funk technology. Freaky dancing actively encouraged. I Lime at The Lime. l().3()pm—3am. £6 (£4). DJ Cameron Craig with progressive house and garage. I Living Room at The Living Room. Spin-midnight. Free. New York Alliance's Colin Walker playing a deep house set. Pie-club. I Love Boutique at Alaska. I lpm—3am. £10 (£8). 5 .lun and monthly. Glasgow’s original mixed night of hedonistic intrigue with DJ Roy thumping out the house stompers in the top room and Kev and Mark (Straight Ahead) on a more soulful vibe in the White Room. Live art. performance. massage and aromatherapy. I Lure at Bar Sauza. 8piii—iiiidnight. Free. DJs Ziggy and Bob get housey for a crowd heading off to Archaos and the Tunnel. Pre-cliib. I Made at Bar l.autrec‘s (upstairs). ‘)plll---llll(llllglll. Free. DJ syndicate levitating Children bust loose with sleek badass drum 8: bass and jungle. Pre-club. I Mau at McChuil's Way Out West. Free. 2‘) May only. Paul Hughes. Martino Collins and DJ Hooker with Latin to bigbeat. jungle to jazz plus visual delights. live percussion and analogue and syiitli manipulation. I Mish Mash at The Riverside Club. l()pm' late. £8. 5 Jim and monthly. Continued Misli Maslt activity with DJs ()scar. Paul Booth and Kev Dillon plus .‘le Nordin mixing together every musical style under the sun. I Missing Links at g2. llpiii—3atn. £4 (£3). Big heat bonanza from Neil McMillan (l-li Karate) and Michael Peck (Brass Monkey's). I No Visa Required at Havana. 8pm midnight. Neil McTaggart with Ibiza style disco house. I October Cafe at October Cate. ‘)pm» midnight. Free. l.isa l.ittlewood (Tunnel) with a funky house pie-club set. I Planet Peach at Planet Peach. llpiii ~3. l5am. £5 (£4). Alan Ronald mixing the best house/club and disco anthems. I Polo Lounge at The Polo Lounge. lt).3()piii 3am. £5. Take the choice of the Polo l.ounge upstairs. open until 3am. downstairs for DJ ltia playing a camp mix of housey fay es and anthems. or down in the Trophy Rooiii with Andy for 80s pop. punk and new wave. Gay. The Polo l.ouiige operates as a bar before all club nights with free entry before club I Pussypower at Scaramouche (l-Ilderslie Street). ‘)piii—iiiidnight. Pussy power back again every week with a hard funky techno pre-club. I Reds at Reds. llpm—3am. £7 (£5). Weekly. D.l Skiid plays soulful garage and disco house. I Salsa Sabrosa at :‘ylcCliuils Way Out West. S.3()pm-» midnight. Free. D.ls Keith and Alexis with Salsa. from classic (‘oloiiibian to modern Cuban. merengue. samba and just generally jazzy earthy sttiff. I The Shed at The Shed. l()piii—3aiii. £5 (£4 ). (iraeiiie Ferguson iii the main with commercial dance favourites at this Sotitliside cltib front the teatii behind the (iarage. I Soulpheric at Alaska. llpm 3am. £8. 2‘) May only. .‘ylark l.intoii. Rab Sinclair and Stewart Spence. I Storm at The ()ueen Margaret Student l'iiion. alm late. £lt). 5 .ltiii only. One- off night of superior hard techno funk w ith two of the finest in the business. Day e Angel and Joey Beltraiii. joining the Storm residents Day ie \\'eir and Fuati Nlackeclime l’re party at the ('ul De Sac from 7pm onwards. I Sub Culture at The Sub Club. lt).3()piii—-5aiii. £lf). Without a doubt. Saturday at the Sub Club is still the best place in the country to hear such sublime deep underground house. Hosts Harri and Dominic know how to work the loyal crowd masterfully making the clth one (if ( iltisgtiyy 's greatest assets. 2‘) May. l’aiis' liric Riig aka Dirty .lestis. ' recording artist for Paper records returns to the Sub Club for a second time. 5 .luii Dino and Terry of 20:20 Vision join the
Sub's residents. continuing the line of top class Canadian guests.
I Trade at The Arches. l lpm—3am. 5 Jun and monthly. £10. l.ondon's full-on night of crazed debauchery continues its Scottish residency tonight with Trade resident Steve Thomas and Ziad iii the first arch for hard whip cracking house and trance plus Guy Williams back in the second arch for a lighter sound.
I Trash at Trash. llpiii-3am. (£7) £5. Dressy. slightly older (but still going for it) crowd with house and garage iii the main room from DJ brother team Mathew and Peter. and soul. swing and R&B in the second room from Paul N'Jie. Laid-back party vibe in the newly revamped 3rd room.
