of coffee they like so you interact on that level immediately and if there was a good game last night or Man U won or Chelsea won they'll call Dominic man nice game or you were rubbish last night you know it's the first thing they'll say they'll see me out of the lift and you have that informality immediately and you just interact with people and people interact with each other the whole breakfast in fact is a major interactive experience it's I think and that's the best meal I think it's the best meal you can eat for breakfast it is and it's also the most successful department in our hotel is breakfast and it's also okay number one always has been and probably always will be but how do you measure that? is it through just through economy? no through social medias through public opinion if you like our guests opinion the feedback we get from our guests the ratings we get breakfast is number one fantastic yeah it's brilliant I think it's fantastic to hear about talking about hotels and stuff I'm not sure we could have talked about the last hour oh I could go on all day mate but we got to go football soon yeah now we're going to go and play football I'm just my game starts in an hour and a half oh shit how much? well my game starts 4.30 and it's 3 o'clock now so okay we'll get rid of here I think it's been a fantastic plan Dominic it was a pleasure Wolfgang it's been an absolute pleasure mate when it was you I said I had to do it because we we don't interact all the time but when we do it's always an extreme pleasure yeah and it goes a little by itself it's like we've known each other for years it was completely lovely I wanted to invite you back again when Chelsea wins we'll do transracial adoption or who should be the next manager of Chelsea we have a lot to talk about transracial adoption you should invite me back for that one I have a lot of opinion on that one it's an interesting subject your biological father has just found out who it was yes he's passed he passed six years ago but the funny thing was I met my brother and he yeah it's a long story but we met in London and he bought me a picture of my father and I have of all the children I have three brothers and three sisters from his side from my Nigerian side I look just like my father oh my god just like him it was it was I have this picture you might see him every day he's there and that's the closest I'll ever be to him is the picture I can see him now and it's funny because being a physiognomist which I am and I've done this whole physical thing and a lot of my injuries around the physical thing I've never had anybody look like me wow except for my son actually Dylan is he's the hellivis oh he's the eldest the two youngest look nothing like me the eldest just like me wow same smile if you put him in a room you're like that's Dominic's son same you see his smile you're like that's Dominic's boy now we have a new teaser for the next podcast exactly now we're really going down the road maybe we should take a little photo of Tore on the track and get some tricks there yeah that would be nice yeah thank you for coming Dominic thank you very much good luck on the football thank you very much where do you play on the court? we are playing Janmire but where do you play on the court? oh where do I play? I'll play in front of the back four I'll play actually no I'll play in the back four I'll play in the I'll play center back probably oh welcome opponent I wish them good luck okay thank you have a nice day yeah thank you bye bye oi wow