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Who lives in London and what's happening there these days?

So I'm moving to London this month for an 8 month program @ western. While I don't think I'll have too much time to go out, I'm curious what's going on there these days electronic music-wise. I lived in London from 99-03 and lush was the place to go, but it eventually closed. My new roommate is pals with G-Boogie so I'm sure I'll get the scoop from him, but for those of you in London, what's up with the scene there?

It's pretty decent out here in london, went to 29 park last night, had a good time. Places like that and the Frog play a lot of house and electro type stuff, so that's nice aswell.

trance, trance and more trance...you're going to *love* it Sarah!

(j/k, I have no idea what London has to offer...but it would be amusing for you to return as a full-on, hands-in-the-air trance addict)

quote:

Originally posted by marcinm It's pretty decent out here in london, went to 29 park last night, had a good time. Places like that and the Frog play a lot of house and electro type stuff, so that's nice aswell.

I heard we're going to be spending a lot of time at the Frog.... *shudder*
Maybe I can get a gig there and make it bearable

quote:

Originally posted by MarkT trance, trance and more trance...you're going to *love* it Sarah!

LOL... so cruel.

I have literally been to London once in my life and that was to see Sander van Doorn in April this year. I don't think I could bare it.

Good Luck Sarah!

I'm moving back to Toronto in the fall. In the 4 years i have lived here, I have noticed that London is a big R&B/hip-hop city. Most of the music heard in the clubs that I have gone to are in that genre. The highlight of my time in London was Sander Van Doorn. From what I have seen there have been attempts to develop something here, but it just never seems to take off. I do enjoy the pub scene here though.

Yeah... I live here, and haven't seen anything worth while come through town in a while. sad... I miss it Im thinking this winter of trying to put something together myself, we'll see...

Moving back to London myself in a few weeks... not looking forward to it.

London sucks... There is no club that plays all house or trance.

It's a Top 40 city

quote:

Originally posted by magikb I have literally been to London once in my life and that was to see Sander van Doorn in April this year. I don't think I could bare it.

that was a great night!
i use to go to the basement of the phoenix where they'd play really good breaks, but they shut it down. If you use facebook check out the event Pure Evolution, Sept. 14. Gonna be a great night and you'll be able to meet a lot of new people. Also watch where the best local dj's are spinning like Wendy Law. and if you have wheels or a hook up then the purple room(the mint) is never far.

London is quite a weird situation.

I was hanging out with Greg Benz the other night as he was telling me all the stories of the Lush days when they had people like Max Graham, John Acquaviva, Mistress Barbara, and plenty more as normal talent.

Too bad that's not the case for London EDM these days.

It's very tough to play dance music in a town where UWO + Fanshawe run the bar scene. Hip-Hop and Top 40 are still the predominant forms of music for the bars in London and it's quite rare when we do have a successful dance music night. Phoenix was the only real "club" outlet that would really play any dance music and even then it wasn't a proper flowing set unless they had guest DJ's in like Simon, Sydney, etc.

There are often people who attempt to throw parties with dance music but very rarely will they get it right and all too often do they end up booking dub-step, grime, breaks, and dnb as they pack in 30 DJ's into a two room night in a sketchy all-ages after-hours type event with $30 cover, yet they wonder why very people show up.

The event with SVD was a breath of fresh air and I hoped it was going to bring some more exciting things to the city as promoters realized that if things were done right, they would draw a proper crowd. Unfortunately we've only had the lackluster attempts at cashing in on the SVD night with poorly planned events like Macca or Antoine Clamaran both leaving extremely disappointed after playing to crowds of 20-40 people.

I'm really not sure what to think of this city. But I know I don't depend on it for a constant dose of good clubbing nightlife. Sure it's good to go out and get smashed at the Barking Frog to some mediocre house DJ, but I'd rather go out for a few drinks with friends, or party at a friends house or even make the trip down to Toronto if I want to go to a proper club.

