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Go Wild ;
Oh no, not another festival club. How many more do we need? Ah. but this one’s different, as Avril Mair finds out.
There are 54 clubs running in Edinburgh during the festival this year. Count ‘em. Techno. disco.
’ house. soul. funk. punk. rock. reggae. ragga. roots. Latin. salsa. calypso. jazz. metal. indie. sub-pop. rare groove. garage . . . etc. etc. Something for everyone. So surely the last thing we need is another one. i right? Wrong. says Fred. for years the capital’s most respected club runner.
‘The idea behind it all is to give people who wouldn‘t be playing during the festival a bash. Usually everyone gets kicked out of their venues to make way for theatre companies. and so there's no Edinburgh clubs on at all for three weeks. We’ll change that.‘
Like all the best afterdark schemes. Fred‘s mission to revolutionise festival clubbing as we know it came about by chance and more than a little good luck. When Pete Irvine ofgiant promoters Regular Music was offered the use of the marvellous old Traverse Theatre premises in the Grassmarket for the duration of this month‘s arts circus. he turned. naturally enough. to the person who had in the past made
imaginative use of venues as weird
and wonderful as Stirling Castle and Murrayfield Ice Rink for his night-time escapades. And thus Fred found himself in charge of this summer‘s hottest ticket — an atmospheric 500 capacity club venue right in the centre oftown. with a brief to do with it what he will.
It has. ofcourse. been put to good use. Sunday nights have been handed over to the inimitable Roxy. professional socialite and friend of the famous. whose glam parties are so renowned that none other than Vivienne Westwood flew up from London to attend his last extravaganza. Thursday nights are in the capable hands of the Hipster boys who specialise in a pleasing mix of kitsch 70$ indie sounds with high
impact visuals. But the big weekend nights are saved for Fred himself and the legendary Wildlife. an intimate. itinerant one-nighter with an atmosphere more like a party than any usual club. due to the clued-up city crowd its eclectic dance sounds always attract.
‘It's going to be really great.‘ enthuses Fred. ‘1 for one couldn‘t resist it.’ And who can argue with that‘.’
I Wildlife every Saturday from 15 Aug, 11 .30pm—4am.
I Time Machine every Sunday from 16 Aug, 11 .3me—4am.
I Hipster every Thursday from 20 Aug, 11.30pm—4am.
I Wildlife and Tribal Funktion every Friday from 21 August, 11 .30pm—Aam.
IEIIIIIIIIIII TURNTABLE
As Scotland the have turns from chart-busting, head-nipping techno to a funky jazz vibe, DJ Bootsy sits and smirks. And well he might. Forwhile his fellow DJs were turning to hardcore by the score, he continued to play the mellow music for which he has become renowned —70s sounds, pure and simple. And what goes around comes around, so now everybody's doing it. But remember who was there first. Catch Bootsy and friends at the Brilliant Corner in Edinburgh’s Playhouse from 7—15 Aug.
1. American Gypsy: We’re The Winners (DfThe Funk Wars)
Horns and handclaps galore in a hard-edged out which just about
out-funks Funkadelic and out- plays Parliament. Heavy duty booty; and backed with the equally delicious ‘Water Boy': water bed music for the hard of funkin‘.
2. Dizzy Gillespie and Lalo Schifrin: Unicorn
Two masters at work. Jazz meets funk head on in this Pablo classic from ’77. 3. Johnny Hammond: Shifting Gears Forget bullshit terms like ‘Acid Jazz’ and ‘Rare groove’ which funk fakers use to give you the come-on . . . This familiar Fantasy groove from 1975 is quite simply an obvious choice.
4. David Fathead Newman: Keep The
. Dream Alive
1 Flutey and fruity late 70s Prestige cut. ; Fat funk and juicy jazz rolled into one
big spliff of a track.
5. Quincy Jones: Theme From lronside Groovy early 7Ds theme; written, arranged and produced by the invincible Duince. Action-packed and not available on an Urban reissue. Yowsah!
TIJS
Looking for late night club action? Look no further. Avril Mair chooses the best of the bunch.
I The Mambo Inn Funk up yer fest with London‘s finest — a Mystic Mambo Mix ofLatin. jazz and African sounds.
The Play/rouse Studios. every night during the Festival. l [pm—4am.
I The Mambo Club Around the world stylee from Edinburgh‘s legendary ()ssie.
(.‘avendish. every night during the Festival. 1 I pin—4am.
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I Shaft Yowsah! Seriously 70s sounds — a veritable orgy of tastelessness.
Mo ray House S. U. , Wednesday—Saturday d urin g the Festival. 1 [pm—«lam.
I Chocolate City So laid back it's almost horizontal. this is the capital's finest mellow dance club.
The Venue. Thursdays and Sundays d uriri g the Festival. l I pin—5 am.
I Disco Inferno From the decade that taste forgot comes sounds that you just couldn‘t forget — horribly. horribly tacky I)-l-S-(‘-() music. Wonderful!
( ‘afe Royal Bistro Bar, every Sunday during the Festival. 9pm—l am.
I Freakshow Not just a club. but a piece of intense. physical theatre which harnesses the energy ofthe rave scene. With a special benefit performance for'l‘he Big Issue on 15 Aug— help the homeless help themselves.
The Roxy. every night during the Festival. 1 1.30pm—3am.
I Pure Upfront. hard-edged underground dance music. Wet walls . and a lack ofoxygen the in—house speciality.
The Venue. every Friday during the
sponsored by BACARDI RUM
Festival. I [pm—5am.
l‘he List 14 - 20 August 1992 59