SPECIAL REVIEW FOR TRADE’S 18TH BIRTHDAY
PRE PARTY @ REVOLVER & TRADE EVOLUTION @ THE ARCHES
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
SUNDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2008
On coming out on the scene, one of the first clubs we visited way back then, was Trade. At the time, it was in it’s infancy, a mere 10 months old, yet from the day we stepped into Turnmills, we loved every minute, the music, the people, the atmosphere everything, so much so it became a weekly pilgrimage for nearly 10 years. However, it was a sad day indeed when news came through that Turnmills was to close and the (by now occasional) Trade parties would end.
However, when we heard that Trade was to come of age, celebrating 18 glorious years in this world, it simply had to be on our agenda. Obviously not being at its ancestral home, but at The Arches in Southwark, we were a little uncertain of the venue choice, for us a club has its roots and has difficulty sometimes translating from one venue to the other. Nevertheless as the time drew closer, we began to get quite excited about savouring another Trade party and with the news that Revolver was to be the official pre-party destination (they moved venue didn’t they!), well the “writing was on the wall”.
So, it was off to the pre-party first and arriving at Astoria, we could feel that Revolver wasn’t going to be quite as busy as the launch, just a week ago. Mind you, the huge queue outside seemed to say something else and whilst word that the G.A.Y. organisers had tried to sabotage the evening, it was clear once we had got inside that there were plenty of clubbers looking to enjoy, what for many was a mere warm up to the main event of the weekend.
As with the launch, all guns were blazing, Revolver aiming & shooting in just the right direction, serving up amazing visuals, superb lighting and some of the best music you could ask for. With Guy Williams getting the evening rocking, delivering some amazing hard edged & diet techo-esk tracks, Antoine 909 followed and simply blew us away with his characteristically tough sounds, all of which had us glued to the dancefloor. Being a fan of his since the Crash days, it was great to see him where he belongs, behind the D.J. booth pumping out huge tunes.
By this time the main room had filled quite well, admittedly not packed, but plenty enjoying themselves, we spotting a few of our friends in the crowd, new & old and as the show continued & camera’s flashed, we sank into the brilliance of Antoine’s set, dancing continuously until he handed the reigns over to Pagano. Did we stop there? not at all, as we had so much enjoyed his set the previous week, how could we resist. The only momentary things that interrupted our stay on the dancefloor, were stepping off to chat with Oliver M & Guy Williams, then Paul Coles & Wayne Shires, as well as our customary dash to Minty’s aid armed with Sambuca.
Nevertheless, as good as the pre-party was, the main focus was Trade itself and it seemed that many thought the same, we suspect a lot saving themselves for just that party. So, we waved our goodbye’s to Revolver and with a stop off for a refreshing coffee, arrived at The Arches at about 5.15 a.m. Typical of all those years ago, the queue was absolutely massive, no-one wishing to miss out on what was potentially one of the biggest events of 2008. With the queue seemingly not moving anywhere & the rain coming down, it felt just like the long waits outside Turnmills and as hoards of people kept adding to the snake of bodies, what seemed like an eternity passed (actually about 30 mins.) until we finally got inside, being greeted by the lovely Craig Daniels & Ramon, who thrust a Trade CD and a flyer/pass for the after party into our mitts.
Yet another queue ensued as we dropped off our belongings in the coatcheck (but then we are used to this), the area around adorned with classic TradeMark” posters, increasing our itchiness to get onto the dancefloor, so we quickly armed ourselves with refreshments and hit the main room. Clearly the organisers had been “drip feeding” the club as there was space to move, although we like a good dancing area! and it was only moments before we got into the vibe that had already built in the main room. Even now, we began to feel the heat, so stripped down to our waists and gyrated to the sordid sounds of Kamisshake, soon followed by Trade regular & legend Malcolm Duffy, knowing that soon the pace would take a serious techno stride. The team had spared no effort to give the room the “Trade” feel with yet more TradeMark posters and characteristic mobiles hanging from the ceiling, although despite this, for us, the room didn’t quite have that Turnmills magic.
But, being relative virgin’s to The Arches (especially after our last short experience) we wanted to investigate, so wandered down into the next arch, which looked a little different and was split definingly in two, the right hand side sporting The Gutterslut crew. We popped our heads in to find Nic Fisher behind the decks, with Elliot J Brown in close quarters & XXL supremo Mark Aimes holding court. The feel of this room was entirely different to the main floor and quite right too, we love it when a club provides totally different sounds in separate areas (something we enjoyed at Egg just last week). Having lost our pals at the end of Revolver, we were pleased to catch up again with Lee Yeomans & Max Sanna, who had been joined by J.C. and also Tamsin Roberts, so it seemed there & then, jut like a repeat of last Sunday morning, fab!
