Peach goes harder at The Scala

[Digital Liquid]

Peach goes Hard

The Scala

Saturday 17th April 2004

 

 

 

 

 

The night began for Sam and I in a hired car travelling from Kent to The Scala Club, near WC1. Having been kindly put on the paying guest list by our friend, Tom Gale (Funky Room Organiser) we were looking forward to a new venue, recently refurbished and for some Tidy style hard house madness. The venue was easy to find, near to Euston Station and parking was easy. We took the short walk from car to club to find a queue of about 50 people. “Which ones the paying guest list mate?”, I asked the security staff. “The queue of people over there mate..”

 

Ok, not to worry we thought, this’ll be over quickly.. especially as it’s so fookin cold, they’ll be quick we thought. Twenty minutes later and we’ve shuffled slowly toward the entrance but, at an agonisingly slow pace. This gave us the opportunity to look at and attempt to communicate with, those in the queue with us. It was at that point that we began to have feelings of concern.. Whilst it’s difficult to be specific, there was something about our fellow clubbers that was a little odd. Normally, Sam and I chat with like-minded people, similarly dressed and usually with a smile. However, the people in the queue with us didn’t look like the type of clubber we’d see at say, Heaven, Riot or any Tidy do. Anyway, not put off and still looking forward to our evening, we gave our names to the man on the door and in we went. The security search was just adequate, although, I got the impression I could have taken a lot more in than I did.

 

Once in, we walked with others up two flights of stairs, leading to a cash point, more stairs and double doors into the reception/bar area. As is becoming more frequent these days, there was a large(ish) stall selling luminous toys and club accessories plus some vinyl; couldn’t tell you if there was anything good there or not.. didn’t have the time nor the inclination. We bought our drinks and handed our coats in to pleasant and efficient cloakroom staff.

 

To the far right of the reception was the stairs going up (again?) to the Main Room. As we entered, we saw the main dance floor in front, on a lower level, with a raised area to the sides and rear, also for dancing. There was this bloody big cage thing in the centre, which I couldn’t work out the use for. Decoration was… well it was there but, amounted to nothing more than oversized lamp shades with multicoloured oil lamps inside. The effect was, umm, ok but, not visually inspiring. The lights were ok too but, the laser was a waste of time. Perhaps spoilt by the Brixton Academy or the Tidy Weekenders, I though the laser was piss poor. There were some screens on the back wall but, again, these were no more than acceptable.

 

Above us was another room – glazed and overlooking the club, together with another room above that containing the funky room and our friend Tom Gale. Keen to see him, we ventured though the crowd and up several flights of never ending stairs, one flight being painted bright bloody red; stairs, walls, ceiling.. looked excellent.

 

The funky room was good, well laid out with seating booths around the dance floor and the sound system was crystal. It’s a real shame that type of disco funky isn’t my thing as I really liked it in there; smaller, less people, nice people.. However, Sam and I walked behind the “sound curtain” to reach the highest balcony over looking everything. A major point of complaint though was that the sound curtain was not sufficient. Every time the music had a break in the main club, the beat from the funky room took over – most confusing. The room itself was better than downstairs and had a better sound system. Whilst I knew Tom had organised the Funky event, I can’t help but think if they allowed him to promote a proper hard house dj list for the whole evening, in that room, it would’ve been a fantastic alternative to the main room downstairs.

 

We went back to the main room, ground floor, and walked though the crowds of people. What really struck me was the lack of anyone having made any special effort in the way they looked or what they were wearing. Sam puts a lot of time and effort into the way she looks (gorgeous) and I make sure I look different enough to make a difference out clubbing. I saw none of it. What I did see was stony straight-faced people looking back at me as we walked hand in hand along the rear balcony.

 

Due to a distinct lack of eye candy for the males present at the club, I found myself watching some pathetic drooling and lathering at Sam as we walked to our destination – tonight was NOT going to be relaxing and full of fun..

 

The first Dj, a little chap of Middle Eastern origin, was throwing himself around to some uninteresting trance and I began to think… “Peach goes harder??…. Peach in 1998, Pele, Graham Gold” – it certainly was not the hard house I’d been expecting. Then the skips began. The decks were located quite close to the front of the stage and either the Dj or the Clubbers were jogging the stage; enough to skip the record. However, that did not excuse his crap mixing. To be fair, there might have been other problems, which we could not see (bad monitoring, crap headphones?) but, some of the horrendous clangers made me wanna rip him off the stage and get the next one on. Christ, I could have done better myself.

 

By this time, around 12am, I’m beginning to feel a little pissed of. The trance was ok and I suppose it was fast but, it didn’t grab me by the balls and make me wanna do more and dance..

 

I think the first two dj’s were Hinsley and Sparx – neither of which I would rate at all. However, before the heavyweight dj’s came on we were given a personal appearance from an Opera Singer: OH. GREAT.

 

The crap music finished and a bouncy little blonde came on the stage clutching a microphone. I’m afraid I didn’t catch her name as, once again, this was not something I was expecting. Then it began. Standard type trance, nothing special, with some operatic style singing from our friend with the mic. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ve got no problem with talent, ability and the style of her tune but, for f***** sake, this was supposed to be a PEACH GOES HARDER event – what in hells name was hard about that. Needless to say, the majority of the crowd went wild. I bit my tongue and smiled and waved with the rest of them. Christ, I even took a picture.

 

Once that was out the way, the proper music started:

 

Rafferty / Reynolds / Pin-up

 

Ten outta ten for Rafferty and Reynolds, they absolutely rocked. Despite the apparent problems experienced by the previous dj’s, they had no difficulty in rockin the place with a special track getting me off my arse, K90 – Red Snapper. Wow. The place went berserk. Another favourite – Andy Farley and D.A.V.E. the Drummer – MBS was played with an equal number of unknown and well known tracks. Unfortunately, having started the evening on a poor footing, I’d not prepared my body for staying until the end. Alas, I apologise to Lisa Pin-up for not seeing her set. By then I am sure all the beer boy letches would have gone and the place would have been left to those smiley happy people that we know and love.

 

During the night we met a surprising number of people whom we’d met at the last Tidy Weekender and an equal number of “recognised” faces from clubs over the last few months. We enjoyed meeting them and a couple of new people too but, on the whole, Sam and I both felt wary to say hello to anyone, male or female and, on occasion, we’d both experienced bitchy moodiness from females jealous of Sam or those with eyes on me. The beer monsters were unbelievable and despite Sam and I obviously being together, they still felt the need to letch, pester and pinch her arse (something I found out about after the event…) – that kinda shi* just isn’t what clubbing is about.

 

Clubbing to me is –

 

Good music - only provided at The Scala by the latter dj's, Rafferty, Reynolds & Pin-up

A good venue - The Scala is not the new Camden and never will be

A good sound system - my ears hurt - always a sign of a badly set up system

Happiness and unity - the majority of people were neither

Smiley people - few and far between, those of which who were, we already knew

Good Organisation – Queuing sucked, specially since the full price ticket holders went straight in

 

Overall, a disappointing 3 / 10 increasing to 6 / 10 for Rafferty/Lawson and Pin-up when they played

 

There are better ways to spend a tenner.

 

 

Digital Liquid