Bristol’s remarkable clubbing legacy: A safe place for the absurd

[SlinkyMike]

Bristol's remarkable clubbing legacy: A safe place for the absurd

How liminal clubbing spaces helped to carve out Bristol’s alternative sonic identity, while providing a haven for a mix of races, classes and ‘scruffy hippies’

mg.co.za

One of my enduring interests has been underground music and as such I found this article to be a great read.

The stories here so closely resemble my memories of Cape Town in the 80s/90s that I felt a strange nostalgia for a Bristol I never even knew.

I wonder how many of us on this forum can identify (at least in part) with some of what is expressed here because I think that there is a universal truth to sections like this one:

Dressed in 1950s-style pegged trousers, mohair sweaters and plastic “jelly” sandals, people heading into town to the Guildhall Tavern experienced the club as part of an assertion of individualism and symbolic creativity, which appears to have been shared by a range of “alternative” nightclubbers.

“You didn’t want to be like anybody else. You wanted to be ahead of the mob. It was a really good time. If you had made your way in on the bus, in what was considered to be quite an outlandish style, and then you got there and there were other people who were dressed in the same way; it had a sort of brotherhood to it. People tended to get on, which wasn’t the case in pubs and clubs in town generally.” Williams says.

I'd love to hear your stories below.

 

[EADC]

My clubbing experience's weren't exactly like that it was in PE in the early 2000's at a young age, but mostly centered around the more mainstream places especially Brookes Pavilion which gave you some variety at least.

But every now and then would end up in a different part of town Like central which had more eclectic vibe to it, 52 Parliament was quite a jol most times.

 

[biometrics]

In the 90s I used to go to places like the Purple Turtle, Playground, Delizium, The Gel, Cafe District 6, Fringe, Magnet and Funktion.

 

[EADC]

In the 90s I used to go to places like the Purple Turtle, Playground, Delizium, The Gel, Cafe District 6, Fringe, Magnet and Funktion.

Was there any difference Pre 94 vs Post 94?

 

[biometrics]

Was there any difference Pre 94 vs Post 94?

Lots of drugs available post 94.

 

[EADC]

Lots of drugs available post 94.

Somehow that seems like the only right answer

 

[SlinkyMike]

My clubbing experience's weren't exactly like that it was in PE in the early 2000's at a young age, but mostly centered around the more mainstream places especially Brookes Pavilion which gave you some variety at least.

But every now and then would end up in a different part of town Like central which had more eclectic vibe to it, 52 Parliament was quite a jol most times.

Yea, interesting to note how landscape, city planning, socio-economic issues impact this. Cape Town as a relatively small melting pot with dense suburban areas in every direction out of the CBD was maybe a perfect landscape for the alternative subcultures that thrived.

In the 90s I used to go to places like the Purple Turtle, Playground, Delizium, The Gel, Cafe District 6, Fringe, Magnet and Funktion.

I would be astonished if we don't actually know each other IRL, at least by face, maybe even via mutual friends.

My very first forays into clubs in town were when I was underage and the place to be at was The Base. Reggae and Ska bands would jam on Saturday afternoons and I'd skateboard from the Southern Suburbs into the CBD to hit H-Street and then The Base.

Later I'd do the Wednesday night at The Playground with my school uniform in a backpack and then change on the train in the next morning. The shitfit I would fling if I caught my kids doing that. Parenthood is pure hypocrisy at times!

 

[biometrics]

Yea, interesting to note how landscape, city planning, socio-economic issues impact this. Cape Town as a relatively small melting pot with dense suburban areas in every direction out of the CBD was maybe a perfect landscape for the alternative subcultures that thrived.


I would be astonished if we don't actually know each other IRL, at least by face, maybe even via mutual friends.

My very first forays into clubs in town were when I was underage and the place to be at was The Base. Reggae and Ska bands would jam on Saturday afternoons and I'd skateboard from the Southern Suburbs into the CBD to hit H-Street and then The Base.

Later I'd do the Wednesday night at The Playground with my school uniform in a backpack and then change on the train in the next morning. The shitfit I would fling if I caught my kids doing that. Parenthood is pure hypocrisy at times!

Pic of Me

Shall we?

thegrotto.co.za

 

[SlinkyMike]

Pic of Me

Shall we?

thegrotto.co.za

I'm trying to picture you 25 years younger, maybe with long hair and like a pentagram or something!

I'd love to post back but I'm generally averse to posting my visage online, also I have the same username on The Other Place and I don't trust those cretins as far as I can spit.

 

[biometrics]

I'm trying to picture you 25 years younger, maybe with long hair and like a pentagram or something!

I'd love to post back but I'm generally averse to posting my visage online, also I have the same username on The Other Place and I don't trust those cretins as far as I can spit.

25 years younger and many kgs lighter.

 

[SlinkyMike]

25 years younger and many kgs lighter.

Hard truths my friend!