Having hop, skipped & jumped a week since we returned from our trip to South Africa, the clocks going forward and the very spring like weather has put a similar spring in our step, indeed with our peddling around London now back into full gear, our energy levels are such that we are raring to go with our Best Bites & Short Shouts for the coming weekend. So, for the unmitigated, here we dissect the offerings on the scene, picking our best choices across Soho Vauxhall & elsewhere, also then routing for a handful of others in mini.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at Soho and top of our tree & our Best Bite simply has to go to Profile & Lo-Profile, the duo of delights on Wardour Street that seem to be cutting the biggest stride on the West End scene at the moment, the popularity of Profile particularly going from strength to strength. So, checking out upstairs first, Profile’s weekend kicks off tonight (Fri 8th Apr) with the first of two of its young(er) guns, as D.J. Zach Burns takes to the decks, triumphant after his appearance for The Circuit Festival pre-party in Brighton last week and is sure to serve up some spectacular sounds, while on Saturday, one of Profile’s & our faves, Nathan Six revs up the rhythms blending up to date banging beats with classic Hed Kandi style house that makes him an irresistible draw. Add to that the weekly sell-out Sunday roast mixed in with a tasty daily food menu, a drinks offer to rival any, a happy hour to beat most (daily from 4 till 7) & even free wifi and it is no surprise that ticks plenty of boxes where others struggle to, more info available by going to http://profilesoho.com/.
Moving downstairs to Lo-Profile and it’s another one of those wonderful weekends with the cream of the D.J. scene turning up and turning out a truck load of terrific tunes. And by golly does it have a Beyond feel or what, as all four stars have either featured in our favourite afterhours in the past or are still cutting at stride come Sunday morning in the present. So, Lo-Profile’s weekend starts as it means to go on with the dynamic duo that is Steve Pitron & Mikey D, sadly not going back-to-back, but surely treating us to Beyond-esque sets for sure, while on Saturday it’s the turn of Hugh Stevenson & Paul Heron to haul out the heavenly hits, Mr Heron very much warming up for his appearance at the mammoth Beyond Midnight down in Vauxhall(more on that in a bit), Lo-Profile acting as the “official” pre-party venue for our favourite afterhours. With early boys Steve on Friday (8th Apr) & Huh on Saturday kicking off proceedings from 10 p.m., Lo-Profile runs through to a neat finish time of 4 a.m., both Mikey & D coming on song from 1 a.m., more details on this hot ticket in town out at http://loprofile.com.
So to some short shouts and with the rife rumours having turned into reality, the news is out that Barcode (http://bar-code.co.uk) has been sold, although conjecture is still flying around as to whether it will become another bar (probably straight) or, as we believe, a restaurant. However with the switch imminent, the lady in the know, Hrh Minty, has called a meeting with us this weekend, so once we know of the fate of nights like Industri & Comedy Club as well as news of a closing bash, you will know too.
Rupert Street (http://rupertstreet.com) , just around the corner, is likely to take advantage of the loss of Barcode from the Soho scene and continues with its three day weekly roving residents of D.J.’s, and having met with main man Alessandro Londra just yesterday, he has promised to send us the schedule, meaning we can share the necessary with you, although with those residents including names like Brent Nicholls, Fat Tony, Oliver M, Chris Brogan, Minx & more, this extremely popular watering hold remains a delightful draw.
Our final short shout goes to Ku-Bar (http://ku-bar.co.uk) and hearty congrats for their scoop of a host of Boyz awards, the combo of upstairs & down proving ever more popular, especially with pre-parties aplenty & bags of Brazilian beauts around, probably draw in by the delectable DouGuim, so is a impressive alternative to the regular Soho strip & well worth a look in.
Right with no time to dilly dally, it’s off down to Vauxhall and in pole position for a weekend of wonderment is The Orange Grp with the family tree of terrific turns, theirs already into audacious action with Gravity, this Thurday night come Friday morning affair really finding its feet again. But the weekend proper starts with Onyx which keeps things simple yet will surely draw in a considerable crowd, especially as their discount entry of just £2 before midnight remains a huge hit. And with rotational D.J.’s on duty that include new resident Mikey D, alongside the likes of Lee Harris, Jc Christopher, Lisa German, Aerial, Tasty Tim & Jason Prince, there’s plenty of house, pop & tech to tantalise. With Saturday looking pretty vacant, it comes as no surprise that beyond will be cashing in with a twelve hour special, as the name suggest, kicking off at midnight, details of which we will bring you in a full-on Weekend Focus post, while Sunday into Monday sees the trio of Later, Booster & the mother of them all, Orange, steer you into the working week, Steven Sharp’s Monday morning madness of an affair gaining even more popularity of late, all in advance of what looks like one of their best ever bashes “Ascension” over Easter (more info on that coming). For further details of happenings can be found by going to http://fireclub.co.uk
Now, for the eagle eyed of you, you may have spotted one club from that family missing, any ideas? Well, its A:M of course, the Saturday morning shenanigan that has been breathed new life on by promoter Oliver M. Recent events between us and The German have been well documented, (more like played out by him on Facebook), although while the seas have not yet calmed completely, we have come to the conclusion that life is too short to argue & wrangle, especially as our favourite hostess Minty is intrinsically linked with the club and has been craving our coming for a while now. So, it looks like we may be entering the lion’s den tomorrow morning (Sat 9th Apr), not east as the D.J. line up looks as good as it could be, Fat Tony, Gonzalo Rivas, D’Johnny & Paul Heron masterminding the main room, while Severino serves up future & Italio house in the lounge. Plus, with reports that the night seems to get better & better b the week and Facebook postings quoting it as “rocking” appearing with alarming regularity, we want to see it all for ourselves. So, if like us, you are intrigued as to just what a difference Mr Mohns has made, then A;M should be for you, more info available through The Orange Group website (above) or via http://evolvedevents.co.uk.
