Dirty Water Club To End
Long running night finishes
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One of London's longest running and best loved live music nights is set to finish with the organisers of the Dirty Water Club calling time on the institution.
Way back in the summer of 1996, tired of being force fed lad-rock by the bloated Britpop scene a number of London musicians began to look back at the 60s for inspiration. Whereas Oasis were telling everyone to listen to The Beatles, The Dirty Water Club was devoted to nastier, less well known aspects of the swinging sixties.
Taking its name from the garage rock staple 'Dirty Water' by The Standells, the club dedicated itself to promoting filthy rock and roll. Since then it has had an incalculable affect on the international music scene, providing a launch pad for countless garage groups.
British giants such as Billy Childish tread the boards at Dirty Water countless times, building up a devoted fan base. However these mavericks were soon joined by an international contingent. Japanese bands such as Thee Michelle Gunn Elephant voyaged to the club, while 'Kill Bill' soundtrackers The 5678s also performed.
The Detroit contingent would provide the club with its lasting legacy however. The White Stripes played a sensational show there, and were soon joined by fellow garage merchants The Dirtbombs, The Come Ons, The Von Bondies and countless more.
Garage rock became the new sensation and the club was mobbed. A record label was launched in 2004, which has gone from strength to strength uncovering new groups and resurrecting forgotten oldies.
The club continued and attracted some stunning performances from original garage types such as The Monks and cult hero Sky Saxon of The Seeds. However all that is now a memory as the Dirty Water club prepares to shut its doors.
An official statement says: "The Professor is departing to work on other projects, whilst PJ will be concentrating on Dirty Water Records, which is going from strength to strength, with a new release more or less on a monthly basis."
Club co-founder PJ says: "At the moment it feels like a great relief, as I've been feeling overworked for far too long. However, I aim to use much of the extra time to work on on Dirty Water Records instead."
"The record label is going really well and deserves more attention from me. I'm going to be DJing at a number of garage-rock festivals over the coming year too - in Paris, Sardinia, Rotterdam, Valencia, Atlanta and, er, Nottingham, so far - where I can have a good time, drink and play records, without the work of having to organise it. We'll put on occasional gigs under the record label name, as "Dirty Water live" - and, who knows, maybe we'll go back to more regular gigs at some future date."
The final Dirty Water Club takes place on June 19th.
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The Standells are honored to
The Standells are honored to have inspired the origination of the "Dirty Water Club". especially since it helped to launch the careers of such artists as Billy Childish and The White Stripes. Unfortunately, all good things come to an end.
You might be interested to know that ALL of the original Standells who recorded "Dirty Water" are still together, having performed at the 2004 World Series in Boston, and scheduled to perform at the Cannery Casino, Las Vegas NV on May 23rd. See our Facebook page for more information.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Standells/66472034311?ref=ts
PJ, Sad news indeed, easily
PJ,
Sad news indeed, easily my favourite venue in the world for a night out. The DWC has it all, great, great music, an affordable pint, a good crowd and all round a vibe that bigger, flashier places can't hope to muster. It can't be beat in my humble opinion.
I'm based up in Glasgow nowadays, so haven't been a regular in a while, but I'm now even more delighted that I made it down for the Billy Childish gig at the end of February this year and got the chance to introduce my fiancee Connie to the magic of the Dirty Water before it was too late!
I've recommended the place to people everywhere I've been in the past few years since I first discovered it and know a good number of them have made it along.
Funnily enough one of the proudest moments of my life was the time I was asked to DJ at a close friend's birthday at a pub in Ladbroke Grove. The party fell on a Friday night and clashed with a DWC gig I had hoped to attend, but I couldn't let my friend down. I sat at the decks from 7pm til 2 in the morning playing a mixture of '50s rock 'n' roll, blues and pop tunes and all went well. Towards the end of the night a couple of guys who'd been standing at the bar all night came over, I was sure I recognised them from somewhere...
Anyway, they told me they were friends of a friend of the birthday girl, lived locally and had just stopped by for a drink en route to a gig they had tickets for. However, they'd enjoyed the music I'd played so much they'd ended up not going to the gig. I asked them where they had been going and they said "the Dirty Water Club". I was gobsmacked, why would anyone turn down a night at the DWC to listen to my music?!! It'd be like binning tickets to Barcelona vs Real Madrid in favour of watching me play 5-a-side with my mates!!
Anyway, thanks for all the great memories, Billy Childish, Holly Golightly, Dave Cloud, The Buffets, The A-Lines, Harry Hill (!!), David Viner, various members of bands like The Datsuns hanging out in the crowd and sometimes joining in on stage, the way people dressed up for the occasion and all blended in together brilliantly, the great never-ending DJ sets, the Mona Lisa in suspenders sticker in the Mens bogs, the bus journey home hoarse from singing along and dancing 'til every bit of me ached...!!
Will keep a keen eye on DWC records releases and events and who knows, maybe one day I'll take your inspiration and open a little venue myself somewhere where ONLY proper music is played!! Rest assured, the setlist for our wedding up here in Scotland next month contains a number of Dirty Water standards!
I think the fact an actual Standell has got in touch about the news of the closure says it all really, you've built something that will go down in history there, I'll tell my grandkids about the DWC when I'm old and grey!
"...well I love that Dirty Water....!!!"
All the very best mate, thanks again.
Jamie Yates
Glasgow