Moving on further, we stumbled on the third (or was it fourth) arch which was altogether lighter, meaning light lighter, although we soon realised for good reason as this was the lite lounge. In reality, our timing couldn’t have been better, as Guy Williams was about ready to take over from Gary H, so we hit the bar for more refreshments and headed for the front of the space by the makeshift D.J. booth. This was clearly a popular room as it was full to brimming and when Guy took control, pushing out chunky hard and diet techno styled tunes, bigger & better than at Revolver, we simply couldn’t resist the call of his music, dancing furiously right through his set. We asked ourselves why we had missed out on this talent through all the years of the lite lounge at Turnmills, but decided to savour every moment & record, rather than lament on the past.
By now the main room was a distant memory, although having seen the line up on the wall, we knew great things were to come there, in the form of Pagano, followed by a superb back-to-back set by Steve Thomas & Nick Tcherniak, not to mention Lady Bianca & Nik Denton and classic guest Ian M. But it was the lite lounge that was doing it for us and when Brent Nicholls assumed the decks, stepping up the pace (it was speeding already), we went into seventh heaven as he delivered a series of funtastically tough tracks, some familiar, others new to our ears, all of which had us simply mesemrised on our spot. By now the space was getting very hot, only rivalled by the hotter music we had thus far experienced from Guy & Brent, so we slipped briefly into the garden space adjacent, to cool down.
But it wans’t long before we were back and lapping up the last of Brent’s set, we then being delighted to see Paul Heron arrive to take over. To have Guy followed by Brent was something, but to then have Paul was something else and he certainly failed to disappoint, taking us on a dream trip of ecstatic music, pumping sensational energy into a packed lite lounge. This drew in more and more people, including the scrumptious Jamie Head (& posse), Antoine 909, Minty and even Lee Yeomans who had been trading spaces in all the rooms for most of the night. Mr Heron’s enthusiasm behind the decks was clearly evident and with superb hard hitting & mind blowing tunes, one after the other, we were going no-where else.
So good had been the music in the lite lounge and having such a good time, we soon realised that time had moved on quickly and with our legs tiring, we caught a glimpse our watch which read 1 p.m. (yes we had been dancing for 12 hours), so set about winding down before deciding to head off. The venue, even at this time was still brimming full and with the planned end of 4 p.m. we could have willed ourselves to stay on, but our legs cried out no more!. So, saying our goodbyes to everyone we could find, we hit a dank grey London day and sauntered off to relax in one of our favourite Soho watering holes.
Well, what was our verdict on Trade at The Arches? Well, despite earlier reservations, we were actually impressed by the space. It seemed to work well in the main room, the Gutterslut lounge had a uniquely different feel, but for us the lite lounge was fantastic in every way, the feel of it, the people in it, the D.J. choice, but most of all the music. In our Trade youth, we swore by the main room only, but here, well it is fair to say we were lite lounge converts (we are getting on a bit now!). We are sure & indeed heard that Pagano was brilliant, Lady Bianca great & Nik Denton awesome on the main floor, but the combination of Guy Williams, Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron did it for us (think the “lite” equivalent of Tony De Vit, Pete Wardman & Fergie!). But then, with such a wide range of D.J’s across three rooms, there was something for everyone, very rare in a club these days.
With reports coming in, after we left, of ambulance incidents, conflicting stories about fatalities and heavy police presence, it was a sad end to what had been a truly magnificent Trade party. Further rumours that the after-party was cancelled as a result, spoilt what could have been the “coming of age” party to end all. Regardless of the excessive heat in the venue & inspite of warnings (and they were posted everywhere in the club) it seems that the dreaded curse of GHB/GBL may have had something to do with it. Why can’t people learn that this is a horrendous chemical, should never be used and needs to be eradicated from our clubs.
