Wildside at our new venue J7...thoughts'n'opinions

[DJevAL]

Ok so now we've been there 2 months and 2 Wildside's now, even though personally I've always wanted the opportunity to put bands with the club night and J7 seemed perfect, we had little choice now that Spiders and Fudge have gone! And elsewhere would have meant having to have it in a shitty pub somewhere! NOWAY!

So what do people think so far? With the DJing downstairs and upstairs ..... bands at the start of the night .... J7 as a venue .... and overall has Wildside got better/worse/same/different ... etc

Always want to hear what you people think as its your night


Oh and apologies about the situation the first month of the bands running over the 10.30 deadline for the club night starting for those who were waiting :S We did better this month finishing about 5mins over, hope thats not too bad. Shame the 2am license hadnt come through in time, but I'm told it will be there for the December one!

Cheerz,

DJevALx

[Evz]

Like the venue, the fact that it has parking, bar staff are friendly and drinks are a reasonable price.

Think DJ-ing downstairs makes upstairs too quiet at times, what with people flitting between the two floors.

Bands are great - don't see the fuss about running over 10.30 or having to extra £2 to see bands. At Spiders it was always £4-ish unless you had a flier.

J7 could be doing with being a bit dingier in ambience if you know what I mean. Seems a bit too "bright".

[David]

Not sure about the venue at all really. Don't mind the band stuff going on, but if you're downstairs, when the bands have finished, it is very difficult to summon up the enthusiasm to then move upstairs, especially after 4 or 5 Erdingers. There wasn't many people dancing either, which made it feel less like a clubnight.

Just goes to show that you don't know what you have got until it has gone...talking about Spiders.

J7 is better than nothing, but it just doesn't feel like Wildside somehow.

[Phil]

J7 is pretty cool. Double vodka and coke for 2 sheets, you can't go wrong! Evz is right that it does get quiet upstairs. I like the 2 floor situation. But one o'clock closing is far too early. What's the curfew gonna be after the new licensing laws come into effect? I miss Spiders (sob)

[pvckitten]

i miss spiders too

still a venue is better than no venue - which is the trauma for the wake at the moment.

missed last months wildside due to being dragged off to a dodgy goth weekend for my wedding anniversay and for the wake to dj to 1800 people instead of 100 - that was scary.

spiders has definately been sold - there's a license application in the doorway under the name of darren (surname looked italian and i can't spell it) 10pm - 2am license required. last i heard the buyers wanted to make it a members only club. boo!

[DJevAL]

Funny that, the biggest complaint was always that 'Spiders sucked'. Heh.

There's some good points there.

Last Saturday was a bit quieter than the one before and I do think people like to check out both what me and Johnny are playing. So yea it ended up being spread a bit I think, but then I couldnt see what downstairs was like.

The original idea was to have all the main stuff upstairs, with Johnny providing cool music if you wanted to chill downstairs or didnt/couldnt see the bands. Wayne the resident DJ altho he like hes 'dutty rawk' as he calls it and plays quite a bit, usually plays a more extreme mixture.

Would people like to just forget about downstairs, bring Johnny upstairs with me and leave Wayne to his devices? I always thought itd be a nice selling point having 2 rooms to chose from for different purposes.

If upstairs gets packed downstair does give a bit of space to breathe for once, being quite a nice bar and chill out area.


And to be fair Dave, the bands finished by 10.30 which is the usual time you guys would be arriving there no?

I think we'll endevaour to make upstairs more 'clubby' and like Evz says for starters drop the lights down a bit!

[David]

Al, as I said. I don't mind the band stuff going on. I think Wildside should be supporting sleazy glam bands by doing live stuff, it is just that the downstairs is so different from the upstairs, and it has a nice atmosphere, so once you've settled down and had a few drinks, if you are a lazy git like me, it was difficult to leave to move upstairs.

Spiders worked so well (with hindsight) because it had a chill out area where you could chat and hear what was being played and then dance to the stuff you wanted to, however at J7, you have to be upstairs to hear, which means you stay in the room, and cannot chat to peeps. The problem is that J7 is a club upstairs and a pub downstairs, which wouldn't be a problem if the same music was piped through the whole building so you knew what was going on upstairs. The Dungeon in Southampton is like this, a pub upstairs and a club/dancefloor downstairs with the same music piped round the whole establishment, and it works really well.

Anyway, J7 in itself is an excellent venue, I just don't think clubnights work in the way that they do in a typical nightclub.

[Phil]

How about if as soon as the bands finish, bring Johnny upstairs? That way he is downstairs for those that don't see the bands. Or as Dave says have the upstairs tunes piped down so people can keep tabs on what's playing upstairs. Or we could all just get drunk!

[DJevAL]

Points duly noted!

Well firstly........ the 2am licence is DEFINITELY there now! WOOO!

Thats the first stage of the plan to make it more 'cluby' upstairs.

Second stage, tone down the lighting (yes it was too bright) and get some more 'cluby' lighting going as it can be done.

Other stages? Well we're having a brain storming session but any suggestions would be great!!


We're only 2 Wildsides into our new venue so we're just finding our feet here and seeing what works and what doesnt. Personally, I think we can easily make it better than Spiders, theres a lot more scope with what we can do. There's even the possibility of clearing everything out downstairs and making that a giant dance floor believe it or not! I initially thought many gripes about Spiders was that it was too much a pain in the arse to go rushing from upstairs down 2 flights of stairs to get to the dancefloor, after pushing past a packed bar and squeezing onto a tiny dancefloor? I guess we may have a similar issue but at least theres more 'space' and if you just like to chill out downstairs and listen to Jonnys tunes then thats cool too!

[skyclad]

Hey I'm getting old now so a quiet place to sit down wouldn't go a miss. Although I'm probably going ot get slaughtered for saying that

[Phil]

Yes, Ben. You bloody well are!!

[skyclad]

Only joking! In all honesty, I can't remember the last two wildsides. Lets go number three!

[matticus]

in all fairness, who ever remembers much if any of wildside (not like its a bad thing)

[Phil]

It's most of the afterparties that I can never remember. Serves me right for trying to drink the house dry in record time!

[skyclad]

Yeah, before I had a job, I never had enough money to drink at the gig, so I would sponge at the afterparty!