I Traxx at Air Organic. S—l lpiii. Free. 29 May only. Traxx's Derrick and Simon playing blissed-out deep underground house of the highest quality. Pre-club.
I Triumph at The Tunnel. llpm—3.30am. £7 (£5). A massive. dressy night of European and UK house at one of the country‘s best looking venues. Colin Tevendale and Steven McCreery take on the main room while Kevin McFarlane and Stephen l.ee offer tip a different vibe with a wide mix of garage. soul. funk and dance classics in the second room. Smart dress-code atid they expect you to make a lot ofeffort. 2‘) May. iii what will be a first for Scotland. Pete Tong and Paul ()akeiifold will appear at the club in a virtual sense. with a live audio/visual feed from their set at Homelands. iiiio the Tunnel sound system and up onto screens in front of the DJ box. The set will be broadcast to the nation too on Radio I and is sure to be the weirdest clubbing experience of the year so far. l().3()pni- 4am. £ l 2 (£10).
I Velvet Rooms llpm ~3am. £8 (£4 before midnight). DJ Send in the main room with house. garage and club classics. .lohii Lyons in the front room playing mellow hip hop. sw-ingheat and classic soul.
I Yang at Yang. llpiii 3am (bar open from (ipm). £5 (free before I Ipm ). Nic Nouveau and ()ccasioiial l.yiiiie with sublime house in room one. room two sees lvluchaill and Sliti Hirata playing non-house dance music joined by Jengaheads on the second Sat of the
month. In the back room there's Nucleus. with Jim and Brian working this classic sweatbox in a deep electronica style joined on the last Sat ofeacli month (2‘) May) by Soma reCordiiig artist Funk D'Void.
GLASGOW SUNDAYS
I Alex Paterson at Yang. l lpm—3am. £5 (btit free if you get in the bar area before llpm). 30 May only. The ()rb's Alex Paterson makes a rare DJing appearance at the club tonight. joined by Rockit from l.oiidon's underground dance suppliers Ambient Soho. plus Burd Called Crer and Pure's Dribbler. See Hitlist.
I All Drinks £1 at Reds. IIpiii--3am. £4. Weekly. DJ Roiialdo plays Sunday night party tunes -- it's all in the name. really. I Bennet’s at Beiiiiet's. |l.3()pm--3am. £3 (£2). l'p-teiiipo high energy with John Frazer. Gay.
I Big Love at Club Budda. llpm--3aiii. £5 (£3). Michael Kilkie (Ttiiiiiel/Uber Disko) joined by Geoff i‘ylontford and Chris Harris with a selection of vocal garage and house with a classic old skool finish.
I Blue Basement at Blue Basement (Bacchus Basement). ppm—dam. Free. New night from Nice Promotions providing a platform for the creative collective of DJs and funky musicians on an altogether iuicy kind of vibe. Very freestyle and a perfect chill session. Also on 'l‘liursday's.
I Blood and Fire at The l3th Note Club (basement) llpm- 3am. £4. 30 May only. ()ne-off night from the Blood and Fire revivalist reggae label featuring Steve Barrow. Dom and toaster l' Brown.
I Bonafide Love at The Cross Bar.
Spin midnight. Free. Now moved from Fridays w ith reggae. ragga and roots from DJ Dirtsman. Pie-club.
I Budda at Budda Spin -iiiidiiiglit. Free New Yoik Alliances Colin Walker
play mg a deep illl\ to biiiig your weekend It) (1 Close. l’l'c‘-c‘ltll).
I Cleopatra’s at Cleopatra's.
lt).3()pm 2.3(laiii. £3 (£2). Pop. 70s and Stls iarty tunes
I C ub Tropicana at the (iarage (upstairs). llpltf—Adlll. £3 (£2). Two DJs
Optimo The Sub Club, weekly Sundays ’If the club had a motto,’ declares Keith. ’It would be "we don't give a fuck".’ With that in mind, let’s get something straight — Optimo is not your average club night. Yeah, so it’s got the basics: a swish venue (the Sub Club) and DJs who play records you can dance to, but that’s about where it ends.
It was founded and run by Keith ’Twitch' Mclvor and John Wilkes, both veterans of the Scottish club
scene who for years wanted a chance to hear, well, practically every kind of
music they liked all in one night.
‘We realised,’ says Keith, ’that it would be good to play more different types of music and we thought "fuck it, why not?" ‘The idea is,‘ Keith insists, ‘that you can go regularly and no two weeks will be the same.’
Despite it being late Sunday night (or is it Monday morning?) those present are going for it hammer and tongs — nobody strikes poses and nobody stalks the dance floor on the pull. People are here for music and are gladly rewarded. The dance floor is filled with a load of wriggling, rubber- limbed nutters, hopping around to minimal techno and old skool breakdance tracks one minute, then reworkings of old funk tracks the next. Keep in mind, of course, that this was preceeded by a live four-piece instrumental rock band whose nearest reference point seems to be 705
Krautrock supremos Can.