That said, the SVD night was great with a proper crowd and I had an amazing time. I also played a show at the local gay club over pride weekend to a packed out house. So it's not that there aren't the events from time to time, just not a reliable source to count on.

quote:

Originally posted by Chris Allen London is quite a weird situation. I was hanging out with Greg Benz the other night as he was telling me all the stories of the Lush days when they had people like Max Graham, John Acquaviva, Mistress Barbara, and plenty more as normal talent. Too bad that's not the case for London EDM these days.

Yeah, London was a prime place for bookings back then....the DJs you mention were big, but not too big, to play in London.
Western booked Misstress Barbara to play at some wannabe "rave" in their main stadium in 2000 - I didn't go but apparently it was a major flop. Chris Sheppard was on the bill too I think!

I think there might be a tech/chicago house monthly in the works, which I look forward to - it would probably cater to the over 25, non-student population.

Since the Phoenix closed, there is nothing much going on outside of the Barking Frog. Not that Waterloo is any better but at least I can go to Purple Room on a Saturday and hear some good shit.

Everyone is right though. London is very much a university/college town that is dominated by HORRENDOUS bars like Jim Bob's or Jack's that play nothing but the same fucking crap over and over. I was at Jim Bob's on Wednesday and heard "It's Your Birthday"...I mean for fuck sake.

Even at the Frog, however, a lot of the "dance" music they play in the main part is commercial crap. I am good friends with two of the dj's there who are always in the back lounge and sometimes they play really good stuff (like the Saturday before last) but the dance floor might be able to fit 20-25 people comfortably.

When I'm back home, though (which is often), the Frog is where we always go, mainly for two reasons. We bypass the line every time and the music is at least tolerable, sometimes very enjoyable. I guess that's not saying much. The Frog used to book good dj's like Sydney Blu and Dekoze but that's tapered off. Do you know the manager Sarah? His name is Cameron and he's a hard guy to read, that's for sure....

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Smitty20 heard "It's Your Birthday"...I mean for fuck sake.

lol
heard bonjovi at the taphouse fri night. (sorry justin) tap house is a big step up from jacks and jim bobs though. funny, i've lived here 9 months now and i still haven't made it to the frog. guess i know what i'm doing next weekend... what night's are the best to hit up the frog?

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Smitty20 Since the Phoenix closed, there is nothing much going on outside of the Barking Frog. Not that Waterloo is any better but at least I can go to Purple Room on a Saturday and hear some good shit. Everyone is right though. London is very much a university/college town that is dominated by HORRENDOUS bars like Jim Bob's or Jack's that play nothing but the same fucking crap over and over. I was at Jim Bob's on Wednesday and heard "It's Your Birthday"...I mean for fuck sake. Even at the Frog, however, a lot of the "dance" music they play in the main part is commercial crap. I am good friends with two of the dj's there who are always in the back lounge and sometimes they play really good stuff (like the Saturday before last) but the dance floor might be able to fit 20-25 people comfortably. When I'm back home, though (which is often), the Frog is where we always go, mainly for two reasons. We bypass the line every time and the music is at least tolerable, sometimes very enjoyable. I guess that's not saying much. The Frog used to book good dj's like Sydney Blu and Dekoze but that's tapered off. Do you know the manager Sarah? His name is Cameron and he's a hard guy to read, that's for sure....

Interesting - the frog sounds like it's improved since I lived in London last.
No, I don't know the manager....it's been a long time since I've had contacts for anything in L-town.

I can't believe I'm moving back next weekend! I'm drastically postponing the whole ordeal of packing. thank god I have a week to do it.

quote:

Originally posted by soupastah lol heard bonjovi at the taphouse fri night. (sorry justin) tap house is a big step up from jacks and jim bobs though. funny, i've lived here 9 months now and i still haven't made it to the frog. guess i know what i'm doing next weekend... what night's are the best to hit up the frog?

you're right about Taphouse actually. That opened up as I was moving to Waterloo for school so I missed all the hoopla about that place. I went there Canada Day weekend and it was definitely a much classier place than jim bobs and jacks. 29 and Park is also much better than those two, but I don't like the crowd (very Gino).