That said, the Trade collective should be proud for putting on such a wonderful night. It is so true that this iconic club brand/idea is “often copied, never equalled” and that was definitely the case. If this marks Trade’s so called Evolution, we want more, more and even more. Long live Trade and all who sail (club) in her. (DISCO MATT)
PRE PARTY @ REVOLVER & TRADE EVOLUTION @ THE ARCHES
REVIEW FOR SEENQUEEN
SUNDAY 26TH OCTOBER 2008
On coming out on the scene, one of the first clubs we visited way back then, was Trade. At the time, it was in it’s infancy, a mere 10 months old, yet from the day we stepped into Turnmills, we loved every minute, the music, the people, the atmosphere everything, so much so it became a weekly pilgrimage for nearly 10 years. However, it was a sad day indeed when news came through that Turnmills was to close and the (by now occasional) Trade parties would end.
However, when we heard that Trade was to come of age, celebrating 18 glorious years in this world, it simply had to be on our agenda. Obviously not being at its ancestral home, but at The Arches in Southwark, we were a little uncertain of the venue choice, for us a club has its roots and has difficulty sometimes translating from one venue to the other. Nevertheless as the time drew closer, we began to get quite excited about savouring another Trade party and with the news that Revolver was to be the official pre-party destination (they moved venue didn’t they!), well the “writing was on the wall”.
So, it was off to the pre-party first and arriving at Astoria, we could feel that Revolver wasn’t going to be quite as busy as the launch, just a week ago. Mind you, the huge queue outside seemed to say something else and whilst word that the G.A.Y. organisers had tried to sabotage the evening, it was clear once we had got inside that there were plenty of clubbers looking to enjoy, what for many was a mere warm up to the main event of the weekend.
As with the launch, all guns were blazing, Revolver aiming & shooting in just the right direction, serving up amazing visuals, superb lighting and some of the best music you could ask for. With Guy Williams getting the evening rocking, delivering some amazing hard edged & diet techo-esk tracks, Antoine 909 followed and simply blew us away with his characteristically tough sounds, all of which had us glued to the dancefloor. Being a fan of his since the Crash days, it was great to see him where he belongs, behind the D.J. booth pumping out huge tunes.
By this time the main room had filled quite well, admittedly not packed, but plenty enjoying themselves, we spotting a few of our friends in the crowd, new & old and as the show continued & camera’s flashed, we sank into the brilliance of Antoine’s set, dancing continuously until he handed the reigns over to Pagano. Did we stop there? not at all, as we had so much enjoyed his set the previous week, how could we resist. The only momentary things that interrupted our stay on the dancefloor, were stepping off to chat with Oliver M & Guy Williams, then Paul Coles & Wayne Shires, as well as our customary dash to Minty’s aid armed with Sambuca.
Nevertheless, as good as the pre-party was, the main focus was Trade itself and it seemed that many thought the same, we suspect a lot saving themselves for just that party. So, we waved our goodbye’s to Revolver and with a stop off for a refreshing coffee, arrived at The Arches at about 5.15 a.m. Typical of all those years ago, the queue was absolutely massive, no-one wishing to miss out on what was potentially one of the biggest events of 2008. With the queue seemingly not moving anywhere & the rain coming down, it felt just like the long waits outside Turnmills and as hoards of people kept adding to the snake of bodies, what seemed like an eternity passed (actually about 30 mins.) until we finally got inside, being greeted by the lovely Craig Daniels & Ramon, who thrust a Trade CD and a flyer/pass for the after party into our mitts.
Yet another queue ensued as we dropped off our belongings in the coatcheck (but then we are used to this), the area around adorned with classic TradeMark” posters, increasing our itchiness to get onto the dancefloor, so we quickly armed ourselves with refreshments and hit the main room. Clearly the organisers had been “drip feeding” the club as there was space to move, although we like a good dancing area! and it was only moments before we got into the vibe that had already built in the main room. Even now, we began to feel the heat, so stripped down to our waists and gyrated to the sordid sounds of Kamisshake, soon followed by Trade regular & legend Malcolm Duffy, knowing that soon the pace would take a serious techno stride. The team had spared no effort to give the room the “Trade” feel with yet more TradeMark posters and characteristic mobiles hanging from the ceiling, although despite this, for us, the room didn’t quite have that Turnmills magic.
But, being relative virgin’s to The Arches (especially after our last short experience) we wanted to investigate, so wandered down into the next arch, which looked a little different and was split definingly in two, the right hand side sporting The Gutterslut crew. We popped our heads in to find Nic Fisher behind the decks, with Elliot J Brown in close quarters & XXL supremo Mark Aimes holding court. The feel of this room was entirely different to the main floor and quite right too, we love it when a club provides totally different sounds in separate areas (something we enjoyed at Egg just last week). Having lost our pals at the end of Revolver, we were pleased to catch up again with Lee Yeomans & Max Sanna, who had been joined by J.C. and also Tamsin Roberts, so it seemed there & then, jut like a repeat of last Sunday morning, fab!