Guests are not really what the club is about, preferring appearances by local bands or low key DJ sets from the odd famous face. When they do treat the dedicated to big name guests, they make sure they live up to the Optimo eclectic legend. 'Ashley Beadle came up one night,’ says Keith, 'and we said "play whatever you like", so he started off playing old funk and disco stuff and ended up playing The Ruts and The Dammed.’
’We like to be as confrontational as possible without having our heads up our arses,’ concludes Keith. Viva la difference. (Mark Robertson)
listings CLUBS
called Brian playing indie. Britpop and maybe some retro stuff too. Drinks are unfortunately not free. but near as dammit.
I Cooler at The Cooler. Spin—midnight. Free. Loungin' Sunday sesh with laid- back [)Js. cartoons and cheap cocktails. Pre-club.
I Dave Pearce Club Night at The Arches. l lpm—4am. £ I4. 30 May only. Following on from the show in George Square. Dave and the crew hotfoot it down to the Arches to keep those dance anthems kicking. aided and abetted by trance monster Paul Van Dyk. Colours' Boney and Dave Lambert (formerly of Positiva. now AMIPM). See Hitlist.
I Divine Intervention at Bret.
8.3()-—l 1pm. Hush Puppy (Glasgow School ofAit) goes solo with a soulful Sabbath selection. Pre-club.
I Dribbler and Burd Called Ger at Yang (room one). ‘)pin-lam. Free. Dribbler and Burd Called Ger playing funky super bass hip hop and house. ()ccasional one-offs with housey guests in rooin 3.
I Ego Trip at The Apartment. llpiii~-3ani. £5. Jim Da Best with his usual cheesy mix of pop and club classics.
I Fenetik Records Party at Bar 1(). 7.30pm—-inidnight. Free. 30 May only. ()ne-off party from Sonia's splinter label with Daniel lbbotson. Paul Cawley. Alex Horton.
I Firebird at Firebird. 8-l lpiii. Free. llarri and Oscar with a freestyle mix of Sunday recovery tunes and some fine. fine food from the Firebird kitchens. Pre- club.
I The Hip Trip at Alaska. llpm—3am. £3 (£2). Your hostess DJ Mingo-go takes you into the world of funkadelic lounge. triptastic pop and groovy beats iii the White Room. joined monthly by various guests (30 May Katrina Pastel). Upstairs Barbie and Pixie mix up the best iii soul and garage joined 30 May by Iain 'Boiiey’ Clark from Colours.
I Juicy at Planet Peach. llpiii--3.l5am. £4 (£3). D.l Skud's original blend of house aiid garage.
I Kraze 2 at Victoria's. lt).3()pni—»3ani. £5. Upfront dance tunes from Kensitas Cltib DJ of The Year Steve l.ockie and Dave Young.
I Liquid Cool at Babaza. ‘)pm—3am. £5. Absolutely insanely busy night with a dressy crowd sucking the last drops from the weekend. Uplifting vocal garage and house from Archaos Saturday night residents AJ. Kris Keegan and Ian Thompson.
I Never Get Out The Boat at The Renfrew Ferry. ‘)pm-—2am. £ l(). 30 May only. Another full-on Slant blow out with Stuart and ()rde rocking the ferry techno funk style. Get down early as there are no pre-sales on this one. and it'll fill real quick.
I NiCk Peacock at The Variety Bar. Spiii---niidiiiglit. Free. The legendary Nick Peacock with a laid-back jazzy. occasionally housey affair. Pre—cliib.
I Optimo (Espacio) at The Sub Club. llpm -3aiii. £4 (£3). Freakbeat electro. driving Detroit and 80s sy'iithpop twisted deck action from yer hosts .lilkes atid Twitch plus live bands and film events Say yes to another excess.
I Oxfam Benefit at The (ilasgow School of Art lt)piii--3aiii. £4 (£5). 30 May only. Special benefit tech house night brought to you by the Bugliouse guys. featuring Dan and Chris from the club. Lawrence llughes (Blood/Relief). Michael Peck. and Budda's Neil Smith. I Playaz Lounge at Barcelona.
‘)piii midnight. Fiee. Naeeiii and Kasii from the Record Playaz with the sweetest Rcyll. hip hop and soul
I Please Yourself at 'l‘rasli. llpm -3.~.iii. £5 (£3 ). l’attl Ndie \y Ill] (1 mellow Sunday mix front ftiiik. soul. swing and hip hop to garage.
I The Shed at The Shed. ll)plll-3£tlll. £3 (£3). Maitiii llesketh upstairs playing chart house and garage at this Sotitlisi«le club lioiii the team behind The (image.
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