Now to our Short Shouts and first news of the return of the disco delight on four wheels that is Gay City Rollers, which swings back into action this Sunday (10th Apr) at The Renaissance Rooms. Now, we covered all the nitty gritty & more in our Weekend Focus post “Do The Xanadu” (direct link http://discomatt.com/web/2011/04/recommends-do-the-xanadu-gay-city-rollers-2nd-birthday-sunday-10th-april-weekend-focus/) which simply leaves us to say, get your skates on this Sunday as this is going to be one superb soiree for sure.
Our other Short Shout for Vauxhall goes to Barcode, which is going through a small little revamp lately, not that the works are stopping them from business as usual activity, Friday’s through Sunday’s especially busy, the highlight of the weekend surely being Patrick Lilley’s “Music Is The Answer” (knew we should have got copyright!), an offshoot from Queer Nation that brings disco & R&B to the masses, with D.J’s John Freeman Jeffrey Hinton & Mista Pierre. Plus, a date to watch is Deviate which hits you with a heavenly happening next Saturday, more details of this & much more available at http://bar-code.co.uk.
Right moving on swiftly and we head out east for our alternative Best Bite, which goes to The Dalston Superstore (DSS) in, yes you guessed it Dalston, a suburban spot nestling just north of the hotbed that is Shoreditch. And it’s quite a big weekend for the boys at DSS as the whole three days (well four actually) are dominated by “Fringe/Outsiders” film screenings, a whole host of video clips and short length films being shot on location at the venue. So, the usual tight knit schedule of events has been somewhat turned on its head, as a veritable feast of alternative D.J.’s & artists appear, Friday (8th Apr) seeing the “BackToBack” crew storm the Superstore, D.J.’s on duty including Not Shy, Kezokichi, Bi-Bop, Mr F, Press Play & Sigmund Krafwerk, all serving up piles of throbbing techno & sleazy electro, while the fringe filming catches them in action. Then on Sat (9th Apr) the specialist screening starts at 4 p.m. with “Gays On YouTube” with much more following before “Sink The Pink” steal the show at 10 p.m. with special guest D.J.’s Azari III performing a two hour set, while Attack, Attack, Attack (yes that’s the D.J’s name!) and Hoelstar fill the holes in this 6 hour happening, the night aptly called “Happy Shopper” and is one of the most popular in the whole DSS schedule. Then rounding off the film screening weekend on Sunday (10th Apr) is “Tutti Frutti” with D.J. Squeaky & guests spinning the sounds. So if its way out alternative you are looking for, look no further than the DSS, Dan Matt & the boys pushing out further info on the venue & its events at http://dalstonsuperstore.com.
Right, to a couple of Short Shouts and first is a new night tonight (Fri 8th Apr) at The Apothecary in Kings Cross intriguingly called “Stripped” which rather than stripping the performers, strips down the music, editing out pop, disco & house, and pushing the boundaries with more challenging electro, tech & trance, think Depeche Mode meets Placebo, Daft Punk meets Moby and much more in between, the sounds coming from the massive Neurotic Mass Movement who go live at 12 midnight, while Frankie D, Jason H & Johnegoth complete the line-up.
But Shoreditch gets its say as the hot ticket that is East Bloc roll out another “Disco Fag Bar” night tonight (Fri 8th Apr), D.J.’s on duty including main man Wayne Shires & the iconic Princess Julia, while on Saturday (9th Apr) it’s the turn of “Dare” to do just that, with sounds supplied by John Pleased Wimmin, & extra special guest Mark Moore, more info on East Bloc & its events available at http://eastbloc.co.uk.
Now, with it being a quietish weekend, these are just the sort of opportunities to get your bar, club or event noticed with an inclusion in our posts, so if you want us to consider you as a Short Shout or even a Best Bite, you know what to do, either drop us a line at matt@discomatt.com or get on Facebook and plaster our walls with your info, either on our personal page via http://facebook.com/discomattlondon or http://facebook.com/pages/Disco-Matt/112730602119746 and we will do our best to include you.
That said, if you are looking for what’s hot & happening, plus where to be seen on the scene, you can also visit our friends SeenQueen, London’s clubbing bible that picks out what they love to call the gAylist events with neat & tidy posts picking up event pages, info & other detail, all available at the click of a button by going to http://seenqueen.com/web which will lead you to their home page & all the latest servings.
So that’s it for another weekend, well apart from that Focus on Beyond “Midnight” which is coming up shortly. Talking of which, Beyond will be playing a prolific part in our partying, a pop into Lo-Profile tonight to hook up with Mr Pitron & crew, being repeated Sunday morning before we get our skates on for Gay City Rollers & no doubt fall arse over tip in the process. So, if you see us out (on our feet or otherwise) come say hi, but whatever you do and wherever you are have a great weekend, enjoy the Spring Has Sprung weather and remember to Go There! Be There! (DISCO MATT)