Saturday is def. the best night to check out the Frog. It's busy but if you get there before 11pm, you shouldn't have to wait in line. Get there at 12 and you're usually fucked. It's kind of a maze in there but the best music is toward the back in the separate structure across the (very large) patio. There's a 90% chance I'll be there on Saturday too.

quote:

Originally posted by Skipper Interesting - the frog sounds like it's improved since I lived in London last. No, I don't know the manager....it's been a long time since I've had contacts for anything in L-town. I can't believe I'm moving back next weekend! I'm drastically postponing the whole ordeal of packing. thank god I have a week to do it.

it's definitely improved since 2004-05. They've opened up a few more rooms and changed the location of the main dance floor (it's still a narrow building though but capacity is surprising). If you ever go there and talk to the two dj's (david and Jon) or the manager Cameron, you might be able to hook up a gig.

I just finished my first year at Western, coming from mississauga, and im going back september for another 8 month stay.

I didnt find anything all year along until...march ish. Then i heard saturdays were good at pheonix but never made it out. Then SVD came to RumRunners (not an edm scene club AT ALL!) then deko-ze at Deisel. Apparently this place (located in the basement of JACKS) plays some hosue music on either fridays or saturday nights...so i was told to check it out, it as a pretty good ungrground yet classy look to it.



Sorry, just from reading the previous responses, Frogs has another room attached to it? Is it accessible by anyone, anytime, anyday? I'd love to ditch my top 40 UWO friends for some alone EMD every saturday!!

29Park - very gino x 5
pheoenix is totally closed and another club i hear now? their posters i thoguht advertisied hip hop and house....if true..specific time/day when i can hear all house?!

^^^^ most Saturday nights in the lounge at the Frog (a separate building located at the back of the patio) offer some decent tunes depending on which of the two brothers is playing. But it's really small in there and is, well, a lounge. There isn't room for more than 20 people to dance at any one time in there. It might be worth checking out one time though. It's the best of both worlds for me since I can party with all of my friends from London at once while still hearing half decent music. I don't have that luxury here in Waterloo where everybody is addicted to fucking pubs or places called "Phil's" that play ACDC still...

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Smitty20 "Phil's"

lol
omg i've always hated that place.... and it has booze!! how do you hate a place that has booze? it's like people go there to celebrate how much a place can suck

i'm deff going to look for some familiar ta faces now at frog's, made plenty of friends since moving to london but most of them are work related which is kinda limiting

\repost

got my last year @ western. add me to facebook if u have it (justin chung) and ill keep u in the loop on events and other stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Smitty20 it's definitely improved since 2004-05. They've opened up a few more rooms and changed the location of the main dance floor (it's still a narrow building though but capacity is surprising). If you ever go there and talk to the two dj's (david and Jon) or the manager Cameron, you might be able to hook up a gig.

I've been in touch with Neil, the manager, and it sounds like you might see me there on a Thursday soon. Sounds like it could be promising!

quote:

Originally posted by Skipper I've been in touch with Neil, the manager, and it sounds like you might see me there on a Thursday soon. Sounds like it could be promising!

Is Neil the darker guy? I"m not sure which one of them does the bookings but seems like you've got a line on something there. Let me know if you spin and I'll try to make it out. I listened to some of your sets awhile back and they weren't bad.

quote:

Originally posted by soupastah lol heard bonjovi at the taphouse fri night. (sorry justin) tap house is a big step up from jacks and jim bobs though. funny, i've lived here 9 months now and i still haven't made it to the frog. guess i know what i'm doing next weekend... what night's are the best to hit up the frog?

lol need to apologize. i feel sorry for myself working there sometimes lol but its still a great ol time. cant wait for the school year to start. pure shit show there (gotta be there by 10 or ur waiting a long time).

quote:

Originally posted by Dj Smitty20 Is Neil the darker guy? I"m not sure which one of them does the bookings but seems like you've got a line on something there. Let me know if you spin and I'll try to make it out. I listened to some of your sets awhile back and they weren't bad.

ya thats neil. he's the newer manager. took over adams spot last year. cam is very touch and go. adam was the one pushing house @ frog.

yep I knew Adam pretty well actually. I don't think Cameron knows much about the scene or music at all, but he's consistently nice to me. I've noticed the Frog hasn't really been booking any major dj's like Dekoze since Adam left though.

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