Clubbed To Life

Recently I was invited to be on a panel of Manchester promoters to talk about ‘What makes a good club night’ and ‘What will make a good club in the future’. Unfortunately I missed It because on the same day, just before I was due to attend, I had organised to get as many of the Red Laser Crew together as possible for a photo so we could have some documentation of the gang while RLD is still in its infancy. It was also good to get some practice at making this sort of thing happen. It wasn’t a bad first attempt actually. The only person missing was Spandex and when he answered the phone it immediately became apparent he was at a party and still out from the night before                 “WOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYY !!!!!!  Where you at G? We goin drinkin in Chorlton before heading back to town ar ya comin?” *Note to self, Call Spandex every hour on the hour starting 2 days before a planned gathering to ensure instillation of request in Spandex memory bank.

                                 RLD Crew first Photo Shoot

                          Me and Ste Spandex still out and on one

Still – first shoot out of the way and only Spandex and Flemming not in the shot. Next will be the EP2 shot planned for Jan and only a visit from Peet Need and Savino and a life size cardboard cut out of Flemming needed. The good news from Denmark is there’s already a full size cut out of Flemming out there. The result of a DJ gig he could not attend so his friends had the cut out made, put it behind the decks and played his mix tape. *Note to self. Get an Il Bosco cardboard cut out made, post myself to gigs and forward soundcloud page to promoter. This should save on expensive travel costs and hotel bills while keeping rare and expensive vinyl’s in my studio and assisting damage limitation.

                                 Cardboard Flemming in action

Anyway back to the promoter forum I was supposed to attend. It’s probably better I am writing this rather than have battle to get a word in edgeways. Egotistical motor mouths generally make good promoters and I know that there would have been a few of them sat on that stage (minus me) trying to get there opinion across all at the same time. Sounds like a fukin nightmare.(See below a random lift related nightmare)

Before taking anyone’s opinion seriously on a subject a track record in said field must be apparent. What has Il Bosco done that gives him the right to parade his ego on stage and give enough credibility to air his opinions on the subject of promoting parties? Well here’s the fukin quicky – 1998 starts promoting small midweek gatherings for Fat City with mates Col o Tool and Brendan. 1999 promoting Fat City behemoth ‘Counter Culture’ also starts Manchester club Eyes Down with designers Jack Craol and Gawain Forster and DJ’s Kelvin Brown and good friend and deservedly well respected DJ Jon K - 2000 Started now legendary club Friends and Family with Fat City boss man Dave Walker with support from Fat City and GrandCentral crews. 2011 starts Red Laser Disco. 

                         Straight from the RLD team shot to a gig

I suppose up till Red laser I was mostly associated with Friends and Family. I spent six years promoting this weekly club event in Manchester. And this was before the internet got really going. 10’000 full colour flyers a month handed out and a 1000 of them packed, with a news letter, into envelopes by hand and wheeled down to the post office on a skateboard. Whatever the predominant colour of the flyer was the colour of my fingers for that whole month. Also 200 x A3 posters that were prepared using double sided sticky tape with military precision ready for the Oxford Rd ‘Bus Stop and take away run’ which was a 3 mile hike through student alley in the wind and rain (And sometimes in the sunshine).  

In those days the council had not yet initiated there zero tolerance on advertising on any free space available. Day would turn to night as you entered a bus stop. Cash machines would be framed with posters advertising a wide selection of Speed Garage nights with more emphasis on how cheap the fukin drinks were than how good their music was (that whole commercial garage scene was fukin repulsive) Yes, even I got caught up in the early noughties poster frenzy of Manchester and was involved in a couple of scraps with the Asian massive because of their excessive garage postering and posturing (I am certainly not a racist or have right wing opinions. For some reason Manchesters Speed garage scene was culturally Asian dominated). In sheer blindsided determination for them not to get the better of me I un-ethically paid an Oxford Rd homeless regular £20.00 so I could cover his shopping trolley in Friends and Family posters making him a walking billboard for a week. The shame.

                               Nice Random book cover image

These days the whole game is pretty much paperless. Great news for the environment, Shit news for printing business’. Also it seems every shop or fast food establishment in south Manchester has cottoned on to the lack of prime advertising space on the street and are now charging to rent A3 size spaces on their walls. #Cheeky fukin bastards. As for my opinion on the elements of what makes a club night stand out above the rest and give a chance of longevity are still the same and will never change. Absolute simple stuff. Debate not even needed.

1 – Good Sound system

2 – A space with personality or that can be personalized (the latter being essential)

3 – Creative visuals or lighting

3 – Your kind of people

4 – Drug Dealer

5 – Skilled DJ’s or Selectors

6 – Finally a promoter who is everywhere. At every decent club night. At every bar opening. Who doesn’t need sleep or food and who’s mouth is constantly moving while simultaneously posting whatever he or she is regurgitated onto various social networking sites.

So there you have it. Years in the game motherfucker

Il Bosco