Moving on further, we stumbled on the third (or was it fourth) arch which was altogether lighter, meaning light lighter, although we soon realised for good reason as this was the lite lounge. In reality, our timing couldn’t have been better, as Guy Williams was about ready to take over from Gary H, so we hit the bar for more refreshments and headed for the front of the space by the makeshift D.J. booth. This was clearly a popular room as it was full to brimming and when Guy took control, pushing out chunky hard and diet techno styled tunes, bigger & better than at Revolver, we simply couldn’t resist the call of his music, dancing furiously right through his set. We asked ourselves why we had missed out on this talent through all the years of the lite lounge at Turnmills, but decided to savour every moment & record, rather than lament on the past.
By now the main room was a distant memory, although having seen the line up on the wall, we knew great things were to come there, in the form of Pagano, followed by a superb back-to-back set by Steve Thomas & Nick Tcherniak, not to mention Lady Bianca & Nik Denton and classic guest Ian M. But it was the lite lounge that was doing it for us and when Brent Nicholls assumed the decks, stepping up the pace (it was speeding already), we went into seventh heaven as he delivered a series of funtastically tough tracks, some familiar, others new to our ears, all of which had us simply mesemrised on our spot. By now the space was getting very hot, only rivalled by the hotter music we had thus far experienced from Guy & Brent, so we slipped briefly into the garden space adjacent, to cool down.
But it wans’t long before we were back and lapping up the last of Brent’s set, we then being delighted to see Paul Heron arrive to take over. To have Guy followed by Brent was something, but to then have Paul was something else and he certainly failed to disappoint, taking us on a dream trip of ecstatic music, pumping sensational energy into a packed lite lounge. This drew in more and more people, including the scrumptious Jamie Head (& posse), Antoine 909, Minty and even Lee Yeomans who had been trading spaces in all the rooms for most of the night. Mr Heron’s enthusiasm behind the decks was clearly evident and with superb hard hitting & mind blowing tunes, one after the other, we were going no-where else.
So good had been the music in the lite lounge and having such a good time, we soon realised that time had moved on quickly and with our legs tiring, we caught a glimpse our watch which read 1 p.m. (yes we had been dancing for 12 hours), so set about winding down before deciding to head off. The venue, even at this time was still brimming full and with the planned end of 4 p.m. we could have willed ourselves to stay on, but our legs cried out no more!. So, saying our goodbyes to everyone we could find, we hit a dank grey London day and sauntered off to relax in one of our favourite Soho watering holes.
Well, what was our verdict on Trade at The Arches? Well, despite earlier reservations, we were actually impressed by the space. It seemed to work well in the main room, the Gutterslut lounge had a uniquely different feel, but for us the lite lounge was fantastic in every way, the feel of it, the people in it, the D.J. choice, but most of all the music. In our Trade youth, we swore by the main room only, but here, well it is fair to say we were lite lounge converts (we are getting on a bit now!). We are sure & indeed heard that Pagano was brilliant, Lady Bianca great & Nik Denton awesome on the main floor, but the combination of Guy Williams, Brent Nicholls & Paul Heron did it for us (think the “lite” equivalent of Tony De Vit, Pete Wardman & Fergie!). But then, with such a wide range of D.J’s across three rooms, there was something for everyone, very rare in a club these days.
With reports coming in, after we left, of ambulance incidents, conflicting stories about fatalities and heavy police presence, it was a sad end to what had been a truly magnificent Trade party. Further rumours that the after-party was cancelled as a result, spoilt what could have been the “coming of age” party to end all. Regardless of the excessive heat in the venue & inspite of warnings (and they were posted everywhere in the club) it seems that the dreaded curse of GHB/GBL may have had something to do with it. Why can’t people learn that this is a horrendous chemical, should never be used and needs to be eradicated from our clubs.
That said, the Trade collective should be proud for putting on such a wonderful night. It is so true that this iconic club brand/idea is “often copied, never equalled” and that was definitely the case. If this marks Trade’s so called Evolution, we want more, more and even more. Long live Trade and all who sail (club) in her. (DISCO MATT)
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