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Drugs in the UK clubbing scene
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| JonDC |
No matter how great their love of dance music, I don't think many people in the UK would deny how paramount drugs are to the atmosphere at a club. You may not do them yourself but you would be plain wrong if you thought it wouldn't be going off if a good 50% (probably more) of people there weren't high as a kite. This is defiantly the case in the main clubs I have been in anyway - Crasher, Gods, Passion, Opera House etc
Since trance is my musical preference, I will only comment on this scene, even though I am sure it is applicable to others as well, but especially trance because of the strong link with ecstasy that it has always had.
Basically - and feel free to correct me if any of my information is incomplete - the quality of ecstasy has decreased dramatically in the past 6 months. I have heard that this is because of a couple of things:
1. A few of the main producers of ecstasy in the UK have been busted
2. The strong emergence of piperazine's such as BZP, TFMPP and MCPP, and the ease at which people can get hold of them and pressing equipment.
This is actually a bit of a nightmare. I seldom take drugs anymore, but I have a friend who is very clued up, and has testing kits etc, so knows when a batch is dodgy. He has found that nearly all of the stuff that’s been knocking around lately is not really MDMA - its the abovementioned piperazines. For anyone who doesn't know, they basically act the same in that they make your brain release loads of serration, which makes you high. However it’s nowhere near as good, and the comedown is absolutely awful. You can't sleep and you will feel as rough as a dog. A lot of people feel a bit ropey when they are up as well.
Anyway, the problem dawned on me when I was at Gatecrasher Magna on boxing day in Rotherham. This was by all accounts an amazing night, in an amazing venue, with an amazing line-up, and all the DJ's performed exceptionally. However, the atmosphere wasn't quite the same as I've seen in the past - or even at the previous magna a few months ago. When I started going clubbing in early 2004, whenever you looked around people were obviously high, but they were all smiling. People would come up to you in the toilets and say 'this is amazing...what a quality night' etc etc - You got all of that 'Human Traffic' banter.
At my night at Magna on the other hand - looking around at the crowd I could tell that about the usual amount of people were on something, but their facial expressions were quite different. People just looked messy, and no one was really going for it. It was obvious that it wasn't MDMA that the majority of people were doing. Absolutely nobody had anything to say apart from 'where's Armin?', since he was a few minutes late, and some people weren’t smashed enough to enjoy what they didn't know (namely John 00 Fleming, who was actually brilliant).
The problem is that unfortunately, a lot of clubbers just want to have a good time and are not particularly obsessed by trance (or insert other genre) - they listen casually and have a limited lifespan on the dance floor as it is. There will have been people at Magna who will have dropped for the first time and gone home thinking 'That was not as good as its cracked up to be', and the horrific comedown that they experienced may have been enough to put them off going again. The amount of people that had such an amazing night that their love of clubbing blossomed from there will have been significantly reduced (in part because the atmosphere simply wasn’t there towards the end too). Then there are the people who are getting on a bit and not so clued up about what’s in their pills, who will just think 'I'm too old for this....not as good as it used to be...starting to make me feel rough...' and will begin to disappear from clubland.
I think this is actually a pretty serious issue to be honest. I would like to think that people go clubbing because the music is good, but the fact is that for many people getting battered is the real reason its fun. If pills continue to be crap, I think numbers will drop and the likes of Godskitchen will struggle to afford their stunning venues. And are the big DJ's going to play for less money, or in ty little clubs? Probably not quite as frequently.
What are your opinions? Do you think its something to worry about? I personally will be absolutely gutted if this issue causes the UK trance scene to go up... |
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| Beat Blog |
I'm appalled by the fact that you base your opinions about people's enjoyment of the night solely on the quality of their drugs.
I'd really love it if drugs were to off from the club scene entirely, then only the people who really enjoy the music would be there, not wankers who enjoy arps and fat kick drums when they are off their nut, and listen to pop music during the day.
Though I must admit, as you said, drugs (vs alcohol only) can add a significant amount of atmosphere to events . On the other hand, when a particularly strong batch goes around, they seem to do the opposite - everyone gets involved in whacked-out conversations about utter crap with one another and ignores the music altogether.
I think it would be more accurate to say the 90% of people are on drugs at trance events, not 50%. |
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| JonDC |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beat Blog
I'm appalled by the fact that you base your opinions about people's enjoyment of the night solely on the quality of their drugs.
