#16

That rings a bell. I reckon that’s the one.

for some reason I never went. I knew loads of people who went regularly tho…

My local Indie night was Ziggys in Basingstoke. Fond memories of getting drunk on 3 pints of (probably) watered down Fosters.

#17

the dancing bear in hednesford.

#18

are there any good indie clubs in london on saturday night?

#19

Used to go to our local one in Chatham (Subsonic) every Friday for years. I met my wife there! Every now and again we’d treat ourselves to a trip to London to hit up Popscene, Collide-a-scope or that one at Plastic People that I forget the name of (not Trash). We’re talking mid-90s here, Britpop and grunge explosion. Great times.

Memories of “Subs”:

  • First song I ever heard played there was The Auteurs - Lenny Valentino

  • The first hour was the best bit when us early arrivals would be treated to the “obscure” stuff, before the night devolved into a standard indie club playlist

  • You really can’t dance to indie music, but that didn’t matter

  • The DJs would always play the same songs in the “rock” section; Refuse/Resist, Walk and Enter Sandman

  • The DJs would always play the same songs in the “dance” section; Voodoo People and Leave Home

  • Pound specials. Never want to drink Hooch, Diamond White or K Cider ever again

They tried for a reunion night a few years back and we went along. Was fun for a bit, then we felt really old and someone spiked my wife’s drink.

1 Like
#20

I got lucky, grew up in Manchester where there were one or two decent nights virtually every night of the week. My main favourite was South on a Friday or Saturday night (still going, but not the same post smoking ban - and I don’t even smoke).
5th Avenue / 42 Street, both still going.
The Venue (on Whitworth Street, near to the Hacienda) - a bit more ‘rock’, but still great.
I’m even old enough to have gone to Shine at the Hacienda a few times.

#21

When I first moved to Leeds in 1998 we used to frequent The Garage on Friday nights at The Cockpit. Three rooms, contemporary indie/alt-rock, “extreme” (I remember nearly concussing myself leaping around to Mastodon’s Blood & Thunder!) and 80/90s indie (Kennedy by The Weddoes was a weekly staple in there!).

For a while my ears were always ringing on Saturday mornings!

#22

this thread is too UK-centric. The best indie club ever was The Firm in Perth (1990-1992)

#23

Scotland’s not independent yet m9.

6 Likes
#24

Nice observations - Good first song to hear, that.

So true about the first hour…always my favourite bit of an indie club…even despite being more self-conscious than not and not the slickest mover I would always be happy to “dance” because it was so good to hear these less obvious tunes played loudly through the system and perhaps as a show of solidarity to the DJ that it was ok to take the musical path less travelled.

Nonetheless like you say most indie clubs revert to quite a predictable course…hello Fools Gold, nice to see you again Blue Monday, same time next week Common People?..understandable though it was… hard enough to get punters through the door let alone keep them on the dancefloor or in the club at least…

I also was a quite frequent visitor at Popscene and Collide-a-scope though I found the predictable nature of the playlists did get a bit wearisome despite my aforementionned understanding of why that would be the case…I think there was a DJ called Big Mac…just came into my mind…and now Def Con One by PWEI has…that was a Loft evergreen…

1 Like
#25

slim pickings these days…I think “How does it feel to be loved” might be your best bet…an intermittent night and on this Saturday it seems…I’ve been to a couple and they were good fun if you like your indie-pop and northern soul etc

2 Likes
#26

The organiser of HDIFTBL seems like a really good bloke. And I always find that nice people make for nice club nights.

2 Likes
#27

Offbeat was just about still running when I was at Sheffield (2008-2011), and we also had a year or so of Fuzz Club too. Both pissed all over whatever Leadmill and Plug could offer.

Fuzz Club used to book some great bands as well. Remember paying £2 or something stupid to see people like La Roux and Art Brut.

#28

Step On at The Music Factory was my first clubbing experience, and remained a weekly treat during my sixth form years, circa 96-98. Free Lollipops there too!

#29

Me too, same era as well! It was a good night, they played some decent stuff and it was always busy in a good way.

#30

I’m sure it’s been over 10 years since I went to Offbeat. I wonder if I’m still on ‘the list’. It looks like it’s still going, but very intermittently:

https://twitter.com/offtweat

I still see DJ/Professor Chris at HMHB & Wedding Present gigs. He’s a nice guy.

#31

Stay Beautiful - run by Simon Price at various venues but most memorable for me was at he Purple Turtle in Camden when I was in my late teens/early 20s. I snogged so many girls there and got drunk and danced a lot, really fun.

Probably stopped going by the time I was 22 as I was more into going to Durrr (formerly trash) at the End in Holborn and dancing just as much but listening to more electronic influenced stuff.

In more recent times my mate runs a club night at the Shacklewell called Blackadder and Friends, used to be at Mascara Bar and it was awesome there but he plays good stuff, has good djs I recommend.
Also Cave Club at Moth is good, get a live band but is probably a little more northern soul/60s influenced. Still wish it was at Buffalo Bar though (have you seen what that place looks like now? URGH)

Shout outs to Panic, White Heat at Madame Jojos and various nights around shoreditch in the mid 2000s - Catch/333/Macbeth to name a few.

Wasn’t a fan of afterschool or frog really, liked smaller buzzier places.

1 Like
#32

I used to go to this. Was good. I used to see Simon Price around the goth/industrial scene when me and my school buddies would sneak into nights around 1993/1994 :scream: :scream: :scream_cat:

#33

Man alive, I would have been all over that. Must have just been a bit too young at the time :slightly_frowning_face:

#34

I was at that first Sonic Cathedral night too :+1: Couldn’t believe that someone was bringing back shoegazing after all those years in the critical wilderness - the original scene had fallen apart just as I started to get into it. I’m sure that SC played a large part in revitalising the scene over the past 10 years and as such is the reason that I’ve since managed to catch Lush, Swervedriver, MBV, Chapterhouse and Slowdive live :grinning:

In 2005, for my work leaving do I managed to drag a bunch of somewhat non-plussed colleagues to a SC night that featured (from memory) Sing Sing playing live (with a heavily pregnant Emma Anderson - swoon btw) and one of Ladytron DJing. Lovely scones.

Was also at their 10 year anniversary show where Slowdive played their very first comeback show, with Ulrich Schnauss and Andy Wetherall on the same bill :open_mouth:

1 Like
#35

Picasso’s in Worcester circa 89/90. Thursdays and then Saturday nights (upstairs) too. Great times.