High on Diesel and Gasoline? Here's where you can shake your bits to the hits...
Where would this country be without the humble indie disco? I shudder to think. Without these mid-week celebrations of cheap beer and sing-along jangle pop, generations of students would have had to do their week-night boozing in their flats, snakebite and black would have died out years ago, and that chap from The Divine Comedy would probably be working in some grotty motorway cafe rather than living it up on the PRS money.
To be fair, the glory days of the indie night are behind us now. Battered by drum ‘n’ bass, drowned by electro and slowly crushed to death by dubstep, over the years they’ve slowly turned from cutting-edge club nights into glorified piss-ups where lagered up men chant out the lyrics to Oasis in a vein attempt to recapture better times.
However, in amongst the tripe, an ever dwindling cadre of brave souls have battled against the tide. Hunkered down in dive pubs and gig spaces all over London, they defiantly played Mansun, The Wonder Stuff and Idlewild even though the punters got old, the pubs that supported them closed down and the good records dried up.
It was looking touch and go for a while, but then, out of nowhere, the irony-loving kids of East London just up and decided that the nineties are, like, soooo back in. The result has been a resurrection of the old indie disco format (in the proper sense and not just those electro nights that play one Pulp song at the end to please the bloke with the Subways badge) with new nights cropping up, and some of the old campaigners enjoying a new lease of life.
Here are five of our faves:
The Christmas Club
Every Saturday at The Borderline
Easily London's longest running indie disco, The Christmas Club celebrated its 21st anniversary back in 2010, and still remains one of the best places in all of Soho to stomp around to classic guitar music. Hosted by the ever reliable Tom Smith, if waving your hands to the likes of the Stone Roses, Charlatans, Oasis, Blur and The Smiths is your sort of thing, then you need to get your butt down to this one.
Death 2 Disco
Every Wednesday at the Notting Hill Arts Club
The successor to Alan McGee’s Death Disco, Death2Disco in Notting Hill attracts some of the biggest names in the business to its battered DJ booth, with even Courtney Love, Mick Jones and Mercury Rev all battling out in the club’s illustrious past. Although it’s undoubtedly a lower key event nowadays, it’s still one of the best Wednesday nights out in West London.
White Heat
Every Tuesday at Madame Jojos
The Peter Pan of the indie scene, White Heat is at least eleven years old, yet always seems to have its fingers firmly planted on the pulse of London’s music scene. Constantly introducing new bands and underground cult favourites, DJs Matty and Olly keep it innovative, inventive, ever-changing and above all, a hell of a lot of fun.
How Does It Feel To be Loved
Monthly at various venues
With one foot in Brixton and the other in Islington, How Does It feel to be Loved is an indie night for purists only. Dedicated to the people who worship twee and love the dull pangs of melodrama, this monthly night has a strict music policy that only stretches to indie pop, northern soul and '60s girl groups. Swoon.
Club NME
Every Friday at KOKO
Run by Britain’s indie bible, Club NME is half showcase for new talent and half old-fashioned indie club night, where the snakebite flows like water and a mix of celebrities and frustrated musos from the magazine's sub editing department battle it out on the the wheels of steel to take the crowd on a musical odyssey from the Stone Roses to Daft Punk.
Beach Creep
Every Friday at the Shacklewell Arms
Bringing the concept bang up to date, Beach Creep is an indie night that is completely free of irony, which, in Dalston at least, is no mean feat. Taking over the Shacklewell Arms each and every Friday, the music policy is a mix of cool new tunes and old indie rock bangers. Plus, they normally have some rad as hell band playing earlier in the night.
Want to know London's best indie venues? We've got you covered.
Think we missed one? Feel free to leave us a comment below!
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