I'd really love it if drugs were to off from the club scene entirely, then only the people who really enjoy the music would be there, not wankers who enjoy arps and fat kick drums when they are off their nut, and listen to pop music during the day. |
You clearly haven’t paid any attention to the way I have expressed that its 'most people'. Of course the music is what makes a night good - but are you seriously trying to deny that some people wouldn't go if there weren’t drugs around? You live in Melbourne so perhaps it's different at your end. I doubt it though.
Any your ideal of losing drugs so that only people who were really serious about the music were at nights is great until the reality that clubs lose money due to empty dancefloors and shut down kicks in.
Please don't be appalled by my post – that’s a very strong emotion to have about someone’s casual observation :) |
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| Beat Blog |
| quote: | Originally posted by JonDC
You clearly haven’t paid any attention to the way I have expressed that its 'most people'. Of course the music is what makes a night good - but are you seriously trying to deny that some people wouldn't go if there weren’t drugs around? You live in Melbourne so perhaps it's different at your end. I doubt it though. |
Some people?
Without drugs, crowds of 20,000 would be reduced to 5,000, and the events would last for 4 hours, rather than 8 or 12. People would leave after a few hours, too tired or lazy to go on. The "stadium rave" as we know it would be dead. As you said, clubs would also start shutting their doors.
I think this would actually be great. Huge, stadium raves are fun, but imagine if instead of having twenty clubs in town, you had two quality ones playing top-notch music all the time. The crowd would become so much more intimate and connected, just like back when clubs like Wigan Casino and Paradise Garage were open, it was like a family, you knew everyone in the place, every week! |
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| JonDC |
| quote: | Originally posted by Beat Blog
Some people?
Without drugs, crowds of 20,000 would be reduced to 5,000, and the events would last for 4 hours, rather than 8 or 12. People would leave after a few hours, too tired or lazy to go on. The "stadium rave" as we know it would be dead. As you said, clubs would also start shutting their doors.
I think this would actually be great. Huge, stadium raves are fun, but imagine if instead of having twenty clubs in town, you had two quality ones playing top-notch music all the time. The crowd would become so much more intimate and connected, just like back when clubs like Wigan Casino and Paradise Garage were open, it was like a family, you knew everyone in the place, every week! |
I can see your point, but I'm still not really talking about the stadium 'tiesto in concert' raves - even the normal sized, 1.5 thousand people clubs will be affected. I think its important to have a decent venue with a big sound system and lazors and good DJ's who demand high wages - it definatly adds to the night, and if numbers dropped massivly, clubs wouldnt be able to afford that sort of thing.
I'd agree that the emergance of niche nights would be pretty cool, but I would miss the superclubs |
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| Beat Blog |
| quote: | Originally posted by JonDC
I can see your point, but I'm still not really talking about the stadium 'tiesto in concert' raves - even the normal sized, 1.5 thousand people clubs will be affected. I think its important to have a decent venue with a big sound system and lazors and good DJ's who demand high wages - it definatly adds to the night, and if numbers dropped massivly, clubs wouldnt be able to afford that sort of thing.
I'd agree that the emergance of niche nights would be pretty cool, but I would miss the superclubs |
I'd miss superclubs too, I like them.
However, have you ever been to see a classic or cult DJs where a lot of the crowd is sober? The atmosphere can be amazing, because sober people cheer and go more nuts than drugged people, who tend to get lost in their own little worlds. |
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| SYSTEM-J |
| From what I've heard, the quality of E has been for years now. I don't think it's a particularly new "problem". |
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| piku303 |
| ferry corsten on tiesto here in atlanta. although the actual DJ and music played where a big part, all the people at tiesto where sketch as and trashy. at ferry it was at a nice venue and all the people were sober or drunk. no E = a much better time. |
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| jim bab |
| i dnt take drugs but in the clubs over here 90% would be taking them and dont have a clue about proper edm,all think scott project and lisa lashes r the best djs 2 grace the decks.if drugs were takin away no1 would go 2 clubs.ive no problem with ppl taking drugs and it would be the end of a dance scene over here if they were taken away |
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| Tony Morello |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
From what I've heard, the quality of E has been for years now. I don't think it's a particularly new "problem". |
that's why i stopped dropping tabs, pills just aren't what they used to be |
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| Zombikiller |
Ive noticed that since the summer alot of clubs in Belfast have simply 'dried up'. And with this, there is a more tense atmosphere which is so noticeable.
As pills are crap these days, get yourself some pure MDMA :crazy: |
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| The_G0dfather |
| cor version ? |
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