Fees Are Up, Budgets Are Down. Lisbon's Temple Club Is Betting a New Label Can Still Make Progressive House Pay.

Why take on a club with this much history already stacked on it?

Temple Club sits in Santos, inside the building that once housed Europa Sunrise, a space with real weight in Portugal's electronic music history. Oscar Rosmano, the Portuguese-Mexican DJ and producer who has been in the game since 1998 (he started out in Mexico City before relocating to Portugal), took over ownership and curation of the venue knowing exactly what he was stepping into.

"I never wanted Temple to simply recreate what was there before," he says. "I think it's important to respect the history." That balance, reviving a room without turning it into a museum piece, was the first problem he had to solve before booking a single DJ.

"I never wanted Temple to simply recreate what was there before. I think it's important to respect the history."

What's actually making it harder to run an independent club right now?

Rosmano doesn't dress it up. Running Temple Club today means navigating "rising costs, regulations, licensing, neighbours, authorities and a city that is constantly changing." Fees for touring artists keep climbing, operating costs keep climbing, and the money on the other side of the door is not keeping pace: "Artist fees and operating costs keep increasing, while audiences have less money to spend and their nightlife habits are changing," he says, pointing to clubs shutting "all over the world" as the backdrop every promoter now works against.

Lisbon itself has changed fast since the pandemic. Rosmano notes that Lux, long the city's flagship for international bookings, has pulled back from that level of programming, leaving a gap nobody has fully filled. His read is blunt: "We all need to find a way to work together to rebuild a strong club culture." Not one venue carrying the city. A scene.

What is UND3RT3MPL3, and why launch it now?

Rosmano's answer to that gap is UND3RT3MPL3, a new venture he launched in 2026 that bundles events, artist bookings and a record label under one name, built specifically around progressive house. The goal is less nostalgia than succession: getting the sound in front of a younger audience that didn't necessarily grow up on Hernan Cattaneo and Guy J sets, both artists Rosmano has shared lineups with over his career, alongside Dave Seaman and Danny Howells.

The first dates are already locked in across Lisbon, Budapest and Amsterdam, including programming during ADE. On the production side, Rosmano's own "Karyna" (Manual Music) cracked Beatport's Progressive House Top 100 in summer 2026, part of a run of releases that also includes an "Away" EP on Musique de Lune and work on Polyptych and Modus Vivendi Records. If the label side of UND3RT3MPL3 can replicate that, it gives him a second lever, alongside Temple's door, to make progressive house pay again.