by RAF KATIGBAK

In the mid-’90s, for many, the finest house was coming from the small industrial railroad town in central England known as Manchester. Inspired by the city’s rich musical heritage (New Order, Stone Roses, Joy Division, 10cc, Happy Mondays), the crew behind the Paper Recordings label made it their mission to put out some of the funkiest, most soulful, disco-inspired house around. The Mirror recently caught up with co-founder DJ Elliot Eastwick to talk about the commercial state of the U.K. club scene.

Mirror: In ’93, at the beginning of the huge mega-club trend in England, you got a residency at Hard Times. Recently some of the major mega-clubs, such as Cream and Gatecrasher, have closed their doors or have cut down their schedule. Do you feel there’s a trend away from these mega-clubs?

Elliot Eastwick: Oh yeah, certainly, the places that everyone is talking about are the medium-sized clubs, places like Chibuku Shake in Liverpool and Stompa Phunk in Brighton. Fabric in London bridges that gap between a mega-club and a smaller, more underground thing. But I don’t know anyone who’s sad about the demise of Cream and Gatecrasher. It can only be a good thing.

M: When I talked to your fellow Mancunian Andrew Barker from 808 State, he blamed the demise of the mega-clubs on their overtly commercial stance on clubbing.

EE: For sure, they can try to make creative musical decisions, but when you’re trying to do that for 3,000 people twice a week, you’re inevitably going to go down the path of lowest common denominator. They tried to sell people a lifestyle and those people have now grown up and don’t want to be marketed to on a night out. People want more variety these days too.

M: So are the days of the mega-clubs over in England?

EE: Nah, there are still big, horrid, cheesy clubs playing banging trance, but we need that to exist to make what we do more of a reaction. If that wasn’t there, we would be the commercial side of the scene, and we don’t want that happening, do we?! :

With Miles Hollway, Raj Hungund and Soul Sista,
at Exit on Friday, Nov. 29, 10pm, $10

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