The best nights at new venues in town. This month: Spit Fire Residents Spit Fare mainstays Koith Martin. Scott McCluskoy and (John Cameron.
Guests “We've never had any guestsf says Martin. 'We just get on wrth it. We think our tastes good enough Without trying to use a name to soll the club." Music policy Classic indie disco. which doesn't mean baggy and Britpop. 'l_(ZD Soundsystem. The Go Betweens. Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Soft Coll. l’he Human league. .'
What they say “Spit Fire was going at the RAF Association club for a couple of years. but that's closed down now. so we've had to find a new home,’ 2;: ys Martin. 'After looking at a few places. we decided that Blackfiiars Basement would be poifecl. It‘s a relaxed. friendly venue. the capacrty's about the same (as RAFA) and we didn't want to put the club in an established city centre venue. anyway. We'd broadly call ourselves an indie club. but it's very limiting to jllSl play indie rock music wrtluin that. There are three DJs at Spit Fire. we all like different music. and we'll mix things up by playing whatever we feel like. whether it‘s Beyonce 0i Motown.‘
What we say With more social club—based nights springing up in Glasgow and Edinburgh. it's good news that Spit Fire haven't let the demise of the old RAFA stop them. and that they've moved home to a venue which delivers the same intimate. relaxed atmOSphero. Martin doesn't deny the fact that his night is meant to be Just as accessible to the older clubber. but that translates in real terms to a connOisseur's chorce of music and an event which fulfils every requirement of the term 'social club'. (David Pollockl
I Spit Fire IS at Blackfn‘ars Basement. Glasgow. Fri 77 Apr
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l'lTEQ-‘v'li'k’t’ TE int-.4 SUBSTANCE Henry's Cellar Bar, Edinburgh, Sat 12 Apr
harsh world of the repetitive beat.
Which brings us to Substance, one of Edinburgh's new breed of techno nights currently building on the city’s legacy. This month the club welcomes Sativa resident Steve Glencross and regular Tobias Schmidt for a reunion of sorts.
‘Techno's a dirty word these days isn't it? But I like the simplicity of techno.‘ explains Schmidt. ‘You can just have two or three drum sounds and a sick evil synth bassline and that'll do the job.‘
Schmidt’s description does a disservice to his wonky electronica output, which connects on both a cerebral and physical level. Working with the likes of Neil Landstrumm, Cristian Vogel, Dave Tarrida and Jamie Liddle over the years, Schmidt will be putting in one of his exemplary live sets at Substance. ‘I‘ve never DJed; I like that improvised aspect.‘ (Henry Northmore)
Perhaps the greatest thing about electronica is that it’s a forward thinking genre that reaches for the future, combining man and machine into new forms of sound. Techno in particular has always looked to the future rather than trading on past glories. And while this will always be the aim for the most intelligent exponents of the art, we can’t completely dismiss the past, from the early rumblings of the Detroit scene through the raves of the 805 and 905 to a time when Edinburgh was one of the most important centres for techno in the UK. At the heart of this scene, Pure and Sativa were legendary clubs, regularly attracting some of the most interesting artists in the world to their hedonistic parties while still craving innovation in the
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DON LETTS Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh, Sat 12 Apr
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